by Austen, Jane
“Could I expect it to be otherwise!” said she. “Yet why did he come?”
She was in no humour27 for conversation with any one but himself; and to him she had hardly courage to speak.
She enquired after his sister, but could do no more.
“It is a long time, Mr. Bingley, since you went away,” said Mrs. Bennet.
He readily agreed to it.
“I began to be afraid you would never come back again. People did say, you meant to quit the place entirely at Michaelmas;28 but, however, I hope it is not true. A great many changes have happened in the neighbourhood, since you went away. Miss Lucas is married and settled. And one of my own daughters. I suppose you have heard of it; indeed, you must have seen it in the papers. It was in the Times and the Courier,29 I know; though it was not put in as it ought to be. It was only said, ‘Lately, George Wickham, Esq.30 to Miss Lydia Bennet,' without there being a syllable said of her father, or the place where she lived, or any thing. It was my brother Gardiner's drawing up too, and I wonder how he came to make such an awkward business of it.31 Did you see it?”
Bingley replied that he did, and made his congratulations. Elizabeth dared not lift up her eyes. How Mr. Darcy looked, therefore, she could not tell.
“It is a delightful thing, to be sure, to have a daughter well married,” continued her mother, “but at the same time, Mr. Bingley, it is very hard to have her taken such a way from me. They are gone down to Newcastle, a place quite northward, it seems,32 and there they are to stay, I do not know how long. His regiment is there; for I suppose you have heard of his leaving the——shire,
and of his being gone into the regulars. Thank Heaven! he has some friends, though perhaps not so many as he deserves.”
Elizabeth, who knew this to be levelled at33 Mr. Darcy, was in such misery of shame, that she could hardly keep her seat. It drew from her, however, the exertion of speaking, which nothing else had so effectually done before; and she asked Bingley, whether he meant to make any stay in the country at present. A few weeks, he believed.
“When you have killed all your own birds, Mr. Bingley,” said her mother, “I beg you will come here, and shoot as many as you please, on Mr. Bennet's manor. I am sure he will be vastly34 happy to oblige you, and will save all the best of the covies35 for you.”
Elizabeth's misery increased, at such unnecessary, such officious attention!36 Were the same fair prospect to arise at present, as had flattered them a year ago, every thing, she was persuaded, would be hastening to the same vexatious conclusion. At that instant she felt, that years of happiness could not make Jane or herself amends, for moments of such painful confusion.
“The first wish of my heart,” said she to herself, “is never more to be in company with either of them. Their society can afford no pleasure, that will atone for such wretchedness as this! Let me never see either one or the other again!”37
Yet the misery, for which years of happiness were to offer no compensation, received soon afterwards material relief, from observing how much the beauty of her sister re-kindled the admiration of her former lover. When first he came in, he had spoken to her but little; but every five minutes seemed to be giving her more of his attention. He found her as handsome as she had been last year; as good natured, and as unaffected, though not quite so chatty. Jane was anxious that no difference should be perceived in her at all, and was really persuaded that she talked as much as ever. But her mind was so busily engaged, that she did not always know when she was silent.
When the gentlemen rose to go away, Mrs. Bennet was mindful of her intended civility, and they were invited and engaged to dine at Longbourn in a few days time.
“You are quite a visit in my debt, Mr. Bingley,” she added, “for when you went to town last winter, you promised to take a family dinner with us, as soon as you returned. I have not forgot, you see; and I assure you, I was very much disappointed that you did not come back and keep your engagement.”
Bingley looked a little silly at this reflection,38 and said something of his concern, at having been prevented by business. They then went away.
Mrs. Bennet had been strongly inclined to ask them to stay and dine there, that day; but, though she always kept a very good table, she did not think any thing less than two courses, could be good enough for a man, on whom she had such anxious designs, or satisfy the appetite and pride of one who had ten thousand a year.
1. Since Mr. Bennet was unwilling to go to Brighton, which would be at most 75 miles away, it is hardly surprising that he does not wish to voyage to Newcastle, which would be at least 200 miles away—and this is not even counting his disinclination to see Wickham and Lydia.
2. makes love: courts, woos, professes affection.
3. Mr. Bennet's use of valuable is obviously sarcastic. In referring to Sir William Lucas he may be thinking of Sir William's own tendency toward officious courtesy, or he may be thinking of Sir William's actual son-in-law, Mr. Collins.
4. dull: listless, gloomy.
5. spiritless: depressed.
6. It is now around the middle of September (see chronology, p. 719). The season for shooting game started September 1.
7. in the fidgets: in a state of nervous excitement, one marked by fidgeting.
8. Mrs. Nicholls: the housekeeper at Netherfield. Bingley, her employer, called her just “Nicholls,” but Mrs. Philips, as a stranger, speaks of her more formally. A similar phenomenon is evident in the case of Darcy's and the Bennets' housekeepers, called only by their last name by characters who knew them but identified with a “Mrs.” by the narrator.
Mrs. Nicholls has obviously been staying at Netherfield while Bingley has been away: this was the normal procedure for housekeepers, one also seen with Mrs. Reynolds at Pemberley. Generally, servants whose work pertained specifically to the maintenance of a residence, including housemaids and cooks, would tend to remain with it even when it was unoccupied; in contrast, servants whose job was to attend to the persons of their employers, like lady's maids or valets, would accompany the latter when they traveled.
9. Jane will continue to insist on her indifference about Bingley, almost all the way up to her accepting him in marriage, even though others will easily perceive her feelings for him. This demonstrates her lack of discernment and self-knowledge compared to Elizabeth.
10. unequal: variable, uneven.
11. canvassed: discussed in detail.
12. wait on: call upon.
13. But, however: this redundant phrase is used on numerous occasions by Mrs. Bennet; she says it three times in this chapter. The only other person in the novel to employ it is Lydia, who takes after her mother in so many ways. In both cases, the phrase indicates mental shallowness.
14. paddock: enclosed field or lawn next to a house.
15. Thus Elizabeth has told her sister little of all that happened at Pember-ley and Lambton. This is partly because the affair of Lydia and Wickham has distracted everyone's attention; it is also due to reasons Elizabeth will explain when she tells Jane of her engagement to Darcy (see p. 682, and p. 683, note 12).
16. secure: certain or confident (about Darcy's continued affection).
17. expectation: expectation of more that might ensue, such as Darcy's renewed attentions to Elizabeth.
18. at work: engaged in needlework.
19. The servant would be answering and opening the door.
20. sedate: composed.
21. complaisance: obligingness, desire to please.
22. An indication that, while Elizabeth engages in the almost universal feminine activity of needlework, she normally does not pursue it with any zeal.
23. The implication is that the “degree of civility” was excessive.
24. That is, Mrs. Bennet has distinguished or selected out Darcy in a negative sense, by coldness toward him, instead of distinguishing him in a positive sense as she should.
25. Darcy will eventually reveal the reasons for both his silence and his observation of Jane;
see pp. 694, 696.
26. Meaning that she was angry with herself for having expected more attention and affection from him than she reasonably could have expected.
27. humour: mood.
28. at Michaelmas: since he came last year just before Michaelmas (September 29), it would be logical to leave Netherfield then (assuming he had a year's lease).
29. the Times and the Courier: the two leading daily London newspapers of the time; they both had a circulation of around 5,000. The Times was a morning paper, and the Courier an evening one, which may be why the announcement appeared in both. London newspapers did circulate in the provinces, especially in nearby counties like Hertfordshire, though there is no necessary reason to assume that the Bennets regularly got one. Newspapers, which were very expensive because of high stamp taxes placed on them, were regularly shared around, so Mrs. Bennet could easily have read others' copies.
30. Esq.: an abbreviation for esquire, a title often added to a man's name in formal settings, such as a newspaper announcement, to signify status as a gentleman. Wickham's being an army officer allows him to claim that status. Esquire derives from squire, a term used earlier for the attendant of a knight and used in this period for someone, generally a member of the landed gentry like Darcy or Mr. Bennet, who was of high social standing but untitled. All gentlemen were considered esquires, if they did not have a superior title, though not all gentlemen actually used the designation. In addressing letters to some of her relatives Jane Austen affixes “Esq.” to their name. In one to a nephew who has just finished school, and therefore can now be considered an adult gentleman, she says, “One reason for my writing to you now, is that I may have the pleasure of directing to you Esqre“ (Dec. 16, 1816).
31. Mr. Gardiner would wish to draw minimal attention to their wedding, since it occurred under the cloud of their cohabitation before marriage.
32. Mrs. Bennet shows a feeble command of geography by being so uncertain about the location of Newcastle, which was a major industrial and coalmining center and one of the largest cities in England at the time.
33. levelled at: directed or aimed at (the term was often used to refer to the aiming of a weapon, so it suggests hostility).
34. vastly: extremely. “Vastly,” a popular word in the eighteenth century, was by this point declining in use. It is generally used by less educated or intelligent characters in Jane Austen's novels.
35. covies: broods of partridges. Partridges were the principal game bird of southern England at the time, though changes in hunting practices during this period—particularly the movement away from the older method of stalking game over open countryside and toward a new method of having birds driven toward shooters—were causing partridges to be displaced in popularity by pheasants, which were more suited to the new method.
36. Part of the reason Mrs. Bennet's offer is so officious is that guns at this time, despite some recent innovations, were fairly inaccurate; being muzzle (i.e., front) loaders, they were also slow to reload. This meant that hunters would be able to shoot only limited numbers of birds. Thus it is unlikely that Bingley would kill all his own birds and need to use someone else's land, especially since, given the apparent grandeur of Netherfield House, he probably has the use of an ample property. In making the offer, Mrs. Bennet is seeking any way possible to be generous and polite to Bingley, but is in fact only making herself ridiculous.
37. It is probable that Elizabeth's uncertainty and disappointment concerning Darcy's silent behavior helps inspire this angry wish.
38. He looks silly because of Mrs. Bennet's silliness in making such a point of a simple and vague promise offered almost a year ago.
Chapter Twelve
As soon as they were gone, Elizabeth walked out to recover her spirits; or in other words, to dwell without interruption on those subjects that must deaden them more.1 Mr. Darcy's behaviour astonished and vexed her.
“Why, if he came only to be silent, grave, and indifferent,” said she, “did he come at all?”
She could settle it in no way that gave her pleasure.
“He could be still amiable, still pleasing, to my uncle and aunt, when he was in town; and why not to me? If he fears me, why come hither? If he no longer cares for me, why silent? Teazing, teazing,2 man! I will think no more about him.”
Her resolution was for a short time involuntarily kept by the approach of her sister,3 who joined her with a cheerful look, which shewed her better satisfied with their visitors, than Elizabeth.
“Now,” said she, “that this first meeting is over, I feel perfectly easy. I know my own strength, and I shall never be embarrassed again by his coming. I am glad he dines here on Tuesday. It will then be publicly seen, that on both sides, we meet only as common and indifferent acquaintance.”
“Yes, very indifferent indeed,” said Elizabeth, laughingly. “Oh, Jane, take care.”
“My dear Lizzy, you cannot think me so weak, as to be in danger now.”
“I think you are in very great danger of making him as much in love with you as ever.”
———
They did not see the gentlemen again till Tuesday; and Mrs. Bennet, in the meanwhile, was giving way to all the happy schemes, which the good humour, and common politeness of Bingley, in half an hour's visit, had revived.
On Tuesday there was a large party assembled at Longbourn; and the two, who were most anxiously expected, to the credit of their punctuality as sportsmen,4 were in very good time. When they repaired to5 the dining-room, Elizabeth eagerly watched to see whether Bingley would take the place, which, in all their former parties, had belonged to him, by her sister. Her prudent mother, occupied by the same ideas, forbore to invite him to sit by herself. On entering the room, he seemed to hesitate; but Jane happened to look round, and happened to smile: it was decided. He placed himself by her.
Elizabeth, with a triumphant sensation, looked towards his friend.6 He bore it with noble indifference, and she would have imagined that Bingley had received his sanction to be happy, had she not seen his eyes likewise turned towards Mr. Darcy, with an expression of half-laughing alarm.
His behaviour to her sister was such, during dinner time, as shewed an admiration of her, which, though more guarded than formerly, persuaded Elizabeth, that if left wholly to himself, Jane's happiness, and his own, would be speedily secured. Though she dared not depend upon the consequence, she yet received pleasure from observing his behaviour. It gave her all the animation that her spirits could boast; for she was in no cheerful humour. Mr. Darcy was almost as far from her, as the table could divide them. He was on one side of her mother. She knew how little such a situation would give pleasure to either, or make either appear to advantage. She was not near enough to hear any of their discourse, but she could see how seldom they spoke to each other, and how formal and cold was their manner, whenever they did. Her mother's ungraciousness, made the sense of what they owed him more painful to Elizabeth's mind; and she would, at times, have given any thing to be privileged to tell him, that his kindness was neither unknown nor unfelt by the whole of the family.7
She was in hopes that the evening would afford some opportunity of bringing them together; that the whole of the visit would not pass away without enabling them to enter into something more of conversation, than the mere ceremonious salutation attending his entrance. Anxious and uneasy, the period which passed in the drawing-room, before the gentlemen came, was wearisome and dull to a degree, that almost made her uncivil.8 She looked forward to their entrance, as the point on which all her chance of pleasure for the evening must depend.
“If he does not come to me, then” said she, “I shall give him up for ever.”9
The gentlemen came; and she thought he looked as if he would have answered her hopes; but, alas! the ladies had crowded round the table, where Miss Bennet was making tea, and Elizabeth pouring out the coffee, in so close a confederacy,10 that there was not a single vacancy near her, which would admit of a chair. And on the ge
ntlemen's approaching, one of the girls moved closer to her than ever, and said, in a whisper,
“The men shan't come and part us, I am determined. We want none of them; do we?”
Darcy had walked away to another part of the room. She followed him with her eyes, envied every one to whom he spoke, had scarcely patience enough to help anybody to coffee; and then was enraged against herself for being so silly!
“A man who has once been refused! How could I ever be foolish enough to expect a renewal of his love? Is there one among the sex, who would not protest against such a weakness as a second proposal to the same woman? There is no indignity so abhorrent to their feelings!”
She was a little revived, however, by his bringing back his coffee cup himself; and she seized the opportunity of saying,
“Is your sister at Pemberley still?”
“Yes, she will remain there till Christmas.”
“And quite alone? Have all her friends left her?”
“Mrs. Annesley is with her. The others have been gone on to Scarborough,11 these three weeks.”12
She could think of nothing more to say; but if he wished to converse with her, he might have better success. He stood by her, however, for some minutes, in silence; and, at last, on the young lady's whispering to Elizabeth again, he walked away.
When the tea-things were removed, and the card tables placed, the ladies all rose, and Elizabeth was then hoping to be soon joined by him, when all her views13 were overthrown, by seeing him fall a victim to her mother's rapacity for whist players,14 and in a few moments after seated with the rest of the party. She now lost every expectation of pleasure. They were confined for the evening at different tables, and she had nothing to hope, but that his eyes were so often turned towards her side of the room, as to make him play as unsuccessfully as herself.