Chapter 43

While the carriage drove on, Elizabeth waited with an anxious heart for the first sight of Pemberley Woods. At last the party passed the gatekeeper's house and drove in, and her heart beat very fast.

The park was very large, and the ground had many different shapes. The party entered at one of its lowest points and drove for some time through a wide and beautiful wood.

Elizabeth had too many thoughts to talk. Still, she admired every place and every view that came into sight. The party went up a gentle road for about half a mile and reached the top of a rather high hill. There the wood ended. The road turned rather steeply down into a valley, and Pemberley House, across the valley, caught her eye at once. It was a large, handsome building of stone, standing well on rising ground. Behind it, a ridge of high, wooded hills stood like a screen. In front, a stream that was already fairly wide had been made wider, but there was no sign that anyone had touched it by hand. Its banks were not made straight, and they were not dressed up with forced decoration. Elizabeth was delighted. She had never seen a place where nature had given so much, or where poor taste had spoiled nature's beauty so little. Everyone admired it warmly. And at that moment, she thought that being mistress of Pemberley might have been something rather grand.

The party went down the hill and crossed a bridge. Then they rode in the carriage up to the door of the house. As she saw the house up close, her fear of meeting the owner came back to her. She worried that the maid might have been wrong. They asked to see the house, and the party was led into the front hall. While they waited for the housekeeper, Elizabeth had time to be surprised that she was really here.

The housekeeper appeared. She was an older woman with a respectable look. She was much plainer and much kinder than Elizabeth had expected. The party followed her into the dining room, which was also used as a sitting room. It was a large, well-shaped room, handsomely fitted out. Elizabeth looked around the room briefly, then went to a window to look outside. The hill they had just come down, with its wooded top, looked steeper from a distance and made a beautiful view. Every part of the ground fit together without a single flaw. She looked with pleasure at the river, the trees scattered along its banks, and the valley winding as far as she could see. The view changed as they moved to each new room, but it was beautiful from every window. The rooms were high-ceilinged and handsome. The furniture matched the owner's fortune. But Elizabeth saw, in its lack of showiness and needless splendor, a sign of his good taste. It was less ornamented than the furniture at Rosings, but it had more true elegance.

'I could have been mistress of this place!' she thought. 'By now I would know every room here well. Instead of looking around it like a stranger, I could have enjoyed it as my own, and welcomed my uncle and aunt as guests. But no.' She caught herself and thought again. 'That could not have happened. I would have lost my uncle and aunt. I would not even have been allowed to invite them.'

It was a fortunate thought. It kept away the regret she had almost begun to feel.

Elizabeth could hardly keep herself from asking the housekeeper whether the owner was really away. But she could not find the courage to ask it. At last her uncle asked the question. While Mrs. Reynolds answered that he was away, Elizabeth turned her head, feeling uneasy. The housekeeper added, "But he comes back tomorrow, with a great many friends." Elizabeth could not say how glad she was that their trip had not been delayed by even one day, for any reason.

Her aunt called her to look at a picture. She went closer and saw, among several small portraits hung above the fireplace, a portrait of Mr. Wickham. Her aunt smiled and asked whether she liked it. The housekeeper stepped forward and explained. It was the portrait of a young gentleman, the son of the late owner's steward, she said. The late owner had raised him at his own expense, she said. "He is a soldier now," she added. "But I am afraid he has turned out very wild."

Mrs. Gardiner smiled and looked at her niece, but Elizabeth could not answer with a smile.

"And this one, here," Mrs. Reynolds pointed to another small portrait. "This is the master now. It is very like him. It was painted at the same time as the other one, about eight years ago."

"I have heard many times that your master is a handsome man," Mrs. Gardiner said, looking at the picture. "It is truly a handsome face. But Lizzy, you can tell us whether it is a good likeness."

When Elizabeth showed that she knew her master, Mrs. Reynolds seemed to treat her with more respect.

"Does the young lady know Mr. Darcy?"

Elizabeth blushed as she spoke. "A little."

"Do you not think he is a very handsome gentleman?"

"Yes, very handsome."

"I am sure I do not know anyone more handsome than him. But if you go up to the gallery, you will see a finer and larger portrait than this one. This room was the favorite room of my late master. These small portraits are kept just as they were then. He was very fond of them."

Hearing this, Elizabeth felt she understood why Mr. Wickham's portrait was there.

