Nodiver d.o.o. · Pride & Prejudice · page 422 of 640

Pride & Prejudice – page 422

JANE AUSTEN

and when they had reached the carriage, Mr. and

Mrs. Gardiner were half a quarter of a mile behind.

He then asked her to walk into the housebut she

declared herself not tired, and they stood together on

the lawn. At such a time much might have been said,

and silence was very awkward. She wanted to talk,

but there seemed to be an embargo on every subject.

At last she recollected that she had been travelling,

and they talked of Matlock and Dove Dale with great

perseverance. Yet time and her aunt moved slowlyand

her patience and her ideas were nearly worn out before

the tete-a-tete was over. On Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner’s

coming up they were all pressed to go into the house

and take some refreshment; but this was declined, and

they parted on each side with the utmost politeness.

Mr. Darcy handed the ladies into the carriage; and when

it drove off, Elizabeth saw him walking slowly towards

the house.

The observations of her uncle and aunt now began;

and each of them pronounced him to be infinitely

superior to anything they had expected. “He is perfectly

well behaved, polite, and unassuming,” said her uncle.

“There is something a little stately in him, to be sure,”

replied her aunt, “but it is confined to his air, and is not

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