He readily agreed to it.
“You are quite a visit in my debt,Mr.Bingley,”she added,“for when you went to town last winter,you promised to take a family dinner with us, as soon as you returned. I have not forgot, you see;and I assure you,I was very much disappointed that you did not come back and keep your engagement.”
“I began to be afraid you would never come back again.People did say you meant to quit the place entirely at Michaelmas;but, however, I hope it is not true.A great many changes have happened in the neighbourhood,since you went away.Miss Lucas is married and settled.And one of my own daughters.I suppose you have heard of it;indeed,you must have seen it in the papers. It was in The Times and The Courier,I know;though it was not put in as it ought to be.It was only said,'Lately,George Wickham, Esq.to Miss Lydia Bennet,'without there being a syllable said of her father, or the place where she lived, or anything. It was my brother Gardiner's drawing up too,and I wonder how he came to make such an awkward business of it.Did you see it?”
When the gentlemen rose to go away,Mrs.Bennet was mindful of her intended civility,and they were invited and engaged to dine at Longbourn in a few days time.
“It is a delightful thing, to be sure, to have a daughter well married,”continued her mother,“but at the same time, Mr.Bingley, it is very hard to have her taken such a way from me. They are gone down to Newcastle, a place quite northward, it seems,and there they are to stay,I do not know how long.His regiment is there; for I suppose you have heard of his leaving the―shire, and of his being gone into the regulars. Thank Heaven!he has some friends,though perhaps not so many as he deserves.”