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Darcy: Miss
Elizabeth. I have struggled
in vain and
I can
bear it no longer. These past months have been a
torment. I came to Rosings with the single object of
seeing you. I had to see you. I have fought against my
better judgment, my family's expectation, the
inferiority of your birth by rank, so I can start all these things,
and I'm willing to put them aside and ask you to end my
agony.
Elizabeth: I don't understand.
Darcy: I love you. Most ardently. Please do me the
honor of accepting my hand.
Elizabeth: Sir, I appreciate the struggle you have
been through, and I am very sorry to have caused you
pain. Believe me, it was unconsciously done.
Darcy: Is this your reply?
Elizabeth: Yes, sir.
Darcy: Are you... are you laughing at me?
Elizabeth: No.
Darcy: Are you rejecting me?
Elizabeth: I'm sure the feelings which, as you've
told me have hindered your regard will help you in
overcoming it.
Darcy: Might I ask why, with so little endeavor at
civility, I am thus repulsed?
Elizabeth: And I might as well enquire why, with so
evident a design of insulting me, you chose to tell me
that you liked me against your better judgment?
Darcy: No, believe me...
Elizabeth: If I was uncivil, then that is some
excuse! But I have other reasons. You know I have.
Darcy: What reasons?
Elizabeth: Do you think anything might tempt me to
accept the man who has ruined perhaps forever the
happiness of a most beloved sister? Do you deny it Mr.
Darcy, that you separated a young couple who loved each
other, exposing your friend to the center of the world for
caprice and my sister to its derision for disappointed
hopes and involving them both in misery of the acutest
kind?
Darcy: I do not deny it.
Elizabeth: How could you do it?
Darcy: Because I believed your sister's
indifferent to him.
Elizabeth: Indifferent?
Darcy: I watched them most carefully and realized his
attachment was deeper than hers.
Elizabeth: That's because she's shy!
Darcy: Bingley, too, is modest and was persuaded she
didn't feel strongly for him.
Elizabeth: Because you suggested it.
Darcy: I did it for his own good.
Elizabeth: My sister hardly shows her true feelings
to me. I suppose you suspect that his fortune had some bearing?
Darcy: No! I wouldn't do your sister the dishonor,
though it was suggested...
Elizabeth: What was?
Darcy: It was made perfectly clear that an
advantageous marriage...
Elizabeth: Did my sister give that impression?
Darcy: No! No. No. There was, however, I have to
admit, the matter of your family...
Elizabeth: Our want of connection? Mr. Bingley didn't
seem to
vex
himself about that.
Darcy: No, it was more than that.
Elizabeth: How, sir?
Darcy: It was the lack of propriety shown by your
mother, your three younger sisters and even, on
occasion, your father. Forgive me. You and your sister I
must exclude from this.
Elizabeth: And what about Mr. Wickham?
Darcy: Mr. Wickham?
Elizabeth: What excuse can you give for your behavior
towards him?
Darcy: You take an eager interest in that gentleman's
concerns.
Elizabeth: He told me of his misfortunes.
Darcy: Oh, yes, his misfortunes have been very great
indeed.
Elizabeth: You ruin his chances and yet you treat him
with sarcasm.
Darcy: So this is your opinion of me? Thank you for
explaining so fully. Perhaps these offences might have
been overlooked had not your pride been hurt by my
honesty...
Elizabeth: My pride?
Darcy: ...in admitting scruples about our
relationship. Could you expect me to rejoice in the
inferiority of your circumstances?
Elizabeth: And those are the words of a gentleman.
From the first moment I met you, your arrogance and
conceit, your selfish disdain for the feelings of others
made me realize that you were the last man in the world
I could ever be prevailed
upon to marry.
Darcy : Forgive me, madam, for taking up so much
of your time. |
