{"id":"01KJRRE0T886KMTGF0CR542B1S","cid":"bafkreibeh7nksck4ekpfcx2iwd465msokh7v6aec27zdxo4ebfdoj4e7kq","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":691196,"char_start":683339,"chunk_index":96,"chunk_total":108,"estimated_tokens":1965,"label":"for my attentions to you last spring? Is nothing d","source_file_key":"pride-and-prejudice","text":"for 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. They are destined for each other by the voice of\r\nevery member of their respective houses; and what is to divide\r\nthem?--the upstart pretensions of a young woman without family,\r\nconnections, or fortune! Is this to be endured? But it must not, shall\r\nnot be! If you were sensible of your own good, you would not wish to\r\nquit the sphere in which you have been brought up.”\r\n\r\n“In marrying your nephew, I should not consider myself as quitting that\r\nsphere. He is a gentleman; I am a gentleman’s daughter; so far we are\r\nequal.”\r\n\r\n“True. You _are_ a gentleman’s daughter. But what was your mother? Who\r\nare your uncles and aunts? Do not imagine me ignorant of their\r\ncondition.”\r\n\r\n“Whatever my connections may be,” said Elizabeth, “if your nephew does\r\nnot object to them, they can be nothing to _you_.”\r\n\r\n“Tell me, once for all, are you engaged to him?”\r\n\r\nThough Elizabeth would not, for the mere purpose of obliging Lady\r\nCatherine, have answered this question, she could not but say, after a\r\nmoment’s deliberation,--\r\n\r\n“I am not.”\r\n\r\nLady Catherine seemed pleased.\r\n\r\n“And will you promise me never to enter into such an engagement?”\r\n\r\n“I will make no promise of the kind.”\r\n\r\n“Miss Bennet, I am shocked and astonished. I expected to find a more\r\nreasonable young woman. But do not deceive yourself into a belief that I\r\nwill ever recede. I shall not go away till you have given me the\r\nassurance I require.”\r\n\r\n“And I certainly _never_ shall give it. I am not to be intimidated into\r\nanything so wholly unreasonable. Your Ladyship wants Mr. Darcy to marry\r\nyour daughter; but would my giving you the wished-for promise make\r\n_their_ marriage at all more probable? Supposing him to be attached to\r\nme, would _my_ refusing to accept his hand make him wish to bestow it on\r\nhis cousin? Allow me to say, Lady Catherine, that the arguments with\r\nwhich you have supported this extraordinary application have been as\r\nfrivolous as the application was ill-judged. You have widely mistaken my\r\ncharacter, if you think I can be worked on by such persuasions as these.\r\nHow far your nephew might approve of your interference in _his_ affairs,\r\nI cannot tell; but you have certainly no right to concern yourself in\r\nmine. I must beg, therefore, to be importuned no further on the\r\nsubject.”\r\n\r\n“Not so hasty, if you please. I have by no means done. To all the\r\nobjections I have already urged I have still another to add. I am no\r\nstranger to the particulars of your youngest sister’s infamous\r\nelopement. I know it all; that the young man’s marrying her was a\r\npatched-up business, at the expense of your father and uncle. And is\r\n_such_ a girl to be my nephew’s sister? Is _her_ husband, who is the son\r\nof his late father’s steward, to be his brother? Heaven and earth!--of\r\nwhat are you thinking? Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?”\r\n\r\n“You can _now_ have nothing further to say,” she resentfully answered.\r\n“You have insulted me, in every possible method. I must beg to return to\r\nthe house.”\r\n\r\nAnd she rose as she spoke. Lady Catherine rose also, and they turned\r\nback. Her Ladyship was highly incensed.\r\n\r\n“You have no regard, then, for the honour and credit of my nephew!\r\nUnfeeling, selfish girl! Do you not consider that a connection with you\r\nmust disgrace him in the eyes of everybody?”\r\n\r\n“Lady Catherine, I have nothing further to say. You know my sentiments.”\r\n\r\n“You are then resolved to have him?”\r\n\r\n“I have said no such thing. I am only resolved to act in that manner,\r\nwhich will, in my own opinion, constitute my happiness, without\r\nreference to _you_, or to any person so wholly unconnected with me.”\r\n\r\n“It is well. You refuse, then, to oblige me. You refuse to obey the\r\nclaims of duty, honour, and gratitude. You are determined to ruin him in\r\nthe opinion of all his friends, and make him the contempt of the world.”\r\n\r\n“Neither duty, nor honour, nor gratitude,” replied Elizabeth, “has any\r\npossible claim on me, in the present instance. No principle of either\r\nwould be violated by my marriage with Mr. Darcy. And with regard to the\r\nresentment of his family, or the indignation of the world, if the former\r\n_were_ excited by his marrying me, it would not give me one moment’s\r\nconcern--and the world in general would have too much sense to join in\r\nthe scorn.”\r\n\r\n“And this is your real opinion! This is your final resolve! Very well. I\r\nshall now know how to act. Do not imagine, Miss Bennet, that your\r\nambition will ever be gratified. I came to try you. I hoped to find you\r\nreasonable; but depend upon it I will carry my point.”\r\n\r\nIn this manner Lady Catherine talked on till they were at the door of\r\nthe carriage, when, turning hastily round, she added,--\r\n\r\n“I take no leave of you, Miss Bennet. I send no compliments to your\r\nmother. You deserve no such attention. I am most seriously displeased.”\r\n\r\nElizabeth made no answer; and without attempting to persuade her\r\nLadyship to return into the house, walked quietly into it herself. She\r\nheard the carriage drive away as she proceeded upstairs. Her mother\r\nimpatiently met her at the door of her dressing-room, to ask why Lady\r\nCatherine would not come in again and rest herself.