NOT all that Mrs. Bennet, however, with the assistance of her five daughters, could ask on the subject was sufficient to draw from her husband any satisfactory description of Mr. Bingley. They attacked him in various ways; with barefaced questions, ingenious suppositions, and distant surmises; but he eluded the skill of them all; and they were at last obliged to accept the second-hand intelligence of their neighbour Lady Lucas. Her report was highly favourable. Sir William had been delighted with him. He was quite young, wonderfully handsome, extremely agreeable, and, to crown the whole, he meant to be at the next assembly with a large party. Nothing could be more delightful! To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love; and very lively hopes of Mr. Bingley's heart were entertained.?
"If I can but see one of my daughters happily settled at Netherfield," said Mrs. Bennet to her husband, "and all the others equally well married, I shall have nothing to wish for."
In a few days Mr. Bingley returned Mr. Bennet's visit, and sat about ten minutes with him in his library. He had entertained hopes of being admitted to a sight of the young ladies, of whose beauty he had heard much; but he saw only the father. The ladies were somewhat more fortunate, for they had the advantage of ascertaining, from an upper window, that he wore a blue coat and rode a black horse.
An invitation to dinner was soon afterwards dispatched; and already had Mrs. Bennet planned the courses that were to do credit to her housekeeping, when an answer arrived which deferred it all. Mr. Bingley was obliged to be in town the following day, and consequently unable to accept the honour of their invitation, &c. Mrs. Bennet was quite disconcerted. She could not imagine what business he could have in town so soon after his arrival in Hertfordshire; and she began to fear that he might be always flying about from one place to another, and never settled at Netherfield as he ought to be. Lady Lucas quieted her fears a little by starting the idea of his being gone to London only to get a large party for the ball; and a report soon followed that Mr. Bingley was to bring twelve ladies and seven gentlemen with him to the assembly. The girls grieved over such a large number of ladies; but were comforted the day before the ball by hearing that, instead of twelve, he had brought only six with him from London, his five sisters and a cousin. And when the party entered the assembly room, it consisted of only five altogether; Mr. Bingley, his two sisters, the husband of the oldest, and another young man.
Mr. Bingley was good looking and gentlemanlike; he had a pleasant countenance, and easy, unaffected manners. His brother-in-law, Mr. Hurst, merely looked the gentleman; but his friend Mr. Darcy soon drew the attention of the room by his fine, tall person, handsome features, noble mien; and the report which was in general circulation within five minutes after his entrance, of his having ten thousand a year. The gentlemen pronounced him to be a fine figure of a man, the ladies declared he was much handsomer than Mr. Bingley, and he was looked at with great admiration for about half the evening, till his manners gave a disgust which turned the tide of his popularity; for he was discovered to be proud, to be above his company, and above being pleased; and not all his large estate in Derbyshire could then save him from having a most forbidding, disagreeable countenance, and being unworthy to be compared with his friend.
Mr. Bingley had soon made himself acquainted with all the principal people in the room; he was lively and unreserved, danced every dance, was angry that the ball closed so early, and talked of giving one himself at Netherfield. Such amiable qualities must speak for themselves. What a contrast between him and his friend! Mr. Darcy danced only once with Mrs. Hurst and once with Miss Bingley, declined being introduced to any other lady, and spent the rest of the evening in walking about the room, speaking occasionally to one of his own party. His character was decided. He was the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world, and every body hoped that he would never come there again. Amongst the most violent against him was Mrs. Bennet, whose dislike of his general behaviour was sharpened into particular resentment by his having slighted one of her daughters.
Elizabeth Bennet had been obliged, by the scarcity of gentlemen, to sit down for two dances; and during part of that time, Mr. Darcy had been standing near enough for her to overhear a conversation between him and Mr. Bingley, who came from the dance for a few minutes to press his friend to join it.
"Come, Darcy," said he, "I must have you dance. I hate to see you standing about by yourself in this stupid manner. You had much better dance."
"I certainly shall not. You know how I detest it, unless I am particularly acquainted with my partner. At such an assembly as this, it would be insupportable. Your sisters are engaged, and there is not another woman in the room whom it would not be a punishment to me to stand up with."
"I would not be so fastidious as you are," cried Bingley, "for a kingdom! Upon my honour I never met with so many pleasant girls in my life, as I have this evening; and there are several of them, you see, uncommonly pretty."
"You are dancing with the only handsome girl in the room," said Mr. Darcy, looking at the eldest Miss Bennet.
"Oh! she is the most beautiful creature I ever beheld! But there is one of her sisters sitting down just behind you, who is very pretty, and I dare say very agreeable. Do let me ask my partner to introduce you."
"Which do you mean?" and turning round, he looked for a moment at Elizabeth, till catching her eye, he withdrew his own and coldly said, "She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me; and I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men. You had better return to your partner and enjoy her smiles, for you are wasting your time with me."
