Elizabeth was excessively disappointed; she had set her heart on seeing the Lakes,and still thought there might have been time enough.But it was her business to be satisfied―and certainly her temper to be happy;and all was soon right again.
“My love,should not you like to see a place of which you have heard so much?”said her aunt;“a place,too,with which so many of your acquaintances are connected.Wickham passed all his youth there,you know.”
Accordingly,when she retired at night,she asked the chambermaid whether Pemberley were not a very fine place,what was the name of its proprietor,and,with no little alarm,whether the family were down for the summer?A most welcome negative followed the last question―and her alarms now being removed, she was at leisure to feel a great deal of curiosity to see the house herself;and when the subject was revived the next morning,and she was again applied to, could readily answer, and with a proper air of indifference,that she had not really any dislike to the scheme.