Chapter 05B

‘Are you quite sure, Ma’am?—is not there a little mistake?’ saidJane.—‘I certainly saw Mr. Darcy speaking to her.’‘Aye—because she asked him at last how he liked Netherfield,and he could not help answering her;—but she said he seemedvery angry at being spoke to.’‘Miss Bingley told me,’ said Jane, ‘that he never speaks much unless among his intimate acquaintance. With them he isremarkably agreeable.’‘I do not believe a word of it, my dear. If he had been so veryagreeable he would have talked to Mrs. Long. But I can guess howit was; every body says that he is ate up with pride, and I dare sayhe 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 withhim, if I were you.’‘I believe, Ma’am, I may safely promise you never to dance withhim.’‘His pride,’ said Miss Lucas, ‘does not offend me so much aspride often does, because there is an excuse for it. One cannotwonder that so very fine a young man, with family, fortune, everything in his favour, should think highly of himself. If I may soexpress it, he has a right to be proud.’‘That is very true,’ replied Elizabeth, ‘and I could easily forgivehis pride, if he had not mortified mine.’‘Pride,’ observed Mary, who piqued herself upon the solidity ofher reflections, ‘is a very common failing I believe. By all that Ihave ever read, I am convinced that it is very common indeed, thathuman nature is particularly prone to it, and that there are veryfew of us who do not cherish a feeling of self-complacency on thescore of some quality or other, real or imaginary. Vanity and prideare different things, though the words are often usedsynonimously. A person may be proud without being vain. Priderelates 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 camewith his sisters, ‘I should not care how proud I was. I would keep apack of foxhounds, and drink a bottle of wine every day.’‘Then you would drink a great deal more than you ought,’ saidMrs. Bennet; ‘and if I were to see you at it I should take away yourbottle directly.’The boy protested that she should not; she continued to declarethat she would, and the argument ended only with the visit.