Georgiana, a girl of fifteen.

When Elizabeth returned to Longbourn, she found it a relief to tell Jane
of Darcy's proposal, and of his revelation of Wickham's real character;
but she thought it best to suppress every particular of the letter in
which Jane herself was concerned.


_V.--An Elopement_


Some two months later Elizabeth went on a tour in Derbyshire with her
maternal uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner. The latter had lived for
some years at a town called Lambton, and wished to revisit her old
friends there; and as Pemberley--Mr. Darcy's seat--was only five miles
off, and was a show-place, the Gardiners determined to see it, though
their niece was reluctant to accompany them until she had learned that
its owner was not at home. As they were being shown over the place,
Elizabeth could not help reflecting that she might have been mistress of
it, and she listened with surprise as the old housekeeper told them that
she should never meet with a better master, that she had never had a
cross word from him in her life, that as a child he was always the
sweetest-tempered, most generous-hearted boy in the world, and that
there was not one of his tenants or servants but would testify to his
excellent qualities as a landlord and a master.

As they were walking across the lawn the owner of Pemberley himself
suddenly came forward from the road, and as if to justify the praises of
his housekeeper, and to show that he had taken to heart Elizabeth's
former complaints of his behaviour, proceeded to treat the Gardiner