“I almost envy you the pleasure,and yet I believe it would be too much for me,or else I could take it in my way to Newcastle. And you saw the old housekeeper,I suppose?Poor Reynolds,she was always very fond of me.But of course she did not mention my name to you.”
“I did hear, too, that there was a time, when sermon-making was not so palatable to you as it seems to be at present;that you actually declared your resolution of never taking orders,and that the business had been compromised accordingly.”
“Did you go by the village of Kympton?”
“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?”
“Yes,she did.”
“And do you like her?”
“You certainly do,”she replied with a smile;“but it does not follow that the interruption must be unwelcome.”
“Come,Mr.Wickham,we are brother and sister,you know.Do not let us quarrel about the past. In future, I hope we shall be always of one mind.”