visit in Gracechurch Street, and repeated conversations
occurring at different times between Jane and herself, which
proved that the former had, from her heart, given up the
acquaintance.

Mrs. Gardiner then rallied her niece on Wickham's desertion,
and complimented her on bearing it so well.

"But my dear Elizabeth," she added, "what sort of girl is Miss
King? I should be sorry to think our friend mercenary."

"Pray, my dear aunt, what is the difference in matrimonial
affairs, between the mercenary and the prudent motive? Where
does discretion end, and avarice begin? Last Christmas you
were afraid of his marrying me, because it would be imprudent;
and now, because he is trying to get a girl with only ten
thousand pounds, you want to find out that he is mercenary."

"If you will only tell me what sort of girl Miss King is, I shall
know what to think."

"She is a very good kind of girl, I believe. I know no harm of
her."

"But he paid her not the smallest attention till her grandfather's
death made her mistress of this fortune."

"No--what should he? If it were not allowable for him to gain
_my_ affections because I had no money, what occasion could
there be for making love to a girl whom he did not care about,
and who was equally poor?"

"But there seems an indelicacy in directing his attentions
towards her so soon after this event."

"A man in distressed circumstances has not time for all those
elegant decorums which other people may observe. If _she_ does
not object to it, why should _we_?"

"_Her_ not objecting does not justify _him_. It only shows her
being deficient in something herself--sense or feeling."

"Well," cried Elizabeth, "have it as you choose. _He_ shall be
mercenary, and _she_ shall be foolish."

"No, Lizzy, that is what I do _not_ choose. I should be sorry,
you know, to think ill of a young man who has lived so long in
Derbyshire."

"Oh! if that is all, I have a very poor opinion of young men
who live in Derbyshire; and their intimate friends who live
in Hertfordshire are not much better. I am sick of them all.
Thank Heaven! I am going to-morrow where I shall find a man
who has not one agreeable quality, who has neither manner nor
sense to recommend him. Stupid men are the only ones worth
knowing, after all."

"Take care, Lizzy; that speech savours strongly of disappointment."

Before they were separated by the conclusion of the play, she
had the unexpected happiness of an invitation to accompany her
uncle and aunt in a tour of pleasure which they proposed taking
in the summer.

"We have not determined how far it shall carry us," said Mrs.
Gardiner, "but, perhaps, to the Lakes."

No scheme could have been more agreeable to Elizabeth, and
her acceptance of the invitation was most ready and grateful.
"Oh, my dear, dear aunt," she rapturously cried, "what delight!
what felicity! You give me fresh life and vigour. Adieu to
disappointment and spleen. What are young men to rocks and
mountains? Oh! what hours of transport we shall spend! And
when we _do_ return, it shall not be like other travellers,
without being able to give one accurate idea of anything. We
_will_ know where we have gone--we _will_ recollect what we have
seen. Lakes, mountains, and rivers shall not be jumbled together
in our imaginations; nor when we attempt to describe any
particular scene, will we begin quarreling about its relative
situation. Let _our_ first effusions be less insupportable than
those of the generality of travellers."



Chapter 28


Every object in the next day's journey was new and interesting
to Elizabeth; and her spirits were in a state of enjoyment; for
she had seen her sister looking so well as to banish all fear for
her health, and the prospect of her northern tour was a constant
source of delight.

When they left the high road for the lane to Hunsford, every eye
was in search of the Parsonage, and every turning expected to
bring it in view. The palings of Rosings Park was their boundary
on one side. Elizabeth smiled at the recollection of all that she
had heard of its inhabitants.

At length the Parsonage was discernible. The garden sloping to


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