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data/lib/personal_faker/texts/pride-and-prejudice.rtf

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+It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession\
+of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.\
+\
+However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his\
+first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds\
+of the surrounding families, that he is considered the rightful property\
+of some one or other of their daughters.\
+\
+"My dear Mr. Bennet," said his lady to him one day, "have you heard that\
+Netherfield Park is let at last?"\
+\
+Mr. Bennet replied that he had not.\
+\
+"But it is," returned she; "for Mrs. Long has just been here, and she\
+told me all about it."\
+\
+Mr. Bennet made no answer.\
+\
+"Do you not want to know who has taken it?" cried his wife impatiently.\
+\
+"_You_ want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it."\
+\
+This was invitation enough.\
+\
+"Why, my dear, you must know, Mrs. Long says that Netherfield is taken\
+by a young man of large fortune from the north of England; that he came\
+down on Monday in a chaise and four to see the place, and was so much\
+delighted with it, that he agreed with Mr. Morris immediately; that he\
+is to take possession before Michaelmas, and some of his servants are to\
+be in the house by the end of next week."\
+\
+"What is his name?"\
+\
+"Bingley."\
+\
+"Is he married or single?"\
+\
+"Oh! Single, my dear, to be sure! A single man of large fortune; four or\
+five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls!"\
+\
+"How so? How can it affect them?"\
+\
+"My dear Mr. Bennet," replied his wife, "how can you be so tiresome! You\
+must know that I am thinking of his marrying one of them."\
+\
+"Is that his design in settling here?"\
+\
+"Design! Nonsense, how can you talk so! But it is very likely that he\
+_may_ fall in love with one of them, and therefore you must visit him as\
+soon as he comes."\
+\
+"I see no occasion for that. You and the girls may go, or you may send\
+them by themselves, which perhaps will be still better, for as you are\
+as handsome as any of them, Mr. Bingley may like you the best of the\
+party."\
+\
+"My dear, you flatter me. I certainly _have_ had my share of beauty, but\
+I do not pretend to be anything extraordinary now. When a woman has five\
+grown-up daughters, she ought to give over thinking of her own beauty."\
+\
+"In such cases, a woman has not often much beauty to think of."\
+\
+"But, my dear, you must indeed go and see Mr. Bingley when he comes into\
+the neighbourhood."\
+\
+"It is more than I engage for, I assure you."\
+\
+"But consider your daughters. Only think what an establishment it would\
+be for one of them. Sir William and Lady Lucas are determined to\
+go, merely on that account, for in general, you know, they visit no\
+newcomers. Indeed you must go, for it will be impossible for _us_ to\
+visit him if you do not."\
+\
+"You are over-scrupulous, surely. I dare say Mr. Bingley will be very\
+glad to see you; and I will send a few lines by you to assure him of my\
+hearty consent to his marrying whichever he chooses of the girls; though\
+I must throw in a good word for my little Lizzy."\
+\
+"I desire you will do no such thing. Lizzy is not a bit better than the\
+others; and I am sure she is not half so handsome as Jane, nor half so\
+good-humoured as Lydia. But you are always giving _her_ the preference."\
+\
+"They have none of them much to recommend them," replied he; "they are\
+all silly and ignorant like other girls; but Lizzy has something more of\
+quickness than her sisters."\
+\
+"Mr. Bennet, how _can_ you abuse your own children in such a way? You\
+take delight in vexing me. You have no compassion for my poor nerves."\
+\
+"You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves. They\
+are my old friends. I have heard you mention them with consideration\
+these last twenty years at least."\
+\
+"Ah, you do not know what I suffer."\
+\
+"But I hope you will get over it, and live to see many young men of four\
+thousand a year come into the neighbourhood."\
+\
+"It will be no use to us, if twenty such should come, since you will not\
+visit them."\
+\
+"Depend upon it, my dear, that when there are twenty, I will visit them\
+all."\
+\
+Mr. Bennet was so odd a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humour,\
+reserve, and caprice, that the experience of three-and-twenty years had\
+been insufficient to make his wife understand his character. _Her_ mind\