Mr. Bingley followed his advice. Mr. Darcy walked off; and Elizabeth remained with no very cordial feelings towards him. She told the story however with great spirit among her friends; for she had a lively, playful disposition, which delighted in any thing ridiculous.
The evening altogether passed off pleasantly to the whole family. Mrs. Bennet had seen her eldest daughter much admired by the Netherfield party. Mr. Bingley had danced with her twice, and she had been distinguished by his sisters. Jane was as much gratified by this as her mother could be, though in a quieter way. Elizabeth felt Jane's pleasure. Mary had heard herself mentioned to Miss Bingley as the most accomplished girl in the neighbourhood; and Catherine and Lydia had been fortunate enough to be never without partners, which was all that they had yet learnt to care for at a ball. They returned therefore, in good spirits to Longbourn, the village where they lived, and of which they were the principal inhabitants. They found Mr. Bennet still up. With a book, he was regardless of time; and on the present occasion he had a good deal of curiosity as to the event of an evening which had raised such splendid expectations. He had rather hoped that all his wife's views on the stranger would be disappointed; but he soon found that he had a very different story to hear.
"Oh! my dear Mr. Bennet," as she entered the room, "we have had a most delightful evening, a most excellent ball. I wish you had been there. Jane was so admired, nothing could be like it. Every body said how well she looked; and Mr. Bingley thought her quite beautiful, and danced with her twice. Only think of that my dear; he actually danced with her twice; and she was the only creature in the room that he asked a second time. First of all, he asked Miss Lucas. I was so vexed to see him stand up with her; but, however, he did not admire her at all: indeed, nobody can, you know; and he seemed quite struck with Jane as she was going down the dance. So, he enquired who she was, and got introduced, and asked her for the two next. Then, the two third he danced with Miss King, and the two fourth with Maria Lucas, and the two fifth with Jane again, and the two sixth with Lizzy, and the Boulanger --"
"If he had had any compassion for me," cried her husband impatiently, "he would not have danced half so much! For God's sake, say no more of his partners. Oh! that he had sprained his ancle in the first dance!"