Mrs. Reynolds then turned the party's eyes to a portrait painted when Miss Darcy was only eight years old.

"Is Miss Darcy as beautiful as her brother?" Mr. Gardiner asked.

"Oh, yes. She is the most beautiful young lady in the world. And so very talented! She plays the piano and sings the whole day long. In the next room there is a new instrument, just arrived for her. It is a gift from the master. She comes tomorrow with her brother."

Mr. Gardiner, who put people easily at ease, led the housekeeper on with questions and remarks to keep her talking. Whether from pride or from affection, it was clear that Mrs. Reynolds took great pleasure in talking about the master and his sister.

"Does the master stay at Pemberley often during the year?"

"Not as much as I wish, but he spends about half the year here. Miss Darcy always comes down for the summer."

'Except when she goes to Ramsgate,' Elizabeth thought.

"You will see him more often once he marries."

"That is true. But I do not know when that will happen. And I do not know who could be good enough for him."

The Gardiners smiled. Elizabeth could not help speaking. "It must be a very great honor to him, to have someone think so well of him."

"I only speak the truth. Anyone who knows him would say the same," Mrs. Reynolds answered. Elizabeth thought this was rather too much. But her surprise grew greater as she listened to what the housekeeper said next. "I have never in my life heard a cross word from the master. And I have known him since he was four years old."

This was more surprising than any praise she had heard before. It was the very opposite of what she had thought. That Darcy was not a good-natured man had been Elizabeth's firmest belief. Now every nerve in her wanted to hear more. She was grateful when her uncle spoke the next words.

"Very few people can be spoken of in that way. You are fortunate to have found such a good master."

"Yes, I know it well. You could travel the whole world and not meet a better man. I have always seen that a child with a good nature grows into a good-natured man. The master was a boy with the sweetest temper and the most generous heart in the world."

Elizabeth very nearly stared at the housekeeper. 'Can this woman really be speaking of Mr. Darcy?' she thought.

"His father was a fine man too," Mrs. Gardiner said.

"Yes, ma'am. He truly was. And the son is just as endlessly kind to the poor as his father was."

Elizabeth listened with surprise and doubt, but she was eager to hear more. No other subject could hold Mrs. Reynolds's attention over this one. It was no use for her to name the people in the pictures or to describe the size of the rooms and the price of the furniture. Mr. Gardiner, who found it amusing and thought that family pride explained the housekeeper's excessive praise of her master, soon led her back to the subject again. As they climbed the great staircase together, Mrs. Reynolds spoke eagerly of the master's many good qualities.

"He is the best landlord and the best master that ever lived in this world," she said. "He is not like the wild young men of today, who think only of themselves. There is not one tenant or servant who has anything but good to say of him. Some people call him proud, but I have never once seen it. In my own mind, it is only because he does not chatter on endlessly like other young men."

'From this account, he sounds like a truly kind man!' Elizabeth thought.

"This fine account of him," her aunt whispered as they walked, "does not match very well with how he behaved to our poor friend."

"Perhaps we have been deceived."

"That does not seem very likely. Our source was much too sure."

When they reached the wide upstairs hall, they were shown into a very beautiful sitting room, newly done up in a lighter and more graceful style than the rooms downstairs. They were told that it had just been redecorated to please Miss Darcy, who had liked the room on her last visit to Pemberley.

"He is certainly a good brother," Elizabeth said, walking to one of the windows.

Mrs. Reynolds pictured beforehand how delighted Miss Darcy would be on entering the room. "He is always this way," she added. "Whatever can give his sister pleasure, he does at once. There is nothing he would not do for her."

Now there was only the gallery and two or three of the main bedrooms left to see. The gallery held many fine paintings. But Elizabeth knew nothing about art. She looked more willingly at some drawings in crayon by Miss Darcy than at the paintings she had already seen downstairs. Their subjects were generally more interesting, and easier to understand.

The gallery held many family portraits, but few of them could hold the eye of a stranger. Elizabeth walked on, looking for the one face she could recognize. At last that face stopped her. It was a portrait strikingly like Mr. Darcy. On its face was a smile she remembered seeing sometimes, when he looked at her. She stood before the picture for several minutes, looking at it earnestly. Before she left the gallery, she went back to it once more. Mrs. Reynolds told her it had been painted while his father was still alive.

