“You have.Yes,there was something in that;I told you so from the first,you may remember.”
“I do not know.Mrs.Bennet and Lydia are going in the carriage to Meryton.And so, my dear sister, I find, from our uncle and aunt,that you have actually seen Pemberley.”
“Perhaps preparing for his marriage with Miss de Bourgh,”said Elizabeth.“It must be something particular,to take him there at this time of year.”
“You certainly do,”she replied with a smile;“but it does not follow that the interruption must be unwelcome.”
“I have heard from authority, which I thought as good, that it was left you conditionally only,and at the will of the present patron.”
“Exceedingly well. I should have considered it as part of my duty, and the exertion would soon have been nothing. One ought not to repine;―but,to be sure,it would have been such a thing for me!The quiet,the retirement of such a life would have answered all my ideas of happiness!But it was not to be.Did you ever hear Darcy mention the circumstance, when you were in Kent?”
“Certainly,”he replied,biting his lips.Elizabeth hoped she had silenced him;but he s