"Oh! my dear," continued Mrs. Bennet, "I am quite delighted with him. He is so excessively handsome! and his sisters are charming women. I never in my life saw any thing more elegant than their dresses. I dare say the lace upon Mrs. Hurst's gown --"
Here she was interrupted again. Mr. Bennet protested against any description of finery. She was therefore obliged to seek another branch of the subject, and related, with much bitterness of spirit and some exaggeration, the shocking rudeness of Mr. Darcy.
"But I can assure you," she added, "that Lizzy does not lose much by not suiting his fancy; for he is a most disagreeable, horrid man, not at all worth pleasing. So high and so conceited that there was no enduring him! He walked here, and he walked there, fancying himself so very great! Not handsome enough to dance with! I wish you had been there, my dear, to have given him one of your set downs. I quite detest the man."
--正文
盡管有5個(gè)女兒幫忙久又，Bennet太太也竭盡全力向他丈夫打聽Bingley先生的事情湖员，但是仍沒得到滿意的結(jié)果。她們用各種各樣的方法：各種露骨的問題，著邊和不著邊的猜測掩蛤，去拷問Bennet老爺燥爷。但是他都 一 一躲過了港华。最終她們只能被迫接收Lucas太太的二手情報(bào)。她的情報(bào)是高度可信的：William先生對Bingley先生很滿意灯帮。Bingley很年輕腻贰，非常帥氣，待人很禮貌写烤。而且最重要的是：他打算參加下次的大趴體翼闽。這可是了不得的事情，喜歡跳舞的男人才容易愛上你們顶霞。Bingley先生也希望能玩的開心肄程。
‘如果我有一個(gè)女兒在Netherfield安了家锣吼，’Bennet太太對他老公說，‘而且其他幾個(gè)丫頭也能嫁個(gè)好人家蓝厌，我這輩子就算是滿意了’玄叠。
幾天后Bingley先生就回訪了Bennet老爺,他在Bennet老爺?shù)臅孔舜蠹s10分鐘。他希望能見到Bennet家里的姑娘們拓提，這些姑娘的美貌他可聽聞許久了读恃。但是他只看到了姑娘們的老爹，姑娘們就相對幸運(yùn)點(diǎn)代态，她們透過上面的窗戶寺惫，看到了Bingley先生，穿著一件藍(lán)色大衣騎著一匹黑馬蹦疑。
很快西雀，Bennet一家就發(fā)出了晚餐邀請。Bennet太太也精心準(zhǔn)備了晚餐的菜歉摧，希望能展示自己的持家水平艇肴，但是這很快就被一個(gè)消息打亂了。Bingley先生回信說：第二天得回城里叁温，因此沒法接受她們的邀請再悼。Bennet太太心里慌得很，她可不敢想Bingley才來Hertfordshire沒多久膝但，在城里會有什么事情冲九。她開始擔(dān)心他會從這個(gè)地方到那個(gè)地方到處跑，而不是在Netherfield安頓下來跟束。Lucas太太告訴她莺奸，bingley回倫敦只是為舞會多叫些伙伴，Bennet太太這才稍微放了點(diǎn)心泳炉。沒多久憾筏，又來消息說嚎杨，Bingley先生帶來了12個(gè)姑娘和7個(gè)小伙子一起參加舞會花鹅。姑娘們聽說來了那么多姑娘，心里有些悲傷枫浙。但是過兩天聽說Bingley只帶來了6個(gè)人回來刨肃，而不是12個(gè)，而且5個(gè)是他的姐妹箩帚，1個(gè)是他的表親真友，姑娘們才放下了心。但最終這伙人來到舞會的時(shí)候紧帕，大伙才發(fā)現(xiàn)一共才來了5個(gè)人：Bingley先生盔然，他的兩個(gè)姊妹桅打，大姐姐的丈夫铡羡，和另一個(gè)年輕人尾膊。
Bingley先生長得很帥氣，而且一副紳士的模樣禀苦。他表情總是很愉悅站绪，舉止隨合自然遭铺。他的姐夫，Hurst先生恢准，勉強(qiáng)算得上個(gè)紳士魂挂。但是他的朋友Darcy先生，很快就憑著他高個(gè)身材馁筐，帥氣的長相和高貴的舉止吸引了全場的注意涂召。Darcy先生才進(jìn)來5分鐘，很快大家就都知道了他一年能掙10000磅敏沉。在場的男人們都說他充滿著男人氣概芹扭，在場的女人都說他比Bingley先生帥氣多了。他被充滿著愛慕的目光盯了幾乎半個(gè)晚上赦抖，直到他的舉止讓大家感到不順舱卡，很快就不受歡迎了。大家發(fā)現(xiàn)他很高傲队萤，對著眾人一副冷冷的樣子轮锥，也很不容易被取悅。這時(shí)候要尔，他在Derbyshire的地產(chǎn)再大舍杜，也不能讓他臉上有幾分笑容，大家也覺得Darcy先生無法跟Bingley相比了赵辕。