At that moment, a gentle feeling toward the man in the picture rose up in Elizabeth's heart, a feeling she had never felt even when the two of them had been closest. Mrs. Reynolds's praise of him was by no means a small thing. Is there any praise more valuable than the praise of a sensible servant? Elizabeth thought of how many people's happiness he was responsible for, as a brother, as a landlord, and as a master. She thought too of how much power he held to give joy or pain. How much good, and how much harm, must flow from his hands! Everything the housekeeper had said made his character look good. Elizabeth stood before the picture, where the painted Darcy kept his eyes fixed on her. She thought of his affection with a far deeper gratitude than she had felt before. Remembering how strong that feeling had been, she felt much more forgiving toward the clumsy way he had shown it.

After they had seen all the rooms open to ordinary visitors, the party went back downstairs. They said goodbye to the housekeeper and were led out by the gardener, who was waiting at the front door.

Elizabeth was walking across the lawn toward the river, and she turned back to look at the house again. Her uncle and aunt stopped too. While Mr. Gardiner was guessing when the building had been built, the owner of the house suddenly appeared on the path that led from the back of the house to the stables.

The two groups were not twenty yards apart. He appeared so suddenly that there was no way to avoid him. Their eyes met at once, and both Elizabeth's face and Darcy's face turned deeply red. Darcy truly started with surprise. For one moment he seemed too astonished to move. But he soon collected himself and came forward to the party. He was not fully at ease, but he spoke to Elizabeth with the greatest politeness.

Elizabeth turned away by instinct. But when he came nearer, she stopped and received his greeting in an embarrassment she could not hide at all. Even if his sudden appearance and his face, so like the portrait she had just seen, had not told the other two that he was Mr. Darcy, the gardener's astonished look at the sight of his master would soon have told them. Her uncle and aunt stood a little apart, watching him talk with their niece. Elizabeth, surprised and confused, did not dare look at his face. She did not even know what answers she gave to his polite questions about her family. She was so astonished by the change in his manner since they had last parted that she grew more embarrassed with every word he spoke. She kept remembering how improper it was for her to be there. So the few minutes they spent together became one of the most painful times of her whole life. Darcy did not look much more at ease either. His voice had none of its usual calm. He asked, again and again, too often and too quickly, when she had left Longbourn and how long she meant to stay in Derbyshire. It was plain that his thoughts were greatly confused.

At last he seemed to have nothing more to say. He stood silent for a few moments, and then, as if suddenly waking, he said goodbye.

Then the other two came up and admired his looks. But Elizabeth did not hear a single word of it. Wholly caught up in her own feelings, she followed them without speaking. She was weighed down by shame and vexation. Coming to this place was the most unlucky and most senseless thing in the world! How strange it must have looked to him! How shameful it must have seemed in the eyes of a man so full of pride! It might have looked as if she had come there on purpose to appear before him again! Oh, why had she come? And why had he come a day earlier than he was expected? If they had passed by only ten minutes sooner, they would have gone somewhere he could not have seen them. For it was clear that he had arrived at that very moment, just stepping down from his horse or his carriage. Thinking of this unlucky meeting, her face turned red again and again. And what did his so plainly changed manner mean? It was surprising enough that he had spoken to her at all, but to speak so politely, and even to ask after her family! Never in her life had she seen so little dignity in his manner. Never had she heard him speak so gently as in this unexpected meeting. How different this was from the last time he had spoken to her and put the letter into her hand, at Rosings Park! She did not know what to think, or how to explain it.

The party now entered a beautiful walk along the water. With every step, grander slopes of the approaching wood and more beautiful stretches of ground came into view. But it took Elizabeth some time to notice even one of them. When her uncle and aunt spoke to her again and again, she answered only from habit. Her eyes seemed to turn where they pointed, but she could not make out any single part of the view. Her thoughts stayed fixed on one spot at Pemberley House, wherever Mr. Darcy was at that moment. She longed to know what was passing through his mind just then. She wondered what he thought of her, and whether, after everything that had happened, he still loved her. Perhaps he had only been polite because he felt at ease. But there had been something in his voice that was more than ease. She could not tell whether, on seeing her, he had felt more pain or more pleasure. Still, one thing was certain: he had not looked calm.

At last, when her companions remarked that her mind seemed to be elsewhere, Elizabeth roused herself. She felt that she must show herself as she usually was.

