“And do not you think him a very handsome gentleman,ma'am?”
“I have heard much of your master's fine person,”said Mrs. Gardiner, looking at the picture;“it is a handsome face. But, Lizzy,you can tell us whether it is like or not.”
The park was very large,and contained great variety of ground. They entered it in one of its lowest points,and drove for some time through a beautiful wood stretching over a wide extent.
“And of this place,”thought she,“I might have been mistress! With these rooms I might now have been familiarly acquainted! Instead of viewing them as a stranger, I might have rejoiced in them as my own,and welcomed to them as visitors my uncle and aunt.But no,”―recollecting herself―“that could never be;my uncle and aunt would have been lost to me; I should not have been allowed to invite them.”
They descended the hill,crossed the bridge,and drove to the door;and,while examining the nearer aspect of the house,all her apprehension of meeting its owner returned.She dreaded lest the chambermaid had been mistaken.On applying to see the place, they were admitted into the hall; and Elizabeth, as they waited for the housekeeper,had leisure to wonder at her being where she was.
Elizabeth,as they drove along,watched for the first appearance of Pemberley Woods with some perturbation;and when at length they turned in at the lodge,her spirits were in a high flutter.