{"id":"01KJRRE0T827EEC7SBWSJAZZ0C","cid":"bafkreihnxsiaj4gfpvoxcyvrxln2oonbhgqgziyrl45uzbwta3uourds6a","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":684106,"char_start":676181,"chunk_index":95,"chunk_total":108,"estimated_tokens":1982,"label":"“You have a very small park here,” returned Lady","source_file_key":"pride-and-prejudice","text":"\r\n“You have a very small park here,” returned Lady Catherine, after a\r\nshort silence.\r\n\r\n“It is nothing in comparison of Rosings, my Lady, I dare say; but, I\r\nassure you, it is much larger than Sir William Lucas’s.”\r\n\r\n“This must be a most inconvenient sitting-room for the evening in\r\nsummer: the windows are full west.”\r\n\r\nMrs. Bennet assured her that they never sat there after dinner; and then\r\nadded,--\r\n\r\n“May I take the liberty of asking your Ladyship whether you left Mr. and\r\nMrs. Collins well?”\r\n\r\n“Yes, very well. I saw them the night before last.”\r\n\r\nElizabeth now expected that she would produce a letter for her from\r\nCharlotte, as it seemed the only probable motive for her calling. But no\r\nletter appeared, and she was completely puzzled.\r\n\r\nMrs. Bennet, with great civility, begged her Ladyship to take some\r\nrefreshment: but Lady Catherine very resolutely, and not very politely,\r\ndeclined eating anything; and then, rising up, said to Elizabeth,--\r\n\r\n“Miss Bennet, there seemed to be a prettyish kind of a little wilderness\r\non one side of your lawn. I should be glad to take a turn in it, if you\r\nwill favour me with your company.”\r\n\r\n“Go, my dear,” cried her mother, “and show her Ladyship about the\r\ndifferent walks. I think she will be pleased with the hermitage.”\r\n\r\nElizabeth obeyed; and, running into her own room for her parasol,\r\nattended her noble guest downstairs. As they passed through the hall,\r\nLady Catherine opened the doors into the dining-parlour and\r\ndrawing-room, and pronouncing them, after a short survey, to be\r\ndecent-looking rooms, walked on.\r\n\r\nHer carriage remained at the door, and Elizabeth saw that her\r\nwaiting-woman was in it. They proceeded in silence along the gravel walk\r\nthat led to the copse; Elizabeth was determined to make no effort for\r\nconversation with a woman who was now more than usually insolent and\r\ndisagreeable.\r\n\r\n[Illustration:\r\n\r\n“After a short survey”\r\n\r\n[_Copyright 1894 by George Allen._]]\r\n\r\n“How could I ever think her like her nephew?” said she, as she looked in\r\nher face.\r\n\r\nAs soon as they entered the copse, Lady Catherine began in the following\r\nmanner:--\r\n\r\n“You can be at no loss, Miss Bennet, to understand the reason of my\r\njourney hither. Your own heart, your own conscience, must tell you why I\r\ncome.”\r\n\r\nElizabeth looked with unaffected astonishment.\r\n\r\n“Indeed, you are mistaken, madam; I have not been at all able to account\r\nfor the honour of seeing you here.”\r\n\r\n“Miss Bennet,” replied her Ladyship, in an angry tone, “you ought to\r\nknow that I am not to be trifled with. But however insincere _you_ may\r\nchoose to be, you shall not find _me_ so. My character has ever been\r\ncelebrated for its sincerity and frankness; and in a cause of such\r\nmoment as this, I shall certainly not depart from it. A report of a most\r\nalarming nature reached me two days ago. I was told, that not only your\r\nsister was on the point of being most advantageously married, but that\r\n_you_--that Miss Elizabeth Bennet would, in all likelihood, be soon\r\nafterwards united to my nephew--my own nephew, Mr. Darcy. Though I\r\n_know_ it must be a scandalous falsehood, though I would not injure him\r\nso much as to suppose the truth of it possible, I instantly resolved on\r\nsetting off for this place, that I might make my sentiments known to\r\nyou.”\r\n\r\n“If you believed it impossible to be true,” said Elizabeth, colouring\r\nwith astonishment and disdain, “I wonder you took the trouble of coming\r\nso far. What could your Ladyship propose by it?”\r\n\r\n“At once to insist upon having such a report universally contradicted.”\r\n\r\n“Your coming to Longbourn, to see me and my family,” said Elizabeth\r\ncoolly, “will be rather a confirmation of it--if, indeed, such a report\r\nis in existence.”\r\n\r\n“If! do you then pretend to be ignorant of it? Has it not been\r\nindustriously circulated by yourselves? Do you not know that such a\r\nreport is spread abroad?”\r\n\r\n“I never heard that it was.”\r\n\r\n“And can you likewise declare, that there is no _foundation_ for it?”\r\n\r\n“I do not pretend to possess equal frankness with your Ladyship. _You_\r\nmay ask questions which _I_ shall not choose to answer.”\r\n\r\n“This is not to be borne. Miss Bennet, I insist on being satisfied. Has\r\nhe, has my nephew, made you an offer of marriage?”\r\n\r\n“Your Ladyship has declared it to be impossible.”\r\n\r\n“It ought to be so; it must be so, while he retains the use of his\r\nreason. But _your_ arts and allurements may, in a moment of infatuation,\r\nhave made him forget what he owes to himself and to all his family. You\r\nmay have drawn him in.”\r\n\r\n“If I have, I shall be the last person to confess it.”\r\n\r\n“Miss Bennet, do you know who I am? I have not been accustomed to such\r\nlanguage as this. I am almost the nearest relation he has in the world,\r\nand am entitled to know all his dearest concerns.”\r\n\r\n“But you are not entitled to know _mine_; nor will such behaviour as\r\nthis ever induce me to be explicit.”