{"id":"01KJRRE0MFVBRZ43S249VYBJBH","cid":"bafkreihj5aiu3bnlxg4atnsieoevxdpdvbq4qie6hliynf2de6vooyygpy","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":136578,"char_start":128612,"chunk_index":18,"chunk_total":108,"estimated_tokens":1992,"label":"Bennet.\r \r Miss Bingley’s attention was quite as m","source_file_key":"pride-and-prejudice","text":"Bennet.\r\n\r\nMiss Bingley’s attention was quite as much engaged in watching Mr.\r\nDarcy’s progress through _his_ book, as in reading her own; and she was\r\nperpetually either making some inquiry, or looking at his page. She\r\ncould not win him, however, to any conversation; he merely answered her\r\nquestion and read on. At length, quite exhausted by the attempt to be\r\namused with her own book, which she had only chosen because it was the\r\nsecond volume of his, she gave a great yawn and said, “How pleasant it\r\nis to spend an evening in this way! I declare, after all, there is no\r\nenjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a\r\nbook! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not\r\nan excellent library.”\r\n\r\nNo one made any reply. She then yawned again, threw aside her book, and\r\ncast her eyes round the room in quest of some amusement; when, hearing\r\nher brother mentioning a ball to Miss Bennet, she turned suddenly\r\ntowards him and said,--\r\n\r\n“By the bye Charles, are you really serious in meditating a dance at\r\nNetherfield? I would advise you, before you determine on it, to consult\r\nthe wishes of the present party; I am much mistaken if there are not\r\nsome among us to whom a ball would be rather a punishment than a\r\npleasure.”\r\n\r\n“If you mean Darcy,” cried her brother, “he may go to bed, if he\r\nchooses, before it begins; but as for the ball, it is quite a settled\r\nthing, and as soon as Nicholls has made white soup enough I shall send\r\nround my cards.”\r\n\r\n“I should like balls infinitely better,” she replied, “if they were\r\ncarried on in a different manner; but there is something insufferably\r\ntedious in the usual process of such a meeting. It would surely be much\r\nmore rational if conversation instead of dancing made the order of the\r\nday.”\r\n\r\n“Much more rational, my dear Caroline, I dare say; but it would not be\r\nnear so much like a ball.”\r\n\r\nMiss Bingley made no answer, and soon afterwards got up and walked about\r\nthe room. Her figure was elegant, and she walked well; but Darcy, at\r\nwhom it was all aimed, was still inflexibly studious. In the\r\ndesperation of her feelings, she resolved on one effort more; and,\r\nturning to Elizabeth, said,--\r\n\r\n“Miss Eliza Bennet, let me persuade you to follow my example, and take a\r\nturn about the room. I assure you it is very refreshing after sitting so\r\nlong in one attitude.”\r\n\r\nElizabeth was surprised, but agreed to it immediately. Miss Bingley\r\nsucceeded no less in the real object of her civility: Mr. Darcy looked\r\nup. He was as much awake to the novelty of attention in that quarter as\r\nElizabeth herself could be, and unconsciously closed his book. He was\r\ndirectly invited to join their party, but he declined it, observing that\r\nhe could imagine but two motives for their choosing to walk up and down\r\nthe room together, with either of which motives his joining them would\r\ninterfere. What could he mean? She was dying to know what could be his\r\nmeaning--and asked Elizabeth whether she could at all understand him.\r\n\r\n“Not at all,” was her answer; “but, depend upon it, he means to be\r\nsevere on us, and our surest way of disappointing him will be to ask\r\nnothing about it.”\r\n\r\nMiss Bingley, however, was incapable of disappointing Mr. Darcy in\r\nanything, and persevered, therefore, in requiring an explanation of his\r\ntwo motives.\r\n\r\n“I have not the smallest objection to explaining them,” said he, as soon\r\nas she allowed him to speak. “You either choose this method of passing\r\nthe evening because you are in each other’s confidence, and have secret\r\naffairs to discuss, or because you are conscious that your figures\r\nappear to the greatest advantage in walking: if the first, I should be\r\ncompletely in your way; and if the second, I can admire you much better\r\nas I sit by the fire.”\r\n\r\n“Oh, shocking!” cried Miss Bingley. “I never heard anything so\r\nabominable. How shall we punish him for such a speech?”\r\n\r\n“Nothing so easy, if you have but the inclination,” said Elizabeth. “We\r\ncan all plague and punish one another. Tease him--laugh at him. Intimate\r\nas you are, you must know how it is to be done.”\r\n\r\n“But upon my honour I do _not_. I do assure you that my intimacy has not\r\nyet taught me _that_. Tease calmness of temper and presence of mind! No,\r\nno; I feel he may defy us there. And as to laughter, we will not expose\r\nourselves, if you please, by attempting to laugh without a subject. Mr.\r\nDarcy may hug himself.”\r\n\r\n“Mr. Darcy is not to be laughed at!” cried Elizabeth. “That is an\r\nuncommon advantage, and uncommon I hope it will continue, for it would\r\nbe a great loss to _me_ to have many such acquaintance. I dearly love a\r\nlaugh.”\r\n\r\n“Miss Bingley,” said he, “has given me credit for more than can be. The\r\nwisest and best of men,--nay, the wisest and best of their actions,--may\r\nbe rendered ridiculous by a person whose first object in life is a\r\njoke.”\r\n\r\n“Certainly,” replied Elizabeth, “there are such people, but I hope I am\r\nnot one of _them_. I hope I never ridicule what is wise or good. Follies\r\nand nonsense, whims and inconsistencies, _do_ divert me, I own, and I\r\nlaugh at them whenever I can. But these, I suppose, are precisely what\r\nyou are without.”\r\n\r\n“Perhaps that is not possible for anyone. But it has been the study of\r\nmy life to avoid those weaknesses which often expose a strong\r\nunderstanding to ridicule.”\r\n\r\n“Such as vanity and pride.”\r\n\r\n“Yes, vanity is a weakness indeed. But pride--where there is a real\r\nsuperiority of mind--pride will be always under good regulation.”\r\n\r\nElizabeth turned away to hide a smile.\r\n\r\n“Your examination of Mr. Darcy is over, I presume,” said Miss Bingley;\r\n“and pray what is the result?”\r\n\r\n“I am perfectly convinced by it that Mr. Darcy has no defect. He owns it\r\nhimself without disguise.”