“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 sister were still partial to Bingley,and if she were,to make the confession to him which I have since made.”
“Was there no good in your affectionate behaviour to Jane while she was ill at Netherfield?”
“A man who had felt less,might.”
Mr. Darcy's letter to Lady Catherine was in a different style;and still different from either was what Mr.Bennet sent to Mr. Collins,in reply to his last.
“Yours sincerely,etc.”
“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.”
From an unwillingness to confess how much her intimacy with Mr.Darcy had been over-rated,Elizabeth had never yet answered Mrs.Gardiner's long letter;but now,having that to communicate which she knew would be most welcome,she was almost ashamed to find that her uncle and aunt had already lost three days of happiness,and immediately wrote as follows: