“From Mr.Collins!and what can he have to say?”

“You look conscious.Young ladies have great penetration in such matters as these;but I think I may defy even your sagacity, to discover the name of your admirer.This letter is from Mr. Collins.”

The surprise of the rest of the family,on hearing who their visitor had been, was very great; but they obligingly satisfied it, with the same kind of supposition which had appeased Mrs.Bennet's curiosity; and Elizabeth was spared from much teasing on the subject.

In revolving Lady Catherine's expressions,however,she could not help feeling some uneasiness as to the possible consequence of her persisting in this interference.From what she had said of her resolution to prevent their marriage,it occurred to Elizabeth that she must meditate an application to her nephew; and how he might take a similar representation of the evils attached to a connection with her, she dared not pronounce. She knew not the exact degree of his affection for his aunt,or his dependence on her judgment,but it was natural to suppose that he thought much higher of her ladyship than she could do;and it was certain that,in enumerating the miseries of a marriage with one,whose immediate connections were so unequal to his own, his aunt would address him on his weakest side. With his notions of dignity, he would probably feel that the arguments, which to Elizabeth had appeared weak and ridiculous, contained much good sense and solid reasoning.