Left alone after the Collinses leave for tea, Elizabeth continues to think about what she has just learned.
The doorbell rings and it is Mr. Darcy, come to inquire after her health.
To Elizabeth's complete astonishment, Mr. Darcy suddenly makes a declaration of love.
Her shocked silence encourages him so he speaks about how he has long felt this way and how he tried to repress his interest in her because of her inferior position in life.
The more he talks, the angrier Elizabeth gets. She tells herself she will refuse him patiently when he is finally done.
When he is done, however, she lectures him about the manner of his proposal. She has no affectionate feelings for him, she announces, and she cannot imagine saying yes to a man who is the reason that her sister is so unhappy.
Mr. Darcy tries to explain that he feels he did his friend (Mr. Bingley) a favor.
Elizabeth also points out that his behavior toward Wickham has been despicable.
Mr. Darcy responds that perhaps she might not have reacted so angrily to his proposal if he had concealed the difficulty he had in coming to terms with his love for her (because of her family and social position), but "disguise of every sort" is his "abhorrence."
Elizabeth gets angrier and angrier and finally tells him, in short, that he is the last man in the world that she would marry.