Nodiver d.o.o. · Pride & Prejudice · page 436 of 640

Pride & Prejudice – page 436

JANE AUSTEN

but gratitudefor to love, ardent love, it must be

attributed; and as such its impression on her was of

a sort to be encouraged, as by no means unpleasing,

though it could not be exactly defined. She respected,

she esteemed, she was grateful to him, she felt a real

interest in his welfare; and she only wanted to know

how far she wished that welfare to depend upon herself,

and how far it would be for the happiness of both that

she should employ the power, which her fancy told her

she still possessed, of bringing on the renewal of his

addresses.

It had been settled in the evening between the aunt

and the niece, that such a striking civility as Miss

Darcy’s in coming to see them on the very day of her

arrival at Pemberley, for she had reached it only to a late

breakfast, ought to be imitated, though it could not be

equalled, by some exertion of politeness on their side;

and, consequently, that it would be highly expedient to

wait on her at Pemberley the following morning. They

were, therefore, to go. Elizabeth was pleased; though

when she asked herself the reason, she had very little

to say in reply.

Mr. Gardiner left them soon after breakfast. The

fishing scheme had been renewed the day before, and a

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