{"id":"01KJRRE0MC5WJA61JZ7X1W00N8","cid":"bafkreicabs5ekwafctdxuf7rim6dwcm3dfmyfbtudd7yorbonrimx7emj4","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":57735,"char_start":50061,"chunk_index":7,"chunk_total":108,"estimated_tokens":1919,"label":"down for two dances; and during part of that time,","source_file_key":"pride-and-prejudice","text":"down for two dances; and during part of that time, Mr. Darcy had been\r\nstanding near enough for her to overhear a conversation between him and\r\nMr. Bingley, who came from the dance for a few minutes to press his\r\nfriend to join it.\r\n\r\n“Come, Darcy,” said he, “I must have you dance. I hate to see you\r\nstanding about by yourself in this stupid manner. You had much better\r\ndance.”\r\n\r\n“I certainly shall not. You know how I detest it, unless I am\r\nparticularly acquainted with my partner. At such an assembly as this, it\r\nwould be insupportable. Your sisters are engaged, and there is not\r\nanother woman in the room whom it would not be a punishment to me to\r\nstand up with.”\r\n\r\n“I would not be so fastidious as you are,” cried Bingley, “for a\r\nkingdom! Upon my honour, I never met with so many pleasant girls in my\r\nlife as I have this evening; and there are several of them, you see,\r\nuncommonly pretty.”\r\n\r\n“_You_ are dancing with the only handsome girl in the room,” said Mr.\r\nDarcy, looking at the eldest Miss Bennet.\r\n\r\n“Oh, she is the most beautiful creature I ever beheld! But there is one\r\nof her sisters sitting down just behind you, who is very pretty, and I\r\ndare say very agreeable. Do let me ask my partner to introduce you.”\r\n\r\n[Illustration:\r\n\r\n“She is tolerable”\r\n\r\n[_Copyright 1894 by George Allen._]]\r\n\r\n“Which do you mean?” and turning round, he looked for a moment at\r\nElizabeth, till, catching her eye, he withdrew his own, and coldly said,\r\n“She is tolerable: but not handsome enough to tempt _me_; and I am in no\r\nhumour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted\r\nby other men. You had better return to your partner and enjoy her\r\nsmiles, for you are wasting your time with me.”\r\n\r\nMr. Bingley followed his advice. Mr. Darcy walked off; and Elizabeth\r\nremained with no very cordial feelings towards him. She told the story,\r\nhowever, with great spirit among her friends; for she had a lively,\r\nplayful disposition, which delighted in anything ridiculous.\r\n\r\nThe evening altogether passed off pleasantly to the whole family. Mrs.\r\nBennet had seen her eldest daughter much admired by the Netherfield\r\nparty. Mr. Bingley had danced with her twice, and she had been\r\ndistinguished by his sisters. Jane was as much gratified by this as her\r\nmother could be, though in a quieter way. Elizabeth felt Jane’s\r\npleasure. Mary had heard herself mentioned to Miss Bingley as the most\r\naccomplished girl in the neighbourhood; and Catherine and Lydia had been\r\nfortunate enough to be never without partners, which was all that they\r\nhad yet learnt to care for at a ball. They returned, therefore, in good\r\nspirits to Longbourn, the village where they lived, and of which they\r\nwere the principal inhabitants. They found Mr. Bennet still up. With a\r\nbook, he was regardless of time; and on the present occasion he had a\r\ngood deal of curiosity as to the event of an evening which had raised\r\nsuch splendid expectations. He had rather hoped that all his wife’s\r\nviews on the stranger would be disappointed; but he soon found that he\r\nhad a very different story to hear.\r\n\r\n“Oh, my dear Mr. Bennet,” as she entered the room, “we have had a most\r\ndelightful evening, a most excellent ball. I wish you had been there.\r\nJane was so admired, nothing could be like it. Everybody said how well\r\nshe looked; and Mr. Bingley thought her quite beautiful, and danced with\r\nher twice. Only think of _that_, my dear: he actually danced with her\r\ntwice; and she was the only creature in the room that he asked a second\r\ntime. First of all, he asked Miss Lucas. I was so vexed to see him stand\r\nup with her; but, however, he did not admire her at all; indeed, nobody\r\ncan, you know; and he seemed quite struck with Jane as she was going\r\ndown the dance. So he inquired who she was, and got introduced, and\r\nasked her for the two next. Then, the two third he danced with Miss\r\nKing, and the two fourth with Maria Lucas, and the two fifth with Jane\r\nagain, and the two sixth with Lizzy, and the _Boulanger_----”\r\n\r\n“If he had had any compassion for _me_,” cried her husband impatiently,\r\n“he would not have danced half so much! For God’s sake, say no more of\r\nhis partners. O that he had sprained his ancle in the first dance!”