Therefore, when such a man first arrives in some neighborhood, all the families in that neighborhood are sure that he must marry one of their daughters.

Mr. Bennet and Mrs. Bennet had five daughters, so, as soon as she had heard that Netherfield Park had been let, Mrs. Bennet came to her husband and told him about it.

Mr. Bennet was silent.

«Don't you want to know who has taken it?» his wife asked excitedly.

Her husband said that he had no objection to hearing what she wanted to tell him.

In a happily excited manner Mrs. Bennet told him that Netherfield was taken by a single young man from the north of England. His name was Bingley, and his income was four or five thousand a year.

«What a fine thing for our girls!» she exclaimed.

«Why? How does it concern them?»

«My dear Mr. Bennet», replied his wife, «how tiring you are! You very well know that I am thinking of his marrying one of them».

«Is that why he has decided to settle here?»

«What nonsense you are talking! But I think he may fall in love with one of them, and therefore you must visit him as soon as he comes».

«I can't see why I should. You and the girls may go, or, better still, you may send them by themselves. You are as beautiful as any of them, and Mr. Bingley may like you the best of the party».

«Don't flatter me, my dear. I can't pretend to be anything extraordinary now. When a woman has five grown-up daughters, she ought to stop thinking of her own beauty».

«It can only happen to a woman who has never had much beauty at all».

«But, Mr. Bennet, you must indeed go and pay Mr. Bingley a visit when he comes into the neighborhood».

«It is more than I can promise, I assure you».

«But think of your daughters. What good fortune it would be for one of them. Sir William and Lady Lucas don't usually visit newcomers, but they decided to go now, just for that reason, for their daughter's sake. Indeed you must go. If you don't go, it will be impossible for us to visit him».

«You are over-scrupulous, my dear. I'm sure Mr. Bingley will be very glad to see you; and I will send a note by you in which I'll assure him that I will give my hearty consent whichever of the girls he chooses to marry; though I will put in a good word for my little Lizzy».

«You shouldn't do anything like that. Lizzy is not a bit better than the others; and she is not half so beautiful as Jane, and not half so cheerful as Lydia. But you are always giving her the preference».

«None of them have much to recommend them», replied he, «they are all silly and ignorant like other girls; but Lizzy is more quick-witted than her sisters».

«Mr. Bennet, how can you say such nasty things about your own children? You like to annoy me so much. You have no compassion for my poor nerves».

«On the contrary, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves. They are my old friends. I have listened to your talking about them with great compassion these last twenty years at least».

«Ah, you do not know how much I suffer».

Mr. Bennet expressed his hope that his wife would live long and see many single young men of four thousand a year in the neighborhood.

«Since you will not visit them, it will be of no use to us, if twenty such men should come».

«I can assure you, my dear Mrs. Bennet, that when there are twenty, I will visit them all».

Mr. Bennet was such a strange mixture of personality traits, sarcastic humor, reserve, and whims, that for twenty three years of their married life his wife hadn't been able to understand his character. Her mind was of a simpler structure. She was a woman of a very average intelligence, little information, and uncertain temper. When she was displeased, she imagined herself nervous. The business of her life was to get her daughters married; its consolation was visiting and gossip.

Chapter 2

Mr. Bennet paid a visit to Mr. Bingley in the morning, but he didn't say anything about it to his wife. He had always intended to visit him, but till the evening after the visit was paid she had no knowledge of it. In the evening Lizzy, his second daughter, was trimming a hat, and he suddenly said:

«I hope Mr. Bingley will like it, Lizzy».

«We won't be able to know what Mr. Bingley likes», said her mother angrily, «since we are not to visit».

«But you forget, mamma», said Elizabeth, «that we'll meet him at the assemblies, and that Mrs. Long promised to introduce him».

«Mrs. Long has two nieces of her own. She is a selfish, hypocritical woman, and I do not believe her», her mother said.

Mr. Bennet agreed with her. But Mrs. Bennet was so annoyed that she began scolding one of her daughters.

«Stop coughing so, Kitty, for Heaven's sake! Have a little compassion on my nerves».

«I do not amuse myself by coughing», replied Kitty uneasily. «When is your next ball to be, Lizzy?»