Bingley先生很快就與在場的大人物混熟了既绩。他既活潑又坦率，與每個(gè)人一起跳舞还惠，他還抱怨舞會這么早就結(jié)束了饲握，說著要在Netherfiled(蘑菇屯)也給自己辦一場舞會。他身上的這些討喜的優(yōu)點(diǎn)蚕键，真是顯而易見救欧。他的朋友咋就和他差距那么大呢！Darcy先生只跟hurst太太跳了一曲锣光，又和Bingley小姐姐跳了一曲笆怠。高冷地拒絕被介紹給其她姑娘認(rèn)識，一晚上就在屋子里閑逛誊爹，偶爾跟自己朋友聊兩句蹬刷。他的性格我可不會看走眼了瓢捉。他就是這個(gè)世界上最高傲的，最不討喜的男人办成，每個(gè)人都希望他可沒來過泊柬。眾人之中最討厭他的非Bennet太太莫屬了，Bennet太太本來只是討厭他的舉止诈火，但后來看他對自己的女兒很怠慢兽赁，就變得特別討厭他了。
Elizabeth Bennet因?yàn)闆]有人邀請?zhí)枥涫兀坏貌蛔磩e人跳了兩場舞刀崖。正好趕上Bingley先生從舞會中抽身出來，拉著Darcy一起去跳舞拍摇，Darcy站在Elizabeth旁邊不遠(yuǎn)亮钦，因此他們兩人的對話剛好被她聽到了。
“快點(diǎn)來啊充活，Darcy蜂莉，”Bingley說，‘“我一定得拉著你跳舞混卵，我可見不得你自己杵在那的蠢樣子映穗，你跳起舞來會好看多了∧凰妫”
“我才不回去蚁滋！你知道我討厭跳舞，除非我跟舞伴特別熟悉赘淮。在這種舞會上面辕录，我可不抱什么指望。你的姐妹都有約了梢卸，其他的女人沒有一個(gè)我能受得了的走诞。”
“我可不像你這么挑剔蛤高，Darcy蚣旱，”Bingley說，“我的蘑菇屯襟齿！我這一生可從沒像今晚這樣姻锁。一下見到那么多有趣的姑娘枕赵。而且她們中有幾個(gè)猜欺，可不是一般的漂亮】酱埽”
“你可和這屋里最漂亮的姑娘跳著舞呢开皿！”Darcy先生一邊說涧黄，一邊看著Bennet家最小的女兒。
“嗯赋荆！她確實(shí)是我見過的最美的姑娘笋妥！但她有個(gè)姐姐也非常漂亮，就站在你后面窄潭，我敢說甚至很可愛春宣。讓我的舞伴給你介紹一下〖的悖”Bingley先生說月帝。
“你是說哪個(gè)？”Darcy轉(zhuǎn)過身幽污，看了Elizabeth一會嚷辅，看到她眼睛的時(shí)候，他立刻收回了目光距误，冷冷的說：“這個(gè)還行簸搞，但還沒到能誘惑我的水平。而且我現(xiàn)在可沒心思去抬舉被人冷落的姑娘准潭。你快回去跟你的舞伴跳舞吧趁俊，好好看看她的笑容，跟我在這都是浪費(fèi)時(shí)間刑然≡蛟停”
Bingley先生聽了話回去了，Darcy也走開了闰集。Elizabeth仍然站在那沽讹，對Darcy先生沒有什么特別的好感。但她卻十分興奮得跟朋友們講剛剛聽到的話武鲁。因?yàn)樗愿窕顫娝郏龅交氖虑橐材鼙３趾眯那椤ennett一家今晚過的很開心沐鼠。Bennet太太看到她的大女兒Jane在舞會上很受歡迎挚瘟。Bingley先生和她跳了兩次舞，她的妹妹們可沒有這個(gè)待遇饲梭。Jane對此也像她媽媽一樣開心乘盖，但她表現(xiàn)的很安靜。Elizabeth感受到了Jane的喜悅憔涉。Mary則聽到別人跟Bingley說她是這一片最有才華的姑娘订框。而Catherine和Lydia一晚上都沒缺舞伴，她們對于舞會也別無所求兜叨。全家人都開開心心地回了LongBourn村穿扳，他們家可算得上是這個(gè)村子的貴族衩侥。姑娘們發(fā)現(xiàn)Bennet老爺還沒睡，他看書入神一下看到很晚矛物。此時(shí)他很想知道這個(gè)姑娘們?nèi)f分期待的夜晚發(fā)生了什么茫死。他之前希望Bennet太太，會對Bingley失望履羞，但是事實(shí)完全不是這樣峦萎。
’啊，我親愛的Bennet老爺忆首，“Bennet太太一進(jìn)門就大聲說道骨杂，”我們今晚可是過的太開心了，今晚的舞會真是精彩極了雄卷。我真希望你也去了搓蚪。Jane廣受歡迎，從沒見過這樣的丁鹉。每個(gè)人都夸她長得漂亮妒潭。Bingley先生也這么認(rèn)為，邀請她跳了兩回舞揣钦。你可想想這事兒雳灾，跳了兩回！他只找了Jane跳了兩回舞冯凹。一開始谎亩，Bingley邀請了Lucas小姐姐跳舞，我看他么倆站一起就氣不打一處來宇姚。但是一會發(fā)現(xiàn)匈庭，Bingley一點(diǎn)也不喜歡Lucas。也是哦浑劳，誰會喜歡Lucas阱持。后來Bingley看到Jane下舞池去跳舞，就一副失了神的樣子魔熏。然后他就去問了jane的名字衷咽，找人介紹認(rèn)識，并邀請她跳接下來的一場舞蒜绽。然后第三場跟King小姐一起跳镶骗，第四場和Maria Lucas，第五場又是和Jane躲雅，第六場是和Lizzy鼎姊。然后是Boulanger...“
Bennet太太突然被不耐煩的Bennet老爺打斷了，’他要是有一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)同情心，他就不會跳那么舞了此蜈。老天爺即横，你可別再說她的舞伴了噪生。我可希望裆赵，他在第一場舞就把腳扭了《逅裕‘
’哦战授，親愛的，我可是喜歡他的很桨嫁≈怖迹‘Bennet太太接著說，”他長得十分帥氣璃吧，姐姐們也很有魅力楣导。我可從沒見過他們那般講究的衣服。要我說畜挨，Hurst太太的長袍上的蕾絲筒繁，那真是....“
Bennet太太又被打斷了。Bennet老爺不想再聽她說任何衣服了巴元。于是Bennet太太又殷勤的去找話題毡咏，又順帶著提到了Darcy先生的粗魯行為，她就又略帶夸張的去挖苦他逮刨。
”但我敢保證呕缭，“Bennet太太又說，”Lizzy沒被他看上修己，可沒吃什么虧恢总，因?yàn)镈arcy可是世上最可怕，不討喜的男人睬愤，可一點(diǎn)不值得恭維离熏。你看他那高冷的樣，都快上天了戴涝！一會走到這兒滋戳，一會走到那兒，想著自己有多了不起啥刻！他可沒帥到那份上奸鸯，讓人去跟他跳舞，想得美可帽！親愛的Bennet老爺娄涩，我可希望你在那兒，好給他點(diǎn)教訓(xùn)！我可不喜歡他蓄拣！“
