Pride & Prejudice Chapters ONE TO FIVE - Jane Austen

ONE 

Mrs Bennet was very concerned about her grown up daughters.

Mrs Long had told her that their neighborhood Netherfield Park was taken on lease by a young man of fortune, Mr Bingley.  She hoped that the young neighbour may fall in love with one of her daughters. So she wanted her husband to pay a visit to the young man at the earliest.

Mr Bennet was a man of sarcasm and wit, and he told his wife to make a visit by herself along with her daughters.

TWO

Contrary to his words Mr Bennet was one of the earliest visitors of the neighbour Mr Bingley.  But he did not reveal this to his wife.  While his second daughter Elizabeth had been trimming a hat Mr Bennet said, "I hope Mr Bingley will like it, Lizzy."

Now Mrs Bennet said that they are not in a position to know what Mr Bingley likes. As the talks among the members progressed Mr Bennet disclosed that he had visited Mr Bingley. Mrs Bennet was very much happy and the rest of the evening the women talked about the ball and how Lizzy or Lydia would dance with Mr Bingley.

THREE

Mrs Bennet and her five daughters tried very much to get a description of Mr Bingley from Mr Bennet. But he eluded them all.  They were forced to accept the second intelligence from Mrs Lucas. Her report was highly favourable.  Mr Bingley was handsome and agreeable and he would be at next assembly with a large party.  Nothing could be more delightful, thought Mrs Bennet, to be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love.

In a few days Mr Bingley returned Mr Bennet's visit, and sat about ten minutes with him in his library.  Mr Bingley hoped to see the ladies, of whose beauty he had heard much; but he saw only the father.  The ladies saw him from an upper window, in his blue coat riding a black horse.

An invitation to dinner was soon dispatched to Mr Bingley; and Mrs Bennet planned the courses that were to do credit to her housekeeping, when an answer came which deferred it all. Mr Bingley was obliged to be in town the following day, and unable to accept the honour of their invitation. Mrs Bennet was 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 always be 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 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 to their comfort the news came that instead of twelve he would bring 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, had a pleasant countenance and easy unaffected manners.  His sisters were fine women of decided fashion. His brother-in-law Mr Hurst also looked a gentleman; his friend Mr Darcy drew the attention of the room by his tall person and noble mien, and the news of his having ten thousand a year.  The ladies declared that he was much handsomer than Mr Bingley. Slowly his manners gave a disgust which turned the tide of his popularity.

Mr Bingley acquainted himself with all the people in the room.  He was lively and unreserved, danced with ease, was angry that the ball closed so early, and talked of giving one himself at Netherfield.  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 walking about the room, and speaking occasionally to one of his own party.  He was proud and disagreeable and everybody hoped that he would not come there again.  What a contrast between him and his friend, thought Mrs Bennet.

Elizabeth Bennet had been obliged to sit down and idle as she did not have a partner for two dances.  Mr Darcy had been standing near her.  She could hear the 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 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 woman 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.''

"Who do you mean?'' and turning round he looked for moment at Miss 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 feeling toward him.  She told the story, however, with great spirits 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 neighborhood, and Catherine and Lydia had been fortunate enough never to be without partner.  They returned therefore in good spirits to Longbourn, the village where they lived.  They found Mr Bennet still up.  With a book he was regardless of time; and he had a good deal of curiosity as to the events of the evening.

"Oh!  My dear Bennet," said his lady as she entered the house, " we 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 woman 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 Boulangar --"

"If he had any compassion for me,'' cried her impatient husband, "he would not have danced half so much!  For God's sake say no more of his partners.  O that he had sprained his ankle in the first place!"

"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 laces 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 topic with bitterness of spirit and exaggeration: the shocking rudeness of Darcy.

"But I can assure you," she added, "that Lizzy does not lose much by not suiting his fancy, for he is 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."

FOUR

Jane and Elizabeth were alone. Jane admired Mr Bingley very much.  "He is just what a young man ought to be," said she; "sensible, good humoured and lively; and I never saw such happy manners! -- So much ease, with such perfect good breeding!"

"He is also handsome," replied Elizabeth, "he is a complete gentleman."

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

"Did not you? But I did.  Compliments always take you by surprise, and me never.  What could be more natural than asking you again?  He could not help seeing that you were about five times pretty as every other woman in the room.  No thanks to his gallantry for that.  Well, certainly he 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 am not 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 nonsenses 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 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 in 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 unassiled 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, not 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.  Likewise, Mr Bingley intended it, 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.  Miss Bingley was unwilling to preside at his table and Mrs Hurst who had married a man of more fashion than fortune, was less disposed to consider his house as her home.  Mr Bingley was tempted by an accidental recommendation to look at the Netherfield House.  He did look at 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 steady friendship.  Bingley was endeared to Darcy by easiness, openness, and ductility of temper.  On the strength of Darcy's regard Bingley had firm 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.  Bingley was sure of being liked wherever he appeared. Darcy was continually giving offence.

The manner in which they spoke of Meryton assembly was sufficiently characteristic.  Bingley had never met with more pleasant people or pretty 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 people; and so 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 they still admired and liked her, and pronounced her to be a sweet girl, and one whom they would not object to know more.  Miss Bennet was therefore established as a sweet girl, and their brother felt authorised by such commendation to think of her as he chose.

FIVE

Within a short walk of Longbourn lived a family with whom the Bennets were particularly intimate.  Sir William Lucas had been 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 mayorality.  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 quitting them both he had moved with his family to a house about a mile from Meryton, named it Lucas Lodge, where he could think with pleasure of his own importance, unshackled by business.

Lady Lucas was a very good 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 Miss Lucas and Miss Bennet 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 to Miss Charlotte, "You were Mr Bingley's first choice"

"Yes, he seemed to like his second better."

"Oh! You mean Jane I suppose, because he danced with her twice.  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."

Mr Robinson was an attendee of Meryton assembly. Charlotte Lucas overheard a conversation between Mr Robinson and Mr Bingley. Mr Bingley said that Jane Bennet was the prettiest girl of the assembly.

Now the talk drifted away and came to Mr Darcy. Mrs Bennet was of the opinion that he was a disagreeable person.  According to Mrs Long he sat close to her for half an hour, but failed to open his mouth to her.

"I certainly saw Mrs Long talking to him," said Miss Jane Bennet.

"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 friends.  With them he is remarkably agreeable.''

"I do not believe a word of it.  If he had been agreeable, he would have talked to Mrs Long.  Everybody says 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's very true," replied Elizabeth, "and I could easily forgive his pride."

"Pride," observed Mary, who piqued herself upon the solidity of her 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; and human nature is particularly prone to it, and 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 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.