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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen
Chapter 56
One morning, about a week after Bingley's engagement with Jane had been formed, as he and the females of the family were sitting together in the dining-room, their attention was suddenly drawn1 to the window, by the sound of a carriage; and they perceived a chaise and four driving up the lawn. It was too early in the morning for visitors, and besides, the equipage did not answer to that of any of their neighbours. The horses were post; and neither the carriage, nor the livery of the servant who preceded it, were familiar to them. As it was certain, however, that somebody was coming, Bingley instantly prevailed on Miss Bennet to avoid the confinement3 of such an intrusion, and walk away with him into the shrubbery. They both set off, and the conjectures4 of the remaining three continued, though with little satisfaction, till the door was thrown open and their visitor entered. It was Lady Catherine de Bourgh.
They were of course all intending to be surprised; but their astonishment5 was beyond their expectation; and on the part of Mrs. Bennet and Kitty, though she was perfectly6 unknown to them, even inferior to what Elizabeth felt.
She entered the room with an air more than usually ungracious, made no other reply to Elizabeth's salutation than a slight inclination7 of the head, and sat down without saying a word. Elizabeth had mentioned her name to her mother on her ladyship's entrance, though no request of introduction had been made.
Mrs. Bennet, all amazement8, though flattered by having a guest of such high importance, received her with the utmost politeness. After sitting for a moment in silence, she said very stiffly to Elizabeth,
"I hope you are well, Miss Bennet. That lady, I suppose, is your mother."
"And that I suppose is one of your sisters."
"Yes, madam," said Mrs. Bennet, delighted to speak to Lady Catherine. "She is my youngest girl but one. My youngest of all is lately married, and my eldest10 is somewhere about the grounds, walking with a young man who, I believe, will soon become a part of the family."
"You have a very small park here," returned Lady Catherine after a short silence.
"It is nothing in comparison of Rosings, my lady, I dare say; but I assure you it is much larger than Sir William Lucas's."
"This must be a most inconvenient11 sitting room for the evening, in summer; the windows are full west."
Mrs. Bennet assured her that they never sat there after dinner, and then added:
"May I take the liberty of asking your ladyship whether you left Mr. and Mrs. Collins well."
"Yes, very well. I saw them the night before last."
Elizabeth now expected that she would produce a letter for her from Charlotte, as it seemed the only probable motive12 for her calling. But no letter appeared, and she was completely puzzled.
Mrs. Bennet, with great civility, begged her ladyship to take some refreshment13; but Lady Catherine very resolutely14, and not very politely, declined eating anything; and then, rising up, said to Elizabeth,
"Miss Bennet, there seemed to be a prettyish kind of a little wilderness15 on one side of your lawn. I should be glad to take a turn in it, if you will favour me with your company."
"Go, my dear," cried her mother, "and show her ladyship about the different walks. I think she will be pleased with the hermitage."
Elizabeth obeyed, and running into her own room for her parasol, attended her noble guest downstairs. As they passed through the hall, Lady Catherine opened the doors into the dining-parlour and drawing-room, and pronouncing them, after a short survey, to be decent looking rooms, walked on.
Her carriage remained at the door, and Elizabeth saw that her waiting-woman was in it. They proceeded in silence along the gravel16 walk that led to the copse; Elizabeth was determined17 to make no effort for conversation with a woman who was now more than usually insolent18 and disagreeable.
"How could I ever think her like her nephew?" said she, as she looked in her face.
As soon as they entered the copse, Lady Catherine began in the following manner:—
"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."
Elizabeth looked with unaffected astonishment.
"Indeed, you are mistaken, Madam. I have not been at all able to account for the honour of seeing you here."
"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 celebrated19 for its sincerity20 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."
"If you believed it impossible to be true," said Elizabeth, colouring with astonishment and disdain21, "I wonder you took the trouble of coming so far. What could your ladyship propose by it?"
"At once to insist upon having such a report universally contradicted."
"Your coming to Longbourn, to see me and my family," said Elizabeth coolly, "will be rather a confirmation22 of it; if, indeed, such a report is in existence."
"If! Do you then pretend to be ignorant of it? Has it not been industriously23 circulated by yourselves? Do you not know that such a report is spread abroad?"
"I never heard that it was."
"And can you likewise declare, that there is no foundation for it?"
"I do not pretend to possess equal frankness with your ladyship. You may ask questions which I shall not choose to answer."
"This is not to be borne. Miss Bennet, I insist on being satisfied. Has he, has my nephew, made you an offer of marriage?"
"Your ladyship has declared it to be impossible."
"It ought to be so; it must be so, while he retains the use of his reason. But your arts and allurements24 may, in a moment of infatuation, have made him forget what he owes to himself and to all his family. You may have drawn him in."
"If I have, I shall be the last person to confess it."
"Miss Bennet, do you know who I am? I have not been accustomed to such language as this. I am almost the nearest relation he has in the world, and am entitled to know all his dearest concerns."