\r\n\r\n“Let me be rightly understood. This match, to which you have the\r\npresumption to aspire, can never take place. No, never. Mr. Darcy is\r\nengaged to _my daughter_. Now, what have you to say?”\r\n\r\n“Only this,--that if he is so, you can have no reason to suppose he will\r\nmake an offer to me.”\r\n\r\nLady Catherine hesitated for a moment, and then replied,--\r\n\r\n“The engagement between them is of a peculiar kind. From their infancy,\r\nthey have been intended for each other. It was the favourite wish of\r\n_his_ mother, as well as of hers. While in their cradles we planned the\r\nunion; and now, at the moment when the wishes of both sisters would be\r\naccomplished, is their marriage to be prevented by a young woman of\r\ninferior birth, of no importance in the world, and wholly unallied to\r\nthe family? Do you pay no regard to the wishes of his friends--to his\r\ntacit engagement with Miss de Bourgh? Are you lost to every feeling of\r\npropriety and delicacy? Have you not heard me say, that from his\r\nearliest hours he was destined for his cousin?”\r\n\r\n“Yes; and I had heard it before. But what is that to me? If there is no\r\nother objection to my marrying your nephew, I shall certainly not be\r\nkept from it by knowing that his mother and aunt wished him to marry\r\nMiss de Bourgh. You both did as much as you could in planning the\r\nmarriage. Its completion depended on others. If Mr. Darcy is neither by\r\nhonour nor inclination confined to his cousin, why is not he to make\r\nanother choice? And if I am that choice, why may not I accept him?”\r\n\r\n“Because honour, decorum, prudence--nay, interest--forbid it. Yes, Miss\r\nBennet, interest; for do not expect to be noticed by his family or\r\nfriends, if you wilfully act against the inclinations of all. You will\r\nbe censured, slighted, and despised, by everyone connected with him.\r\nYour alliance will be a disgrace; your name will never even be mentioned\r\nby any of us.”\r\n\r\n“These are heavy misfortunes,” replied Elizabeth. “But the wife of Mr.\r\nDarcy must have such extraordinary sources of happiness necessarily\r\nattached to her situation, that she could, upon the whole, have no cause\r\nto repine.”\r\n\r\n“Obstinate, headstrong girl! I am ashamed of you! Is this your gratitude\r\nfor my attentions to you last spring? Is nothing due to me on that\r\nscore? Let us sit down. You are to understand, Miss Bennet, that I came\r\nhere with the determined resolution of carrying my purpose; nor will I\r\nbe dissuaded from it. I have not been used to submit to any person’s\r\nwhims. I have not been in the habit of brooking disappointment.”\r\n\r\n“_That_ will make your Ladyship’s situation at present more pitiable;\r\nbut it will have no effect on _me_.”\r\n\r\n“I will not be interrupted! Hear me in silence. My daughter and my\r\nnephew are formed for each other. They are descended, on the maternal\r\nside, from the same noble line; and, on the father’s, from respectable,\r\nhonourable, and ancient, though untitled, families. Their fortune on\r\nboth sides is splendid."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJRRD3TNE5A6AKAVXSRFT9RC","peer_label":"pride-and-prejudice","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJRRC2C7K6XERRJES8143XGV","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJRRF826ZSJSKKBWG7SK2KSN","peer_label":"rosings","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"estate","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:55.876Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYT564P5405ZE4Q76ZF5","peer_label":"mrs bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:55.876Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZFDNHD81TMSJQPDWV69","peer_label":"charlotte lucas","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:55.876Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYTMYM5H9026MPV0AJMX","peer_label":"sir william lucas","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:55.876Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREY6ZWGAT4FYVDEM6VE2E","peer_label":"mr collins","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:55.876Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREY7G184NZ401P9V4JV87","peer_label":"lady catherine de bourgh","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:55.876Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZKG263C7SQSDV3TZ5MX","peer_label":"elizabeth bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:55.876Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZJBEM6MWHW485H9DS9F","peer_label":"mr darcy","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:55.876Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF7VA665FKK6CM48CN8K0","peer_label":"longbourn","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"estate","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:55.876Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF111GQ37KKZWSA5T7428","peer_label":"miss de bourgh","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:55.876Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFKWADX4HG6391J47BSNK","peer_label":"rumor of elizabeth and darcys marriage","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"event_or_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:55.876Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFKW9MQ5NWJG45S54Y1HY","peer_label":"intended engagement of darcy and miss de bourgh","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"event_or_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:55.876Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:01.384Z","ts":"2026-03-03T02:29:56.556Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}