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.{316}
“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 unbecoming. I can now

say with the housekeeper, that though some people may call him proud,

I have seen nothing of it.”
“I was never more surprised than by his behaviour to us. It was more

than civil; it was really attentive; and there was no necessity for such

attention. His acquaintance with Elizabeth was very trifling.”
“To be sure, Lizzy,” said her aunt, “he is not so handsome as Wickham;

or rather he has not Wickham’s countenance, for his features are

perfectly good. But how came you to tell us that he was so

disagreeable?”
Elizabeth excused herself as well as she could: said that she had liked

him better when they met in Kent than before, and that she had never

seen him so pleasant as this morning.
“But perhaps he may be a little whimsical in his civilities,” replied

her uncle. “Your great men often are; and therefore I shall not take him

at his word about fishing, as he might change his mind another day, and

warn me off his grounds.”
Elizabeth felt that they had entirely mistaken his character, but said

nothing.
“From what we have seen of him,” continued Mrs. Gardiner, “I really

should not have thought that he could have behaved in so cruel a way by

anybody as he has done by poor Wickham. He has not an ill-natured look.

On the contrary, there is something pleasing about his mouth when he

speaks. And there is something of dignity in his countenance, that would

not give one an{317} unfavourable idea of his heart. But, to be sure, the