+was less difficult to develop. She was a woman of mean understanding,\
+little information, and uncertain temper. When she was discontented,\
+she fancied herself nervous. The business of her life was to get her\
+daughters married; its solace was visiting and news.\
+\
+\
+\
+Chapter 2\
+\
+\
+Mr. Bennet was among the earliest of those who waited on Mr. Bingley. He\
+had always intended to visit him, though to the last always assuring\
+his wife that he should not go; and till the evening after the visit was\
+paid she had no knowledge of it. It was then disclosed in the following\
+manner. Observing his second daughter employed in trimming a hat, he\
+suddenly addressed her with:\
+\
+"I hope Mr. Bingley will like it, Lizzy."\
+\
+"We are not in a way to know _what_ Mr. Bingley likes," said her mother\
+resentfully, "since we are not to visit."\
+\
+"But you forget, mamma," said Elizabeth, "that we shall meet him at the\
+assemblies, and that Mrs. Long promised to introduce him."\
+\
+"I do not believe Mrs. Long will do any such thing. She has two nieces\
+of her own. She is a selfish, hypocritical woman, and I have no opinion\
+of her."\
+\
+"No more have I," said Mr. Bennet; "and I am glad to find that you do\
+not depend on her serving you."\
+\
+Mrs. Bennet deigned not to make any reply, but, unable to contain\
+herself, began scolding one of her daughters.\
+\
+"Don't keep coughing so, Kitty, for Heaven's sake! Have a little\
+compassion on my nerves. You tear them to pieces."\
+\
+"Kitty has no discretion in her coughs," said her father; "she times\
+them ill."\
+\
+"I do not cough for my own amusement," replied Kitty fretfully. "When is\
+your next ball to be, Lizzy?"\
+\
+"To-morrow fortnight."\
+\
+"Aye, so it is," cried her mother, "and Mrs. Long does not come back\
+till the day before; so it will be impossible for her to introduce him,\
+for she will not know him herself."\
+\
+"Then, my dear, you may have the advantage of your friend, and introduce\
+Mr. Bingley to _her_."\
+\
+"Impossible, Mr. Bennet, impossible, when I am not acquainted with him\
+myself; how can you be so teasing?"\
+\
+"I honour your circumspection. A fortnight's acquaintance is certainly\
+very little. One cannot know what a man really is by the end of a\
+fortnight. But if _we_ do not venture somebody else will; and after all,\
+Mrs. Long and her neices must stand their chance; and, therefore, as\
+she will think it an act of kindness, if you decline the office, I will\
+take it on myself."\
+\
+The girls stared at their father. Mrs. Bennet said only, "Nonsense,\
+nonsense!"\
+\
+"What can be the meaning of that emphatic exclamation?" cried he. "Do\
+you consider the forms of introduction, and the stress that is laid on\
+them, as nonsense? I cannot quite agree with you _there_. What say you,\
+Mary? For you are a young lady of deep reflection, I know, and read\
+great books and make extracts."\
+\
+Mary wished to say something sensible, but knew not how.\
+\
+"While Mary is adjusting her ideas," he continued, "let us return to Mr.\
+Bingley."\
+\
+"I am sick of Mr. Bingley," cried his wife.\
+\
+"I am sorry to hear _that_; but why did not you tell me that before? If\
+I had known as much this morning I certainly would not have called\
+on him. It is very unlucky; but as I have actually paid the visit, we\
+cannot escape the acquaintance now."\
+\
+The astonishment of the ladies was just what he wished; that of Mrs.\
+Bennet perhaps surpassing the rest; though, when the first tumult of joy\
+was over, she began to declare that it was what she had expected all the\
+while.\
+\
+"How good it was in you, my dear Mr. Bennet! But I knew I should\
+persuade you at last. I was sure you loved your girls too well to\
+neglect such an acquaintance. Well, how pleased I am! and it is such a\
+good joke, too, that you should have gone this morning and never said a\
+word about it till now."\
+\
+"Now, Kitty, you may cough as much as you choose," said Mr. Bennet; and,\
+as he spoke, he left the room, fatigued with the raptures of his wife.\
+\
+"What an excellent father you have, girls!" said she, when the door was\
+shut. "I do not know how you will ever make him amends for his kindness;\
+or me, either, for that matter. At our time of life it is not so\
+pleasant, I can tell you, to be making new acquaintances every day; but\
+for your sakes, we would do anything. Lydia, my love, though you _are_\
+the youngest, I dare say Mr. Bingley will dance with you at the next\
+ball."\
+\
+"Oh!" said Lydia stoutly, "I am not afraid; for though I _am_ the\
+youngest, I'm the tallest."\
+\
