第131章

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.”

    “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?”