«In a fortnight».

«But Mrs. Long does not come back till the day before the ball», cried her mother, «so she won't be able to introduce him: she will not know him herself».

«Then, my dear», her husband said, «you will introduce your friend to Mr. Bingley».

«It's impossible, Mr. Bennet. I am not acquainted with him myself».

«A fortnight's acquaintance is certainly very little. One cannot know what a man really is by the end of a fortnight. But Mrs. Long and her nieces must have their chance; and, therefore, if you don't do it, I will take it on myself».

The girls stared at their father. Mrs. Bennet said only «Nonsense, nonsense!»

«I cannot quite agree with you there», he said. «Do you consider the forms of introduction as nonsense? What will you say, Mary? You are a young lady of deep thought, I know, and read great books».

Mary wished to say something sensible, but knew not how.

«While Mary is thinking what to say», he continued, «let us return to Mr. Bingley».

«I am sick of Mr. Bingley», exclaimed his wife.

«I'm sorry. If I had known that this morning, I certainly would not have visited him», her husband said. «But I have paid the visit, so we cannot escape the acquaintance now».

The ladies were surprised as much as he wished; Mrs. Bennet most of all; though soon she said that she had expected it all the time.

«My dear Mr. Bennet, I knew you loved your girls so much! Well, how pleased I am!»

«Now, Kitty, you may cough as much as you want», said Mr. Bennet. And he left the room, tired of his wife's joyful exclamations.

«You have a wonderful father, girls!» said she, when the door was closed. «I do not know how you will ever repay him for his kindness; or me, either. At our age it is not so pleasant to be making new acquaintances every day; but for your sakes, we would do anything. Lydia, my love, though you are the youngest, I'm sure Mr. Bingley will dance with you at the next ball».

«Oh!» said Lydia confidently, «I am not afraid. Though I am the youngest, I'm the tallest».

How soon Mr. Bingley would return Mr. Bennet's visit, and when they should ask him to dinner were the most important subjects of the ladies' evening conversation.

Chapter 3

Mrs. Bennet and all her five daughters tried hard to get some satisfactory description of Mr. Bingley from Mr. Bennet. They attacked him in various ways: with direct questions, open suppositions, and unclear guesses. But he escaped the skill of them all, and they at last turned to their neighbor, Lady Lucas. Her description was highly favourable. Sir William had been delighted with him. He was quite young, wonderfully handsome, very pleasant and, most important, he was going to the next assembly with a large party. It was most delightful! If a man was fond of dancing, he was certainly able to fall in love; and Mr. Bingley's heart was the subject of very exciting hopes.

In a few days Mr. Bingley returned Mr. Bennet's visit, and sat about ten minutes with him in his library. He had heard much of the young ladies' beauty and hoped to meet them, but he saw only the father. The ladies were somewhat more fortunate: from an upper window they were able to see that he wore a blue coat, and rode a black horse.

Soon afterwards, an invitation to dinner was sent to Mr. Bingley. Mrs. Bennet had planned the menu that was to do credit to her housekeeping, but it all had to be put off. Mr. Bingley in his answer wrote that, unfortunately, he was unable to accept the honour of their invitation as he was to be in town the following day. Mrs. Bennet was quite upset. 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 never settle at Netherfield, flying about from one place to another. Lady Lucas calmed her a little by saying that Mr. Bingley, perhaps, had gone to London only to get a large party for the ball; and, indeed, they soon heard that Mr. Bingley was to bring twelve ladies and seven gentlemen with him to the assembly. The number of ladies upset the girls, but the day before the ball they were comforted by hearing that he had brought only six ladies with him from London: his five sisters and a cousin. And on the assembly day Mr. Bingley's party 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 open face, and natural manners. His sisters were elegant women, and looked very stylish. His brother-in-law, Mr. Hurst, only looked the gentleman. But the attention of the assembly room was soon drawn to his friend Mr. Darcy with his fine, tall figure, handsome face, noble bearing, and the word, spread within five minutes after his entrance, of his having ten thousand a year. The gentlemen said he was a fine figure of a man, the ladies decided he was much handsomer than Mr. Bingley, and he was the object of great admiration for about half the evening, till his manners gave out that he was proud, above his company, and above being pleased; then even his large estate in Derbyshire could not save him from the general decision that he was a most unpleasant person, unworthy to be compared with his friend.

