When the ladies removed after dinner, Elizabeth ran up to her
sister, and seeing her well guarded from cold, attended her into the
drawing-room, where she was welcomed by her two friends with many
professions of pleasure; and Elizabeth had never seen them so agreeable
as they were during the hour which passed before the gentlemen appeared.
Their powers of conversation were considerable. They could describe an
entertainment with accuracy, relate an anecdote with humour, and laugh
at their acquaintance with spirit.
But when the gentlemen entered,
Jane was no longer the first object; Miss Bingley's eyes were instantly
turned toward Darcy, and she had something to say to him before he had
advanced many steps. He addressed himself to Miss Bennet, with a polite
congratulation; Mr. Hurst also made her a slight bow, and said he was
"very glad;" but diffuseness and warmth remained for Bingley's
salutation. He was full of joy and attention. The first half-hour was
spent in piling up the fire, lest she should suffer from the change of
room; and she removed at his desire to the other side of the fireplace,
that she might be further from the door. He then sat down by her, and
talked scarcely to anyone else. Elizabeth, at work in the opposite
corner, saw it all with great delight.
When tea was over, Mr.
Hurst reminded his sister-in-law of the card-table--but in vain. She had
obtained private intelligence that Mr. Darcy did not wish for cards;
and Mr. Hurst soon found even his open petition rejected. She assured
him that no one intended to play, and the silence of the whole party on
the subject seemed to justify her. Mr. Hurst had therefore nothing to
do, but to stretch himself on one of the sofas and go to sleep. Darcy
took up a book; Miss Bingley did the same; and Mrs. Hurst, principally
occupied in playing with her bracelets and rings, joined now and then in
her brother's conversation with Miss Bennet.
Miss Bingley's
attention was quite as much engaged in watching Mr. Darcy's progress
through _his_ book, as in reading her own; and she was perpetually
either making some inquiry, or looking at his page. She could not win
him, however, to any conversation; he merely answered her question, and
read on. At length, quite exhausted by the attempt to be amused with her
own book, which she had only chosen because it was the second volume of
his, she gave a great yawn and said, "How pleasant it is to spend an
evening in this way! I declare after all there is no enjoyment like
reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book! When I
have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent
library."
No one made any reply. She then yawned again, threw
aside her book, and cast her eyes round the room in quest for some
amusement; when hearing her brother mentioning a ball to Miss Bennet,
she turned suddenly towards him and said:
"By the bye, Charles,
are you really serious in meditating a dance at Netherfield? I would
advise you, before you determine on it, to consult the wishes of the
present party; I am much mistaken if there are not some among us to whom
a ball would be rather a punishment than a pleasure."
"If you
mean Darcy," cried her brother, "he may go to bed, if he chooses, before
it begins--but as for the ball, it is quite a settled thing; and as
soon as Nicholls has made white soup enough, I shall send round my
cards."
"I should like balls infinitely better," she replied, "if
they were carried on in a different manner; but there is something
insufferably tedious in the usual process of such a meeting. It would
surely be much more rational if conversation instead of dancing were
made the order of the day."
"Much more rational, my dear Caroline, I dare say, but it would not be near so much like a ball."
Miss
Bingley made no answer, and soon afterwards she got up and walked about
the room. Her figure was elegant, and she walked well; but Darcy, at
whom it was all aimed, was still inflexibly studious. In the desperation
of her feelings, she resolved on one effort more, and, turning to
Elizabeth, said:
"Miss Eliza Bennet, let me persuade you to follow
my example, and take a turn about the room. I assure you it is very
refreshing after sitting so long in one attitude."
Elizabeth was
surprised, but agreed to it immediately. Miss Bingley succeeded no less
in the real object of her civility; Mr. Darcy looked up. He was as much
awake to the novelty of attention in that quarter as Elizabeth herself
could be, and unconsciously closed his book. He was directly invited to
join their party, but he declined it, observing that he could imagine
but two motives for their choosing to walk up and down the room
together, with either of which motives his joining them would interfere.
"What could he mean? She was dying to know what could be his
meaning?"--and asked Elizabeth whether she could at all understand him?
"Not
at all," was her answer; "but depend upon it, he means to be severe on
us, and our surest way of disappointing him will be to ask nothing about
it."
Miss Bingley, however, was incapable of disappointing Mr.
Darcy in anything, and persevered therefore in requiring an explanation
of his two motives.
"I have not the smallest objection to
explaining them," said he, as soon as she allowed him to speak. "You
either choose this method of passing the evening because you are in each
other's confidence, and have secret affairs to discuss, or because you
are conscious that your figures appear to the greatest advantage in
walking; if the first, I would be completely in your way, and if the
second, I can admire you much better as I sit by the fire."
"Oh! shocking!" cried Miss Bingley. "I never heard anything so abominable. How shall we punish him for such a speech?"
"Nothing
so easy, if you have but the inclination," said Elizabeth. "We can all
plague and punish one another. Tease him--laugh at him. Intimate as you
are, you must know how it is to be done."
"But upon my honour, I
do _not_. I do assure you that my intimacy has not yet taught me _that_.
Tease calmness of manner and presence of mind! No, no--feel he may defy
us there. And as to laughter, we will not expose ourselves, if you
please, by attempting to laugh without a subject. Mr. Darcy may hug
himself."
"Mr. Darcy is not to be laughed at!" cried Elizabeth.
"That is an uncommon advantage, and uncommon I hope it will continue,
for it would be a great loss to _me_ to have many such acquaintances. I
dearly love a laugh."
"Miss Bingley," said he, "has given me more
credit than can be. The wisest and the best of men--nay, the wisest and
best of their actions--may be rendered ridiculous by a person whose
first object in life is a joke."
"Certainly," replied
Elizabeth--"there are such people, but I hope I am not one of _them_. I
hope I never ridicule what is wise and good. Follies and nonsense, whims
and inconsistencies, _do_ divert me, I own, and I laugh at them
whenever I can. But these, I suppose, are precisely what you are
without."
"Perhaps that is not possible for anyone. But it has
been the study of my life to avoid those weaknesses which often expose a
strong understanding to ridicule."
"Such as vanity and pride."
"Yes,
vanity is a weakness indeed. But pride--where there is a real
superiority of mind, pride will be always under good regulation."
Elizabeth turned away to hide a smile.
"Your examination of Mr. Darcy is over, I presume," said Miss Bingley; "and pray what is the result?"
"I am perfectly convinced by it that Mr. Darcy has no defect. He owns it himself without disguise."
"No,"
said Darcy, "I have made no such pretension. I have faults enough, but
they are not, I hope, of understanding. My temper I dare not vouch for.
It is, I believe, too little yielding--certainly too little for the
convenience of the world. I cannot forget the follies and vices of other
so soon as I ought, nor their offenses against myself. My feelings are
not puffed about with every attempt to move them. My temper would
perhaps be called resentful. My good opinion once lost, is lost
forever."
"_That_ is a failing indeed!" cried Elizabeth.
"Implacable resentment _is_ a shade in a character. But you have chosen
your fault well. I really cannot _laugh_ at it. You are safe from me."
"There
is, I believe, in every disposition a tendency to some particular
evil--a natural defect, which not even the best education can overcome."
"And _your_ defect is to hate everybody."
"And yours," he replied with a smile, "is willfully to misunderstand them."
"Do
let us have a little music," cried Miss Bingley, tired of a
conversation in which she had no share. "Louisa, you will not mind my
waking Mr. Hurst?"
Her sister had not the smallest objection, and
the pianoforte was opened; and Darcy, after a few moments' recollection,
was not sorry for it. He began to feel the danger of paying Elizabeth
too much attention. _