Elizabeth looked archly, and turned away. Her resistance had not injured her with the gentleman,
and he was thinking of her with some complacency, when thus accosted by Miss Bingley:
"I can guess the subject of your reverie."
"I should imagine not."
"You are considering how insupportable it would be to pass many evenings in this manner—in
such society; and indeed I am quite of you opinion. I was never more annoyed! The insipidity,
and yet the noise—the nothingness, and yet the self-importance of all those people! What would
I give to hear your strictures on them!"
"You conjecture is totally wrong, I assure you. My mind was more agreeably engaged. I have
been meditating on the very great pleasure which a pair of fine eyes in the face of a pretty
woman can bestow."
Miss Bingley immediately fixed her eyes on his face, and desired he would tell her what lady
had the credit of inspiring such reflections. Mr. Darcy replied with great intrepidity:
"Miss Elizabeth Bennet."
"Miss Elizabeth Bennet!" repeated Miss Bingley. "I am all astonishment. How long has she been
such a favourite?—and pray, when am I to wish you joy?"
"That is exactly the question which I expected you to ask. A lady's imagination is very rapid; it
jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony, in a moment. I knew you would be
wishing me joy."
19
"Nay, if you are serious about it, I shall consider the matter is absolutely settled. You will be
having a charming mother-in-law, indeed; and, of course, she will always be at Pemberley with
you."
He listened to her with perfect indifference while she chose to entertain herself in this manner;
and as his composure convinced her that all was safe, her wit flowed long.
Chapter 7
Mr. Bennet's property consisted almost entirely in an estate of two thousand a year, which,
unfortunately for his daughters, was entailed, in default of heirs male, on a distant relation; and
their mother's fortune, though ample for her situation in life, could but ill supply the deficiency
of his. Her father had been an attorney in Meryton, and had left her four thousand pounds.
She had a sister married to a Mr. Phillips, who had been a clerk to their father and succeeded him
in the business, and a brother settled in London in a respectable line of trade.
The village of Longbourn was only one mile from Meryton; a most convenient distance for the
young ladies, who were usually tempted thither three or four times a week, to pay their duty to
their aunt and to a milliner's shop just over the way. The two youngest of the family, Catherine
and Lydia, were particularly frequent in these attentions; their minds were more vacant than their
sisters', and when nothing better offered, a walk to Meryton was necessary to amuse their
morning hours and furnish conversation for the evening; and however bare of news the country
in general might be, they always contrived to learn some from their aunt. At present, indeed, they
were well supplied both with news and happiness by the recent arrival of a militia regiment in
the neighbourhood; it was to remain the whole winter, and Meryton was the headquarters.
Their visits to Mrs. Phillips were now productive of the most interesting intelligence. Every day
added something to their knowledge of the officers' names and connections. Their lodgings were
not long a secret, and at length they began to know the officers themselves. Mr. Phillips visited
them all, and this opened to his nieces a store of felicity unknown before. They could talk of
nothing but officers; and Mr. Bingley's large fortune, the mention of which gave animation to
their mother, was worthless in their eyes when opposed to the regimentals of an ensign.
After listening one morning to their effusions on this subject, Mr. Bennet coolly observed:
"From all that I can collect by your manner of talking, you must be two of the silliest girls in the
country. I have suspected it some time, but I am now convinced."
20
Catherine was disconcerted, and made no answer; but Lydia, with perfect indifference, continued
to express her admiration of Captain Carter, and her hope of seeing him in the course of the day,
as he was going the next morning to London.
"I am astonished, my dear," said Mrs. Bennet, "that you should be so ready to think your own
children silly. If I wished to think slightingly of anybody's children, it should not be of my own,
however."
"If my children are silly, I must hope to be always sensible of it."
"Yes—but as it happens, they are all of them very clever."
"This is the only point, I flatter myself, on which we do not agree. I had hoped that our
sentiments coincided in every particular, but I must so far differ from you as to think our two
youngest daughters uncommonly foolish."
"My dear Mr. Bennet, you must not expect such girls to have the sense of their father and
mother. When they get to our age, I dare say they will not think about officers any more than we
do. I remember the time when I liked a red coat myself very well—and, indeed, so I do still at
my heart; and if a smart young colonel, with five or six thousand a year, should want one of my
girls I shall not say nay to him; and I thought Colonel Forster looked very becoming the other
night at Sir William's in his regimentals."
"Mamma," cried Lydia, "my aunt says that Colonel Forster and Captain Carter do not go so often
to Miss Watson's as they did when they first came; she sees them now very often standing in
Clarke's library."
Mrs. Bennet was prevented replying by the entrance of the footman with a note for Miss Bennet;
it came from Netherfield, and the servant waited for an answer. Mrs. Bennet's eyes sparkled with
pleasure, and she was eagerly calling out, while her daughter read,
"Well, Jane, who is it from? What is it about? What does he say? Well, Jane, make haste and tell
us; make haste, my love."
"It is from Miss Bingley," said Jane, and then read it aloud.
"MY DEAR FRIEND,—
21
"If you are not so compassionate as to dine to-day with Louisa and me, we shall be in danger of
hating each other for the rest of our lives, for a whole day's tete-a-tete between two women can
never end without a quarrel. Come as soon as you can on receipt of this. My brother and the
gentlemen are to dine with the officers.—Yours ever,
"CAROLINE BINGLEY"
"With the officers!" cried Lydia. "I wonder my aunt did not tell us of THAT."
"Dining out," said Mrs. Bennet, "that is very unlucky."
"Can I have the carriage?" said Jane.
"No, my dear, you had better go on horseback, because it seems likely to rain; and then you must
stay all night."
"That would be a good scheme," said Elizabeth, "if you were sure that they would not offer to