"But you are not entitled to know mine; nor will such behaviour as this, ever induce me to be explicit25."
"Let me be rightly understood. This match, to which you have the presumption26 to aspire27, can never take place. No, never. Mr. Darcy is engaged to my daughter. Now what have you to say?"
"Only this; that if he is so, you can have no reason to suppose he will make an offer to me."
Lady Catherine hesitated for a moment, and then replied:
"The engagement between them is of a peculiar28 kind. From their infancy29, they have been intended for each other. It was the favourite wish of his mother, as well as of hers. While in their cradles, we planned the union: and now, at the moment when the wishes of both sisters would be accomplished30 in their marriage, to be prevented by a young woman of inferior birth, of no importance in the world, and wholly unallied to the family! Do you pay no regard to the wishes of his friends? To his tacit engagement with Miss de Bourgh? Are you lost to every feeling of propriety31 and delicacy32? Have you not heard me say that from his earliest hours he was destined33 for his cousin?"
"Yes, and I had heard it before. But what is that to me? If there is no other objection to my marrying your nephew, I shall certainly not be kept from it by knowing that his mother and aunt wished him to marry Miss de Bourgh. You both did as much as you could in planning the marriage. Its completion depended on others. If Mr. Darcy is neither by honour nor inclination confined to his cousin, why is not he to make another choice? And if I am that choice, why may not I accept him?"
"Because honour, decorum, prudence34, nay35, interest, forbid it. Yes, Miss Bennet, interest; for do not expect to be noticed by his family or friends, if you wilfully36 act against the inclinations37 of all. You will be censured38, slighted, and despised, by everyone connected with him. Your alliance will be a disgrace; your name will never even be mentioned by any of us."
"These are heavy misfortunes," replied Elizabeth. "But the wife of Mr. Darcy must have such extraordinary sources of happiness necessarily attached to her situation, that she could, upon the whole, have no cause to repine."
"Obstinate39, headstrong girl! I am ashamed of you! Is this your gratitude40 for my attentions to you last spring? Is nothing due to me on that score? Let us sit down. You are to understand, Miss Bennet, that I came here with the determined resolution of carrying my purpose; nor will I be dissuaded41 from it. I have not been used to submit to any person's whims42. I have not been in the habit of brooking43 disappointment."
"That will make your ladyship's situation at present more pitiable; but it will have no effect on me."
"I will not be interrupted. Hear me in silence. My daughter and my nephew are formed for each other. They are descended44, on the maternal45 side, from the same noble line; and, on the father's, from respectable, honourable46, and ancient—though untitled—families. Their fortune on both sides is splendid. They are destined for each other by the voice of every member of their respective houses; and what is to divide them? The upstart pretensions47 of a young woman without family, connections, or fortune. Is this to be endured! But it must not, shall not be. If you were sensible of your own good, you would not wish to quit the sphere in which you have been brought up."
"In marrying your nephew, I should not consider myself as quitting that sphere. He is a gentleman; I am a gentleman's daughter; so far we are equal."
"True. You are a gentleman's daughter. But who was your mother? Who are your uncles and aunts? Do not imagine me ignorant of their condition."
"Whatever my connections may be," said Elizabeth, "if your nephew does not object to them, they can be nothing to you."
"Tell me once for all, are you engaged to him?"
Though Elizabeth would not, for the mere48 purpose of obliging Lady Catherine, have answered this question, she could not but say, after a moment's deliberation:
"I am not."
Lady Catherine seemed pleased.
"And will you promise me, never to enter into such an engagement?"
"I will make no promise of the kind."
"Miss Bennet I am shocked and astonished. I expected to find a more reasonable young woman. But do not deceive yourself into a belief that I will ever recede2. I shall not go away till you have given me the assurance I require."
"And I certainly never shall give it. I am not to be intimidated49 into anything so wholly unreasonable50. Your ladyship wants Mr. Darcy to marry your daughter; but would my giving you the wished-for promise make their marriage at all more probable? Supposing him to be attached to me, would my refusing to accept his hand make him wish to bestow51 it on his cousin? Allow me to say, Lady Catherine, that the arguments with which you have supported this extraordinary application have been as frivolous52 as the application was ill-judged. You have widely mistaken my character, if you think I can be worked on by such persuasions53 as these. How far your nephew might approve of your interference in his affairs, I cannot tell; but you have certainly no right to concern yourself in mine. I must beg, therefore, to be importuned54 no farther on the subject."
"Not so hasty, if you please. I have by no means done. To all the objections I have already urged, I have still another to add. I am no stranger to the particulars of your youngest sister's infamous55 elopement. I know it all; that the young man's marrying her was a patched-up business, at the expence of your father and uncles. And is such a girl to be my nephew's sister? Is her husband, is the son of his late father's steward56, to be his brother? Heaven and earth!—of what are you thinking? Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?"
"You can now have nothing further to say," she resentfully answered. "You have insulted me in every possible method. I must beg to return to the house."