\r\n\r\n“No,” said Darcy, “I have made no such pretension. I have faults enough,\r\nbut they are not, I hope, of understanding. My temper I dare not vouch\r\nfor. It is, I believe, too little yielding; certainly too little for the\r\nconvenience of the world. I cannot forget the follies and vices of\r\nothers so soon as I ought, nor their offences against myself. My\r\nfeelings are not puffed about with every attempt to move them. My temper\r\nwould perhaps be called resentful. My good opinion once lost is lost for\r\never.”\r\n\r\n“_That_ is a failing, indeed!” cried Elizabeth. “Implacable resentment\r\n_is_ a shade in a character. But you have chosen your fault well. I\r\nreally cannot _laugh_ at it. You are safe from me.”\r\n\r\n“There is, I believe, in every disposition a tendency to some particular\r\nevil, a natural defect, which not even the best education can overcome.”\r\n\r\n“And _your_ defect is a propensity to hate everybody.”\r\n\r\n“And yours,” he replied, with a smile, “is wilfully to misunderstand\r\nthem.”\r\n\r\n“Do let us have a little music,” cried Miss Bingley, tired of a\r\nconversation in which she had no share. “Louisa, you will not mind my\r\nwaking Mr. Hurst.”\r\n\r\nHer sister made not the smallest objection, and the pianoforte was\r\nopened; and Darcy, after a few moments’ recollection, was not sorry for\r\nit. He began to feel the danger of paying Elizabeth too much attention.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration]\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER XII.\r\n\r\n\r\n[Illustration]\r\n\r\nIn consequence of an agreement between the sisters, Elizabeth wrote the\r\nnext morning to her mother, to beg that the carriage might be sent for\r\nthem in the course of the day. But Mrs. Bennet, who had calculated on\r\nher daughters remaining at Netherfield till the following Tuesday, which\r\nwould exactly finish Jane’s week, could not bring herself to receive\r\nthem with pleasure before. Her answer, therefore, was not propitious, at\r\nleast not to Elizabeth’s wishes, for she was impatient to get home. Mrs.\r\nBennet sent them word that they could not possibly have the carriage\r\nbefore Tuesday; and in her postscript it was added, that if Mr. Bingley\r\nand his sister pressed them to stay longer, she could spare them very\r\nwell."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJRRD3TNE5A6AKAVXSRFT9RC","peer_label":"pride-and-prejudice","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJRRC2C7K6XERRJES8143XGV","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJRRF06V9ABE1JZWJHE56BCY","peer_label":"miss bingley","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:13.389Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFAV76RGBRGPY718SFB7Z","peer_label":"ball at netherfield","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"social_event","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:13.389Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZJBEM6MWHW485H9DS9F","peer_label":"mr darcy","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:13.389Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREY5SSJCQ67QYG0XTG9A8","peer_label":"mr bingley","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:13.389Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZGXA5G45WS8FVH5R7BE","peer_label":"netherfield","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"estate","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:13.389Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZKG263C7SQSDV3TZ5MX","peer_label":"elizabeth bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:13.389Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFA09NE4B0H592GFW4GC8","peer_label":"louisa hurst","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:13.389Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZ9ES6JCT32MXQCVR11Y","peer_label":"mr hurst","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:13.389Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRF0BR23NFBY96G5423J10","peer_label":"pianoforte","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"musical_instrument","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:13.389Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREYT564P5405ZE4Q76ZF5","peer_label":"mrs bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:13.389Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRREZGM87R12EADFF6YZZG3","peer_label":"jane bennet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:13.389Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRFMMG3VTQWXZC7348MHAY","peer_label":"carriage","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"vehicle","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:13.389Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRG4WBPET214C3C3XM3HAD","peer_label":"nicholls","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:13.389Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRG4XSZHHMTKMJSP68EV2M","peer_label":"white soup","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"food_item","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:13.389Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRG4YGKYA5KKD4Q3HHMQ1G","peer_label":"pride character trait","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"character_trait","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:13.389Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRG50GRXZCF36298XSA5HC","peer_label":"mr darcys character faults","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"character_flaw_set","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:13.389Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRG4Y7AY1SQVWCWCDY0AZX","peer_label":"vanity character trait","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"character_trait","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:13.389Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRG51ETHA2WH0MEY58GZD2","peer_label":"darcys two motives","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:13.389Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRG5DAMR631FFHSZ4C6CP3","peer_label":"elizabeths character defect","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"character_flaw","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:13.389Z"}},{"peer":"01KJRRG5HKXRVMX6DQ03TBQNN3","peer_label":"chapter xii pride and prejudice","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"document_section","extracted_at":"2026-03-03T02:30:13.389Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-03T02:29:01.199Z","ts":"2026-03-03T02:30:14.407Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}