Bennet resumed their murmuring talk, and the chair of the youth with the
large black eyes, somehow--nobody saw how or when--slipped round until it
was upon the same side of the table with that of Ellen, who was busily
netting.

Mrs. Bennet was conscious that the chair had gone round, and the swimming
eyes of her husband lingered with pleasure upon the mass of black curls
bent toward the golden hair which was bowed over that intricate purse.
Ellen was sitting under that portrait of the lady, with the flashing,
passionate eyes, who seemed to bear a family likeness to Mrs. Bennet.

The more closely he looked at the handsome youth and the lovely girl the
more curious Mr. Bennet's eyes became. He watched the two with such
intentness that his wife several times looked up at him surprised when
she received no answer to her remarks. Evidently something had impressed
Mr. Bennet exceedingly.

His wife bent her head a little nearer to his.

"My dear, did you never see a pair of lovers before?"

He turned his dreaming eyes at that, smiled, and pressed his lips
silently to the face which was so near his own that if it had been there
for the express purpose of being caressed it could hardly have been
nearer.

Then slipping his arm around her waist, Mr. Bennet drew his wife toward
him and pointed with his head, but so imperceptibly that only she
perceived it, toward the young people, as if he saw something more than a
pair of lovers. The fond woman's eyes followed her husband's. Gradually
they became as intently fixed as his. They seemed to be curiously
comparing the face of the young man who sat at their daughter's side with
the face of the portrait that hung above her head. Mrs. Bennet grew
perceptibly paler as she looked. The unconscious Edward and Ellen
murmured softly together. She did not look at him, but she felt the
light of his great eyes falling upon her, and she was not unhappy.

"My dear," began Mr. Bennet in a low tone, still studying the face and
the portrait.

"Hush!" said his wife, softly, laying her head upon his shoulder; "I see
it all, I am sure of it."

Gabriel turned at this moment from his Encyclopedia. He looked intently
for some time at the group by the table, as if studying all their
thoughts, and then said, gravely, in a loud, clear voice, so that Ellen
dropped a stitch, Edward stopped whispering, and Mr. and Mrs. Bennet sat
erect,

"Exactly. I knew how it was. It says distinctly, 'This plant is