Chapter XXIX — Pride and Prejudice

Collins coaches the party for Rosings all day, but Elizabeth walks in unawed while everyone else fears the great lady's wrath. He revels in displaying Lady Catherine's grandeur and tells Elizabeth not to worry about dress: her Ladyship likes rank preserved in guests, not elegance in finery.

They walk half a mile across the park to Rosings. Elizabeth is not frightened: she respects only talent and virtue, not mere money and rank. In the drawing room Lady Catherine receives them with crushing condescension; Sir William is mute, Maria terrified, Elizabeth composed. Lady Catherine is tall and authoritative and matches Wickham's portrait; in her face Elizabeth finds resemblance to Mr. Darcy while Anne de Bourgh is pale, sickly, and insignificant.

Dinner is splendid; Collins sits at the bottom by her Ladyship's desire and praises every dish. In the drawing room Lady Catherine talks without intermission, advising Charlotte on cows and poultry and questioning Elizabeth impertinently about sisters, entail, and accomplishments. Elizabeth defends her family on governesses and argues spiritedly that younger sisters have a right to society. Lady Catherine says she gives her opinion very decidedly for so young a person and demands her age; Elizabeth admits she is not one-and-twenty. After dull cards and weather predictions they leave; Elizabeth gives Charlotte a kinder account than she feels while Collins takes over the praise himself.