"But what about your engagement--the day at Clifton?" Mrs. Grant unluckily remembered, in the midst of the adieux. Colonel Fitzwilliam looked as if he were determined to forget the existence of such a place; Mr. Darcy reproached himself for having furthered the scheme; and Miss Crawford immediately said: "Oh, pray do not give that up on my account. We can ride another day, if we care about it." "Not at all, Miss Crawford. Excuse me, but I should not think of giving up our plan. It is not at all necessary for me to go to Clifton." "It would not be fair to make you break a prior engagement. No, let us put it off from to-morrow," was the lady's response. Elizabeth interposed with, "If you and Miss Crawford went out a little earlier, you could still be at Clifton in time for dinner, Robert, which would quite satisfy my aunt." Darcy joined his advice to his wife's; and as a matter can generally be easily arranged by a number of people who are all in favour of it, the ride was fixed for ten o'clock, and the ladies took their departure among many promises of meeting again. James Morland shortly afterwards left, Colonel Fitzwilliam accompanying him as far as his road lay in the direction of the livery stables; and Elizabeth sat down to write letters, but she had not got very far before a new idea struck her which must immediately be acted upon. "Darcy," she exclaimed, rising and going to her husband, who was occupied with the newspaper, "can you listen to me? I want to help Mr. Morland in some way. I was thinking about it this morning while I was talking to him. He ought to have work to do, and he is such a good young fellow. Could you not make him Mr. Ferrars's curate, or something?" Darcy smiled at his wife's earnestness. "You will be surprised to hear, my dear, that I had already thought of helping him." "You had? How good of you. You can do it better than anyone else. He will be an object worthy of your interest." "But though I had considered the question of the curacy, I had dismissed it as unsatisfactory. Mr. Ferrars does not want a curate, and Mr. Morland does want a living. I do not know if I told you that I heard before I went away that the old Rector of Kympton was likely to resign. If so, I shall have a living to present." "And did you think of Mr. Morland? How delightful that would be. The very thing for him." "We must not say anything about it at present, for I cannot hurry the old man out; but I expect to hear in the course of a month." "I am sure you can bring it about successfully. How well everything is going to-day! Some dreadful catastrophe is sure to happen soon." "What else has gone well?" "Why, Robert's getting on so excellently with Miss Crawford. She is such a thoroughly nice woman, and it is certain to do Robert good." "I would not think too much about that, Lizzy. Robert gets on well with all nice women, and as to Miss Crawford, I should say she is accustomed to receiving a considerable amount of admiration."