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 forbidding, disagreeable
countenance, and being unworthy to be compared with his friend.🔗
Mr. Bingley had soon made himself acquainted with all the principal people
in the room; he was lively and unreserved, danced every dance, was angry
that the ball closed so early, and talked of giving one himself at
Netherfield. Such amiable qualities must speak for themselves. What a
contrast between him and his friend! Mr. Darcy danced only once with Mrs.
Hurst and once with Miss Bingley, declined being introduced to any other
lady, and spent the rest of the evening in walking about the room,
speaking occasionally to one of his own party. His character was decided.
He was the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world, and everybody
hoped that he would never come there again. Amongst the most violent
against him was Mrs. Bennet, whose dislike of his general behaviour was
sharpened into particular resentment by his having slighted one of her
daughters.🔗
Elizabeth Bennet had been obliged, by the scarcity of gentlemen, to sit
down for two dances; and during part of that time, Mr. Darcy had been
standing near enough for her to hear a conversation between him and Mr.
Bingley, who came from the dance for a few minutes, to press his friend to
join it.🔗
“Come, Darcy,” said he, “I must have you dance. I hate to see you standing
about by yourself in this stupid manner. You had much better dance.”🔗
“I certainly shall not. You know how I detest it, unless I am particularly
acquainted with my partner. At such an assembly as this it would be
insupportable. Your sisters are engaged, and there is not another woman in
the room whom it would not be a punishment to me to stand up with.”🔗
“I would not be so fastidious as you are,” cried Mr. Bingley, “for a
kingdom! Upon my honour, I never met with so many pleasant girls in my
life as I have this evening; and there are several of them you see
uncommonly pretty.”🔗
“You are dancing with the only handsome girl in the room,” said Mr.
Darcy, looking at the eldest Miss Bennet.🔗
“Oh! She is the most beautiful creature I ever beheld! But there is one of
her sisters sitting down just behind you, who is very pretty, and I dare
say very agreeable. Do let me ask my partner to introduce you.”🔗
“Which do you mean?” and turning round he looked for a moment at
Elizabeth, till catching her eye, he withdrew his own and coldly said:
“She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me; I am in no
humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by
other men. You had better return to your partner and enjoy her smiles, for
you are wasting your time with me.”🔗
Mr. Bingley followed his advice. Mr. Darcy walked off; and Elizabeth
remained with no very cordial feelings toward him. She told the story,
however, with great spirit among her friends; for she had a lively,
playful disposition, which delighted in anything ridiculous.🔗
The evening altogether passed off pleasantly to the whole family. Mrs.
Bennet had seen her eldest daughter much admired by the Netherfield party.
Mr. Bingley had danced with her twice, and she had been distinguished by
his sisters. Jane was as much gratified by this as her mother could be,
though in a quieter way. Elizabeth felt Jane’s pleasure. Mary had heard
herself mentioned 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.”🔗