+The rest of the evening was spent in conjecturing how soon he would\
+return Mr. Bennet's visit, and determining when they should ask him to\
+dinner.\
+\
+\
+\
+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 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 inquired 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."\
+\
+\
+\
+Chapter 4\
+\
+\
+When Jane and Elizabeth were alone, the former, who had been cautious in\
+her praise of Mr. Bingley before, expressed to her sister just 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!--so much\
+ease, with such perfect good breeding!"\
+\
+"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? He could not help\
+seeing that you were about five times as pretty as every other woman\
+in the room. No thanks to his gallantry for that. Well, he certainly is\
+very agreeable, and I give you leave to like him. You have liked many a\
+stupider person."\
+\
+"Dear Lizzy!"\
+\
+"Oh! you are a great deal too apt, you know, to like people in general.\
+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! Affectation of candour is common enough--one meets with it\
+everywhere. But to be candid without ostentation or design--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 to live with her brother, and keep\
+his house; and I am much mistaken if we shall 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 pliancy of temper than her sister,\
+and with a judgement too unassailed by any attention to herself, she\
+was very little disposed to approve them. They were in fact very fine\
+ladies; not deficient in good humour when they were pleased, nor in the\
+power of making themselves agreeable when they chose it, but proud and\
+conceited. 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 did not live to do it. Mr. Bingley intended it likewise, and\
+sometimes made choice of his county; but as he was now provided with a\
+good house and the liberty of a manor, 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, and leave the next generation to\
+purchase.\
+\
+His sisters were anxious for his having an estate of his own; but,\
+though he was now only established as a tenant, Miss Bingley was by no\
+means unwilling to preside at his table--nor was Mrs. Hurst, who had\
+married a man of more fashion than fortune, less disposed to consider\
+his house as her home when it suited her. Mr. Bingley had not been of\
+age two years, when he was tempted by an accidental recommendation\
+to look at Netherfield House. He did look at it, and into it for\
+half-an-hour--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. Bingley was endeared to Darcy by the\
+easiness, openness, and ductility of his temper, though no disposition\
+could offer a greater contrast to his own, and though with his own he\
+never appeared dissatisfied. On the strength of Darcy's regard, Bingley\
+had the firmest reliance, and of his judgement the highest opinion.\
+In understanding, Darcy was the superior. Bingley was by no means\
+deficient, but Darcy was clever. He was at the same time haughty,\
+reserved, and fastidious, and his manners, though well-bred, 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 offense.\
+\
+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\
+conceive 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 felt authorized by such\
+commendation 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 tolerable fortune, and risen to the\
+honour of knighthood by an address to the king during his mayoralty.\
+The distinction had perhaps been felt too strongly. It had given him a\
+disgust to his business, and to his residence in a small market town;\
+and, in quitting them both, he had removed with his family to a house\
+about a mile from Meryton, denominated from that period Lucas Lodge,\
+where he could think with pleasure of his own importance, and,\
+unshackled by business, occupy himself solely in being civil to all\
+the world. For, though elated by his rank, it did not render him\
+supercilious; on the contrary, he was all attention to everybody. By\
+nature inoffensive, friendly, and obliging, his presentation at St.\
+James's had made him courteous.\
+\
+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 with civil\
+self-command to Miss Lucas. "_You_ were Mr. Bingley's first choice."\
+\
+"Yes; but he seemed to like his second better."\
+\
+"Oh! you mean Jane, I suppose, because he danced with her twice. To be\
+sure that _did_ seem as if he admired her--indeed I rather believe he\
+_did_--I heard something about it--but I hardly know what--something\
+about Mr. Robinson."\
+\
