{"id":"01KJRRE0PHBWQ2HYRAVYPTZ24H","cid":"bafkreicjme2rh3xugkz5cpy27oews3nx427jj42xn53wdy7uqezq2xw3he","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":384529,"char_start":376957,"chunk_index":53,"chunk_total":108,"estimated_tokens":1893,"label":"She answered him with cold civility. He sat down f","source_file_key":"pride-and-prejudice","text":"She answered him with cold civility. He sat down for a few moments, and\r\nthen getting up walked about the room. Elizabeth was surprised, but\r\nsaid not a word. After a silence of several minutes, he came towards her\r\nin an agitated manner, and thus began:--\r\n\r\n“In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be\r\nrepressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love\r\nyou.”\r\n\r\nElizabeth’s astonishment was beyond expression. She stared, coloured,\r\ndoubted, and was silent. This he considered sufficient encouragement,\r\nand the avowal of all that he felt and had long felt for her immediately\r\nfollowed. He spoke well; but there were feelings besides those of the\r\nheart to be detailed, and he was not more eloquent on the subject of\r\ntenderness than of pride. His sense of her inferiority, of its being a\r\ndegradation, of the family obstacles which judgment had always opposed\r\nto inclination, were dwelt on with a warmth which seemed due to the\r\nconsequence he was wounding, but was very unlikely to recommend his\r\nsuit.\r\n\r\nIn spite of her deeply-rooted dislike, she could not be insensible to\r\nthe compliment of such a man’s affection, and though her intentions did\r\nnot vary for an instant, she was at first sorry for the pain he was to\r\nreceive; till roused to resentment by his subsequent language, she lost\r\nall compassion in anger. She tried, however, to compose herself to\r\nanswer him with patience, when he should have done. He concluded with\r\nrepresenting to her the strength of that attachment which in spite of\r\nall his endeavours he had found impossible to conquer; and with\r\nexpressing his hope that it would now be rewarded by her acceptance of\r\nhis hand. As he said this she could easily see that he had no doubt of a\r\nfavourable answer. He _spoke_ of apprehension and anxiety, but his\r\ncountenance expressed real security. Such a circumstance could only\r\nexasperate farther; and when he ceased the colour rose into her cheeks\r\nand she said,--\r\n\r\n“In such cases as this, it is, I believe, the established mode to\r\nexpress a sense of obligation for the sentiments avowed, however\r\nunequally they may be returned. It is natural that obligation should be\r\nfelt, and if I could _feel_ gratitude, I would now thank you. But I\r\ncannot--I have never desired your good opinion, and you have certainly\r\nbestowed it most unwillingly. I am sorry to have occasioned pain to\r\nanyone. It has been most unconsciously done, however, and I hope will be\r\nof short duration. The feelings which you tell me have long prevented\r\nthe acknowledgment of your regard can have little difficulty in\r\novercoming it after this explanation.”\r\n\r\nMr. Darcy, who was leaning against the mantel-piece with his eyes fixed\r\non her face, seemed to catch her words with no less resentment than\r\nsurprise. His complexion became pale with anger, and the disturbance of\r\nhis mind was visible in every feature. He was struggling for the\r\nappearance of composure, and would not open his lips till he believed\r\nhimself to have attained it. The pause was to Elizabeth’s feelings\r\ndreadful. At length, in a voice of forced calmness, he said,--\r\n\r\n“And this is all the reply which I am to have the honour of expecting! I\r\nmight, perhaps, wish to be informed why, with so little _endeavour_ at\r\ncivility, I am thus rejected. But it is of small importance.”\r\n\r\n“I might as well inquire,” replied she, “why, with so evident a design\r\nof offending and insulting me, you chose to tell me that you liked me\r\nagainst your will, against your reason, and even against your character?\r\nWas not this some excuse for incivility, if I _was_ uncivil? But I have\r\nother provocations. You know I have. Had not my own feelings decided\r\nagainst you, had they been indifferent, or had they even been\r\nfavourable, do you think that any consideration would tempt me to accept\r\nthe man who has been the means of ruining, perhaps for ever, the\r\nhappiness of a most beloved sister?”\r\n\r\nAs she pronounced these words, Mr. Darcy changed colour; but the emotion\r\nwas short, and he listened without attempting to interrupt her while she\r\ncontinued,--\r\n\r\n“I have every reason in the world to think ill of you. No motive can\r\nexcuse the unjust and ungenerous part you acted _there_. You dare not,\r\nyou cannot deny that you have been the principal, if not the only means\r\nof dividing them from each other, of exposing one to the censure of the\r\nworld for caprice and instability, the other to its derision for\r\ndisappointed hopes, and involving them both in misery of the acutest\r\nkind.”\r\n\r\nShe paused, and saw with no slight indignation that he was listening\r\nwith an air which proved him wholly unmoved by any feeling of remorse.