{{prxprp327.jpg}} || PRIDE AND PREJUDICE 327 ||

she assured him, with some confusion, of her attachment to

Mr. Darcy.

'Or, in other words, you are determined to have him. He is

rich, to be sure, and you may have more fine clothes and fine

carriages than Jane. But will they make you happy?'

'Have you any other objection,' said Elizabeth, 'than your

belief of my indifference J '

'None at all. We all know him to be a proud, unpleasant

sort of man; but this would be nothing if you really liked him.'

'I do, I do like him,' she replied, with tears in her eyes; 'I love

him. Indeed he has no improper pride. He is perfectly amiable.

You do not know what he really is; then pray do not pain me by

speaking of him in such terms.'

'Lizzy,' said her father, 'I have given him my consent. He is

the kind of man, indeed, to whom I should never dare refuse

any thing, which he condescended to ask. I now give it to you,

if you are resolved on having him. But let me advise you to

think better of it. I know your disposition, Lizzy. I know

that you could be neither happy nor respectable, unless you truly

esteemed your husband; unless you looked up to him as a

superior. Your lively talents would place you in the greatest

danger in an unequal marriage. You could scarcely escape

discredit and misery. My child, let me not have the grief of

seeing you unable to respect your partner in life. You know not

what you are about.'

Elizabeth, still more affected, was earnest and solemn in her

reply; and at length, by repeated assurances that Mr. Darcy was

really the object of her choice, by explaining the gradual change

which her estimation of him had undergone, relating her absolute

certainty that his affection was not the work of a day, but had

stood the test of many months suspense, and enumerating with

energy all his good qualities, she did conquer her father's mcif

dulity, and reconcile him to the match.

'Well, my dear,' said he, when she ceased speaking, 'I have no

more to say. If this be the case, he deserves you. I could not

have parted with you, my Lizzy, to any one less worthy.' To

complete the favourable impression, she then told him what

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