Mrs.Bennet assured her that they never sat there after dinner, and then added:
“How could I ever think her like her nephew?”said she,as she looked in her face.
“If you believed it impossible to be true,”said Elizabeth, colouring with astonishment and disdain,“I wonder you took the trouble of coming so far.What could your ladyship propose by it?”
“You can be at no loss,Miss Bennet, to understand the reason of my journey hither.Your own heart,your own conscience, must tell you why I come.”
“Miss Bennet,”replied her ladyship, in an angry tone,“you ought to know, that I am not to be trifled with. But however insincere you may choose to be, you shall not find me so. My character has ever been celebrated for its sincerity and frankness, and in a cause of such moment as this,I shall certainly not depart from it.A report of a most alarming nature reached me two days ago.I was told that not only your sister was on the point of being most advantageously married,but that you,that Miss Elizabeth Bennet,would,in all likelihood,be soon afterwards united to my nephew,my own nephew,Mr.Darcy.Though I know it must be a scandalous falsehood,though I would not injure him so much as to suppose the truth of it possible,I instantly resolved on setting off for this place,that I might make my sentiments known to you.”