\r\nHe even looked at her with a smile of affected incredulity.\r\n\r\n“Can you deny that you have done it?” she repeated.\r\n\r\nWith assumed tranquillity he then replied, “I have no wish of denying\r\nthat I did everything in my power to separate my friend from your\r\nsister, or that I rejoice in my success. Towards _him_ I have been\r\nkinder than towards myself.”\r\n\r\nElizabeth disdained the appearance of noticing this civil reflection,\r\nbut its meaning did not escape, nor was it likely to conciliate her.\r\n\r\n“But it is not merely this affair,” she continued, “on which my dislike\r\nis founded. Long before it had taken place, my opinion of you was\r\ndecided. Your character was unfolded in the recital which I received\r\nmany months ago from Mr. Wickham. On this subject, what can you have to\r\nsay? In what imaginary act of friendship can you here defend yourself?\r\nor under what misrepresentation can you here impose upon others?”\r\n\r\n“You take an eager interest in that gentleman’s concerns,” said Darcy,\r\nin a less tranquil tone, and with a heightened colour.\r\n\r\n“Who that knows what his misfortunes have been can help feeling an\r\ninterest in him?”\r\n\r\n“His misfortunes!” repeated Darcy, contemptuously,--“yes, his\r\nmisfortunes have been great indeed.”\r\n\r\n“And of your infliction,” cried Elizabeth, with energy; “You have\r\nreduced him to his present state of poverty--comparative poverty. You\r\nhave withheld the advantages which you must know to have been designed\r\nfor him. You have deprived the best years of his life of that\r\nindependence which was no less his due than his desert. You have done\r\nall this! and yet you can treat the mention of his misfortunes with\r\ncontempt and ridicule.”\r\n\r\n“And this,” cried Darcy, as he walked with quick steps across the room,\r\n“is your opinion of me! This is the estimation in which you hold me! I\r\nthank you for explaining it so fully. My faults, according to this\r\ncalculation, are heavy indeed! But, perhaps,” added he, stopping in his\r\nwalk, and turning towards her, “these offences might have been\r\noverlooked, had not your pride been hurt by my honest confession of the\r\nscruples that had long prevented my forming any serious design. These\r\nbitter accusations might have been suppressed, had I, with greater\r\npolicy, concealed my struggles, and flattered you into the belief of my\r\nbeing impelled by unqualified, unalloyed inclination; by reason, by\r\nreflection, by everything. But disguise of every sort is my abhorrence.\r\nNor am I ashamed of the feelings I related. They were natural and just.\r\nCould you expect me to rejoice in the inferiority of your\r\nconnections?--to congratulate myself on the hope of relations whose\r\ncondition in life is so decidedly beneath my own?”\r\n\r\nElizabeth felt herself growing more angry every moment; yet she tried to\r\nthe utmost to speak with composure when she said,--\r\n\r\n“You are mistaken, Mr."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJRRD3TNE5A6AKAVXSRFT9RC","peer_label":"pride-and-prejudice","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJRRC2C7K6XERRJES8143XGV","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJRREZKG263C7SQSDV3TZ5MX","peer_label":"elizabeth bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:44.548Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYS51T78NJZ45CYXSXS9","peer_label":"george wickham","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:44.548Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF8YRSZ4H4ZQZ9PNGGHTE","peer_label":"fitzwilliam darcy","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:44.548Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF8YK7DDQXCZ245SC1EN8","peer_label":"elizabeth bennets beloved sister","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:44.548Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF8YQRT50H6G5R51RFJ0J","peer_label":"darcys unnamed friend","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:44.548Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF91W2D6TQGCSEH9FPSB3","peer_label":"elizabeth bennets family connections","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"social_group","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:44.548Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF91FSXY58WAGPWJ4XXP3","peer_label":"darcys marriage proposal to elizabeth","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"event","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:44.548Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF92AG2DC5EZM19DYQHST","peer_label":"mr wickhams financial hardship","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"condition","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:44.548Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF9G2RVDR3KZV32519XNE","peer_label":"elizabeth bennets rejection speech","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"event","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:44.548Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:01.265Z","ts":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.344Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}