One morning, about a week later, a carriage suddenly appeared outside the house. It was too early for visitors, and neither the carriage nor the uniform of the servant was familiar. The two lovers immediately escaped to the garden, leaving the rest of the ladies to guess who the stranger could be, until the door was thrown open and Lady Catherine de Bourgh entered.

She walked in, looking more disagreeable than usual, made no other reply to Elizabeth's greeting than a slight movement of the head, and sat down without a word.

After sitting for a moment in silence, she said, very stiffly, to Elizabeth:

'I hope you are well, Miss Bennet. That lady, I suppose, is your mother?'

Elizabeth replied shortly that she was.

'And that, I suppose, is one of your sisters?'

'Yes, madam,' replied Mrs Bennet, to whom Elizabeth had mentioned the visitor's name, and who was feeling highly honoured by her coming.

'You have a very small park here,' observed Lady Catherine, after a short silence, 'and this must be a most inconvenient sitting room for the evening in summer. The windows appear to be facing west.'

Mrs Bennet informed her that they never sat there after dinner, and then added:

'May I ask whether you left Mr and Mrs Collins well?'

'Yes, very well.'

Elizabeth now expected that she would produce a letter for her from Charlotte, because it seemed the only likely reason for her visit. But no letter appeared, and she could not understand the visit at all.

Mrs Bennet, with great politeness, begged Lady Catherine to have something to eat or drink, but this was decidedly, and not very politely, refused. Then, rising, Lady Catherine said to Elizabeth: 'Miss Bennet, I should be glad to take a walk in your garden, if you will give me your company.'

Elizabeth obeyed. As they passed through the hall, Lady Catherine opened the doors of the other rooms, and announced that they were a reasonably good size.

They walked in silence towards the little wood. Elizabeth was determined to make no effort at conversation with a woman who was now more than usually rude and disagreeable.

As soon as they entered the wood, Lady Catherine began in the following manner:

'You can have no difficulty, Miss Bennet, in understanding the reason of my visit. Your own heart, your own conscience must tell you why I have come.'

Elizabeth looked at her in astonishment.