{{prxprp331.jpg}} || PRIDE AND PREJUDICE 331 ||

your protection, and you are to exaggerate them as much as

possible; and, in return, it belongs to me to find occasions for

teasing and quarrelling with you as often as may be; and I shall

begin directly, by asking you what made you so unwilling to

come to the point at last. What made you so shy of me when

you first called, and afterwards dined here? Why, especially,

when you called, did you look as if you did not care about me?'

'Because you were grave and silent, and gave me no encourage^

ment.'

'But I was embarrassed.'

'And so was I.'

'You might have talked to me more when you came to dinner.'

'A man who had felt less might.'

'How unlucky that you should have a reasonable answer to

give, and that I should be so reasonable as to admit it! But I

wonder how long you would have gone on if you had been left

to yourself! I wonder when you would have spoken, if I had not

asked you! My resolution of thanking you for your kindness to

Lydia had certainly great effect. Too much I am afraid; for what

becomes of the moral, if our comfort springs from a breach of

promise, for I ought not to have mentioned the subject? This

will never do.'

'You need not distress yourself. The moral will be perfectly

fair. Lady Catherine's unjustifiable endeavours to separate us

were the means of removing all my doubts. I am not indebted

for my present happiness to your eager desire of expressing your

gratitude. I was not in a humour to wait for an opening of

yours. My aunt's intelligence had given me hope, and I was

determined at once to know every thing.'

'Lady Catherine has been of infinite use, which ought to

make her happy, for she loves to be of use. But tell me, what

did you come down to Netherfield for? Was it merely to ride

to Longbourn, and be embarrassed? or had you intended any

more serious consequences?'

'My real purpose was to see you, and to judge, if I could,

whether I might ever hope to make you love me. My avowed

one, or what I avowed to myself, was to see whether your sisxei

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