Mr. Bingley had soon made acquaintance with all the chief people in the room; he was lively and danced every dance, was sorry that the ball closed so early, and talked of giving a ball himself at Netherfield. Such contrast between him and his friend! Mr. Darcy mostly walked about the room, speaking from time to time to one of his own party. He danced only once with Mrs. Hurst and once with Miss Bingley, and did not wish to be introduced to any other lady. His character was decided. He was the proudest, most unpleasant man in the world, and everybody hoped that he would never come there again. Mrs. Bennet disliked him even more than the others because he had snubbed one of her daughters.

As the number of dancing gentlemen was limited, Elizabeth Bennet had to sit down for two dances. For some time, Mr. Darcy had been standing near enough, and she heard a conversation between him and Mr. Bingley, who came from the dance for a few minutes and invited his friend to join it.

«Come, Darcy», said he, «I hate to see you standing about by yourself in this stupid manner. You must dance».

«I certainly will not. You know how I hate it. I can only dance with a partner whom I know well. Your sisters are engaged, and it would be a punishment to me to dance with any other woman in the room».

«Don't be so hard to please!» cried Mr. Bingley «Upon my honour, I never met with so many pleasant girls in my life as I have this evening; and several of them are uncommonly pretty».

«You are dancing with the only beautiful girl in the room», said Mr. Darcy, looking at the eldest Miss Bennet.

«Oh! She is the most beautiful creature I ever met! But there is one of her sisters sitting down just behind you, who is very pretty, and very pleasant. I can ask my partner to introduce you».

Mr. Darcy turned round and looked for a moment at Elizabeth. Catching her eye, he turned away and coldly said: «She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me; I am not in the mood at present to give importance to young ladies who are snubbed by other men. You had better return to your partner and enjoy her smiles. You are wasting your time with me».

Elizabeth had no very hearty feelings toward him after that. She told the story, however, with great humor among her friends. Hers was a lively mind, a playful character, and she delighted in anything ridiculous.

On the whole, the ball was successful for the Bennet girls. Mrs. Bennet was pleased that her eldest daughter had been much admired by the Netherfield party. Mr. Bingley had danced with her twice, and his sisters had talked to her. Jane was very much pleased by this, too, but in a quieter way. Elizabeth felt Jane's pleasure. Mary had heard as somebody had called her the most accomplished girl in the neighborhood; and Catherine and Lydia had never found themselves without partners, their chief interest at a ball. Therefore, they returned home to Longbourn in good spirits. Mr. Bennet was still up. He usually didn't notice time when reading a book, but that evening he was rather curious about the ball which had raised such great expectations. He had rather hoped that his wife would be disappointed in her expectations concerning the stranger, but he soon found out that he had a different story to hear.

«Oh! my dear Mr. Bennet», she exclaimed as she entered the room, «we have had a most delightful evening. Jane was admired so much; and Mr. Bingley thought her quite beautiful, and danced with her twice! Just think of that, my dear; he actually danced with her twice! She was the only creature in the room that he asked a second time. First of all, he asked Miss Lucas. I was so annoyed by that! But, however, he did not admire her at all; indeed, nobody can, you know; and he was quite struck with Jane as she was going down the dance. So he asked who she was, and got introduced, and asked her for the next dance. Then he danced with Miss King, and then with Maria Lucas, and then with Jane again, and then 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. I wish he had sprained his ankle in the first dance!»

Mrs. Bennet said she was quite delighted with Mr. Bingley and his charming sisters, and began to describe their elegant dresses. Here Mr. Bennet stopped her: he protested against any description of fine dresses. So Mrs. Bennet had to change the subject, and with much bitterness and some exaggeration, she told him the story of the shocking rudeness of Mr. Darcy.

«But I can assure you», she said in the end, «that Lizzy does not lose much if he doesn't fancy her. He is a most unpleasant, horrid man. So conceited! He walked here, and he walked there, thinking himself so very great! Not handsome enough to dance with! I wish you had been there, my dear, and had given him one of your set-downs. I quite hate the man».