\r\n\r\n“She did not choose it,” said her daughter; “she would go.”\r\n\r\n“She is a very fine-looking woman! and her calling here was prodigiously\r\ncivil! for she only came, I suppose, to tell us the Collinses were well.\r\nShe is on her road somewhere, I dare say; and so, passing through\r\nMeryton, thought she might as well call on you. I suppose she had\r\nnothing particular to say to you, Lizzy?”\r\n\r\nElizabeth was forced to give in to a little falsehood here; for to\r\nacknowledge the substance of their conversation was impossible.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration:\r\n\r\n     “But now it comes out”\r\n]\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER LVII.\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration]\r\n\r\nThe discomposure of spirits which this extraordinary visit threw\r\nElizabeth into could not be easily overcome; nor could she for many\r\nhours learn to think of it less than incessantly. Lady Catherine, it\r\nappeared, had actually taken the trouble of this journey from Rosings\r\nfor the sole purpose of breaking off her supposed engagement with Mr.\r\nDarcy. It was a rational scheme, to be sure! but from what the report of\r\ntheir engagement could originate, Elizabeth was at a loss to imagine;\r\ntill she recollected that _his_ being the intimate friend of Bingley,\r\nand _her_ being the sister of Jane, was enough, at a time when the\r\nexpectation of one wedding made everybody eager for another, to supply\r\nthe idea. She had not herself forgotten to feel that the marriage of her\r\nsister must bring them more frequently together. And her neighbours at\r\nLucas Lodge, therefore, (for through their communication with the\r\nCollinses, the report, she concluded, had reached Lady Catherine,) had\r\nonly set _that_ down as almost certain and immediate which _she_ had\r\nlooked forward to as possible at some future time.\r\n\r\nIn revolving Lady Catherine’s expressions, however, she could not help\r\nfeeling some uneasiness as to the possible consequence of her persisting\r\nin this interference."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJRRD3TNE5A6AKAVXSRFT9RC","peer_label":"pride-and-prejudice","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJRRC2C7K6XERRJES8143XGV","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJRREZJBEM6MWHW485H9DS9F","peer_label":"mr darcy","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.290Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZKG263C7SQSDV3TZ5MX","peer_label":"elizabeth bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.290Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREY7G184NZ401P9V4JV87","peer_label":"lady catherine de bourgh","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.290Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZJ8A0QJK2TXKT8DT57S","peer_label":"pemberley","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"estate","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.290Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF2WSZTKE2V2YC4YMG4M4","peer_label":"bingley","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.290Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZGM87R12EADFF6YZZG3","peer_label":"jane bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.290Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF7KZJ4HY099E682KTSPW","peer_label":"lucas lodge","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"place","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.290Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF0QZTC5KJ63MKYZHD3F9","peer_label":"meryton","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"town","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.290Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF9M9V5J9NXFGXFNCFRQN","peer_label":"lady catherines daughter","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.290Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF9PHQ7QDPSTCFKGW911M","peer_label":"elizabeths youngest sister","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.290Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF9QKNZHEMC92W04XFKRD","peer_label":"elopement of elizabeths youngest sister","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"event","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.290Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF9P9VVB4JZ8NHQBGA8N6","peer_label":"elizabeths youngest sisters husband","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.290Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF9S39MW0G97C1R88KVJM","peer_label":"rosings","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"place","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.290Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF9Q2F75SN48YPX0XZ2ZH","peer_label":"lady catherines visit to elizabeth","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"event","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.290Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFA56JM3QEHN343GDAYWP","peer_label":"elizabeths supposed engagement to mr darcy","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.290Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFA837VPEKVHKXYD4KV6E","peer_label":"the collinses","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"family","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.290Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFA8TS34J30BWR3ET5247","peer_label":"chapter lvii","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"document_structure","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:45.290Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:01.384Z","ts":"2026-03-03T02:29:46.135Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}