Pride and Prejudice Audiobook Chapters 1 to 6 Learn English Through Story

[Music]

pride and prejudice by jane austen

retold by claire west

[Music]

[Applause]

chapter one

the bennett’s new neighbor

it is a truth well known to all the

world

that an unmarried man in possession of a

large fortune must be in need of a wife

and when such a man moves into a

neighborhood

even if nothing is known about his

feelings or opinions

this truth is so clear to the

surrounding families that they think of

him immediately as the future husband of

one or other of their daughters

my dear mr bennett said mrs bennett to

her husband one day

have you heard that someone is going to

rent netherfield park at last

no mrs bennett i haven’t said her

husband

don’t you want to know who is renting it

cried mrs bennett impatiently

you want to tell me

and i don’t mind listening

mrs bennett needed no further

encouragement

well my dear i hear that he’s a very

rich young man from the north of england

it seems he came to see netherfield on

monday and was so delighted with it that

he arranged to rent it at once

of course it is the finest house in the

area with the largest gardens

his servants will be here by the end of

the week and he will be arriving soon

afterwards

what is his name asked mr bennett

bingley

is he married or single

oh single my dear of course

a single man of large fortune he has an

income of four or five thousand pounds a

year how wonderful for our girls

why

how can it affect them mr bennett asked

my dear mr bennett she replied

how can you be so annoying you must

realize i’m thinking of his marrying one

of our daughters

is that his purpose in coming to the

area

his purpose

no of course not

but it’s very likely that he’ll fall in

love with one of them

and i want him to see the girls as soon

as possible before our other neighbors

introduce themselves so you must visit

him as soon as he arrives

i really don’t see why i should said mr

bennett

you and the girls can visit him

or perhaps you should send them by

themselves yes that might be better as

you’re as attractive as any of them and

mr bingley might like you best

my dare you flatter me replied his wife

i certainly have been called beautiful

in the past

but i think a woman with five adult

daughters should stop thinking of her

own beauty

mr bennett i beg you to visit him

you know it’s correct for the gentleman

of the family to visit new neighbors

first

i simply cannot take the girls to see

him unless you have already met him

surely you worry too much about the

rules of polite society

i’m sure mr bingley will be delighted to

see you all and i’ll write him a few

lines which you can give him agreeing

gladly to his marrying any of the girls

although i must especially recommend my

dear little lizzy oh no mr bennett cast

mrs bennett horrified please don’t do

that

and lizzy is no better than the others

although i know she is your favorite

our daughters are all very silly

ignorant girls it’s true

but at least lizzy is a little more

intelligent than her sisters

mr bennett how can you speak so unkindly

of your own children

oh dear how will i feel have you no pity

for me

don’t you realize how i suffer

indeed my dear

i’ve suffered with you for the last 23

years but i think you will recover and

live to see many more rich young men

come into the neighborhood

when he was young

mr bennett had made the mistake of

falling in love with a pretty but

foolish young woman

during the long years of their marriage

he had had time to regret his mistake

he soon realized that his wife had

little intelligence or common sense

and was only interested in talking

shopping

and finding husbands for her daughters

his experience had made him rather

bitter

and he could not stop himself mocking

his wife

who never understood her husband’s sense

of humor

so

when a week later mrs bennett discovered

that her husband had in fact visited mr

bingley at netherfield she was surprised

and very pleased

but she and her daughters tried in vain

to persuade mr bennett to describe the

wealthy stranger

and in the end they had to rely on

another neighbor’s description

he sounds wonderful mama cried lydia the

youngest and noisiest of the sisters

charlotte lucas’s father has been to see

him and says he’s quite young very

handsome and extremely charming

and even better he loves dancing

everybody knows that means he’s very

likely to fall in love

as politeness required

mr bingley came to visit mr bennett a

few days later

he was not however fortunate enough to

see the bennett girls

who were hiding behind the curtains in

an upstairs room in order to catch sight

of the handsome stranger

mrs bennett planned to invite him to

dinner

but in fact they met him at another

social event first

the bennetts lived in the small

hertfordshire village of longborne

and public dances were regularly held in

the nearest town meriton

