{"id":"01KJRRE0MFPVRS1B752CQMDSEH","cid":"bafkreibgagtkqax5zpjkw3hbkaqqf47hlxdddntxshxa3em5bcll42g5iy","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":115139,"char_start":107201,"chunk_index":15,"chunk_total":108,"estimated_tokens":1985,"label":"such a study. In a country neighbourhood you move","source_file_key":"pride-and-prejudice","text":"such a study. In a country neighbourhood you move in a very confined and\r\nunvarying society.”\r\n\r\n“But people themselves alter so much, that there is something new to be\r\nobserved in them for ever.”\r\n\r\n“Yes, indeed,” cried Mrs. Bennet, offended by his manner of mentioning a\r\ncountry neighbourhood. “I assure you there is quite as much of _that_\r\ngoing on in the country as in town.”\r\n\r\nEverybody was surprised; and Darcy, after looking at her for a moment,\r\nturned silently away. Mrs. Bennet, who fancied she had gained a complete\r\nvictory over him, continued her triumph,--\r\n\r\n“I cannot see that London has any great advantage over the country, for\r\nmy part, except the shops and public places. The country is a vast deal\r\npleasanter, is not it, Mr. Bingley?”\r\n\r\n“When I am in the country,” he replied, “I never wish to leave it; and\r\nwhen I am in town, it is pretty much the same. They have each their\r\nadvantages, and I can be equally happy in either.”\r\n\r\n“Ay, that is because you have the right disposition. But that\r\ngentleman,” looking at Darcy, “seemed to think the country was nothing\r\nat all.”\r\n\r\n“Indeed, mamma, you are mistaken,” said Elizabeth, blushing for her\r\nmother. “You quite mistook Mr. Darcy. He only meant that there was not\r\nsuch a variety of people to be met with in the country as in town, which\r\nyou must acknowledge to be true.”\r\n\r\n“Certainly, my dear, nobody said there were; but as to not meeting with\r\nmany people in this neighbourhood, I believe there are few\r\nneighbourhoods larger. I know we dine with four-and-twenty families.”\r\n\r\nNothing but concern for Elizabeth could enable Bingley to keep his\r\ncountenance. His sister was less delicate, and directed her eye towards\r\nMr. Darcy with a very expressive smile. Elizabeth, for the sake of\r\nsaying something that might turn her mother’s thoughts, now asked her if\r\nCharlotte Lucas had been at Longbourn since _her_ coming away.\r\n\r\n“Yes, she called yesterday with her father. What an agreeable man Sir\r\nWilliam is, Mr. Bingley--is not he? so much the man of fashion! so\r\ngenteel and so easy! He has always something to say to everybody. _That_\r\nis my idea of good breeding; and those persons who fancy themselves very\r\nimportant and never open their mouths quite mistake the matter.”\r\n\r\n“Did Charlotte dine with you?”\r\n\r\n“No, she would go home. I fancy she was wanted about the mince-pies. For\r\nmy part, Mr. Bingley, _I_ always keep servants that can do their own\r\nwork; _my_ daughters are brought up differently. But everybody is to\r\njudge for themselves, and the Lucases are a very good sort of girls, I\r\nassure you. It is a pity they are not handsome! Not that _I_ think\r\nCharlotte so _very_ plain; but then she is our particular friend.”\r\n\r\n“She seems a very pleasant young woman,” said Bingley.\r\n\r\n“Oh dear, yes; but you must own she is very plain. Lady Lucas herself\r\nhas often said so, and envied me Jane’s beauty. I do not like to boast\r\nof my own child; but to be sure, Jane--one does not often see anybody\r\nbetter looking. It is what everybody says. I do not trust my own\r\npartiality. When she was only fifteen there was a gentleman at my\r\nbrother Gardiner’s in town so much in love with her, that my\r\nsister-in-law was sure he would make her an offer before we came away.\r\nBut, however, he did not. Perhaps he thought her too young. However, he\r\nwrote some verses on her, and very pretty they were.”\r\n\r\n“And so ended his affection,” said Elizabeth, impatiently. “There has\r\nbeen many a one, I fancy, overcome in the same way. I wonder who first\r\ndiscovered the efficacy of poetry in driving away love!”\r\n\r\n“I have been used to consider poetry as the _food_ of love,” said Darcy.\r\n\r\n“Of a fine, stout, healthy love it may. Everything nourishes what is\r\nstrong already. But if it be only a slight, thin sort of inclination, I\r\nam convinced that one good sonnet will starve it entirely away.”\r\n\r\nDarcy only smiled; and the general pause which ensued made Elizabeth\r\ntremble lest her mother should be exposing herself again. She longed to\r\nspeak, but could think of nothing to say; and after a short silence Mrs.