“My love,should not you like to see a place of which you have heard so much?”said her aunt;“a place,too,with which so many of your acquaintances are connected.Wickham passed all his youth there,you know.”

Elizabeth said no more―but her mind could not acquiesce. The possibility of meeting Mr. Darcy, while viewing the place, instantly occurred.It would be dreadful!She blushed at the very idea,and thought it would be better to speak openly to her aunt than to run such a risk. But against this there were objections;and she finally resolved that it could be the last resource,if her private inquiries to the absence of the family were unfavourably answered.