"Oh! it is of no consequence. I shall see her in January. But do you always write such charming long letters to her, Mr. Darcy?"

     "They are generally long; but whether always charming it is not for me to determine."

     "It is a rule with me, that a person who can write a long letter with ease, cannot write ill."

     "That will not do for a compliment to Darcy, Caroline," cried her brother, "because he does not write with ease. He studies too much for words of four syllables. Do not you, Darcy?"

     "My style of writing is very different from yours."

     "Oh!" cried Miss Bingley, "Charles writes in the most careless way imaginable. He leaves out half his words, and blots the rest."

     "My ideas flow so rapidly that I have not time to express them--by which means my letters sometimes convey no ideas at all to my correspondents."

     "Your humility, Mr. Bingley," said Elizabeth, "must disarm reproof."

     "Nothing is more deceitful," said Darcy, "than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast."