Gay Pride and Prejudice Read Online Free Page A

unless among his intimate acquaintances. With them he is remarkably agreeable.”
    Miss Bingley certainly seemed to be among Mr. Darcy’s intimate acquaintances, Elizabeth acknowledged. Was there an agreement between them? No such arrangement had been mentioned at the assembly, but that did not preclude the existence of something of an informal nature.
    “I do not believe a word of it,” her mother said. “If Mr. Darcy had been so very agreeable, he would have talked to Mrs. Long. But I can guess how it was; I dare say he had heard somehow that Mrs. Long does not keep a carriage, and had come to the ball in a hack chaise.”
    “I do not mind his not talking to Mrs. Long,” said Miss Lucas, “but I wish he had danced with Eliza.”
    “Another time, Lizzy,” said her mother. “I would not dance with him, if I were you.”
    “I believe, Ma’am, I may safely promise you never to dance with him.” Nor to seek out Miss Bingley’s companionship, either.
    “His pride,” said Miss Lucas, “does not offend me so much as pride often does, because there is an excuse for it. One cannot wonder that so very fine a young man, with family, fortune, everything in his favour, should think highly of himself. If I may so express it, he has a right to be proud.”
    “That is very true,” replied Elizabeth, considering that these conditions applied equally well to the haughty Miss Bingley, “and I could easily forgive her—that is, his pride, if he had not mortified mine.”
    “Pride,” observed Mary, who piqued herself upon the solidity of her reflections, “is a very common failing, I believe. By all that I have ever read, I am convinced that there are very few of us who do not cherish a feeling of self-complacency on the score of some quality or other. Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.”
    “If I were as rich as Mr. Darcy,” cried a young Lucas, who had come with his sisters, “I should not care how proud I was. I would keep a pack of foxhounds, and drink a bottle of wine a day.”
    “Then you would drink a great deal more than you ought,” said Mrs. Bennet; “and if I were to see you at it, I should take away your bottle directly.”
    The boy protested that she should not; she continued to declare that she would, and the argument ended only with the visit.
    As Charlotte left with barely a glance back, Elizabeth pondered her part in the conversation. It seemed almost as if Charlotte had been pushing her toward Mr. Darcy, a bachelor with a fortune even superior to that of Mr. Bingley’s. Elizabeth thought she understood her friend’s motivation—a disagreement had risen between them some weeks previous, occasioned by Charlotte insisting that marriage was the only option for women of their class and standing, despite their very real attachment to one another. When Elizabeth had protested that she should never marry a person whom she did not love, and would sooner run away with one she did, Charlotte had only smiled gently and said she did not believe Elizabeth possessed the coldness of heart such a course of action would require. She herself could never consider disappointing her family and friends so, she had declared; and believing her, Elizabeth had become aware of a rising sense of disillusionment. This pronouncement had ended their argument, and their visit, simultaneously; and the two had not found time to be alone together since.

Chapter Six
    T HE LADIES OF L ONGBOURN SOON WAITED on those of Netherfield, and the visit was returned in due form. On each occasion, Elizabeth sat erect in her seat, hands folded primly, avoiding Miss Bingley’s eye and speaking to her only when directly required. Miss Bennet’s pleasing manners grew on the goodwill of Mrs. Hurst and Miss Bingley; and though the mother was found to be intolerable, and the three younger sisters not