FANNY. Certainly.
BENNET. Alone, I mean.
FANNY. I see no need.
BENNET [her firmness takes him aback. He expected to find her defiance disappear with the cause of it. But pig-headed, as all Bennets, her opposition only drives him on]. Your ladyship is not forgetting the alternative?
The Misses Wetherell have been watching the argument much as the babes in the wood might have watched the discussion between the two robbers.
THE ELDER MISS WETHERELL [in terror]. Bennet! you’re not going to give notice!
BENNET. What my duty may be, I shall be able to decide after I have spoken with her ladyship—alone.
THE YOUNGER MISS WETHERELL. Dear! You will see him?
FANNY. I am sorry. I have not the time.
THE YOUNGER MISS WETHERELL. No. Of course. [Appealing to Bennet for mercy] Her ladyship is tired. To-morrow—