The party went into the wood, left the river for a while, and climbed to higher ground. Where the trees opened, the view stretched far away. They saw many beautiful views of the valley and the hills across it. Several of the hills were covered with long stretches of wood, and now and then part of the stream came into sight. Mr. Gardiner wished to go all the way around the park. But he worried whether it was a distance they could walk. Their guide smiled, as if he had won something, and told them it was ten miles around. That settled the matter. The party followed the path that people usually walked. After a while they went down through the sloping wood and came to one of the narrowest points at the edge of the river. They crossed the water by a simple bridge that suited the whole scene well. It was less decorated than anything they had seen so far. Here the valley narrowed into a small glen. There was room for nothing but a narrow path between the stream and the rough thicket on either side. Elizabeth wished to explore the winding path further. But once she saw how far they had come from the house after crossing the bridge, Mrs. Gardiner, who was not used to long walks, could go no further. She wished only to get back to the carriage as quickly as possible. Her niece had no choice but to follow her. The party took the shortest way toward the house, on the opposite side of the river. But their walk was slow. This was because Mr. Gardiner, who loved fishing though he had little chance to enjoy it, was too busy watching the trout that now and then appeared in the water and talking about them with the gardener. While they walked so slowly, the party was surprised once again. Not far off, Mr. Darcy was coming toward them. Elizabeth's surprise was every bit as great as it had been the first time. This path had fewer trees blocking the view than the other side of the river, so they could see him before he reached them. However surprised she was, Elizabeth was at least more prepared for the meeting than before. She decided that if he really was coming to meet her, she would look calm and speak calmly. For a few moments she really thought he might take another path. This thought lasted only while a bend in the path hid him from view. Once she passed the bend, he was right in front of her. At a glance, his kind manner from before had not lessened in the least. Elizabeth tried to match his politeness. As soon as they met, she began to praise the beauty of the place. But before she could finish saying "delightful" and "charming," unlucky memories rushed in on her. It occurred to her that if she praised Pemberley, he might take it badly. Her color changed, and she said no more.

Mrs. Gardiner was standing a little behind. When Elizabeth stopped speaking, Darcy asked whether she would do him the honor of introducing the people she had brought with her. This was a kindness she had never expected at all. She very nearly smiled at the thought that this same man, who had shown his pride by scorning these very people when he proposed to her, now wished to know them. 'How surprised he would be if he knew who they are!' she thought. 'He must think they are important people in society now.'

But the introduction was soon made. Elizabeth named her relationship to them. She glanced at him slyly to see how he bore it. She half expected that he might run away as fast as he could from such disgraceful company. He was clearly surprised by the connection, but Darcy bore it firmly. Far from leaving, he turned and walked back with the party, talking with Mr. Gardiner. Elizabeth could not help feeling glad, and she could not help feeling proud too. It comforted her that he now knew she had relatives she need not be ashamed of. She listened to every word that passed between the two men, without missing one. She felt proud of every word and every sentence that showed her uncle's intelligence, taste, and good manners.

The talk soon turned to fishing. Darcy invited Mr. Gardiner, with the greatest politeness, to fish there whenever he liked while he was staying in the neighborhood. He offered to lend him fishing tackle too. He also pointed out the places where fish were usually caught best. Mrs. Gardiner, who was walking arm in arm with Elizabeth, gave her a look of surprise. Elizabeth said nothing, but she was very pleased. This kindness, she was sure, was shown purely for her own sake. Still, her astonishment was very great. She kept repeating to herself. 'Why is he so changed? What can be the reason? It cannot be for me. It cannot be that my presence has softened his manner like this. My reproaches at Hunsford cannot have brought about such a great change. It is not possible that he still loves me.'

The two ladies walked ahead for a while, with the two gentlemen following behind. Their order changed a little when they went down to the riverbank to look more closely at some unusual water plants, and then took their places again. It began when Mrs. Gardiner, tired from walking since morning, found Elizabeth's arm alone was not enough support and took her husband's arm instead. Mr. Darcy took Mrs. Gardiner's place beside her niece, and the two of them walked on together. After a short silence, Elizabeth spoke first. She wished him to know that she had been given a clear assurance, before coming there, that he was away from home. So she began by saying that his arrival had been entirely unexpected. "Your housekeeper," she added, "told us that you certainly would not be here before tomorrow. And before we left Bakewell, we understood that you were not soon expected back in this part of the country." Darcy admitted that all of this was true. He said that business with his steward had brought him there a few hours before the rest of the party he was traveling with. "They will join me early tomorrow," he went on, "and among them are some who will claim an acquaintance with you. Mr. Bingley and his sisters."