\r\nBennet began repeating her thanks to Mr. Bingley for his kindness to\r\nJane, with an apology for troubling him also with Lizzy. Mr. Bingley was\r\nunaffectedly civil in his answer, and forced his younger sister to be\r\ncivil also, and say what the occasion required. She performed her part,\r\nindeed, without much graciousness, but Mrs. Bennet was satisfied, and\r\nsoon afterwards ordered her carriage. Upon this signal, the youngest of\r\nher daughters put herself forward. The two girls had been whispering to\r\neach other during the whole visit; and the result of it was, that the\r\nyoungest should tax Mr. Bingley with having promised on his first coming\r\ninto the country to give a ball at Netherfield.\r\n\r\nLydia was a stout, well-grown girl of fifteen, with a fine complexion\r\nand good-humoured countenance; a favourite with her mother, whose\r\naffection had brought her into public at an early age. She had high\r\nanimal spirits, and a sort of natural self-consequence, which the\r\nattentions of the officers, to whom her uncle’s good dinners and her\r\nown easy manners recommended her, had increased into assurance. She was\r\nvery equal, therefore, to address Mr. Bingley on the subject of the\r\nball, and abruptly reminded him of his promise; adding, that it would be\r\nthe most shameful thing in the world if he did not keep it. His answer\r\nto this sudden attack was delightful to her mother’s ear.\r\n\r\n“I am perfectly ready, I assure you, to keep my engagement; and, when\r\nyour sister is recovered, you shall, if you please, name the very day of\r\nthe ball. But you would not wish to be dancing while she is ill?”\r\n\r\nLydia declared herself satisfied. “Oh yes--it would be much better to\r\nwait till Jane was well; and by that time, most likely, Captain Carter\r\nwould be at Meryton again. And when you have given _your_ ball,” she\r\nadded, “I shall insist on their giving one also. I shall tell Colonel\r\nForster it will be quite a shame if he does not.”\r\n\r\nMrs. Bennet and her daughters then departed, and Elizabeth returned\r\ninstantly to Jane, leaving her own and her relations’ behaviour to the\r\nremarks of the two ladies and Mr. Darcy; the latter of whom, however,\r\ncould not be prevailed on to join in their censure of _her_, in spite of\r\nall Miss Bingley’s witticisms on _fine eyes_.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration]\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER X.\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration]\r\n\r\nThe day passed much as the day before had done. Mrs. Hurst and Miss\r\nBingley had spent some hours of the morning with the invalid, who\r\ncontinued, though slowly, to mend; and, in the evening, Elizabeth joined\r\ntheir party in the drawing-room. The loo table, however, did not appear.\r\nMr. Darcy was writing, and Miss Bingley, seated near him, was watching\r\nthe progress of his letter, and repeatedly calling off his attention by\r\nmessages to his sister. Mr. Hurst and Mr. Bingley were at piquet, and\r\nMrs. Hurst was observing their game.\r\n\r\nElizabeth took up some needlework, and was sufficiently amused in\r\nattending to what passed between Darcy and his companion. The perpetual\r\ncommendations of the lady either on his hand-writing, or on the evenness\r\nof 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."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJRRD3TNE5A6AKAVXSRFT9RC","peer_label":"pride-and-prejudice","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJRRC2C7K6XERRJES8143XGV","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJRREY5SSJCQ67QYG0XTG9A8","peer_label":"mr bingley","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:05.983Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYT564P5405ZE4Q76ZF5","peer_label":"mrs bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:05.983Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYZ36C2F9Z4KP5F6ANMZ","peer_label":"london","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"city","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:05.983Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZJBEM6MWHW485H9DS9F","peer_label":"mr darcy","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:05.983Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZGM87R12EADFF6YZZG3","peer_label":"jane 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