{"id":"01KJRRE0MFH4D4YNZ7FPH0X3J9","cid":"bafkreidxnyq7gkfkxh6nepade5vvubn7eu4zry5t4afsfezk4jfo4b4q5i","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":122329,"char_start":114401,"chunk_index":16,"chunk_total":108,"estimated_tokens":1982,"label":"of his lines, or on the length of his letter, with","source_file_key":"pride-and-prejudice","text":"of his lines, or on the length of his letter, with the perfect unconcern\r\nwith which her praises were received, formed a curious dialogue, and was\r\nexactly in unison with her opinion of each.\r\n\r\n“How delighted Miss Darcy will be to receive such a letter!”\r\n\r\nHe made no answer.\r\n\r\n“You write uncommonly fast.”\r\n\r\n“You are mistaken. I write rather slowly.”\r\n\r\n“How many letters you must have occasion to write in the course of a\r\nyear! Letters of business, too! How odious I should think them!”\r\n\r\n“It is fortunate, then, that they fall to my lot instead of to yours.”\r\n\r\n“Pray tell your sister that I long to see her.”\r\n\r\n“I have already told her so once, by your desire.”\r\n\r\n“I am afraid you do not like your pen. Let me mend it for you. I mend\r\npens remarkably well.”\r\n\r\n“Thank you--but I always mend my own.”\r\n\r\n“How can you contrive to write so even?”\r\n\r\nHe was silent.\r\n\r\n“Tell your sister I am delighted to hear of her improvement on the harp,\r\nand pray let her know that I am quite in raptures with her beautiful\r\nlittle design for a table, and I think it infinitely superior to Miss\r\nGrantley’s.”\r\n\r\n“Will you give me leave to defer your raptures till I write again? At\r\npresent I have not room to do them justice.”\r\n\r\n“Oh, it is of no consequence. I shall see her in January. But do you\r\nalways write such charming long letters to her, Mr. Darcy?”\r\n\r\n“They are generally long; but whether always charming, it is not for me\r\nto determine.”\r\n\r\n“It is a rule with me, that a person who can write a long letter with\r\nease cannot write ill.”\r\n\r\n“That will not do for a compliment to Darcy, Caroline,” cried her\r\nbrother, “because he does _not_ write with ease. He studies too much\r\nfor words of four syllables. Do not you, Darcy?”\r\n\r\n“My style of writing is very different from yours.”\r\n\r\n“Oh,” cried Miss Bingley, “Charles writes in the most careless way\r\nimaginable. He leaves out half his words, and blots the rest.”\r\n\r\n“My ideas flow so rapidly that I have not time to express them; by which\r\nmeans my letters sometimes convey no ideas at all to my correspondents.”\r\n\r\n“Your humility, Mr. Bingley,” said Elizabeth, “must disarm reproof.”\r\n\r\n“Nothing is more deceitful,” said Darcy, “than the appearance of\r\nhumility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an\r\nindirect boast.”\r\n\r\n“And which of the two do you call _my_ little recent piece of modesty?”\r\n\r\n“The indirect boast; for you are really proud of your defects in\r\nwriting, because you consider them as proceeding from a rapidity of\r\nthought and carelessness of execution, which, if not estimable, you\r\nthink at least highly interesting. The power of doing anything with\r\nquickness is always much prized by the possessor, and often without any\r\nattention to the imperfection of the performance. When you told Mrs.\r\nBennet this morning, that if you ever resolved on quitting Netherfield\r\nyou should be gone in five minutes, you meant it to be a sort of\r\npanegyric, of compliment to yourself; and yet what is there so very\r\nlaudable in a precipitance which must leave very necessary business\r\nundone, and can be of no real advantage to yourself or anyone else?”\r\n\r\n“Nay,” cried Bingley, “this is too much, to remember at night all the\r\nfoolish things that were said in the morning. And yet, upon my honour, I\r\nbelieved what I said of myself to be true, and I believe it at this\r\nmoment. At least, therefore, I did not assume the character of needless\r\nprecipitance merely to show off before the ladies.”\r\n\r\n“I daresay you believed it; but I am by no means convinced that you\r\nwould be gone with such celerity. Your conduct would be quite as\r\ndependent on chance as that of any man I know; and if, as you were\r\nmounting your horse, a friend were to say, ‘Bingley, you had better stay\r\ntill next week,’ you would probably do it--you would probably not\r\ngo--and, at another word, might stay a month.”\r\n\r\n“You have only proved by this,” cried Elizabeth, “that Mr. Bingley did\r\nnot do justice to his own disposition. You have shown him off now much\r\nmore than he did himself.”\r\n\r\n“I am exceedingly gratified,” said Bingley, “by your converting what my\r\nfriend says into a compliment on the sweetness of my temper. But I am\r\nafraid you are giving it a turn which that gentleman did by no means\r\nintend; for he would certainly think the better of me if, under such a\r\ncircumstance, I were to give a flat denial, and ride off as fast as I\r\ncould.”\r\n\r\n“Would Mr. Darcy then consider the rashness of your original intention\r\nas atoned for by your obstinacy in adhering to it?”\r\n\r\n“Upon my word, I cannot exactly explain the matter--Darcy must speak for\r\nhimself.”\r\n\r\n“You expect me to account for opinions which you choose to call mine,\r\nbut which I have never acknowledged. Allowing the case, however, to\r\nstand according to your representation, you must remember, Miss Bennet,\r\nthat the friend who is supposed to desire his return to the house, and\r\nthe delay of his plan, has merely desired it, asked it without offering\r\none argument in favour of its propriety.”\r\n\r\n“To yield readily--easily--to the _persuasion_ of a friend is no merit\r\nwith you.”\r\n\r\n“To yield without conviction is no compliment to the understanding of\r\neither.”