[Pride and Prejudice] Becoming Katherine Bennett

"What? Mr. Darcy?" Catherine thought she had misheard.

The maid nodded, and told her that Mr. Darcy had been here an hour.

"One hour?" Catherine was surprised, "Then why didn't you call me?"

"Madame was going to call you, but Mr. Darcy guessed that you were resting, so he said that he has nothing to do, so don't bother you. Now he and Mr. Darcy are in the study."

Catherine couldn't help feeling a little flustered.She asked Darcy, the maid, if she had said why he had come, but the maid could give no answer, except that Mrs. Gardner had sent herself to see if she was up.

Catherine's chaotic brain instantly woke up. She threw off the quilt and jumped off the bed, washed and dressed quickly.During this period, she has been thinking about guessing Darcy's purpose.

It is impossible for him to visit without reason.She is not familiar with him, and he already knew that she was coming to London, and if he wanted to visit, he would have been able to visit her.His coming to the house must have something to do with yesterday's dance.

At this moment, Catherine remembered that Darcy wanted to speak in the garden last night but was interrupted by the housekeeper.She was restless at the time and didn't pay much attention. Now that she recalled it, she realized that the scene and atmosphere at that moment were very ambiguous.

Moonlight, gardens, men and women alone.

In the atmosphere at the time, Darcy's unspoken words were probably related to his emotions, and if she guessed correctly, he might even confess his love to her.And she was extremely fragile at the time, if he confessed, she didn't know how she would react.

Thinking of this, Catherine found that she couldn't tell why her heart was colliding with her chest so fast and fiercely.She had a premonition that Darcy's arrival today would change something permanently, but she couldn't imagine what it would be like.

After packing up, Catherine walked quickly to the stairs. She was about to go downstairs. She thought that Darcy might see her flustered, so she quickly acted as if nothing had happened, and walked down the railing step by step.

The servant had already gone to the study to inform Darcy that Miss Catherine had come down.

As Catherine was descending the stairs more slowly than usual, Darcy stopped by the drawing-room stairs and looked up at her.

It wasn't the first time they had looked at each other, in fact Catherine couldn't count how many times they had looked at each other.But Catherine suddenly found that her heart was flustered like never before.It really doesn't make sense.

"Mr. Darcy." Catherine bowed slightly to him.

Darcy put one hand in front of him, bent his arms, and solemnly said: "Miss Catherine."

There was no one else in the living room. I don't know if it was the thoughtfulness of the Gardners or just because no one was passing by at this time. In short, there was no one else in the living room except them, so they could talk freely.

Catherine went and sat in the chair without a word, and Darcy followed her in the chair opposite.

The golden sun shines through the window, and Darcy looks at Catherine quietly, and sees her dark eyes shining brightly in the sun.

He put his hands on his knees, loosened and clenched them, and didn't speak for a moment. He encouraged his courage again and again, and he didn't know how many times he was preparing the next words in his heart.

His silence and nervousness brought out Catherine's panic that had just dissipated. Her two hands were placed on the hem of the skirt, and her fingers were tightly twisted together.

Both of them were trying their best to pretend to be calm, but all the details revealed their true mood at the moment.Their silence raised the temperature in the room. Catherine never knew that silence could make people so embarrassed and shy.

Mr. Darcy seemed even more disturbed than she was.He sat in the chair for a while, then he stood up again.He was tall and the two of them were very close to each other. When he stood up, he saw that Catherine had to look up at him tiredly, so he sat down again.After his feet moved uneasily in place a few times, he stood up again and walked back and forth a little further away.

After a while, Mr. Darcy stood still, looking at her deeply, with an excited and solemn expression.

"I really can't suppress my feelings anymore, please allow me to tell you my heart, Miss Catherine."

Having said that, Mr. Darcy paused slightly, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then opened them, staring at her fieryly and persistently.

"I love you. I love you very much. I know you see my love, but you can't imagine how much it is, how much I love you."

Catherine stared at him blankly, her emotions no longer knowing how to describe them.She didn't realize what Mr. Darcy was saying at first, but when Mr. Darcy's fiery words and more and more surging love poured out, while she was greatly shocked, there was no movement in her whole body from head to toe. There was no blush on the skin from extreme embarrassment.

Different from Catherine's panic and shyness, after Darcy made the initial determination, his love words to express his heart became smoother and smoother. Seeing Catherine's bewildered look, his voice became more gentle and his tone was obviously encouraged .

"Catherine, you probably don't remember the first time we met. We didn't meet for the first time at the ball, but in the country of Meryton, when you were wearing a beautiful dress to meet Mr. Bennett, and I rode by you. .Actually, I saw you running from a distance a long time ago. I didn’t know you at that time, so this sentence has been delayed until today. I want to tell you that you were so beautiful at that time, so beautiful that I couldn’t even find words Can describe my mood. I have never seen such a moving scene."

