Nodiver d.o.o. · Pride & Prejudice · page 323 of 640

Pride & Prejudice – page 323

Pride and Prejudice

his life of that independence which was no less his due

than his desert. You have done all this! and yet you can

treat the mention of his misfortune with contempt and

ridicule.”

“And this,” cried Darcy, as he walked with quick

steps across the room, “is your opinion of me! This

is the estimation in which you hold me! I thank you

for explaining it so fully. My faults, according to this

calculation, are heavy indeed! But perhaps,” added he,

stopping in his walk, and turning towards her, “these

offenses might have been overlooked, had not your

pride been hurt by my honest confession of the scruples

that had long prevented my forming any serious design.

These bitter accusations might have been suppressed,

had I, with greater policy, concealed my struggles,

and flattered you into the belief of my being impelled

by unqualified, unalloyed inclination; by reason, by

reflection, by everything. But disguise of every sort is

my abhorrence. Nor am I ashamed of the feelings I

related. They were natural and just. Could you expect

me to rejoice in the inferiority of your connections?to

congratulate myself on the hope of relations, whose

condition in life is so decidedly beneath my own?”

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