At five o’clock the two ladies retired to dress, and at half-past six
Elizabeth was summoned to dinner. To the civil enquiries which then poured
in, and amongst which she had the pleasure of distinguishing the much
superior solicitude of Mr. Bingley’s, she could not make a very favourable
answer. Jane was by no means better. The sisters, on hearing this,
repeated three or four times how much they were grieved, how shocking it
was to have a bad cold, and how excessively they disliked being ill
themselves; and then thought no more of the matter: and their indifference
towards Jane when not immediately before them restored Elizabeth to the
enjoyment of all her former dislike.🔗
Their brother, indeed, was the only one of the party whom she could regard
with any complacency. His anxiety for Jane was evident, and his attentions
to herself most pleasing, and they prevented her feeling herself so much
an intruder as she believed she was considered by the others. She had very
little notice from any but him. Miss Bingley was engrossed by Mr. Darcy,
her sister scarcely less so; and as for Mr. Hurst, by whom Elizabeth sat,
he was an indolent man, who lived only to eat, drink, and play at cards;
who, when he found her to prefer a plain dish to a ragout, had nothing to
say to her.🔗
When dinner was over, she returned directly to Jane, and Miss Bingley
began abusing her as soon as she was out of the room. Her manners were
pronounced to be very bad indeed, a mixture of pride and impertinence; she
had no conversation, no style, no beauty. Mrs. Hurst thought the same, and
added:🔗
“She has nothing, in short, to recommend her, but being an excellent
walker. I shall never forget her appearance this morning. She really
looked almost wild.”🔗
“She did, indeed, Louisa. I could hardly keep my countenance. Very
nonsensical to come at all! Why must she be scampering about the
country, because her sister had a cold? Her hair, so untidy, so blowsy!”🔗
“Yes, and her petticoat; I hope you saw her petticoat, six inches deep in
mud, I am absolutely certain; and the gown which had been let down to hide
it not doing its office.”🔗
“Your picture may be very exact, Louisa,” said Bingley; “but this was all
lost upon me. I thought Miss Elizabeth Bennet looked remarkably well when
she came into the room this morning. Her dirty petticoat quite escaped my
notice.”🔗
“You observed it, Mr. Darcy, I am sure,” said Miss Bingley; “and I
am inclined to think that you would not wish to see your sister
make such an exhibition.”🔗
“Certainly not.”🔗
“To walk three miles, or four miles, or five miles, or whatever it is,
above her ankles in dirt, and alone, quite alone! What could she mean by
it? It seems to me to show an abominable sort of conceited independence, a
most country-town indifference to decorum.”🔗
“It shows an affection for her sister that is very pleasing,” said
Bingley.🔗
“I am afraid, Mr. Darcy,” observed Miss Bingley in a half whisper, “that
this adventure has rather affected your admiration of her fine eyes.”🔗
“Not at all,” he replied; “they were brightened by the exercise.” A short
pause followed this speech, and Mrs. Hurst began again:🔗
“I have an excessive regard for Miss Jane Bennet, she is really a very
sweet girl, and I wish with all my heart she were well settled. But with
such a father and mother, and such low connections, I am afraid there is
no chance of it.”🔗
“I think I have heard you say that their uncle is an attorney in Meryton.”🔗
“Yes; and they have another, who lives somewhere near Cheapside.”🔗
“That is capital,” added her sister, and they both laughed heartily.🔗
“If they had uncles enough to fill all Cheapside,” cried Bingley,
“it would not make them one jot less agreeable.”🔗
“But it must very materially lessen their chance of marrying men of any
consideration in the world,” replied Darcy.🔗
To this speech Bingley made no answer; but his sisters gave it their
hearty assent, and indulged their mirth for some time at the expense of
their dear friend’s vulgar relations.🔗
With a renewal of tenderness, however, they returned to her room on
leaving the dining-parlour, and sat with her till summoned to coffee. She
was still very poorly, and Elizabeth would not quit her at all, till late
in the evening, when she had the comfort of seeing her sleep, and when it
seemed to her rather right than pleasant that she should go downstairs
herself. On entering the drawing-room she found the whole party at loo,
and was immediately invited to join them; but suspecting them to be
playing high she declined it, and making her sister the excuse, said she
would amuse herself for the short time she could stay below, with a book.
