Chapter 3

by Jane Austen

　　Not all that Mrs. Bennet, however, with the assistance of herfive daughters, could ask on the subject, was sufficient to drawfrom her husband any satisfactory description of Mr. Bingley.They attacked him in various way-- with barefaced questions,ingenious suppositions, and distant surmises; but he eluded theskill of them all, and they were at last obliged to accept thesecond-hand intelligence of their neighbour, Lady Lucas. Herreport was highly favourable. Sir William had been delightedwith him. He was quite young, wonderfully handsome,extremely agreeable, and, to crown the whole, he meant to beat the next assembly with a large party. Nothing could be moredelightful! To be fond of dancing was a certain step towardsfalling in love; and very lively hopes of Mr. Bingley's heartwere entertained."If I can but see one of my daughters happily settled atNetherfield," said Mrs. Bennet to her husband, "and all theothers equally well married, I shall have nothing to wish for."In a few days Mr. Bingley returned Mr. Bennet's visit, and satabout ten minutes with him in his library. He had entertainedhopes of being admitted to a sight of the young ladies, ofwhose beauty he had heard much; but he saw only the father.The ladies were somewhat more fortunate, for they had theadvantage of ascertaining from an upper window that he worea blue coat, and rode a black horse.An invitation to dinner was soon afterwards dispatched; andalready had Mrs. Bennet planned the courses that were to docredit to her housekeeping, when an answer arrived whichdeferred it all. Mr. Bingley was obliged to be in town thefollowing day, and, consequently, unable to accept the honourof their invitation, etc. Mrs. Bennet was quite disconcerted.She could not imagine what business he could have in town sosoon after his arrival in Hertfordshire; and she began to fearthat he might be always flying about from one place to another,and never settled at Netherfield as he ought to be. Lady Lucasquieted her fears a little by starting the idea of his being goneto London only to get a large party for the ball; and a reportsoon followed, that Mr. Bingley was to bring twelve ladies andseven gentlemen with him to the assembly. The girls grievedover such a number of ladies, but were comforted the daybefore the ball by hearing, that instead of twelve he broughtonly six with him from London-- his five sisters and a cousin.And when the party entered the assembly room it consisted ofonly five altogether-- Mr. Bingley, his two sisters, the husbandof the eldest, and another young man.Mr. Bingley was good-looking and gentlemanlike; he had apleasant countenance, and easy, unaffected manners. Hissisters were fine women, with an air of decided fashion. Hisbrother-in-law, Mr. Hurst, merely looked the gentleman; buthis friend Mr. Darcy soon drew the attention of the room byhis fine, tall person, handsome features, noble mien, and thereport which was in general circulation within five minutesafter his entrance, of his having ten thousand a year. Thegentlemen pronounced him to be a fine figure of a man, theladies declared he was much handsomer than Mr. Bingley, andhe was looked at with great admiration for about half theevening, till his manners gave a disgust which turned the tide ofhis popularity; for he was discovered to be proud; to be abovehis company, and above being pleased; and not all his largeestate in Derbyshire could then save him from having a mostforbidding, disagreeable countenance, and being unworthy tobe compared with his friend.Mr. Bingley had soon made himself acquainted with all theprincipal 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 amiablequalities must speak for themselves. What a contrast betweenhim and his friend! Mr. Darcy danced only once with Mrs.Hurst and once with Miss Bingley, declined being introducedto any other lady, and spent the rest of the evening in walkingabout the room, speaking occasionally to one of his own party.His character was decided. He was the proudest, mostdisagreeable man in the world, and everybody hoped that hewould never come there again. Amongst the most violentagainst him was Mrs. Bennet, whose dislike of his generalbehaviour was sharpened into particular resentment by hishaving slighted one of her daughters.Elizabeth Bennet had been obliged, by the scarcity ofgentlemen, to sit down for two dances; and during part of thattime, Mr. Darcy had been standing near enough for her to heara conversation between him