“Only this;that if he is so,you can have no reason to suppose he will make an offer to me.”
“This is not to be borne.Miss Bennet,I insist on being satisfied. Has he,has my nephew,made you an offer of marriage?”
“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.”
“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.”
Lady Catherine hesitated for a moment,and then replied:
“But you are not entitled to know mine;nor will such behaviour as this,ever induce me to be explicit.”
“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.”
“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.”