+"Perhaps you mean what I overheard between him and Mr. Robinson; did not\
+I mention it to you? Mr. Robinson's asking him how he liked our Meryton\
+assemblies, and whether he did not think there were a great many\
+pretty women in the room, and _which_ he thought the prettiest? and his\
+answering immediately to the last question: 'Oh! the eldest Miss Bennet,\
+beyond a doubt; there cannot be two opinions on that point.'"\
+\
+"Upon my word! Well, that is very decided indeed--that does seem as\
+if--but, however, it may all come to nothing, you know."\
+\
+"_My_ overhearings were more to the purpose 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?--is not there a little mistake?" said Jane.\
+"I certainly saw Mr. Darcy speaking to her."\
+\
+"Aye--because she asked him at last how he liked Netherfield, and he\
+could not help answering her; but she said he seemed quite angry at\
+being spoke to."\
+\
+"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 eat up with pride, 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."\
+\
+"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 so\
+very fine a young man, with family, fortune, everything in his favour,\
+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, who piqued herself upon the solidity of her\
+reflections, "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, and that there are very few of us\
+who do not cherish a feeling of self-complacency on the score of some\
+quality or other, real or imaginary. 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 should 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 were to see you at it, I should take away your bottle\
+directly."\
+\
+The boy protested that she should not; she continued to declare that she\
+would, and the argument ended only with the visit.\
+\
+\
+\
+Chapter 6\
+\
+\
+The ladies of Longbourn soon waited on those of Netherfield. The visit\
+was soon returned in due form. Miss Bennet's pleasing manners grew on\
+the goodwill of 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 superciliousness in their treatment\
+of everybody, hardly excepting even her sister, and could not like them;\
+though their kindness to Jane, such as it was, had a value as arising 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 was yielding to the preference\
+which she had begun to entertain for him from the first, and was in a\
+way to be very much in love; but she considered with pleasure that it\
+was not likely to be discovered by the world in general, since Jane\
+united, with great strength of feeling, a composure of temper and a\
+uniform cheerfulness of manner which would guard her from the suspicions\
+of the impertinent. She mentioned this to her friend Miss Lucas.\
+\
+"It may perhaps be pleasant," replied Charlotte, "to be able to impose\
+on 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; and\
+it will then be but poor consolation to believe the world equally in\
+the dark. There is so much of gratitude or vanity in almost every\
+attachment, that it is not safe to leave any to itself. We can all\
+_begin_ freely--a slight preference is natural enough; but there are\
+very few of us who have heart enough to be really in love without\
+encouragement. In nine cases out of ten a women 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 will allow. If I can\
+perceive her regard for him, he must be a simpleton, indeed, not to\
+discover it too."\
+\
+"Remember, Eliza, that he does not know Jane's disposition as you do."\
+\
+"But if a woman is partial to a man, and does not endeavour to conceal\
+it, he must find it out."\
+\
+"Perhaps he must, if he sees enough of her. But, 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 every half-hour in which she can command his\
+attention. When she is secure of him, 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 dare say I should adopt it. But\
+these are not Jane's feelings; she is not acting by design. As yet,\
+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 great deal."\
+\
+"Yes; these four evenings have enabled them to ascertain that they\
+both like Vingt-un better than Commerce; but with respect to any other\
+leading characteristic, I do not imagine that much has been unfolded."\
+\
+"Well," said Charlotte, "I wish Jane success with all my heart; and\
+if she were married to him to-morrow, I should think she had as good a\
+chance of happiness as if she were to be studying his character for a\
+twelvemonth. Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance. If\
+the dispositions of the parties are ever so well known to each other or\