the girls were greatly looking forward

to this particular dance

because they had heard that mr bingley

would be attending with a group of

friends from london

on the night of the dance

all eyes were on mr bingley as he

entered the room

he had brought his two sisters with the

husband of the elder mr hearst

and another young man

mr darcy

mr bingley was indeed good-looking and

gentleman-like and his sisters were fine

fashionable women

however

everybody was soon talking about mr

darcy

a tall handsome man who it was said had

an income of ten thousand pounds a year

the ladies in the room gazed at him in

admiration for about half the evening

until they became aware of his constant

frown

and his unwillingness to talk or dance

then there was general agreement that he

was proud and disagreeable and

considered himself superior to country

people

mr bingley on the other hand made

himself popular with the ladies by

dancing every dance and talking to

everybody

as there were not as many gentlemen as

ladies

elizabeth bennett did not have a partner

for one of the dances and was sitting

watching the dancing

mr darcy was standing near her and when

mr bingley came up to speak to his

friend elizabeth could not avoid hearing

their conversation

come darcy said bingley i hate to see

you looking so cross why don’t you dance

with one of these lovely girls

certainly not

replied darcy

you know how i hate dancing with a

partner i don’t know

i would particularly dislike it at a

village dance like this

apart from your sisters

there isn’t a woman in the room i would

even consider dancing with

you were dancing with the only

attractive girl here

he was looking at mrs bennett’s eldest

daughter jane who was waiting for

bingley to join her for the next dance

oh yes she’s the most beautiful creature

i’ve ever seen

but just behind you is one of her

sisters

she’s very pretty and i’m sure she’s

very pleasant my partner could introduce

you

who do you mean

and does he turn to look at elizabeth

for a moment

no

he said coldly

she’s not attractive enough to tempt me

go back to your partner bingley

this conversation did not endear mr

darcy to elizabeth

but she told the story very cheerfully

and amusingly to her friends

the evening passed very happily for

everybody else

and mrs bennett was delighted with the

effect her eldest daughter had had on mr

bingley

he danced with jane twice

she told her husband later he danced

with all the others only once

and he really is so handsome but his

friend mr darcy was so rude to poor

elizabeth luckily she doesn’t care

she wouldn’t want to please him such a

horrible proud man i simply hate him

when jane and elizabeth were alone they

discussed their dancing partners

i was really very flattered when mr

bingley asked me to dance a second time

said jane blushing i didn’t expect it at

all

didn’t you said elizabeth i did

dear jane you were five times prettier

than any other woman in the room but

you’re too modest ever to expect

admiration

i have to admit that i liked mr bingley

continued jane in her gentle voice

he’s so good-mannered and agreeable

he’s also handsome added her sister

which makes his character quite perfect

but what did you think of his sisters

very pleasant when you get to know them

the younger miss caroline bingley will

be living at netherfield with her

brother i’m sure we’ll enjoy having her

as a neighbor

elizabeth listened in silence she was

not convinced

jane is so kind she thought

always ready to see the good side of

people’s characters

i considered mr bingley’s sisters too

proud

almost rude in fact

i’m sure they feel superior to most

other people like mr darcy

but she did not say anymore

after the dance the bennett and bingley

families began to visit each other every

few days

it became evident that mr bingley

admired jane very much

and elizabeth knew that her sister was

close to falling in love with him

she was discussing this with her good

friend charlotte lucas one day

charlotte was a sensible intelligent

young woman of 27

the eldest daughter of sir william and

lady lucas who were neighbors of the

bennett family

it’s a good thing said elizabeth that if

jane is in love with mr bingley nobody

will know because she always behaves so

cheerfully and normally

but sometimes a mistake replied

charlotte shaking her head wisely

if she doesn’t show her feelings at all

even to the man she loves she may lose

the opportunity of catching him

jane should use every moment she gets

with bingley to attract and encourage

him

but i consider a man should try to

discover a woman’s feelings not wait for

her encouragement

and jane probably doesn’t know what her

real feelings for bingley are yet

she has only seen him a few times

not often enough to understand his

character or be sure that she really

loves him

well i wish jane’s success with all my

heart said charlotte finally

but i think she’d have as much chance of

