Chapter 1 #3
“During the last fortnight, you have sat in company and listened to your aunt act in the most abominably unseemly and insulting manner to a guest in her house, yet took not the slightest effort to check her behaviour or even suggest through word, deed or even expression that she was acting inappropriately. Colonel Fitzwilliam at least had the decency to look abashed, though he did not have the courage to do so in front of your aunt or challenge her—nay, I seem to be the only person in all of Kent willing to stand up to her even a little bit. This lackadaisical attitude towards moderating the behaviour of the family to whom you hold some responsibility, places you most completely in the circle of my indolent father at his worst. You need not look so shocked—I am well aware of my family’s defects, and my mother is not the only weak link, and I had no need of being reminded of it in a proposal.
“I have been told by Mr Collins that you are apparently engaged to your cousin Anne, yet you feel free to make your addresses to me.
This leads me to believe you have not been frank, with either myself or your aunt and cousin.
Is she sitting in that monstrous tomb patiently waiting year after year for your addresses that will never come?
Since you are your own man, and have undoubtedly had many years to disabuse them of the notion, I can only presume you failed to do so out of cowardice.
This places you fully in line with the spineless Mr Bingley.
He paid particular attention to my sister over many weeks, until her heart was fully engaged, only to abandon her without so much as a by your leave.
He slunk away from Hertfordshire like a cur, in the middle of the night, leaving no word and no communication save a letter from his sister indicating that he was, within a matter of weeks, paying particular attention to your sister.
He left my sister exposed to the vilest gossip and the endless lamentations of my mother.
He could not even be inconvenienced to call upon her to explain himself, despite knowing full well that she was a thirty-minute carriage ride away in London for the past three months and that Jane had visited his sister and waited three weeks for a return visit.
“Colonel Fitzwilliam this morning took great pleasure in relating to me your daring exploits in separating my sister from a man she was in love with, thus marking Mr Bingley as cowardly as I previously thought him to be, but also adds the character of a weak will to his ledger.
This naturally also adds the crime of officious interference to your plate.
Since you feel inclined to manage the affairs of those in your sphere, I would have to say that puts you in the circle of Lady Catherine.
Perhaps you could close the circle by having Mr Bingley marry your cousin instead of your sister.
“During my visit to Netherfield, the Bingley sisters were constantly either close to or even beyond incivility while I was present, and I have very little doubt they were even worse when I was not. Mr Bingley, in his usual spineless manner, chose not to even attempt to check their behaviour, despite being the head of his family and perfectly well aware of how rude they were being. You simply followed Mr Bingley’s lead.
Thus, instead of being a leader among men, as your position should warrant, you appear to be a follower, very much like my younger sister Kitty, and to be honest, following the Bingley sisters has very little to recommend it over following my youngest sister Lydia, as Kitty does.
“You appear to be willing to marry without concern for or even knowledge of the affections of your partner, which joins you into the circle of my friend Charlotte.
She married the stupidest man in England just to have her own home and avoid becoming a burden on her family.
That may well be my fate, but I am not ready to reconcile myself to it just yet, as I am presently unconvinced a loveless marriage, regardless of the material advantages, is an improvement over employment or poverty.
“Half an hour ago you delivered the second worst proposal I have received in my life.
It was entirely concerned with what was right for you and your needs, and what was wrong with me and mine—with an implicit assumption that it would be inconceivable for me to reject such an advantageous address.
In fact, with the exception of fewer references to Lady Catherine, and your failure to remind me that I ‘might never receive another offer of marriage’, your proposal was nearly indistinguishable from the one I received from Mr Collins.
I suspect you will not be very happy to share a circle with that particular man, but that is as it appears.
Perhaps the two of you might discuss tactics, since he was ultimately successful on his second bid, and Mrs Collins does have a sister conveniently at hand.
“And for the last circle, let me point out that you came to this parsonage unannounced, invaded the privacy of an unmarried woman without a chaperone and closed the door behind you. I had not the forethought to demand you leave immediately as I should have, but as I am a guest in this home, the duty of propriety fell to your lot. I pray that no word of this manages to escape this parsonage because that might allow you to have what you want by force of compromise. Such an appalling lack of propriety and lack of concern for consequences quite matches the circle of my youngest sister Lydia, whom I’ve noticed you observing with particular attention and disapprobation.
“Those, Mr Darcy, are the circles you inhabit that I find particularly offensive.”