to Miss Bingley as the most accomplished girl in the
neighbourhood; and Catherine and Lydia had been fortunate enough
never to be without partners, which was all that they had yet
learnt to care for at a ball. They returned, therefore, in good
spirits to Longbourn, the village where they lived, and of which
they were the principal inhabitants. They found Mr. Bennet still
up. With a book he was regardless of time; and on the present
occasion he had a good deal of curiosity as to the event of an
evening which had raised such splendid expectations. He had
rather hoped that his wife’s views on the stranger would be
disappointed; but he soon found out that he had a different story
to hear.
“Oh, my dear Mr. Bennet,” as she entered the room, “we have had a
most delightful evening, a most excellent ball. I wish you had
been there. Jane was so admired, nothing could be like it.
Everybody said how well she looked; and Mr. Bingley thought her
quite beautiful, and danced with her twice! Only think of _that_,
my dear; he actually danced with her twice! and she was the only
creature in the room that he asked a second time. First of all,
he asked Miss Lucas. I was so vexed to see him stand up with her!
But, however, he did not admire her at all; indeed, nobody can,
you know; and he seemed quite struck with Jane as she was going
down the dance. So he enquired who she was, and got introduced,
and asked her for the two next. Then the two third he danced with
Miss King, and the two fourth with Maria Lucas, and the two fifth
with Jane again, and the two sixth with Lizzy, and the
_Boulanger_—”
“If he had had any compassion for _me_,” cried her husband
impatiently, “he would not have danced half so much! For God’s
sake, say no more of his partners. Oh that he had sprained his
ankle in the first dance!”
“Oh! my dear, I am quite delighted with him. He is so excessively
handsome! And his sisters are charming women. I never in my life
saw anything more elegant than their dresses. I dare say the lace
upon Mrs. Hurst’s gown—”
Here she was interrupted again. Mr. Bennet protested against any
description of finery. She was therefore obliged to seek another
branch of the subject, and related, with much bitterness of
spirit and some exaggeration, the shocking rudeness of Mr. Darcy.
“But I can assure you,” she added, “that Lizzy does not lose much
by not suiting _his_ fancy; for he is a most disagreeable, horrid
man, not at all worth pleasing. So high and so conceited that
there was no enduring him! He walked here, and he walked there,
fancying himself so very great! Not handsome enough to dance
with! I wish you had been there, my dear, to have given him one
of your set-downs. I quite detest the man.”
Chapter 4
When Jane and Elizabeth were alone, the former, who had been
cautious in her praise of Mr. Bingley before, expressed to her
sister just how very much she admired him.
“He is just what a young man ought to be,” said she, “sensible,
good-humoured, lively; and I never saw such happy manners!—so
much ease, with such perfect good breeding!”
“He is also handsome,” replied Elizabeth, “which a young man
ought likewise to be, if he possibly can. His character is
thereby complete.”
“I was very much flattered by his asking me to dance a second
time. I did not expect such a compliment.”
“Did not you? _I_ did for you. But that is one great difference
between us. Compliments always take _you_ by surprise, and _me_
never. What could be more natural than his asking you again? He
could not help seeing that you were about five times as pretty as
every other woman in the room. No thanks to his gallantry for
that. Well, he certainly is very agreeable, and I give you leave
to like him. You have liked many a stupider person.”
“Dear Lizzy!”
“Oh! you are a great deal too apt, you know, to like people in
general. You never see a fault in anybody. All the world are good
and agreeable in your eyes. I never heard you speak ill of a
human being in your life.”
“I would not wish to be hasty in censuring anyone; but I always
speak what I think.”
“I know you do; and it is _that_ which makes the wonder. With
_your_ good sense, to be so honestly blind to the follies and
nonsense of others! Affectation of candour is common enough—one
meets with it everywhere. But to be candid without ostentation or
design—to take the good of everybody’s character and make it
still better, and say nothing of the bad—belongs to you alone.
And so you like this man’s sisters, too, do you? Their manners
are not equal to his.”
“Certainly not—at first. But they are very pleasing women when
you converse with them. Miss Bingley is to live with her brother,
and keep his house; and I am much mistaken if we shall not find a
very charming neighbour in her.”
Elizabeth listened in silence, but was not convinced; their
behaviour at the assembly had not been calculated to please in
general; and with more quickness of observation and less pliancy
of temper than her sister, and with a judgement too unassailed by
any attention to herself, she was very little disposed to approve
them. They were in fact very fine ladies; not deficient in good
humour when they were pleased, nor in the power of making
themselves agreeable when they chose it, but proud