LADY CATHERINE.

[_Without leaving her seat, looks_ ELIZABETH _over from head to foot_.]

Oh, how do you do, Miss Bennet. You are younger than I thought!

ELIZABETH.

[_Smiling._] Indeed?

LADY CATHERINE.

You know my nephew, Mr. Darcy?

ELIZABETH.

Yes, I met him in Hertfordshire.

LADY CATHERINE.

Humph! And you know Colonel Fitzwilliam?

ELIZABETH.

I have only met Colonel Fitzwilliam since coming here.

LADY CATHERINE.

Humph! Has your governess left you?

ELIZABETH.

[_Half laughs._] My sisters and I have never had a governess, Madam.

LADY CATHERINE.

No governess! I never heard of such a thing! Your mother must have been quite a slave to your education.

ELIZABETH.

[_Smiling._] I a.s.sure you she was not, Lady Catherine.

LADY CATHERINE.

Then who taught you? Without a governess you must have been neglected.

ELIZABETH.

Such of us as wished to learn, never wanted the means, Madam.

LADY CATHERINE.

Well, if I had known your mother, I should have advised her most strenuously to engage a governess. I should have seen to it myself.

[_To_ CHARLOTTE.] Go on with your work, Mrs. Collins. A clergyman's wife should set an example of industry. [_Looking at_ CHARLOTTE'S _embroidery with disapproval_.] I will send you some more of the parish petticoats to hem, Mrs. Collins. [_To_ ELIZABETH.] Go on with your work, Miss Bennet. Young ladies should never be idle. [_Both_ ELIZABETH _and_ CHARLOTTE _go on with their embroidery. Looking hard at_ ELIZABETH.]

Pray what is your age, Miss Bennet?

ELIZABETH.

I am not one and twenty.

LADY CATHERINE.

You have sisters, have not you?

ELIZABETH.

Yes, Madam.

LADY CATHERINE.

Are any of them out?

ELIZABETH.

All, Madam.

LADY CATHERINE.

What! All out at once? Very odd! Out before the oldest is married!

ELIZABETH.