Mr. Hurst looked at her with astonishment.🔗
“Do you prefer reading to cards?” said he; “that is rather singular.”🔗
“Miss Eliza Bennet,” said Miss Bingley, “despises cards. She is a great
reader, and has no pleasure in anything else.”🔗
“I deserve neither such praise nor such censure,” cried Elizabeth; “I am
not a great reader, and I have pleasure in many things.”🔗
“In nursing your sister I am sure you have pleasure,” said Bingley; “and I
hope it will be soon increased by seeing her quite well.”🔗
Elizabeth thanked him from her heart, and then walked towards the table
where a few books were lying. He immediately offered to fetch her others—all
that his library afforded.🔗
“And I wish my collection were larger for your benefit and my own credit;
but I am an idle fellow, and though I have not many, I have more than I
ever looked into.”🔗
Elizabeth assured him that she could suit herself perfectly with those in
the room.🔗
“I am astonished,” said Miss Bingley, “that my father should have left so
small a collection of books. What a delightful library you have at
Pemberley, Mr. Darcy!”🔗
“It ought to be good,” he replied, “it has been the work of many
generations.”🔗
“And then you have added so much to it yourself, you are always buying
books.”🔗
“I cannot comprehend the neglect of a family library in such days as
these.”🔗
“Neglect! I am sure you neglect nothing that can add to the beauties of
that noble place. Charles, when you build your house, I wish it may
be half as delightful as Pemberley.”🔗
“I wish it may.”🔗
“But I would really advise you to make your purchase in that
neighbourhood, and take Pemberley for a kind of model. There is not a
finer county in England than Derbyshire.”🔗
“With all my heart; I will buy Pemberley itself if Darcy will sell it.”🔗
“I am talking of possibilities, Charles.”🔗
“Upon my word, Caroline, I should think it more possible to get Pemberley
by purchase than by imitation.”🔗
Elizabeth was so much caught with what passed, as to leave her very little
attention for her book; and soon laying it wholly aside, she drew near the
card-table, and stationed herself between Mr. Bingley and his eldest
sister, to observe the game.🔗
“Is Miss Darcy much grown since the spring?” said Miss Bingley; “will she
be as tall as I am?”🔗
“I think she will. She is now about Miss Elizabeth Bennet’s height, or
rather taller.”🔗
“How I long to see her again! I never met with anybody who delighted me so
much. Such a countenance, such manners! And so extremely accomplished for
her age! Her performance on the pianoforte is exquisite.”🔗
“It is amazing to me,” said Bingley, “how young ladies can have patience
to be so very accomplished as they all are.”🔗
“All young ladies accomplished! My dear Charles, what do you mean?”🔗
“Yes, all of them, I think. They all paint tables, cover screens, and net
purses. I scarcely know anyone who cannot do all this, and I am sure I
never heard a young lady spoken of for the first time, without being
informed that she was very accomplished.”🔗
“Your list of the common extent of accomplishments,” said Darcy, “has too
much truth. The word is applied to many a woman who deserves it no
otherwise than by netting a purse or covering a screen. But I am very far
from agreeing with you in your estimation of ladies in general. I cannot
boast of knowing more than half-a-dozen, in the whole range of my
acquaintance, that are really accomplished.”🔗
“Nor I, I am sure,” said Miss Bingley.🔗
“Then,” observed Elizabeth, “you must comprehend a great deal in your idea
of an accomplished woman.”🔗
“Yes, I do comprehend a great deal in it.”🔗
“Oh! certainly,” cried his faithful assistant, “no one can be really
esteemed accomplished who does not greatly surpass what is usually met
with. A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing,
dancing, and the modern languages, to deserve the word; and besides all
this, she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of
walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the word
will be but half-deserved.”🔗
“All this she must possess,” added Darcy, “and to all this she must yet
add something more substantial, in the improvement of her mind by
extensive reading.”🔗
“I am no longer surprised at your knowing only six accomplished
women. I rather wonder now at your knowing any.”🔗
“Are you so severe upon your own sex as to doubt the possibility of all
this?”🔗
“I never saw such a woman. I never saw such capacity, and taste, and
application, and elegance, as you describe united.”🔗
Mrs. Hurst and Miss Bingley both cried out against the injustice of her
implied doubt, and were both protesting that they knew many women who
answered this description, when Mr. Hurst called them to order, with
bitter complaints of their inattention to what was going forward. As all
conversation was thereby at an end, Elizabeth soon afterwards left the
room.🔗
“Elizabeth Bennet,” said Miss Bingley, when the door was closed on her,
“is one of those young ladies who seek to recommend themselves to the
other sex by undervaluing their own; and with many men, I dare say, it
succeeds. But, in my opinion, it is a paltry device, a very mean art.”🔗
“Undoubtedly,” replied Darcy, to whom this remark was chiefly addressed,
“there is a meanness in all the arts which ladies sometimes
condescend to employ for captivation. Whatever bears affinity to cunning
is despicable.”🔗
Miss Bingley was not so entirely satisfied with this reply as to continue
the subject.🔗
Elizabeth joined them again only to say that her sister was worse, and
that she could not leave her. Bingley urged Mr. Jones being sent for
immediately; while his sisters, convinced that no country advice could be
of any service, recommended an express to town for one of the most eminent
physicians. This she would not hear of; but she was not so unwilling to
comply with their brother’s proposal; and it was settled that Mr. Jones
should be sent for early in the morning, if Miss Bennet were not decidedly
better. Bingley was quite uncomfortable; his sisters declared that they
were miserable. They solaced their wretchedness, however, by duets after
supper, while he could find no better relief to his feelings than by
giving his housekeeper directions that every attention might be paid to
the sick lady and her sister.🔗