Lady Catherine hesitated for a moment,and then replied:

“If I have,I shall be the last person to confess it.”

“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.”

“This is not to be borne.Miss Bennet,I insist on being satisfied. Has he,has my nephew,made you an offer of marriage?”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”