“Because you were grave and silent,and gave me no encouragement.”
“My beauty you had early withstood,and as for my manners―my behaviour to you was at least always bordering on the uncivil,and I never spoke to you without rather wishing to give you pain than not.Now be sincere;did you admire me for my impertinence?”
“For the liveliness of your mind,I did.”
“You might have talked to me more when you came to dinner.”
“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.”
“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 any opening of yours. My aunt's intelligence had given me hope,and I was determined at once to know every thing.”