Pride and Prejudice | Page 3

to neglect
such an acquaintance. Well, how pleased I am! and it is such a good
joke, too, that you should have gone this morning and never said a
word about it till now."
"Now, Kitty, you may cough as much as you choose," said Mr. Bennet;
and, as he spoke, he left the room, fatigued with the raptures of his
wife.
"What an excellent father you have, girls!" said she, when the door was
shut. "I do not know how you will ever make him amends for his
kindness; or me, either, for that matter. At our time of life it is not so
pleasant, I can tell you, to be making new acquaintances every day; but
for your sakes, we would do anything. Lydia, my love, though you
ARE the youngest, I dare say Mr. Bingley will dance with you at the
next ball."
"Oh!" said Lydia stoutly, "I am not afraid; for though I AM the
youngest, I'm the tallest."
The rest of the evening was spent in conjecturing how soon he would
return Mr. Bennet's visit, and determining when they should ask him to
dinner.
Chapter 3

Not all that Mrs. Bennet, however, with the assistance of her five
daughters, could ask on the subject, was sufficient to draw from her
husband any satisfactory description of Mr. Bingley. They attacked him
in various ways--with barefaced questions, ingenious suppositions, and
distant surmises; but he eluded the skill of them all, and they were at
last obliged to accept the second-hand intelligence of their neighbour,
Lady Lucas. Her report was highly favourable. Sir William had been
delighted with him. He was quite young, wonderfully handsome,
extremely agreeable, and, to crown the whole, he meant to be at the
next assembly with a large party. Nothing could be more delightful! To
be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love; and very
lively hopes of Mr. Bingley's heart were entertained.
"If I can but see one of my daughters happily settled at Netherfield,"
said Mrs. Bennet to her husband, "and all the others equally well
married, I shall have nothing to wish for."
In a few days Mr. Bingley returned Mr. Bennet's visit, and sat about ten
minutes with him in his library. He had entertained hopes of being
admitted to a sight of the young ladies, of whose beauty he had heard
much; but he saw only the father. The ladies were somewhat more
fortunate, for they had the advantage of ascertaining from an upper
window that he wore a blue coat, and rode a black horse.
An invitation to dinner was soon afterwards dispatched; and already
had Mrs. Bennet planned the courses that were to do credit to her
housekeeping, when an answer arrived which deferred it all. Mr.
Bingley was obliged to be in town the following day, and, consequently,
unable to accept the honour of their invitation, etc. Mrs. Bennet was
quite disconcerted. She could not imagine what business he could have
in town so soon after his arrival in Hertfordshire; and she began to fear
that he might be always flying about from one place to another, and
never settled at Netherfield as he ought to be. Lady Lucas quieted her
fears a little by starting the idea of his being gone to London only to get
a large party for the ball; and a report soon followed that Mr. Bingley
was to bring twelve ladies and seven gentlemen with him to the
assembly. The girls grieved over such a number of ladies, but were

comforted the day before the ball by hearing, that instead of twelve he
brought only six with him from London--his five sisters and a cousin.
And when the party entered the assembly room it consisted of only five
altogether--Mr. Bingley, his two sisters, the husband of the eldest, and
another young man.
Mr. Bingley was good-looking and gentlemanlike; he had a pleasant
countenance, and easy, unaffected manners. His sisters were fine
women, with an air of decided fashion. His brother-in-law, Mr. Hurst,
merely looked the gentleman; but his friend Mr. Darcy soon drew the
attention of the room by his fine, tall person, handsome features, noble
mien, and the report which was in general circulation within five
minutes after his entrance, of his having ten thousand a year. The
gentlemen pronounced him to be a fine figure of a man, the ladies
declared he was much handsomer than Mr. Bingley, and he was looked
at with great admiration for about half the evening, till his manners
gave a disgust which turned the tide of his popularity; for he was
discovered to be proud; to be above his company, and above being
pleased; and not all his large estate in Derbyshire could then save him
from having a most