coolly, “will be rather a confirmation of it—if, indeed, such a report

is in existence.”
“If! do you then pretend to be ignorant of it? Has it not been

industriously circulated by yourselves? Do you not know that such a

report is spread abroad?”
“I never heard that it was.”
“And can you likewise declare, that there is no foundation for it?”
“I do not pretend to possess equal frankness with your Ladyship. You

may ask questions which I shall not choose to answer.”
“This is not to be borne. Miss Bennet, I insist on being satisfied. Has

he, has my nephew, made you an offer of marriage?”
“Your Ladyship has declared it to be impossible.”
“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.”
“If I have, I shall be the last person to confess it.”
“Miss Bennet, do you know who I am? I have not been accustomed to such

language as this. I am almost the nearest relation he has in the world,

and am entitled to know all his dearest concerns.”
“But you are not entitled to know mine; nor will such behaviour as

this ever induce me to be explicit.”
“Let me be rightly understood. This match, to which you have the

presumption to aspire, can never take place. No, never. Mr. Darcy is

engaged to my daughter. Now, what have you to say?{437}”
“Only this,—that if he is so, you can have no reason to suppose he will

make an offer to me.”
Lady Catherine hesitated for a moment, and then replied,—
“The engagement between them is of a peculiar kind. From their infancy,

they have been intended for each other. It was the favourite wish of

his mother, as well as of hers. While in their cradles we planned the

union; and now, at the moment when the wishes of both sisters would be

accomplished, is their marriage to be prevented by a young woman of