Chapter 3

However hard Mrs. Bennet questioned her husband, even with all five daughters helping, she could not get enough about Mr. Bingley out of him. The ladies asked him straight out, offered clever guesses, and hinted from a distance. They used every skill they had, but he slipped away from them all. In the end, they had to be satisfied with what their neighbor Lady Lucas told them. Lady Lucas thought very well of Mr. Bingley. Sir William, she said, was quite charmed by him. Mr. Bingley was quite young, wonderfully handsome, and extremely pleasant. Best of all, he meant to bring a large party to the next ball. What could be more delightful! A love of dancing was a certain step on the road to falling in love. Hopes of winning Mr. Bingley's heart rose very high.

"If I can just see one of my daughters happily settled at Netherfield," Mrs. Bennet said to her husband, "and all the others married just as well, I will have nothing left to wish for."

A few days later, Mr. Bingley came to return Mr. Bennet's visit. He sat with him in the library for about ten minutes. He had hoped to see the young ladies, whose beauty was so much talked about. But he met only their father. The ladies were a little luckier. From an upstairs window, they saw that he wore a blue coat and rode a black horse.

Soon afterward, an invitation to dinner was sent. Mrs. Bennet had already planned the dishes that would show off her housekeeping. But an answer came that put everything off. Mr. Bingley had to be in London the next day, so he could not accept the honor of their invitation. Mrs. Bennet was quite upset. What business could he have in London, so soon after coming to Hertfordshire? She began to worry that he might always be flying about from one place to another, and never settle down at Netherfield as he should. Lady Lucas said he had probably gone to London only to collect the large party for the ball. Her words calmed Mrs. Bennet's fears a little. Soon a report went around that Mr. Bingley would bring twelve ladies and seven gentlemen to the ball. The Bennet girls were sad to hear of so many ladies. But the day before the ball, they were comforted. They heard that he had brought only six ladies from London — his five sisters and one cousin — not twelve. And when the party entered the ballroom, it was only five in all: Mr. Bingley, his two sisters, the husband of the eldest, and one more young man.

Mr. Bingley was good-looking and had the easy manners of a gentleman. He had a pleasant face and a natural way with people. His sisters were beautiful women who looked very fashionable. His brother-in-law, Mr. Hurst, simply looked like a gentleman, and that was all. But his friend Mr. Darcy was different. He was tall, with a handsome face and a proud, fine bearing. He soon drew every eye in the room. Within five minutes of his coming in, the news had spread all around that he had ten thousand pounds a year. The gentlemen said he was a fine figure of a man. The ladies declared he was far handsomer than Mr. Bingley. For about half the evening, everyone looked at him with admiration. But then his manners put people off, and his popularity turned. It became clear that he was proud, that he looked down on everyone there, and that nothing could please him. Not even his great house and land in Derbyshire could save him. His face, people decided, was cold and unpleasant, and he was not worth comparing with his friend.

Mr. Bingley soon knew all the important people in the room. He was lively and easy. He danced every single dance. He was sorry the ball ended so early. He even spoke of giving a ball himself at Netherfield. Such a friendly nature needs no explanation. What a contrast to his friend! Mr. Darcy danced once with Mrs. Hurst and once with Miss Bingley, and that was all. He refused to be introduced to any other lady. He spent the rest of the evening walking about the room, now and then speaking to someone from his own party. His character was settled. He was the proudest, most unpleasant man in the world, and everyone hoped he would never come there again. Among those who spoke against him most fiercely was Mrs. Bennet. She had disliked his behavior from the start. But it grew into personal anger, because he had treated one of her daughters badly.

Elizabeth Bennet had to sit out two dances, because there were too few gentlemen. For part of that time, Mr. Darcy stood close enough for her to hear him. Mr. Bingley came away from the dance for a few minutes and pressed his friend to join it. What the two men said reached Elizabeth's ears.

