It happened that Jane was alone when she arrived, Bingley being out riding with Kitty and Mr. Morland; but he was not long in returning, and when Kitty had greeted her sister, and retired to change her dress, he joined the conference, as Darcy had foretold. "Well, Elizabeth," he began, "and how do you find Kitty? I never saw her in better looks. And has Jane told you about my young friend in London, who, it appears, is an admirer of hers? I declare I had not an idea of it when I asked him to come down, but it turns out very well as it happens." Elizabeth admitted herself informed, and asked Bingley for particulars of Mr. Price's character, appearance and manners, of which it was to be presumed he could give a more reasonable account than Kitty. He spoke warmly in the young man's praise, and mentioned what he had heard of his family and connections from Mr. Yates. "It seems most satisfactory," said Elizabeth, "and his being a friend of the Wentworths is a further recommendation. I am quite looking forward to meeting him, though time alone will show if there is anything in it." "Kitty has set her heart on it to such an extent, that I feel extremely anxious that she may have no disappointment," said Jane with tenderness. "It would be enough to make her ill, her sensibilities are so acute! One can see how she watches for the letters from Mrs. Knightley, and the eagerness with which she reads them." "Whatever Mrs. Knightley may do," said Elizabeth, "in my opinion we should not be acting wisely by Kitty in encouraging her to talk and think much about it. On the young man's side it has not gone beyond a promising inclination, I infer, and it may never be more." "You are a prudent creature, Elizabeth," exclaimed her brother-in-law; "but as regards Kitty, your precautions are too late, as I know to my cost. There was I thinking I was bringing down the very girl for Morland to fall in love with--indeed, I had almost told him so--and now it appears she is more than half engaged to someone else, and what good is that to a man who wants a wife to establish in that big house of his?" "Well," said Elizabeth, laughing, "you need not reproach yourself, Charles. A house and living were promised to Mr. Morland; but a wife, I believe, was not in the bond." "It would have been very pleasant to have provided him with one, nevertheless," returned Bingley. "As it is, they see a great deal of each other, and are such excellent friends, that if it were not all such a profound secret it would be incumbent on me to give him a hint of the state of things."