\r\n\r\n“Oh, my dear,” continued Mrs. Bennet, “I am quite delighted with him. He\r\nis so excessively handsome! and his sisters are charming women. I never\r\nin my life saw anything more elegant than their dresses. I dare say the\r\nlace upon Mrs. Hurst’s gown----”\r\n\r\nHere she was interrupted again. Mr. Bennet protested against any\r\ndescription of finery. She was therefore obliged to seek another branch\r\nof the subject, and related, with much bitterness of spirit, and some\r\nexaggeration, the shocking rudeness of Mr. Darcy.\r\n\r\n“But I can assure you,” she added, “that Lizzy does not lose much by not\r\nsuiting _his_ fancy; for he is a most disagreeable, horrid man, not at\r\nall worth pleasing. So high and so conceited, that there was no enduring\r\nhim! He walked here, and he walked there, fancying himself so very\r\ngreat! Not handsome enough to dance with! I wish you had been there, my\r\ndear, to have given him one of your set-downs. I quite detest the man.”\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration]\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER IV.\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration]\r\n\r\nWhen Jane and Elizabeth were alone, the former, who had been cautious in\r\nher praise of Mr. Bingley before, expressed to her sister how very much\r\nshe admired him.\r\n\r\n“He is just what a young-man ought to be,” said she, “sensible,\r\ngood-humoured, lively; and I never saw such happy manners! so much ease,\r\nwith such perfect good breeding!”\r\n\r\n“He is also handsome,” replied Elizabeth, “which a young man ought\r\nlikewise to be if he possibly can. His character is thereby complete.”\r\n\r\n“I was very much flattered by his asking me to dance a second time. I\r\ndid not expect such a compliment.”\r\n\r\n“Did not you? _I_ did for you. But that is one great difference between\r\nus. Compliments always take _you_ by surprise, and _me_ never. What\r\ncould be more natural than his asking you again? He could not help\r\nseeing that you were about five times as pretty as every other woman in\r\nthe room. No thanks to his gallantry for that. Well, he certainly is\r\nvery agreeable, and I give you leave to like him. You have liked many a\r\nstupider person.”\r\n\r\n“Dear Lizzy!”\r\n\r\n“Oh, you are a great deal too apt, you know, to like people in general.\r\nYou never see a fault in anybody. All the world are good and agreeable\r\nin your eyes. I never heard you speak ill of a human being in my life.”\r\n\r\n“I would wish not to be hasty in censuring anyone; but I always speak\r\nwhat I think.”\r\n\r\n“I know you do: and it is _that_ which makes the wonder. With _your_\r\ngood sense, to be so honestly blind to the follies and nonsense of\r\nothers! Affectation of candour is common enough; one meets with it\r\neverywhere. But to be candid without ostentation or design,--to take the\r\ngood of everybody’s character and make it still better, and say nothing\r\nof the bad,--belongs to you alone. And so, you like this man’s sisters,\r\ntoo, do you? Their manners are not equal to his.”\r\n\r\n“Certainly not, at first; but they are very pleasing women when you\r\nconverse with them. Miss Bingley is to live with her brother, and keep\r\nhis house; and I am much mistaken if we shall not find a very charming\r\nneighbour in her.”\r\n\r\nElizabeth listened in silence, but was not convinced: their behaviour at\r\nthe assembly had not been calculated to please in general; and with more\r\nquickness of observation and less pliancy of temper than her sister, and\r\nwith a judgment, too, unassailed by any attention to herself, she was\r\nvery little disposed to approve them."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJRRD3TNE5A6AKAVXSRFT9RC","peer_label":"pride-and-prejudice","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJRRC2C7K6XERRJES8143XGV","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJRREYT564P5405ZE4Q76ZF5","peer_label":"mrs bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:52.791Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZGM87R12EADFF6YZZG3","peer_label":"jane 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