+ever so similar beforehand, it does not advance their felicity in the\
+least. They always continue to grow sufficiently unlike afterwards to\
+have their share of vexation; 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. Mr. Darcy had at first scarcely\
+allowed her to be pretty; he had looked at her without admiration at the\
+ball; and when they next met, he looked at her only to criticise. But no\
+sooner had he made it clear to himself and his friends that she hardly\
+had a good feature in her face, than he began to find it was rendered\
+uncommonly intelligent by the beautiful expression of her dark eyes. To\
+this discovery succeeded some others equally mortifying. Though he had\
+detected with a critical eye more than one failure of perfect symmetry\
+in her form, he was forced to acknowledge her figure to be light and\
+pleasing; and in spite of his asserting that her manners were not those\
+of the fashionable world, he was caught by their easy playfulness. 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.\
+\
+He began to wish to know more of her, and as a step towards conversing\
+with her himself, attended to her conversation with others. His doing so\
+drew her notice. It was at Sir William Lucas's, where a large party were\
+assembled.\
+\
+"What does Mr. Darcy mean," said she to Charlotte, "by listening to my\
+conversation with Colonel Forster?"\
+\
+"That is a question which Mr. Darcy only can answer."\
+\
+"But if he does it any more I shall certainly let him know that I see\
+what he is about. He has a very satirical eye, and if I do not begin by\
+being impertinent myself, I shall soon grow afraid of him."\
+\
+On his approaching them soon afterwards, though without seeming to have\
+any intention of speaking, Miss Lucas defied her friend to mention such\
+a subject to him; which immediately provoking Elizabeth to do it, she\
+turned to him and said:\
+\
+"Did you not think, Mr. Darcy, that I expressed myself uncommonly\
+well just now, when I was teasing Colonel Forster to give us a ball at\
+Meryton?"\
+\
+"With great energy; but it is always a subject which makes a lady\
+energetic."\
+\
+"You are severe on us."\
+\
+"It will be _her_ turn soon to be teased," said Miss Lucas. "I am going\
+to open the instrument, Eliza, and you know what follows."\
+\
+"You are a very strange creature by way of a friend!--always wanting me\
+to play and sing before anybody and everybody! If my vanity had taken\
+a musical turn, you would have been invaluable; but as it is, I would\
+really rather not sit down before those who must be in the habit of\
+hearing the very best performers." On Miss Lucas's persevering, however,\
+she added, "Very well, if it must be so, it must." And gravely glancing\
+at Mr. Darcy, "There is a fine old saying, which everybody here is of\
+course familiar with: 'Keep your breath to cool your porridge'; and I\
+shall keep mine to swell my song."\
+\
+Her performance was pleasing, though by no means capital. After a song\
+or two, and before she could reply to the entreaties of several that\
+she would sing again, she was eagerly succeeded at the instrument by her\
+sister Mary, who having, in consequence of being the only plain one in\
+the family, worked hard for knowledge and accomplishments, was always\
+impatient for display.\
+\
+Mary had neither genius nor taste; and though vanity had given her\
+application, it had given her likewise a pedantic air and conceited\
+manner, which would have injured a higher degree of excellence than she\
+had reached. Elizabeth, easy and unaffected, had been listened to with\
+much more pleasure, though not playing half so well; and Mary, at the\
+end of a long concerto, was glad to purchase praise and gratitude by\
+Scotch and Irish airs, at the request of her younger sisters, who,\
+with some of the Lucases, and two or three officers, joined eagerly in\
+dancing at one end of the room.\
+\
+Mr. Darcy stood near them in silent indignation at such a mode of\
+passing the evening, to the exclusion of all conversation, and was too\
+much engrossed by his thoughts to perceive that Sir William Lucas was\
+his neighbour, till Sir William thus began:\
+\
+"What a charming amusement for young people this is, Mr. Darcy! There\
+is nothing like dancing after all. I consider it as one of the first\
+refinements of polished society."\
+\
+"Certainly, sir; and it has the advantage also of being in vogue amongst\
+the less polished societies of the world. Every savage can dance."\
+\
+Sir William only smiled. "Your friend performs delightfully," he\
+continued after a pause, on seeing Bingley join the group; "and I doubt\
