chapter 3

Not all that Mrs. Robinson 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

Northfield" said Mrs. Robinson 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. Robinson 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 came in a luxurious car.

An invitation to dinner was soon afterwards dispatched;

and already had Mrs. Robinson 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, etc. Mrs. Robinson 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 Northfield 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 number of ladies, but were

comforted the day before the ball by hearing, that instead of

twelve he 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 eldest, and another young man.

Mr. Bingley was good-looking and gentlemanlike; he had

a pleasant countenance, and easy, unaffected manners. His

sisters were fine women, with an air of decided fashion. His

brother-in-law, Mr. Hurst, merely looked the gentleman; but

his friend Mr. Damon 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 Northfield Such amiable

qualities must speak for themselves. What a contrast between

him and his friend! Mr. Damon 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 everybody hoped that he

would never come there again. Amongst the most violent

against him was Mrs. Robinson, whose dislike of his general

behaviour was sharpened into particular resentment by his

having slighted one of her daughters.

Elizabeth Robinson been obliged, by the scarcity of

gentle men, to sit down for two dances; and during part of that

time, Mr. Damon had been standing near enough for her to hear

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 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. Damon looking at the eldest Miss Robinson

"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; 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. Damon walked off;

and Elizabeth remained with no very cordial feelings toward

him. She told the story, however, with great spirit 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. Robinson had seen her eldest daughter much

admired by the Northfield 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 Janays 's pleasure. Mary

had heard herself mentioned to Miss Bingley as the most

accomplished girl in the neighbourhood; and Catherine and Lara had been fortunate enough never to be 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. Robinson 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 events of an evening which

had raised such splendid expectations. He had rather hoped

that his wife's views on the stranger would be disappointed;

but he soon found out that he had a different story to hear.

"Oh! my dear Mr. Robinson" as she entered the room, "we

have had a most delightful evening, a most excellent ball. I

wish you had been there. Janaya 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 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 Janaya 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

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. O that he had sprinkled his ankle in 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 lace upon Mrs. Hurst's gown--"

Here she was interrupted again. Mr. Robinson 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. Damon

"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."

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