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. 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 large
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 oldest, and another young man.
Mr. Bingley was good looking and gentlemanlike; he had a pleasant countenance, and easy, unaffected
manners. 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."