\r\n\r\n“You appear to me, Mr. Darcy, to allow nothing for the influence of\r\nfriendship and affection. A regard for the requester would often make\r\none readily yield to a request, without waiting for arguments to reason\r\none into it. I am not particularly speaking of such a case as you have\r\nsupposed about Mr. Bingley. We may as well wait, perhaps, till the\r\ncircumstance occurs, before we discuss the discretion of his behaviour\r\nthereupon. But in general and ordinary cases, between friend and friend,\r\nwhere one of them is desired by the other to change a resolution of no\r\nvery great moment, should you think ill of that person for complying\r\nwith the desire, without waiting to be argued into it?”\r\n\r\n“Will it not be advisable, before we proceed on this subject, to arrange\r\nwith rather more precision the degree of importance which is to\r\nappertain to this request, as well as the degree of intimacy subsisting\r\nbetween the parties?”\r\n\r\n“By all means,” cried Bingley; “let us hear all the particulars, not\r\nforgetting their comparative height and size, for that will have more\r\nweight in the argument, Miss Bennet, than you may be aware of. I assure\r\nyou that if Darcy were not such a great tall fellow, in comparison with\r\nmyself, I should not pay him half so much deference. I declare I do not\r\nknow a more awful object than Darcy on particular occasions, and in\r\nparticular places; at his own house especially, and of a Sunday evening,\r\nwhen he has nothing to do.”\r\n\r\nMr. Darcy smiled; but Elizabeth thought she could perceive that he was\r\nrather offended, and therefore checked her laugh. Miss Bingley warmly\r\nresented the indignity he had received, in an expostulation with her\r\nbrother for talking such nonsense.\r\n\r\n“I see your design, Bingley,” said his friend. “You dislike an argument,\r\nand want to silence this.”\r\n\r\n“Perhaps I do. Arguments are too much like disputes. If you and Miss\r\nBennet will defer yours till I am out of the room, I shall be very\r\nthankful; and then you may say whatever you like of me.”\r\n\r\n“What you ask,” said Elizabeth, “is no sacrifice on my side; and Mr.\r\nDarcy had much better finish his letter.”\r\n\r\nMr. Darcy took her advice, and did finish his letter.\r\n\r\nWhen that business was over, he applied to Miss Bingley and Elizabeth\r\nfor the indulgence of some music. Miss Bingley moved with alacrity to\r\nthe pianoforte, and after a polite request that Elizabeth would lead the\r\nway, which the other as politely and more earnestly negatived, she\r\nseated herself.\r\n\r\nMrs. Hurst sang with her sister; and while they were thus employed,\r\nElizabeth could not help observing, as she turned over some music-books\r\nthat lay on the instrument, how frequently Mr. Darcy’s eyes were fixed\r\non her."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJRRD3TNE5A6AKAVXSRFT9RC","peer_label":"pride-and-prejudice","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJRRC2C7K6XERRJES8143XGV","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJRREYSAVKDMJ2BZEZTPX3RP","peer_label":"mr darcy","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:35.857Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYR904AXTHAV3R1KQ0JM","peer_label":"elizabeth bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:35.857Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYT564P5405ZE4Q76ZF5","peer_label":"mrs bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:35.857Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZGXA5G45WS8FVH5R7BE","peer_label":"netherfield","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"estate","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:35.857Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZE4MTY540KMV82YTDGM","peer_label":"mrs hurst","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:35.857Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZV6WTA35TXZE8HBZF4X","peer_label":"miss bingley","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:35.857Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZW59S54F0QEWG8N8QNG","peer_label":"miss darcy","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:35.857Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZWZA7ZJVMS9VW2V3SE9","peer_label":"charles bingley","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:35.857Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF0BR23NFBY96G5423J10","peer_label":"pianoforte","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"musical_instrument","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:35.857Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF08KZ6EGNNG9KGDKCZKX","peer_label":"miss grantley","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:35.857Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF0BHBXRZGPEQNPYHQ5ET","peer_label":"harp","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"musical_instrument","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:35.857Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF0X8JTQMBQAPWW1ZH2NY","peer_label":"table design","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"artwork","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:35.857Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF0XFNJQ4458H1CSTT8XA","peer_label":"humility","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:35.857Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF0Y58PAC2X4NXDHP0C16","peer_label":"letter writing","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:35.857Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:01.199Z","ts":"2026-03-03T02:29:36.707Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}