Chapter 4

Alone with Elizabeth, Jane told her how very much she admired Mr. Bingley. She said that he was sensible, good-natured, lively, had such easy manners; a perfectly well-bred man, just as a young man ought to be.

«He is also handsome», added Elizabeth, «a young man ought to be, if he possibly can. His character is thus complete».

«I was very much flattered when he asked me to dance a second time. I did not expect such a compliment».

«But I did. And that is one great difference between us. Compliments always take you by surprise, and me never. It was quite natural that he had asked you again. He could not fail to see 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 pleasant, and l allow you to like him. You have liked many a stupider person».

«Dear Lizzy!»

«Oh! you do have a tendency to like people in general. You never see a defect in anybody. Everybody is good and agreeable in your eyes. You have never spoken badly of a person in your life».

«I would not wish to condemn anyone hastily; but I always speak what I think».

«I know you do; and that's the wonder. With your good mind you are blind to the defects and stupidity of others! Pretended sincerity is common enough – one meets with it everywhere. But you alone are truly sincere and see the good in everybody's character and make it still better, and say nothing of the bad. And so you like this man's sisters, too, don't you? Their manners are different from his».

«At first I thought so, too. But they are very pleasing women when you talk with them. Miss Bingley is to live with her brother, and keep his house; and I am certain we'll find a very charming neighbor in her».

Elizabeth was silent. She was of a different opinion about Mr. Bingley's sisters. Their behaviour at the assembly had not shown any desire to be pleasant. Elizabeth was more observant and her character was firmer than her sister's, and as her judgment wasn't influenced by any attention to herself, she was not at all ready to approve them. They were very fine ladies; could be good-good-humoredwhen they were pleased, could make themselves pleasant when they chose it, but they were proud and conceited. They were rather beautiful, had been educated in one of the first private seminaries in town, had a fortune of twenty thousand pounds, spent more money than they ought, and kept company with people of high position, and were therefore sure that they had every right to think well of themselves, and poorly of others. They were of a respectable family in the north of England, and that circumstance they remembered much better than the fact that their brother's fortune and their own had been acquired by trade.

Mr. Bingley's father had left him a good fortune (nearly hundred thousand pounds), and Mr. Bingley thought of buying an estate, and sometimes made choice of his county; but as he now possessed a good house in London and rented a manor in Hertfordshire, it was doubtful to many of those who best knew his easy temper, whether he might not spend his life at Netherfield, and leave the buying of an estate to the next generation.

His sisters would very much like if he had an estate of his own; but, though he was now only a tenant, Miss Bingley was eager to preside at his table, and Mrs. Hurst, who had married a man of more fashion than fortune, also liked to consider his house as her home when it suited her. Mr. Bingley was just twenty three years old 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 location and the main rooms, satisfied with what the owner said in its praise, and took it at once.

Between him and Darcy there was a very steady friendship, though they were absolutely opposite in character. Bingley attracted Darcy by the easiness, openness and docility of his temper, though no character could be of a greater contrast to his own, and though with his own temper he was never dissatisfied. Bingley had a greatest respect for Darcy and his judgement and opinion. Bingley was by no means stupid, but in intelligence, Darcy was the superior. He was clever. He was at the same time haughty, reserved, and hard to please, and his manners, though well-bred, were not pleasing. Therefore, everybody liked Bingley wherever he appeared; Darcy was always giving offense.

This difference between them could be clearly seen when they discussed the Meryton assembly. 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; he had soon felt acquainted with everybody in the room; and, as to Miss Bennet, he could not think of an angel more beautiful. Darcy, on the contrary, had seen a collection of people in whom there was little beauty and no fashion; he hadn't felt the smallest interest for anybody of them, and from nobody received either attention or pleasure. He agreed that Miss Bennet was pretty, but she smiled too much.

Mr. Bingley's sisters agreed with Mr. Darcy. But they liked Miss Bennet, said she was a sweet girl, and they would like to know more of her. Thus their brother felt that he was free to think of her as he chose.