第90章
after the first fortnight or three weeks of her absence,health, good humour,and cheerfulness began to reappear at longbourn everything wore a happier aspectthe families who had been in town for the winter came back again,and summer finery and summer engagements arose mrs ben was restored to her usual querulous serenity;and,by the middle of june,kitty was so much recovered as to be able to enter meryton without tears;an event of such happy promise as to make elizabeth hope that by the following christmas she might be so tolerably reasonable as not to mention an officer above once a day,unless,by some cruel and malicious arrangement at the war office,another regiment should be quartered in meryton
the time fixed for the beginning of their northern tour was now fast approaching, and a fortnight only was wanting of it, when a letter arrived from mrsgardiner,which at once delayed its mencement and curtailed its extentmrgardiner would be prevented by business from setting out till a fortnight later in july,and must be in london again within a month,and as that left too short a period for them to go so far,and see so much as they had proposed,or at least to see it with the leisure and fort they had built on, they were obliged to give up the lakes, and substitute a more contracted tour,and,according to the present plan,were to go no farther northwards than derbyshirein that county there was enough to be seen to occupy the chief of their three weeks; and to mrs gardiner it had a peculiarly strong attractionthe town where she had formerly passed some years of her life, and where they were now to spend a few days, was probably as great an object of her curiosity as all the celebrated beauties of matlock,chatsworth,dovedale,or the peak
elizabeth was excessively disappointed; she had set her heart on seeing the lakes,and still thought there might have been time enoughbut it was her business to be satisfied—and certainly her temper to be happy;and all was soon right again
with the mention of derbyshire there were many ideas connected it was impossible for her to see the word without thinking of pemberley and its owner“but surely,”said she,“i may enter his county without impunity,and rob it of a few petrified spars without his perceiving me”
the period of expectation was now doubled four weeks were to pass away before her uncle and aunt"s arrival but they did pass away,and mrand mrsgardiner,with their four children,did at length appear at longbournthe children, two girls of six and eight years old, and two younger boys, were to be left under the particular care of their cousin jane, who was the general favourite, and whose steady sense and sweetness of temper exactly adapted her for attending to them in every way—teaching them,playing with them,and loving them
the gardiners stayed only one night at longbourn, and set off the next morning with elizabeth in pursuit of novelty and amusement one enjoyment was certain—that of suitableness of panions; a suitableness which prehended health and temper to bear inconveniences—cheerfulness to enhance every pleasure—and affection and intelligence, which might supply it among themselves if there were disappointments abroad
it is not the object of this work to give a deion of derbyshire, nor of any of the remarkable places through which their route thither lay;oxford,blenheim,warwick,kenilworth,birmingham, etc are sufficiently knowna small part of derbyshire is all the present concernto the little town of lambton, the scene of mrs gardiner"s former residence, and where she had lately learned some acquaintance still remained,they bent their steps, after having seen all the principal wonders of the country; and within five miles of lambton, elizabeth found from her aunt that pemberley was situatedit was not in their direct road,nor more than a mile or two out of itin talking over their route the evening before,mrsgardiner expressed an inclination to see the place againmrgardiner declared his willingness,and elizabeth was applied to for her approbation
“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 connectedwickham passed all his youth there,you know”
elizabeth was distressed she felt that she had no business at pemberley,and was obliged to assume a disinclination for seeing itshe must own that she was tired of seeing great houses;after going over so many,she really had no pleasure in fine carpets or satin curtains
mrs gardiner abused her stupidity“if it were merely a fine house richly furnished,”said she,“i should not care about it myself; but the grounds are delightfulthey have some of the finest woods in the country”
elizabeth said no more—but her mind could not acquiesce the possibility of meeting mr darcy, while viewing the place, instantly occurredit would be dreadful!she blushed at the very idea,and thought it would be better to speak openly to her aunt than to run such a risk but against this there were objections;and she finally resolved that it could be the last resource,if her private inquiries to the absence of the family were unfavourably answered
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 summera most wele 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
to pemberley,therefore,they were to go