Darcy
must have such extraordinary sources of happiness necessarily attached to her
situation, that she could, upon the whole, have no cause to repine.«
    »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.«
    »Miss Bennet I am shocked and astonished. I expected to find a more
reasonable young woman. But do not deceive yourself into