Chapter 3
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
despatched; 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 all together; 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 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 e—”
“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,” 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.”