“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?”
During their walk, it was resolved that Mr. Bennet's consent should be asked in the course of the evening.Elizabeth reserved to herself the application for her mother's. She could not determine how her mother would take it; sometimes doubting whether all his wealth and grandeur would be enough to overcome her abhorrence of the man. But whether she were violently set against the match, or violently delighted with it, it was certain that her manner would be equally ill adapted to do credit to her sense; and she could no more bear that Mr. Darcy should hear the first raptures of her joy, than the first vehemence of her disapprobation.
“Lizzy,”said her father,“I have given him my consent. He is the kind of man, indeed, to whom I should never dare refuse anything,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.”