“I say no more than the truth, and everybody will say that knows him,”replied the other.Elizabeth thought this was going pretty far;and she listened with increasing astonishment as the housekeeper added,“I have never known a cross word from him in my life, and I have known him ever since he was four years old.”
Elizabeth listened,wondered,doubted,and was impatient for more. Mrs. Reynolds could interest her on no other point. She related the subjects of the pictures,the dimensions of the rooms, and the price of the furniture, in vain. Mr. Gardiner, highly amused by the kind of family prejudice to which he attributed her excessive commendation of her master,soon led again to the subject; and she dwelt with energy on his many merits as they proceeded together up the great staircase.
As they walked across the lawn towards the river, Elizabeth turned back to look again;her uncle and aunt stopped also,and while the former was conjecturing as to the date of the building, the owner of it himself suddenly came forward from the road, which led behind it to the stables.