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'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?'

'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 re-

plied,--

'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 accom-

plished, in their marriage, to be prevented by a young woman

of inferior birth, of no importance in the world, and wholly

unallied to the family! Do you pay no regard to the wishes of

his friends? To his tacit engagement with Miss de Bourgh?

Are you lost to every feeling of propriety and delicacy? Have

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