“Does that young lady know Mr.Darcy?”
“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.”
Elizabeth's mind was too full for conversation,but she saw and admired every remarkable spot and point of view.They gradually ascended for half-a-mile,and then found themselves at the top of a considerable eminence,where the wood ceased,and the eye was instantly caught by Pemberley House, situated on the opposite side of a valley,into which the road with some abruptness wound. It was a large,handsome stone building,standing well on rising ground,and backed by a ridge of high woody hills;and in front,a stream of some natural importance was swelled into greater,but without any artificial appearance.Its banks were neither formal nor falsely adorned.Elizabeth was delighted.She had never seen a place for which nature had done more,or where natural beauty had been so little counteracted by an awkward taste.They were all of them warm in their admiration;and at that moment she felt that to be mistress of Pemberley might be something!