happiness if she married him tomorrow as

if she studied his character for a whole

year

happiness in marriage is simply a

question of chance

i think it’s better to know as little as

possible about the person you’re going

to spend your life with

elizabeth laughed sure that charlotte

did not mean what she was saying

while observing mr bingley’s interest in

jane however

elizabeth had not noticed mr darcy’s

interest in herself

although at first he had not even

considered her pretty he now began to

realize what a beautiful expression her

dark eyes gave to her intelligent face

and what an attractive figure she had of

course

she is only an unfashionable village

girl he told himself but her

conversation is often quite amusing

whenever they met

he did not speak to her but stood near

her listening to her and watching her

closely conscious of a wish to know her

better

one evening at a party at the lucas’s

house

darcy was standing alone as usual away

from the other guests watching the

dancing

his host sir william came to speak to

him

mr darcy are you enjoying the dancing

sir what a delightful entertainment it

is

darcy frowned yes he said with cool

disdain

it’s something that any uneducated

person can be good at

i’m sure you’re good at dancing yourself

sir replied sir william cheerfully

look here’s miss elizabeth bennett

she was crossing the room at that moment

let me persuade you to dance with her

you cannot refuse to dance when so much

beauty is in front of you

indeed sir replied elizabeth quickly and

some embarrassment

i have no intention of dancing you must

excuse me

miss bennett please allow me the

pleasure of dancing with you said mr

darcy politely holding out his hand

but with equal politeness elizabeth

refused again and turned away

mr darcy was watching her walk away with

a slight smile on his face when caroline

bingley came up to him

mr darcy she said i’m sure i know what

you’re thinking how boring all these

silly little country people are

not at all miss bingley in fact

i was just thinking what pleasure a pair

of fine eyes can give

really and who do these fine eyes belong

to may i ask

miss elizabeth bennett

well

let me be the first to congratulate you

mr darcy when will the wedding be

ah

that’s what i expected you to say

a lady’s imagination jumps from

admiration to love to marriage in a

moment

well of course when you’re married you

will often have her charming mother and

sisters to stay how delightful for you

and miss bingley seeing that darcy

remained calm

continued to mock the bennett family as

amusingly as she could

chapter two

jane’s illness

mr bennett had a comfortable income of

two thousand a year and a pleasant house

in longborne

but unfortunately for his daughters

after his death all his property would

pass to a distant male relation

mrs bennett’s father had been a lawyer

and had only left his daughter a small

amount of money

she had a brother who owned shops in

london

and she also had a sister married to a

mr phillips

he had been her father’s clerk and now

carried on his late employers business

mr and mrs phillips lived in meriton

which was only a kilometer or so from

the village of longborne

it was the most convenient distance for

the bennett girls who were usually

tempted there three or four times a week

to visit their aunt or a dressmaker who

lived opposite

the youngest daughters kitty and lydia

were particularly regular visitors

their minds were more vacant than their

sisters and if no better entertainment

was available a walk to meriton always

provided some amusement as well as

interesting local news from their aunt

the latest news which delighted kitty

and lydia

was that the regiment which had recently

arrived in meriton was to stay there for

the whole winter

the two girls now visited their aunt

every day

and as mr phillips knew all the offices

kitty and lydia were soon introduced to

them

at home

they could talk of nothing but offices

in their handsome uniforms even mr

bingley’s fortune now seemed hardly

worth considering

after listening to their praise of the

officers one morning

mr bennett said coolly

from what i can see you must be two of

the silliest girls in the country

i’ve suspected it for some time but now

i’m convinced

kitty was embarrassed did not reply

but lydia the youngest continued to

express her admiration for a certain

captain carter with perfect indifference

i am very surprised my dear said mrs

bennett that you should be so ready to

think your own children silly as it

happens they are all very clever

that is the only point i think on which

we do not agree

i am afraid i must say that i consider

our two youngest daughters unusually

foolish

my dear mr bennett you mustn’t expect

such young girls to have the common

sense of their father or mother

i remember when i used to like a red

coat myself and indeed i still do

if a good-looking officer with five or

