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daughter has proceeded from a faulty degree of indulgence;

though, at the same time, for the consolation of yourself and

Mrs. Bennet, I am inclined to think that her own disposition must

be naturally bad, or she could not be guilty of such an enormity,

at so early an age. Howsoever that may be, you are grievously to

be pitied; in which opinion I am not only joined by Mrs. Collins,

but likewise by Lady Catherine and her daughter, to whom I have

related the affair. They agree with me in apprehending that this

false step in one daughter will be injurious to the fortunes of

all the others: for who, as Lady Catherine herself

condescendingly says, will connect themselves with such a family?

And this consideration leads me, moreover, to reflect, with

augmented satisfaction, on a certain event of last November; for

had it been otherwise, I must have been involved in all your

sorrow and disgrace.