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“But now it comes out.”


CHAPTER LVII.

THE discomposure of spirits which this extraordinary visit threw

Elizabeth into could not be easily overcome; nor could she for many

hours learn to think of it less than incessantly. Lady Catherine, it

appeared, had actually taken the trouble of this journey from Rosings

for the sole purpose of breaking off her supposed engagement with Mr.

Darcy. It was a rational scheme, to be sure! but from what the report of

their engagement could originate, Elizabeth was at a loss to imagine;

till she recollected that his being the intimate friend of Bingley,

and her being the sister of Jane, was enough, at a time when the

expectation of one wedding made everybody eager for another, to supply

the idea. She had not herself forgotten to feel that the marriage of her

sister must bring them more frequently together. And her neighbours at

Lucas Lodge, therefore, (for through their{443} communication with the

Collinses, the report, she concluded, had reached Lady Catherine,) had

only set that down as almost certain and immediate which she had

looked forward to as possible at some future time.
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 the 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