“Yes,very handsome.”
“Except,”thought Elizabeth,“when she goes to Ramsgate.”
“Not so much as I could wish,sir;but I dare say he may spend half his time here;and Miss Darcy is always down for the summer months.”
“And is Miss Darcy as handsome as her brother?”said Mrs. Gardiner.
Mrs. Reynolds then directed their attention to one of Miss Darcy,drawn when she was only eight years old.
“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.”
“And that,”said Mrs. Reynolds, pointing to another of the miniatures,“is my master―and very like him.It was drawn at the same time as the other―about eight years ago.”
“Does that young lady know Mr.Darcy?”
“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.”
Mrs.Gardiner looked at her niece with a smile,but Elizabeth could not return it.
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.