Chapter-2
Soon afterwards an invitation to dinner was sent to Mr. Bingley. But a disappointing answer came back. Mr. Bingley had to go to London the next day and was therefore unable to accept their invitation. He had only gone to London, however, to get a party of friends together for the ball. Soon they heard that he was bringing twelve ladies and seven gentlemen with him to the ball. The girls were sorry about such a large number of ladies; but on the day before the ball they were glad to hear that he had brought only six ladies, instead of twelve. And when he entered the ball room his whole party included only five persons; Mr. Bingley, his two sisters, the husband of the elder sister and another young man.
Mr. Bingley was handsome and well mannered. He had an agreeable expression and easy, natural friendliness. His sisters were handsome women, with a fashionable appearance. His brother-in-law, Mr. Hirst, looked like any other gentleman. But his friend, Mr. Darcy, soon attracted everyone’s attention. He was a tall, handsome man with a noble appearance and (it was soon reported) an income of ten thousand pounds a year. The gentlemen at the ball said he was a fine looking man; the ladies said he was much more handsome than Mr. Bingley. He was looked at with great admiration for about half the evening, until his manners disgusted everyone. It was discovered that he was too proud to enjoy the company. Nothing pleased him. Despite his large estate in Derbyshire, everyone declared that he had a disagreeable face and was not nearly so attractive as his friend, Mr. Bingley.
Mr. Bingley soon made friends with almost everyone in the room. He was lively and friendly, danced all night and talked about giving a ball himself at Netherfield. Such agreeable manners made him popular everywhere. What a difference between himself and his friend! Mr. Darcy danced once with Mrs. Hurst and once with Miss Bingley. He refused to be introduced to any other lady, and he spent the rest of the evening walking silently about the room. Everyone agreed that he was the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world. Everyone hoped that he would never come back again. His strongest critic was Mrs. Bennet, who was particularly angry because he had been rude to one of her daughters.
There were so few gentlemen in the room that Elizabeth Bennet sat without a partner during two dances. Mr. Darcy was standing near and she overheard a conversation between himself and Mr. Bingley.
Mr. Bingley had left the dance for a moment in order to ask his friend to join it. “Come on, Darcy,” he said.
“You must dance. I hate to see you standing by yourself in this stupid way. You ought to dance.”
The evening passed very pleasantly for the whole family. Mrs. Bennet had seen that her eldest daughter was much admired by the people from Netherfield. Mr. Bingley had danced with Jane twice, and his sisters had been friendly to her. Jane was as pleased as her mother, though in a quieter way. Elizabeth shared Jane’s pleasure. Kitty and Lydia had never been without partners, which was all they wanted at a ball. Mary had heard herself described as the cleverest girl in the neighbourhood. They returned happily, therefore, to Longbourn, the village where they lived. Mr. Bennet, who had refused to go to the ball, was reading.
“Oh, Mr. Bennet,” said his wife as she entered the room, “we have had a delightful evening, an excellent ball. I wish you had been there. Jane was so admired! Everyone said how well she looked; Mr. Bingley thought she was quite beautiful and he danced with her twice! Think of that, my dear! He actually danced with her twice! She was the only girl in the room that he asked twice! First of all, he asked Miss Lucas. I was so angry to see him ask her. But he didn’t admire her at all; no one could, you know. He noticed Jane during the dance and asked to be introduced to her. Then he asked for the next dance, then the third he danced with Miss King and the fourth with Maria Lucas and fifth with Jane again and the sixth with Elizabeth and the seventh….”
“If he had any pity for me,” interrupted her husband, “he would not have danced so much. For God’s sake, say no more about his partners! I wish he had injured his leg in the first dance!”
“Oh, my dear,” continued Mrs. Bennet, “I am delighted with him. He is extremely handsome! And his sisters are very fashionable women. I never saw anything more expensive than their dresses. I am sure that the lace on Mrs. Hurst’s dress must be costly.”
She was interrupted again. Mr. Bennet refused to hear anything about the dresses. She therefore described instead, with much anger, the rudeness of Mr. Darcy.
“But Elizabeth does not lose much if she does not suit him,” she added, “He is a most disagreeable, unpleasant man and not worth pleasing. He was so conceited that no one could bear him. He walked around the room thinking himself so great! So our Elizabeth is not handsome enough to dance with! I wish you had been there, my dear, to give him your opinion. I hate the man!”
Mr. Bingley had inherited nearly a hundred thousand pounds from his father, His sisters were anxious for him to buy an estate of his own. Meanwhile they were happy to use Netherfield as their own home, when it suited them. Between Bingley and Darcy there was an old friendship, despite the great difference of their characters. Darcy loved Bingley for his sweet temper and friendliness. Bingley admired Darcy for his intelligence and relied on his affection. Bingley himself was quite intelligent, but Darcy was far more so. At the same time he was proud, reserved and difficult to please. He had the manners of a gentleman, but he was not at all friendly. Bingley was always liked wherever he went; Darcy, on the other hand, very often offended people.
The way in which they spoke of the Meryton ball showed their difference in character. Bingley said he had never met pleasanter people or prettier girls in his life. Everyone had been most kind and friendly; Miss Bennet was more beautiful than an angel. Darcy, on the other hand, had seen a very ordinary lot of people, in whom he was completely uninterested. He agreed that Miss Bennet was pretty, but he thought she smiled too much.
Mrs. Hurst and her sister agreed with him about Miss Bennet. But they said she was a sweet girl and that they were willing to see more of her. Their approval having been given, Bingley was free to think of Miss Bennet as he chose.