Elizabeth only bowed her head slightly. Her thoughts flew at once to the last time Mr. Bingley's name had come up between them. Darcy's face showed that his own thoughts had turned to much the same place.

"There is one more person in the party," he went on after a moment. "Someone who especially wishes to know you. May I be allowed to introduce my sister to you while you are staying at Lambton? Or am I asking too much?"

Her surprise at receiving such a request was so great that Elizabeth hardly knew how she had agreed to it. She soon realized that whatever wish Miss Darcy had to know her, her brother must have created it. It was a satisfying and pleasant thought, even without thinking further about it. She could see that his resentment had not made him truly think badly of her after all.

The two of them now walked on in silence. Each was deep in thought. Elizabeth could not feel at ease, but she felt proud and pleased. His wish to introduce his sister to her was the highest compliment he could pay. The two of them soon walked far ahead of the others. By the time they reached the carriage, the Gardiners were about a quarter of a mile behind.

Darcy asked them to come into the house, but Elizabeth said she was not tired. The two of them stood together on the lawn. At such a moment there might have been much to say, but the silence was very awkward. Elizabeth wished to talk, but every subject seemed forbidden to her. At last she remembered that they were traveling. The two of them talked busily of Matlock and Dovedale. But time moved slowly, and so did her aunt. Before their time alone came to an end, Elizabeth's patience and her store of things to say were almost gone.

When the Gardiners arrived, Darcy urged everyone earnestly to come into the house and take some refreshment. But the party declined, and the two sides parted with the greatest politeness on both sides. Darcy helped the ladies into the carriage. As the carriage drove off, Elizabeth watched him walking slowly back toward the house.

Now her uncle and aunt began to talk of all they had seen. Both of them declared that Darcy was far finer than they had ever expected.

"His manners are perfect, polite, and unassuming," her uncle said.

"There is certainly a little air of dignity about him," her aunt answered. "But it shows only in his manner, and it is not at all unpleasant. Now I can say just what the housekeeper said. Some people may call him proud, but I have not seen a trace of it myself."

"I have never been so surprised by anyone's manner toward us. It was not simply polite; it was truly thoughtful and attentive. There was no real need for him to take such trouble. He is only slightly acquainted with Elizabeth, after all."

"Well, Lizzy," her aunt said. "He is certainly not as handsome as Wickham. Or rather, to be exact, he does not have Wickham's kind of expression. For his features are very good indeed. But why did you tell us he was so disagreeable?"

Elizabeth excused herself as best she could. She said that she had liked him better when she met him in Kent, and that she had never before seen him as pleasant as he had been that morning.

"But perhaps he is a little changeable in his kindness," her uncle answered. "Great people often are. So I will not quite trust his invitation to go fishing. He might well change his mind another day and tell me to keep off his land."

Elizabeth felt that they had entirely mistaken his character, but she said nothing.

"Judging only by what we saw of him today," Mrs. Gardiner went on, "I really cannot believe he could be as cruel to anyone as he was to poor Wickham. He does not have an unkind look. Quite the opposite, there is something appealing about his mouth when he speaks. There is dignity in his face, but he does not seem like a man with a bad heart. Of course, the kind woman who showed us the house praised him tremendously! I nearly burst out laughing once or twice. But he seems to be a generous master. And in a servant's eyes, that one thing must mean every virtue."

Elizabeth now felt she must defend Darcy's conduct toward Wickham to some degree. So, as carefully as she could, she told her aunt and uncle that, according to what she had heard from his relatives in Kent, his conduct could be seen in a very different light. She told them that his character was not as full of faults as they had believed in Hertfordshire, and that Wickham was not nearly as pleasant a man as they had thought. As proof, she told them every detail of the money matters that had passed between the two men. She did not name her source, but she explained that it could be trusted.

Mrs. Gardiner was surprised and troubled. But they were now drawing near the place where she had once known so much pleasure, so every thought gave way to the charm of old memories. She was too busy pointing out one interesting spot after another to her husband to think of anything else. Tired as she was from the morning's walk, she went out again the moment supper was over to look for old acquaintances. She spent the evening in the pleasure of renewing friendships that had been broken off for many years.

The events of the day had been far too interesting. Elizabeth had almost no attention left for these new friends. She could do nothing but think again and again, with wonder, of the kindness Mr. Darcy had shown her, and above all, of his wish that she should know his sister.