And she rose as she spoke57. Lady Catherine rose also, and they turned back. Her ladyship was highly incensed58.
"You have no regard, then, for the honour and credit of my nephew! Unfeeling, selfish girl! Do you not consider that a connection with you must disgrace him in the eyes of everybody?"
"Lady Catherine, I have nothing further to say. You know my sentiments."
"You are then resolved to have him?"
"I have said no such thing. I am only resolved to act in that manner, which will, in my own opinion, constitute my happiness, without reference to you, or to any person so wholly unconnected with me."
"It is well. You refuse, then, to oblige me. You refuse to obey the claims of duty, honour, and gratitude. You are determined to ruin him in the opinion of all his friends, and make him the contempt of the world."
"Neither duty, nor honour, nor gratitude," replied Elizabeth, "have any possible claim on me, in the present instance. No principle of either would be violated by my marriage with Mr. Darcy. And with regard to the resentment59 of his family, or the indignation of the world, if the former were excited by his marrying me, it would not give me one moment's concern—and the world in general would have too much sense to join in the scorn."
"And this is your real opinion! This is your final resolve! Very well. I shall now know how to act. Do not imagine, Miss Bennet, that your ambition will ever be gratified. I came to try you. I hoped to find you reasonable; but, depend upon it, I will carry my point."
In this manner Lady Catherine talked on, till they were at the door of the carriage, when, turning hastily round, she added, "I take no leave of you, Miss Bennet. I send no compliments to your mother. You deserve no such attention. I am most seriously displeased60."
Elizabeth made no answer; and without attempting to persuade her ladyship to return into the house, walked quietly into it herself. She heard the carriage drive away as she proceeded up stairs. Her mother impatiently met her at the door of the dressing-room, to ask why Lady Catherine would not come in again and rest herself.
"She did not choose it," said her daughter, "she would go."
"She is a very fine-looking woman! and her calling here was prodigiously61 civil! for she only came, I suppose, to tell us the Collinses were well. She is on her road somewhere, I dare say, and so, passing through Meryton, thought she might as well call on you. I suppose she had nothing particular to say to you, Lizzy?"
Elizabeth was forced to give into a little falsehood here; for to acknowledge the substance of their conversation was impossible.
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1
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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2
recede
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| vi.退(去)，渐渐远去；向后倾斜，缩进 | |
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confinement
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| n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限 | |
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4
conjectures
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| 推测，猜想( conjecture的名词复数 ) | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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6
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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7
inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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8
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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9
concisely
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| adv.简明地 | |
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eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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11
inconvenient
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| adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的 | |
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12
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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13
refreshment
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| n.恢复，精神爽快，提神之事物；（复数）refreshments:点心，茶点 | |
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14
resolutely
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| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
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15
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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17
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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18
insolent
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| adj.傲慢的，无理的 | |
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19
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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20
sincerity
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| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
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21
disdain
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| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
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22
confirmation
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| n.证实，确认，批准 | |
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23
industriously
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24
allurements
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| n.诱惑( allurement的名词复数 )；吸引；诱惑物；有诱惑力的事物 | |
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25
explicit
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| adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的 | |
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26
presumption
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| n.推测，可能性，冒昧，放肆，[法律]推定 | |
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27
aspire
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| vi.(to，after)渴望，追求，有志于 | |
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28
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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29
infancy
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| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
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30
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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31
propriety
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| n.正当行为；正当；适当 | |
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32
delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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33
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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34
prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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35
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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36
wilfully
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| adv.任性固执地；蓄意地 | |
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37
inclinations
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| 倾向( inclination的名词复数 )； 倾斜； 爱好； 斜坡 | |
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38
censured
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| v.指责，非难，谴责( censure的过去式 ) | |
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39
obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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40
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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41
dissuaded
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| 劝（某人）勿做某事，劝阻( dissuade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42
WHIMS
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| 虚妄，禅病 | |
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43
brooking
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| 容忍，忍受（brook的现在分词形式） | |
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44
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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45
maternal
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| adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的 | |
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46
honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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47
pretensions
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| 自称( pretension的名词复数 )； 自命不凡； 要求； 权力 | |
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48
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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49
intimidated
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| v.恐吓；威胁adj.害怕的；受到威胁的 | |
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50
unreasonable
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| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
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51
bestow
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| v.把…赠与，把…授予；花费 | |
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52
frivolous
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| adj.轻薄的；轻率的 | |
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53
persuasions
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| n.劝说，说服（力）( persuasion的名词复数 )；信仰 | |
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54
importuned
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| v.纠缠，向（某人）不断要求( importune的过去式和过去分词 )；（妓女）拉（客） | |
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55
infamous
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| adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的 | |
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56
steward
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| n.乘务员，服务员；看管人；膳食管理员 | |
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57
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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58
incensed
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| 盛怒的 | |
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59
resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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60
displeased
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| a.不快的 | |
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61
prodigiously
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| adv.异常地，惊人地，巨大地 | |
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