Chapter 4

When Jane and Elizabeth were alone, Jane expressed to her sister 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!”

“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? Well, he certainly is very agreeable, and I allow you to like him. You have liked many stupider men.”

“Dear Lizzy!”

“Oh! 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! 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 going to live with her brother, and keep his house; and I am much mistaken if we will 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 softness of temper than her sister, and with a judgement unaffected by any attention to herself, she was very little disposed to approve them. They were in fact very fine ladies; not lacking in good humour when they were pleased, nor in the power of making themselves agreeable when they chose it, but proud and arrogant. They were rather handsome, had been educated in one of the first private seminaries in town, had a fortune of twenty thousand pounds, were in the habit of spending more than they ought, and of associating with people of rank, and were therefore in every respect entitled to think well of themselves, and meanly of others. They were of a respectable family in the north of England; a circumstance more deeply impressed on their memories than that their brother's fortune and their own had been acquired by trade.

Mr. Bingley inherited property to the amount of nearly a hundred thousand pounds from his father, who had intended to purchase an estate, but died. Mr. Bingley intended it likewise; but as he was now provided with a good house, it was doubtful to many of those who best knew the easiness of his temper, whether he might not spend the remainder of his days at Netherfield.

His sisters were anxious for his having an estate of his own; but, though he was now only a tenant, Miss Bingley was not unwilling to preside at his table^[14] – nor was Mrs. Hurst, who had married a man of more fashion than fortune,^[15] less disposed to consider his house as her home when it suited her. Mr. Bingley had not been of age two years,^[16] when he received an accidental recommendation to look at Netherfield House. He did look at it, and was pleased with the situation and the principal rooms, satisfied with what the owner said in its praise, and took it immediately.

Between him and Darcy there was a very steady friendship, in spite of great opposition of character. Darcy liked Bingley for the easiness, openness, and flexibility of his temper, though it was a great contrast to his own, and though with his own he never appeared dissatisfied. Bingley had the highest opinion of Darcy's judgement. In understanding, Darcy was the superior. Bingley was not deficient^[17], but Darcy was clever. He was at the same time haughty, reserved, and fastidious, and his manners were not inviting. In that respect his friend had greatly the advantage. Bingley was sure of being liked wherever he appeared, Darcy was continually giving offence.

The manner in which they spoke of the Meryton assembly was sufficiently characteristic. Bingley had never met with more pleasant people or prettier girls in his life; everybody had been most kind and attentive to him; there had been no formality, no stiffness; he had soon felt acquainted with all the room; and, as to Miss Bennet, he could not imagine an angel more beautiful. Darcy, on the contrary, had seen a collection of people in whom there was little beauty and no fashion, for none of whom he had felt the smallest interest, and from none received either attention or pleasure. Miss Bennet he acknowledged to be pretty, but she smiled too much.

Mrs. Hurst and her sister allowed it to be so – but still they admired her and liked her, and pronounced her to be a sweet girl, and one whom they would not object to know more of. Miss Bennet was therefore established as a sweet girl, and their brother was allowed to think of her as he chose.

Chapter 5

Within a short walk of Longbourn lived a family with whom the Bennets were particularly intimate. Sir William Lucas had been formerly in trade in Meryton, where he had made a good fortune, and risen to the honour of knighthood^[18] by an address to the king during his mayoralty. The distinction had given him a disgust to his business, and to his residence in a small market town. He had removed with his family to a house about a mile from Meryton, named from that period Lucas Lodge, where he could think with pleasure of his own importance. Though elated by his rank, it did not make him arrogant; on the contrary, he was all attention to everybody.

Lady Lucas was a very good kind of woman, not too clever to be a valuable neighbour to Mrs. Bennet. They had several children. The eldest of them, a sensible, intelligent young woman, about twenty-seven, was Elizabeth's intimate friend.

That the Miss Lucases and the Miss Bennets should meet to talk over a ball was absolutely necessary; and the morning after the assembly brought the former to Longbourn to hear and to communicate.