"Come on, Darcy," said Mr. Bingley. "You really must dance. I hate to see you standing there alone, looking so foolish. You would do far better to dance."

"I certainly will not. You know how much I hate dancing unless I know my partner well. At a ball like this, it would be more than I could bear. Your sisters have partners already, and dancing with any other woman in this room would be a punishment to me."

"I would not be as hard to please as you for a kingdom!" cried Mr. Bingley. "I promise you, I have never met so many pleasant girls in one evening in my whole life. And several of them, as you can see, are unusually 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 girl I have ever seen! But one of her sisters is sitting just behind you. She is very pretty too, and I am sure she is very pleasant. Let me ask my partner to introduce you."

"Which one do you mean?" Mr. Darcy turned and looked at Elizabeth for a moment. When her eyes met his, he looked away. Then he said coldly, "She is not bad to look at, I suppose, but not pretty enough to interest me. And right now I am in no mood to step in and save the pride of a young lady other men have passed over. Go back to your partner and enjoy her smiles. With me, you are only wasting your time."

Mr. Bingley took his advice. Mr. Darcy walked away as well. Elizabeth was left with no warm feelings toward him at all. But she told the story to her friends with great spirit. She had a lively, playful nature, and she enjoyed anything that made her laugh.

On the whole, the evening was a pleasant one for the whole Bennet family. Mrs. Bennet saw that the party from Netherfield liked her eldest daughter very much. Mr. Bingley danced with Jane twice, and his sisters treated her with special attention. Jane was as pleased as her mother, though she showed her joy far more calmly. Elizabeth could feel how happy Jane was. Mary heard herself described to Miss Bingley as the most educated and talented young lady in the area. Kitty and Lydia were lucky enough never to be without partners. At that time, this was all the two girls cared about at a ball. So they all returned in good spirits to Longbourn, the village where they lived. The Bennets were the most important family there. When they got home, Mr. Bennet was still awake. With a book, he never noticed the time passing. But tonight he was quite curious about the results of an evening that had raised such shining hopes. He had rather hoped that all his wife's plans for the stranger would come to nothing. But he soon saw that he was going to hear a very different story.

"Oh, my dear Mr. Bennet," said Mrs. Bennet as she came into the room, "what a delightful evening we had. It was an excellent ball. I wish you had been there. Jane was admired so much — nothing like it was ever seen. Everyone talked about how pretty she was. Mr. Bingley thought her quite beautiful and danced with her twice. Just think of that, my dear. He really danced with her twice. She was the only girl in that whole room he asked a second time. First of all he asked Miss Lucas. I was so upset to see him stand up to dance with her. But he did not care for her at all. Indeed, who could? He seemed quite struck by Jane as she went down the dance. So he asked who she was, got introduced, and asked her for the next two dances. Then the third two he danced with Miss King, the fourth two with Maria Lucas, the fifth two with Jane again, the sixth two with Lizzy, and the Boulanger…"

"If he had had any pity for me," cried her husband impatiently, "he would not have danced so much! For pity's sake, no more about his partners. If only he had turned his ankle in the first dance!"

"Oh, my dear," Mrs. Bennet went on, "I like him so very much. He is so handsome! And his sisters are charming women. I never in my life saw anything as elegant as their dresses. The lace on Mrs. Hurst's dress, I am sure…"

Here Mrs. Bennet was cut off again. Mr. Bennet refused to hear one word about fine clothes. So she had to move to another subject. Mrs. Bennet was deeply offended. She described Mr. Darcy's shocking rudeness, and made the story a little worse than it was.

"But I can promise you," she added, "Lizzy loses nothing at all by not pleasing him. He is the most unpleasant, horrible man in the world, and not worth pleasing anyway. So proud and so full of himself — there was no putting up with him! He walked here, and he walked there, thinking himself so very great! Not pretty enough to dance with! I wish you had been there, my dear, to put him in his place with one of your remarks. I truly hate that man."