Pride and Prejudice | Page 7

because he danced with her twice. To
be sure that DID seem as if he admired her--indeed I rather believe he
DID--I heard something about it--but I hardly know what--something
about Mr. Robinson."
"Perhaps you mean what I overheard between him and Mr. Robinson;
did not I mention it to you? Mr. Robinson's asking him how he liked
our Meryton assemblies, and whether he did not think there were a
great many pretty women in the room, and WHICH he thought the
prettiest? and his answering immediately to the last question: 'Oh! the
eldest Miss Bennet, beyond a doubt; there cannot be two opinions on
that point.'"
"Upon my word! Well, that is very decided indeed--that does seem as
if--but, however, it may all come to nothing, you know."
"MY overhearings were more to the purpose than YOURS, Eliza," said
Charlotte. "Mr. Darcy is not so well worth listening to as his friend, is
he?--poor Eliza!--to be only just TOLERABLE."
"I beg you would not put it into Lizzy's head to be vexed by his
ill-treatment, for he is such a disagreeable man, that it would be quite a
misfortune to be liked by him. Mrs. Long told me last night that he sat
close to her for half-an-hour without once opening his lips."
"Are you quite sure, ma'am?--is not there a little mistake?" said Jane. "I
certainly saw Mr. Darcy speaking to her."
"Aye--because she asked him at last how he liked Netherfield, and he
could not help answering her; but she said he seemed quite angry at

being spoke to."
"Miss Bingley told me," said Jane, "that he never speaks much, unless
among his intimate acquaintances. With THEM he is remarkably
agreeable."
"I do not believe a word of it, my dear. If he had been so very agreeable,
he would have talked to Mrs. Long. But I can guess how it was;
everybody says that he is eat up with pride, and I dare say he had heard
somehow that Mrs. Long does not keep a carriage, and had come to the
ball in a hack chaise."
"I do not mind his not talking to Mrs. Long," said Miss Lucas, "but I
wish he had danced with Eliza."
"Another time, Lizzy," said her mother, "I would not dance with HIM,
if I were you."
"I believe, ma'am, I may safely promise you NEVER to dance with
him."
"His pride," said Miss Lucas, "does not offend ME so much as pride
often does, because there is an excuse for it. One cannot wonder that so
very fine a young man, with family, fortune, everything in his favour,
should think highly of himself. If I may so express it, he has a RIGHT
to be proud."
"That is very true," replied Elizabeth, "and I could easily forgive HIS
pride, if he had not mortified MINE."
"Pride," observed Mary, who piqued herself upon the solidity of her
reflections, "is a very common failing, I believe. By all that I have ever
read, I am convinced that it is very common indeed; that human nature
is particularly prone to it, and that there are very few of us who do not
cherish a feeling of self-complacency on the score of some quality or
other, real or imaginary. Vanity and pride are different things, though
the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud
without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves,

vanity to what we would have others think of us."
"If I were as rich as Mr. Darcy," cried a young Lucas, who came with
his sisters, "I should not care how proud I was. I would keep a pack of
foxhounds, and drink a bottle of wine a day."
"Then you would drink a great deal more than you ought," said Mrs.
Bennet; "and if I were to see you at it, I should take away your bottle
directly."
The boy protested that she should not; she continued to declare that she
would, and the argument ended only with the visit.
Chapter 6
The ladies of Longbourn soon waited on those of Netherfield. The visit
was soon returned in due form. Miss Bennet's pleasing manners grew
on the goodwill of Mrs. Hurst and Miss Bingley; and though the
mother was found to be intolerable, and the younger sisters not worth
speaking to, a wish of being better acquainted with THEM was
expressed towards the two eldest. By Jane, this attention was received
with the greatest pleasure, but Elizabeth still saw superciliousness in
their treatment of everybody, hardly excepting even her sister, and
could not like them; though their kindness to Jane, such as it was, had a
value as arising in all probability from the influence of their brother's
admiration. It was generally evident whenever they