“You began the evening well, Charlotte,” said Mrs. Bennet to Miss Lucas. “ You were Mr. Bingley's first choice.”

“Yes; but he seemed to like his second better.”

“You mean Jane, I suppose, because he danced with her twice. That did seem as if he admired her – I heard something about it.”

“Perhaps you mean what I overheard between him and Mr. Robinson; did not I mention it to you? Mr. Robinson asked him how he liked our Meryton assemblies, and whether he did not think there were very many pretty women in the room, and which he thought the prettiest, and he answered immediately to the last question: 'Oh, the eldest Miss Bennet, beyond a doubt; there cannot be two opinions on that point.'”

“Upon my word!^[19] Well, that is very decided – but, however, it may all come to nothing, you know.”

“My overhearings were more to the purpose^[20] 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?” said Jane. “I certainly saw Mr. Darcy speaking to her.”

“Yes – because she asked him at last how he liked Netherfield, and he could not help answering her.”

“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 eaten up with pride^[21], 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^[22].”

“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 such a fine young man, with family and fortune, 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, “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. 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 would 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 saw you at it, I would take away your bottle directly.”

The boy protested that she would not; she continued to declare that she would, and the argument ended only with the visit.

Chapter 6

The ladies of Longbourn soon visited those of Netherfield. Miss Bennet's pleasing manners were liked by 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 arrogance in their treatment of everybody, and could not like them; though their kindness to Jane arose in all probability from the influence of their brother's admiration. It was generally evident whenever they met, that he did admire her and to her it was equally evident that Jane would soon be very much in love. But she considered with pleasure that it was not likely to be discovered by everyone, since Jane combined, with great strength of feeling, a composure of temper and a cheerfulness of manner which would guard her from the suspicions of the impudent. She mentioned this to her friend Miss Lucas.

“It may perhaps be pleasant,” replied Charlotte, “to be able to deceive the public in such a case; but it is sometimes a disadvantage to be so very guarded. If a woman conceals her affection with the same skill from the object of it, she may lose the opportunity of fixing him. In nine cases out of ten a woman had better show more affection than she feels. Bingley likes your sister undoubtedly; but he may never do more than like her, if she does not help him on.”

“But she does help him on, as much as her nature allows. If I can perceive her regard for him,^[23] he must be a simpleton, indeed, not to discover it too.”

“Remember, Eliza, that he does not know Jane's disposition as you do. Though Bingley and Jane meet tolerably often, it is never for many hours together; and, as they always see each other in large mixed parties, it is impossible that every moment should be employed in conversing together. Jane should therefore make the most of^[24] every half-hour in which she can command his attention. When she is secure of him,^[25] there will be more leisure for falling in love as much as she chooses.”

“Your plan is a good one,” replied Elizabeth, “where nothing is in question but the desire of being well married, and if I were determined to get a rich husband, or any husband, I would adopt it. But these are not Jane's feelings; she is not acting by design. As yet,^[26] she cannot even be certain of the degree of her own regard nor of its reasonableness. She has known him only a fortnight. She danced four dances with him at Meryton; she saw him one morning at his own house, and has since dined with him in company four times. This is not quite enough to make her understand his character.”

“Not as you represent it. Had she merely dined with him, she might only have discovered whether he had a good appetite; but you must remember that four evenings have also been spent together – and four evenings may do a lot. I believe happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance; and it is better to know as little as possible of the defects of the person with whom you are to pass your life.”

“You make me laugh, Charlotte; but it is not sound. You know it is not sound, and that you would never act in this way yourself.”

Occupied in observing Mr. Bingley's attentions to her sister, Elizabeth was far from suspecting that she was herself becoming an object of some interest in the eyes of his friend. At first, Mr. Darcy had looked at her without admiration. But soon he began to find that her face was uncommonly intelligent through the beautiful expression of her dark eyes. He was also forced to acknowledge her figure to be light and pleasing. Of this she was perfectly unaware; to her he was only the man who made himself agreeable nowhere, and who had not thought her handsome enough to dance with.