and Mr. Bingley, who came fromthe dance for a few minutes, to press his friend to join it."Come, Darcy," said he, "I must have you dance. I hate to seeyou standing about by yourself in this stupid manner. You hadmuch better dance.""I certainly shall not. You know how I detest it, unless I amparticularly acquainted with my partner. At such an assembly asthis it would be insupportable. Your sisters are engaged, andthere is not another woman in the room whom it would not be apunishment 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 manypleasant girls in my life as I have this evening; and there areseveral 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! Butthere is one of her sisters sitting down just behind you, who isvery pretty, and I dare say very agreeable. Do let me ask mypartner to introduce you.""Which do you mean?" and turning round he looked for amoment at Elizabeth, till catching her eye, he withdrew his ownand coldly said: "She is tolerable, but not handsome enough totempt me; I am in no humour at present to give consequenceto young ladies who are slighted by other men. You had betterreturn to your partner and enjoy her smiles, for you are wastingyour time with me."Mr. Bingley followed his advice. Mr. Darcy walked off; andElizabeth remained with no very cordial feelings toward him.She told the story, however, with great spirit among herfriends; for she had a lively, playful disposition, which delightedin anything ridiculous.The evening altogether passed off pleasantly to the wholefamily. Mrs. Bennet had seen her eldest daughter muchadmired by the Netherfield party. Mr. Bingley had danced withher twice, and she had been distinguished by his sisters. Janewas as much gratified by this as her mother could be, though ina quieter way. Elizabeth felt Jane's pleasure. Mary had heardherself mentioned to Miss Bingley as the most accomplishedgirl in the neighbourhood; and Catherine and Lydia had beenfortunate enough never to be without partners, which was allthat they had yet learnt to care for at a ball. They returned,therefore, in good spirits to Longbourn, the village where theylived, and of which they were the principal inhabitants. Theyfound Mr. Bennet still up. With a book he was regardless oftime; and on the present occasion he had a good deal ofcuriosity as to the events of an evening which had raised suchsplendid expectations. He had rather hoped that his wife'sviews on the stranger would be disappointed; but he soonfound out that he had a different story to hear."Oh! my dear Mr. Bennet," as she entered the room, "we havehad a most delightful evening, a most excellent ball. I wish youhad been there. Jane was so admired, nothing could be like it.Everybody said how well she looked; and Mr. Bingley thoughther quite beautiful, and danced with her twice! Only think ofthat, my dear; he actually danced with her twice! and she wasthe only creature in the room that he asked a second time.First of all, he asked Miss Lucas. I was so vexed to see himstand up with her! But, however, he did not admire her at all;indeed, nobody can, you know; and he seemed quite struck withJane as she was going down the dance. So he inquired who shewas, and got introduced, and asked her for the two next. Thenthe two third he danced with Miss King, and the two fourth withMaria Lucas, and the two fifth with Jane again, and the twosixth with Lizzy, and the Boulanger--""If he had had any compassion for me," cried her husbandimpatiently, "he would not have danced half so much! For God'ssake, say no more of his partners. O that he hadsprained his ankle in the first place!""Oh! my dear, I am quite delighted with him. He is soexcessively handsome! And his sisters are charming women. Inever in my life saw anything more elegant than their dresses. Idare say the lace upon Mrs. Hurst's gown--"Here she was interrupted again. Mr. Bennet protested againstany description of finery. She was therefore obliged to seekanother branch of the subject, and related, with much bitternessof spirit and some exaggeration, the shocking rudeness of Mr.Darcy."But I can assure you," she added, "that Lizzy does not losemuch by not suiting his fancy; for he is a most disagreeable,horrid man, not at all worth pleasing. So high and so conceitedthat there was no enduring him! He walked here, and hewalked there, fancying himself so very great! Not handsomeenough to dance with! I wish you had been there, my dear, tohave given him one of your set-downs. I quite detest the man."