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"And I certainly never shall give it. I am not to be intimidated

into anything so wholly unreasonable. 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 bestow it on his cousin? Allow me to

say, Lady Catherine, that the arguments with which you have

supported this extraordinary application have been as frivolous

as the application was ill-judged. You have widely mistaken my

character, if you think I can be worked on by such persuasions 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 importuned

no further on the subject."