+not that you are an adept in the science yourself, Mr. Darcy."\
+\
+"You saw me dance at Meryton, I believe, sir."\
+\
+"Yes, indeed, and received no inconsiderable pleasure from the sight. Do\
+you often dance at St. James's?"\
+\
+"Never, sir."\
+\
+"Do you not think it would be a proper compliment to the place?"\
+\
+"It is a compliment which I never pay to any place if I can avoid it."\
+\
+"You have a house in town, I conclude?"\
+\
+Mr. Darcy bowed.\
+\
+"I had once had some thought of fixing in town myself--for I am fond\
+of superior society; but I did not feel quite certain that the air of\
+London would agree with Lady Lucas."\
+\
+He paused in hopes of an answer; but his companion was not disposed\
+to make any; and Elizabeth at that instant moving towards them, he was\
+struck with the action of doing a very gallant thing, and called out to\
+her:\
+\
+"My dear Miss Eliza, why are you not dancing? Mr. Darcy, you must allow\
+me to present this young lady to you as a very desirable partner. You\
+cannot refuse to dance, I am sure when so much beauty is before you."\
+And, taking her hand, he would have given it to Mr. Darcy who, though\
+extremely surprised, was not unwilling to receive it, when she instantly\
+drew back, and said with some discomposure to Sir William:\
+\
+"Indeed, sir, I have not the least intention of dancing. I entreat you\
+not to suppose that I moved this way in order to beg for a partner."\
+\
+Mr. Darcy, with grave propriety, requested to be allowed the honour of\
+her hand, but in vain. Elizabeth was determined; nor did Sir William at\
+all shake her purpose by his attempt at persuasion.\
+\
+"You excel so much in the dance, Miss Eliza, that it is cruel to deny\
+me the happiness of seeing you; and though this gentleman dislikes the\
+amusement in general, he can have no objection, I am sure, to oblige us\
+for one half-hour."\
+\
+"Mr. Darcy is all politeness," said Elizabeth, smiling.\
+\
+"He is, indeed; but, considering the inducement, my dear Miss Eliza,\
+we cannot wonder at his complaisance--for who would object to such a\
+partner?"\
+\
+Elizabeth looked archly, and turned away. Her resistance had not\
+injured her with the gentleman, and he was thinking of her with some\
+complacency, when thus accosted by Miss Bingley:\
+\
+"I can guess the subject of your reverie."\
+\
+"I should imagine not."\
+\
+"You are considering how insupportable it would be to pass many evenings\
+in this manner--in such society; and indeed I am quite of your opinion.\
+I was never more annoyed! The insipidity, and yet the noise--the\
+nothingness, and yet the self-importance of all those people! What would\
+I give to hear your strictures on them!"\
+\
+"Your conjecture is totally wrong, I assure you. My mind was more\
+agreeably engaged. I have been meditating on the very great pleasure\
+which a pair of fine eyes in the face of a pretty woman can bestow."\
+\
+Miss Bingley immediately fixed her eyes on his face, and desired he\
+would tell her what lady had the credit of inspiring such reflections.\
+Mr. Darcy replied with great intrepidity:\
+\
+"Miss Elizabeth Bennet."\
+\
+"Miss Elizabeth Bennet!" repeated Miss Bingley. "I am all astonishment.\
+How long has she been such a favourite?--and pray, when am I to wish you\
+joy?"\
+\
+"That is exactly the question which I expected you to ask. A lady's\
+imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love\
+to matrimony, in a moment. I knew you would be wishing me joy."\
+\
+"Nay, if you are serious about it, I shall consider the matter is\
+absolutely settled. You will be having a charming mother-in-law, indeed;\
+and, of course, she will always be at Pemberley with you."\
+\
+He listened to her with perfect indifference while she chose to\
+entertain herself in this manner; and as his composure convinced her\
+that all was safe, her wit flowed long.\
+\
+\
+\
+Chapter 7\
+\
+\
+Mr. Bennet's property consisted almost entirely in an estate of two\
+thousand a year, which, unfortunately for his daughters, was entailed,\
+in default of heirs male, on a distant relation; and their mother's\
+fortune, though ample for her situation in life, could but ill supply\
+the deficiency of his. Her father had been an attorney in Meryton, and\
+had left her four thousand pounds.\
+\
+She had a sister married to a Mr. Phillips, who had been a clerk to\
+their father and succeeded him in the business, and a brother settled in\
+London in a respectable line of trade.\
+\
+The village of Longbourn was only one mile from Meryton; a most\
+convenient distance for the young ladies, who were usually tempted\
