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was the cause, his pride and caprice were the cause of all that Jane had suffered, and still continued to
suffer. He had ruined for a while every hope of happiness for the most affectionate, generous heart in the
world; and no one could say how lasting an evil he might have inflicted.
"There were some very strong objections against the lady," were Colonel Fitzwilliam's words, and these
strong objections probably were, her having one uncle who was a country attorney, and another who
was in business in London.
"To Jane herself," she exclaimed, "there could be no possibility of objection. All loveliness and goodness
as she is! Her understanding excellent, her mind improved, and her manners captivating. Neither could
any thing be urged against my father, who, though with some peculiarities, has abilities which Mr. Darcy
himself need not disdain, and respectability which he will probably never reach." When she thought of her
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mother indeed, her confidence gave way a little, but she would not allow that any objections there had
material weight with Mr. Darcy, whose pride, she was convinced, would receive a deeper wound from
the want of importance in his friend's connections, than from their want of sense; and she was quite
decided at last, that he had been partly governed by this worst kind of pride, and partly by the wish of
retaining Mr. Bingley for his sister.
The agitation and tears which the subject occasioned, brought on a headache; and it grew so much
worse towards evening that, added to her unwillingness to see Mr. Darcy, it determined her not to attend
her cousins to Rosings, where they were engaged to drink tea. Mrs. Collins, seeing that she was really
unwell, did not press her to go, and as much as possible prevented her husband from pressing her, but
Mr. Collins could not conceal his apprehension of Lady Catherine's being rather displeased by her
staying at home.
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Chapter 11
WHEN THEY WERE GONE, Elizabeth, as if intending to exasperate herself as much as possible
against Mr. Darcy, chose for her employment the examination of all the letters which Jane had written to
her since her being in Kent. They contained no actual complaint, nor was there any revival of past
occurrences, or any communication of present suffering. But in all, and in almost every line of each, there
was a want of that cheerfulness which had been used to characterize her style, and which, proceeding
from the serenity of a mind at ease with itself, and kindly disposed towards every one, had been scarcely
ever clouded. Elizabeth noticed every sentence conveying the idea of uneasiness, with an attention which
it had hardly received on the first perusal. Mr. Darcy's shameful boast of what misery he had been able to
inflict, gave her a keener sense of her sister's sufferings. It was some consolation to think that his visit to
Rosings was to end on the day after the next, and a still greater, that in less than a fortnight she should
herself be with Jane again, and enabled to contribute to the recovery of her spirits, by all that affection
could do.
She could not think of Darcy's leaving Kent, without remembering that his cousin was to go with him; but
Colonel Fitzwilliam had made it clear that he had no intentions at all, and agreeable as he was, she did not
mean to be unhappy about him.
While settling this point, she was suddenly roused by the sound of the door bell, and her spirits were a
little fluttered by the idea of it being Colonel Fitzwilliam himself, who had once before called late in the
evening, and might now come to enquire particularly after her. But this idea was soon banished, and her
spirits were very differently affected, when, to her utter amazement, she saw Mr. Darcy walk into the
room. In an hurried manner he immediately began an enquiry after her health, imputing his visit to a wish
of hearing that she were better. She answered him with cold civility. He sat down for a few moments, and
then getting up walked about the room. Elizabeth was surprised, but said not a word. After a silence of
several minutes he came towards her in an agitated manner, and thus began,
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"In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you
how ardently I admire and love you."
Elizabeth's astonishment was beyond expression. She stared, coloured, doubted, and was silent. This he
considered sufficient encouragement, and the avowal of all that he felt and had long felt for her,
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