"After that meeting, I started dreaming about you in my dreams. I dreamed that you were running towards me. I didn't understand why at first, and it was difficult to accept. Please forgive me, I thought it was because I was very sad. It’s because I rarely come to the countryside and rarely see lively country people. It wasn’t until I got in touch with you more and more that I gradually realized that since then, I have put you in my heart.”

"Then I became more and more obsessed with you. In the past 28 years of my life, I have never met a woman like you in person or in a book. You are so unique and your concept is very interesting. , your character is very cute, you have unique thoughts on many people and things, you never follow blindly, you are well-read and wise, many of your ideas and opinions coincide with mine, and many of my ideas, You don't need to explain, you will understand."

"I recalled it carefully later, and found that I couldn't think of a specific time when I started to care about you, and then it turned into love. Maybe it was your freshness in the first meeting, maybe it was because you danced badly, you always You are stepping on my feet, maybe you can understand my pride."

"It could also be your silent refusal and departure. It may be confusing for you to say this, but in fact, your refusal, while disheartening to me, made me value you more. You made me feel like I I did not misunderstand the person, my love was given to a worthy lady, although I am very sad, but every time I think of your decision, I feel that you are a noble lady, which in turn intensifies my love. "

"I have experienced a lot of struggles, and I have no secrets about this. You and I must admit that your family members are indeed miserable, and your relatives are also very humble. Although I have just contacted Mr. Gardner and found that he is far away Much better than I imagined. But there is no denying that your parents, your cousin, your sister, they were all a big confusion and annoyance to me."

"However, these are not important anymore. I have made up my mind. When I am determined to tell you my love, I am ready to bear the disappointment and accusations from relatives and friends, and bear the impact of damaged status and identity. None of them approve of my behavior, and I will not waver for a moment. Because you are more important than them. My love for you can no longer be suppressed and restrained."

"Miss Catherine Bennett, please allow me, Fitzwilliam Darcy, to solemnly express my love to you. If you are willing to listen, I still have many, many things to tell you, but at this moment, I I don't think any words will be more important than what I say next."

"I want to marry you, take you as my wife, and let my surname closely follow your name. No matter whether you are born, old, sick or dead, rich or poor, only death can separate you and me."

"No, death can't separate us. If there is an afterlife, I sincerely pray to God that the next life will allow me to continue to love you."

"Words can't express all my feelings. I can only sum up my friendship with you in this sentence. Please marry me, Catherine, and let me give you happiness."

Seeing Darcy's sincere and affectionate expression, and listening to his analysis of his inner sincere emotions, Catherine was greatly touched. She looked at him, feeling really unable to express in words, moved, annoyed, thanked, and shocked.

She never expected that she would hear such touching words of love.She comes from the era of fast food, don't have heard of a gentleman who would express love with such a solemn and impassioned attitude and words.

As Mr. Darcy said, she had indeed seen his intentions, but she did not expect it to be so strong.

He really loved her, and she could hear it in every word he said.

Even though there were occasional belittlings in the middle, Catherine was not too angry after hearing it.She knew that he was telling the truth, she and he had a huge disparity in status, and her family would indeed affect his identity and status in today's society that pays attention to dignity and class.

A person like him who values ​​status, after thinking and struggling, is willing to suffer all kinds of negative consequences for her, so she really shouldn't demand that his words are not good enough.

It's a pity that she couldn't accept this kind of intention.

Although Catherine was still flushed, she soon recovered from her initial shyness, and her answer did not keep Mr. Darcy long waiting.

She looked at Darcy and said slowly: "Mr. Darcy, I am very grateful for your liking. As you said, if a gentleman like you with a noble background and a superior family can like me and is willing to marry me, I will I am really grateful, and I will always remember your favor. But my answer may disappoint you, I am sorry, but I will not accept your wishes."

Every time Catherine said something, Darcy's expression of excitement just now became darker, and when her refusal was completely finished, Darcy's face turned pale involuntarily.He forced himself to be calm: "Although I have already guessed the ending, I still want to ask you, why did you reject me?"

"My refusal can be explained in many ways, but the only reason is that we are not compatible."

"Not suitable?" Darcy misunderstood Catherine's words. "Is it because of your relatives? I know you are very understanding, and you are. But I have said that I am ready, and you don't have to worry about it. If it's because of property and dowry, I'm sorry, when I was in Nadfel, I overheard you and your sister talking about it in the study, you said that your dowry is too small so I won't marry you. But I want to tell you , I have never cared about this matter. Whether your dowry is one thousand pounds or one hundred thousand pounds, it is not as precious to me as you. I don’t even care about your relatives. How can I mind you? Dowry? And it was what you said at the time that made me realize that my thoughts on marriage are the same as yours, I don’t want to use marriage as a bargaining chip, I just want to marry someone I love.”

"But that's the point, Mr. Darcy," Catherine asked softly. "You say you love me, but what do you love about me? In other words, do you love what you think I am, or what I really am?" I?"