+thither three or four times a week, to pay their duty to their aunt and\
+to a milliner's shop just over the way. The two youngest of the family,\
+Catherine and Lydia, were particularly frequent in these attentions;\
+their minds were more vacant than their sisters', and when nothing\
+better offered, a walk to Meryton was necessary to amuse their morning\
+hours and furnish conversation for the evening; and however bare of news\
+the country in general might be, they always contrived to learn some\
+from their aunt. At present, indeed, they were well supplied both with\
+news and happiness by the recent arrival of a militia regiment in the\
+neighbourhood; it was to remain the whole winter, and Meryton was the\
+headquarters.\
+\
+Their visits to Mrs. Phillips were now productive of the most\
+interesting intelligence. Every day added something to their knowledge\
+of the officers' names and connections. Their lodgings were not long a\
+secret, and at length they began to know the officers themselves. Mr.\
+Phillips visited them all, and this opened to his nieces a store of\
+felicity unknown before. They could talk of nothing but officers; and\
+Mr. Bingley's large fortune, the mention of which gave animation\
+to their mother, was worthless in their eyes when opposed to the\
+regimentals of an ensign.\
+\
+After listening one morning to their effusions on this subject, Mr.\
+Bennet coolly observed:\
+\
+"From all that I can collect by your manner of talking, you must be two\
+of the silliest girls in the country. I have suspected it some time, but\
+I am now convinced."\
+\
+Catherine was disconcerted, and made no answer; but Lydia, with perfect\
+indifference, continued to express her admiration of Captain Carter,\
+and her hope of seeing him in the course of the day, as he was going the\
+next morning to London.\
+\
+"I am astonished, my dear," said Mrs. Bennet, "that you should be so\
+ready to think your own children silly. If I wished to think slightingly\
+of anybody's children, it should not be of my own, however."\
+\
+"If my children are silly, I must hope to be always sensible of it."\
+\
+"Yes--but as it happens, they are all of them very clever."\
+\
+"This is the only point, I flatter myself, on which we do not agree. I\
+had hoped that our sentiments coincided in every particular, but I must\
+so far differ from you as to think our two youngest daughters uncommonly\
+foolish."\
+\
+"My dear Mr. Bennet, you must not expect such girls to have the sense of\
+their father and mother. When they get to our age, I dare say they will\
+not think about officers any more than we do. I remember the time when\
+I liked a red coat myself very well--and, indeed, so I do still at my\
+heart; and if a smart young colonel, with five or six thousand a year,\
+should want one of my girls I shall not say nay to him; and I thought\
+Colonel Forster looked very becoming the other night at Sir William's in\
+his regimentals."\
+\
+"Mamma," cried Lydia, "my aunt says that Colonel Forster and Captain\
+Carter do not go so often to Miss Watson's as they did when they first\
+came; she sees them now very often standing in Clarke's library."\
+\
+Mrs. Bennet was prevented replying by the entrance of the footman with\
+a note for Miss Bennet; it came from Netherfield, and the servant waited\
+for an answer. Mrs. Bennet's eyes sparkled with pleasure, and she was\
+eagerly calling out, while her daughter read,\
+\
+"Well, Jane, who is it from? What is it about? What does he say? Well,\
+Jane, make haste and tell us; make haste, my love."\
+\
+"It is from Miss Bingley," said Jane, and then read it aloud.\
+\
+"MY DEAR FRIEND,--\
+\
+"If you are not so compassionate as to dine to-day with Louisa and me,\
+we shall be in danger of hating each other for the rest of our lives,\
+for a whole day's tete-a-tete between two women can never end without a\
+quarrel. Come as soon as you can on receipt of this. My brother and the\
+gentlemen are to dine with the officers.--Yours ever,\
+\
+"CAROLINE BINGLEY"\
+\
+"With the officers!" cried Lydia. "I wonder my aunt did not tell us of\
+_that_."\
+\
+"Dining out," said Mrs. Bennet, "that is very unlucky."\
+\
+"Can I have the carriage?" said Jane.\
+\
+"No, my dear, you had better go on horseback, because it seems likely to\
+rain; and then you must stay all night."\
+\
+"That would be a good scheme," said Elizabeth, "if you were sure that\
+they would not offer to send her home."\
+\
+"Oh! but the gentlemen will have Mr. Bingley's chaise to go to Meryton,\
+and the Hursts have no horses to theirs."\