trifled with. But however insincere YOU may choose to be, you shall not find ME so. My
251
character has ever been celebrated for its sincerity and frankness, and in a cause of such moment
as this, I shall certainly not depart from it. A report of a most alarming nature reached me two
days ago. I was told that not only your sister was on the point of being most advantageously
married, but that you, that Miss Elizabeth Bennet, would, in all likelihood, be soon afterwards
united to my nephew, my own nephew, Mr. Darcy. Though I KNOW it must be a scandalous
falsehood, though I would not injure him so much as to suppose the truth of it possible, I
instantly resolved on setting off for this place, that I might make my sentiments known to you."
"If you believed it impossible to be true," said Elizabeth, colouring with astonishment and
disdain, "I wonder you took the trouble of coming so far. What could your ladyship propose by
it?"
"At once to insist upon having such a report universally contradicted."
"Your coming to Longbourn, to see me and my family," said Elizabeth coolly, "will be rather a
confirmation of it; if, indeed, such a report is in existence."
"If! Do you then pretend to be ignorant of it? Has it not been industriously circulated by
yourselves? Do you not know that such a report is spread abroad?"
"I never heard that it was."
"And can you likewise declare, that there is no foundation for it?"
"I do not pretend to possess equal frankness with your ladyship. You may ask questions which I
shall not choose to answer."
"This is not to be borne. Miss Bennet, I insist on being satisfied. Has he, has my nephew, made
you an offer of marriage?"
"Your ladyship has declared it to be impossible."
"It ought to be so; it must be so, while he retains the use of his reason. But your arts and
allurements may, in a moment of infatuation, have made him forget what he owes to himself and
to all his family. You may have drawn him in."
"If I have, I shall be the last person to confess it."
252
"Miss Bennet, do you know who I am? I have not been accustomed to such language as this. I
am almost the nearest relation he has in the world, and am entitled to know all his dearest
concerns."
"But you are not entitled to know mine; nor will such behaviour as this, ever induce me to be
explicit."
"Let me be rightly understood. This match, to which you have the presumption to aspire, can
never take place. No, never. Mr. Darcy is engaged to my daughter. Now what have you to say?"
"Only this; that if he is so, you can have no reason to suppose he will make an offer to me."
Lady Catherine hesitated for a moment, and then replied:
"The engagement between them is of a peculiar kind. From their infancy, they have been
intended for each other. It was the favourite wish of HIS mother, as well as of her's. While in
their cradles, we planned the union: and now, at the moment when the wishes of both sisters
would be accomplished in their marriage, to be prevented by a young woman of inferior birth, of
no importance in the world, and wholly unallied to the family! Do you pay no regard to the
wishes of his friends? To his tacit engagement with Miss de Bourgh? Are you lost to every
feeling of propriety and delicacy? Have you not heard me say that from his earliest hours he was
destined for his cousin?"
"Yes, and I had heard it before. But what is that to me? If there is no other objection to my
marrying your nephew, I shall certainly not be kept from it by knowing that his mother and aunt
wished him to marry Miss de Bourgh. You both did as much as you could in planning the
marriage. Its completion depended on others. If Mr. Darcy is neither by honour nor inclination
confined to his cousin, why is not he to make another choice? And if I am that choice, why may
not I accept him?"
"Because honour, decorum, prudence, nay, interest, forbid it. Yes, Miss Bennet, interest; for do
not expect to be noticed by his family or friends, if you wilfully act against the inclinations of all.
You will be censured, slighted, and despised, by everyone connected with him. Your alliance
will be a disgrace; your name will never even be mentioned by any of us."
"These are heavy misfortunes," replied Elizabeth. "But the wife of Mr. Darcy must have such
extraordinary sources of happiness necessarily attached to her situation, that she could, upon the
whole, have no cause to repine."
253
"Obstinate, headstrong girl! I am ashamed of you! Is this your gratitude for my attentions to you
last spring? Is nothing due to me on that score? Let us sit down. You are to understand, Miss
Bennet, that I came here with the determined resolution of carrying my purpose; nor will I be
dissuaded from it. I have not been used to submit to any person's whims. I have not been in the
habit of brooking disappointment."
"THAT will make your ladyship's situation at present more pitiable; but it will have no effect on
me."
"I will not be interrupted. Hear me in silence. My daughter and my nephew are formed for each
other. They are descended, on the maternal side, from the same noble line; and, on the father's,
from respectable, honourable, and ancient—though untitled—families. Their fortune on both
sides is splendid. They are destined for each other by the voice of every member of their
respective houses; and what is to divide them? The upstart pretensions of a young woman
without family, connections, or fortune. Is this to be endured! But it must not, shall not be. If you
were sensible of your own good, you would not wish to quit the sphere in which you have been
brought up."
"In marrying your nephew, I should not consider myself as quitting that sphere. He is a
gentleman; I am a gentleman's daughter; so far we are equal."
"True. You ARE a gentleman's daughter. But who was your mother? Who are your uncles and
aunts? Do not imagine me ignorant of their condition."
"Whatever my connections may be," said Elizabeth, "if your nephew does not object to them,
they can be nothing to YOU."
"Tell me once for all, are you engaged to him?"
Though Elizabeth would not, for the mere purpose of obliging Lady Catherine, have answered
this question, she could not but say, after a moment's deliberation:
"I am not."
Lady Catherine seemed pleased.
"And will you promise me, never to enter into such an engagement?"
"I will make no promise of the kind."
254
"Miss Bennet I am shocked and astonished. I expected to find a more reasonable young woman.
But do not deceive yourself into a belief that I will ever recede. I shall not go away till you have