“And do not you think him a very handsome gentleman,ma'am?”
“And is Miss Darcy as handsome as her brother?”said Mrs. Gardiner.
“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.”
Elizabeth coloured,and said:“A little.”
“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.”
This was a lucky recollection―it saved her from something very like regret.
“I am sure I know none so handsome;but in the gallery upstairs you will see a finer,larger picture of him than this.This room was my late master's favourite room,and these miniatures are just as they used to be then.He was very fond of them.”