PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 60

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ELIZABETH'S spirits
soon rising to playfulness again, she wanted Mr. Darcy to account for
his having ever fallen in love with her. "How could you begin?" said
she. "I can comprehend your going on charmingly, when you had once made
a beginning; but what could set you off in the first place?"

"I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look, or the words, which
laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I
knew that I had begun."

"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 may as well call it impertinence at once. It was very little
  less. The fact is, that you were sick of civility, of deference, of
  officious attention. You were disgusted with the women who were always
  speaking, and looking, and thinking for your approbation alone. I roused,
  and interested you, because I was so unlike them. Had you not been really
  amiable, you would have hated me for it; but in spite of the pains you
  took to disguise yourself, your feelings were always noble and just;
  and in your heart, you thoroughly despised the persons who so assiduously
  courted you. There -- I have saved you the trouble of accounting for
  it; and really, all things considered, I begin to think it perfectly
  reasonable. To be sure, you knew no actual good of me -- but nobody
  thinks of that when they fall in love."

"Was there no good in your affectionate behaviour to Jane while she
  was ill at Netherfield?"

"Dearest Jane! who could have done less for her? But make a virtue
  of it by all means. My good qualities are under your protection, and
  you are to exaggerate them as much as possible; and, in return, it belongs
  to me to find occasions for teazing 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 encouragement."

"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 any opening of your's. 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 consequence?"

"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."

"Shall you ever have courage to announce to Lady Catherine what is
  to befall her?"

"I am more likely to want more time than courage, Elizabeth. But
  it ought to done, and if you will give me a sheet of paper, it shall
  be done directly."

"And if I had not a letter to write myself, I might sit by you and
  admire the evenness of your writing, as another young lady once did.
  But I have an aunt, too, who must not be longer neglected."

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:

"I would have thanked you before, my dear aunt, as I ought to have
  done, for your long, kind, satisfactory, detail of particulars; but
  to say the truth, I was too cross to write. You supposed more than really
  existed. But now suppose as much as you chuse; give a loose to your
  fancy, indulge your imagination in every possible flight which the subject
  will afford, and unless you believe me actually married, you cannot
  greatly err. You must write again very soon, and praise him a great
  deal more than you did in your last. I thank you, again and again, for
  not going to the Lakes. How could I be so silly as to wish it! Your
  idea of the ponies is delightful. We will go round the Park every day.
  I am the happiest creature in the world. Perhaps other people have said
  so before, but not one with such justice. I am happier even than Jane;
  she only smiles, I laugh. Mr. Darcy sends you all the love in the world
  that he can spare from me. You are all to come to Pemberley at Christmas.
  Your's,

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1. Ebooks list page : 81
2. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 58
3. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 44
4. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 42
5. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 41
6. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 40
7. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 39
8. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 38
9. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 11
10. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 12
11. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 45
12. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 46
13. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 49
14. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 57
15. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 56
16. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Chapter 55