Pride and Prejudice

Pemberley is a handsome stone house surrounded by natural beauty with “no artificial appearance” (229), and Elizabeth is impressed. The housekeeper, Mrs. Reynolds, gives them a tour. The rooms are elegant, not “gaudy nor uselessly fine” (229) like Rosings’s rooms. Elizabeth considers that she could have been mistress there; she finds consolation in the thought that she wouldn’t be allowed to invite the Gardiners.

Mrs. Reynolds speaks highly of Darcy, saying she “has never had a cross word from him in my life” and that he is the best master, is generous with the poor, and was “the sweetest-tempered, most generous-hearted boy in the world” (232). She also describes Darcy’s generosity toward his sister. Elizabeth ponders the significance of his servants’ praise. With “many people’s happiness […] in his guardianship,” it is “in his power to bestow” much “pleasure or pain” (234).

As they walk the grounds, they encounter Darcy. Elizabeth and Darcy blush and engage in awkward conversation. The Gardiners admire him; Elizabeth is “overpowered by shame and vexation” (235). She wonders at his ability to speak civilly to her and to ask after her family; she has never seen “such gentleness” in him. She wonders what he thinks of her, “whether, in defiance of every thing, she [is] still dear to him” (236).