Jane Austen
My faults, according to this calculation, are heavy indeed! But perhaps," added he, stopping
in his walk, and turning towards her, "these offenses might have been overlooked, had not
your pride been hurt by my honest confession of the scruples that had long prevented my
forming any serious design. These bitter accusations might have been suppressed, had I,
with greater policy, concealed my struggles, and flattered you into the belief of my being
impelled by unqualified, unalloyed inclination; by reason, by reflection, by everything. But
disguise of every sort is my abhorrence. Nor am I ashamed of the feelings I related. They
were natural and just. Could you expect me to rejoice in the inferiority of your
connections?--to congratulate myself on the hope of relations, whose condition in life is so
decidedly beneath my own?"
Elizabeth felt herself growing more angry every moment; yet she tried to the utmost to
speak with composure when she said:
"You are mistaken, Mr
annaabi.ee 
