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, &c. 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 had 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 gentleman-like; 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 every

body 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 overhear 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 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; and 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 towards him. She told the story however with great spirit among

her friends; for she had a lively, playful disposition, which delighted in any thing

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 to be never 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 all his wife's views on the stranger

would be disappointed; but he soon found that he had a very 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. Every body 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 ancle in the first dance!"

"Oh! my dear," continued Mrs. Bennet, "I am quite delighted with him. He is so excessively

handsome! and his sisters are charming women. I never in my life saw any thing 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."