six thousand a year wanted to marry one

of my girls i wouldn’t turn him down

and i thought colonel foster looked very

handsome last night at sir williams in

his regimental uniform

just then a servant entered with a note

for jane which had come from netherfield

mrs bennett’s eyes shone with pleasure

and she called out eagerly while her

daughter was reading it well jane who is

it from what does he say tell us tell us

quickly my love

it’s from miss spingley said jane

she invites me to dinner at netherfield

as she and her sister are alone

it seems her brother and the gentleman

are having dinner with the offices in

meriton

with the officers cried lydia i wonder

why aunt phillips didn’t tell us that

having dinner in meriton repeated mrs

bennett shaking her head that’s very

unlucky

may i take the carriage ask jane

no my dear you better ride over there

because it looks likely to rain and then

you’ll have to stay the night

that would be a good plan said elizabeth

to her mother if you were sure they

wouldn’t offer to send her home in their

carriage

oh but they can’t the gentleman must

have taken mr bingley’s carriage to go

to meriton

i’d much rather go in the carriage jane

said but my dear your father can’t spare

the horses i’m sure they’re needed on

the farm aren’t they mr bennett

mr bennett finally agreed that they were

in fact being used that day in the

fields

so jane set out on her horse while her

mother called cheerfully after her i do

hope it’ll rain heavily my love

and jane had not been gone for long

before it rained hard

elizabeth was a little worried about her

sister but mrs bennett was delighted

what a good idea of mine that was she

said more than once extremely pleased

with herself

not until the next morning however did

she realize the full extent of her

success

after breakfast a servant from

netherfield arrived with a note from

jane to elizabeth explaining that jane

had caught cold on her wet ride and had

been invited to stay at netherfield

until she

recovered well my dear said mr bennett

if your daughter should become seriously

ill and die

it would be a comfort to know that she

died in a good cause and in obedience to

your orders

oh i’m not afraid of her dying people

don’t die of colds she’ll be looked

after well at netherfield as long as she

stays there everything will be all right

but elizabeth felt really anxious and

was determined to go to her sister

as the carriage was not available and

she was not keen on riding

she decided to walk the five kilometers

to netherfield

kitty and lydia accompanied her as far

as meriton where they went to visit one

of the office’s wives

elizabeth continued alone

crossing field after field and jumping

impatiently over streams in her anxiety

to see her sister

when she arrived at netherfield with

tired feet muddy stockings and a face

healthily pink with exercise she was

shown straight into the sitting room

the two sisters miss bingley and mrs

hurst could hardly believe that she had

come so far alone and on foot in such

bad weather

but they received her politely

their brother however was more than

polite

he was kind and considerate towards her

mr darcy said very little

hesitating between admiration of her

healthy good looks and doubt whether she

should have come such a distance alone

mr hearst said nothing at all as he was

thinking only of his breakfast

elizabeth was glad to be taken almost

immediately to her sister’s room where

she found jane delighted to see her but

very feverish and unwell

the doctor came and after examining his

patient advised that she should stay in

bed and take some medicine

elizabeth stayed with her all day

looking after her and the bingley

sisters also spent some time in the

patient’s room

however in the afternoon when it was

time for elizabeth to leave jane seemed

so upset that miss bingley was obliged

to invite elizabeth to stay at

netherfield for the present and a

servant was sent to longborne to inform

the bennett family and bring back some

clothes

that evening elizabeth went down to

dinner leaving jane in bed in her room

she noticed the bingley sister’s

apparent concern for jane changed to

indifference in a few moments

and knew she had been right to dislike

them at first sight

mr bingley indeed was the only one of

the group whose behavior she was

satisfied with

his anxiety for jane was evident

and his politeness towards herself most

pleasing

but the others she felt treated her as

an unwelcome guest

miss bingley was concentrating all her

attention on mr darcy

and mrs hearst also joined in their

conversation

while mr hurst was only interested in

eating drinking and playing cards

when elizabeth left the room after

dinner to see if jane needed anything

miss bingley at once began to criticize

her

what bad manner she has she’s both proud

and lacking in politeness to her

superiors she has no conversation no

elegance and no beauty

mrs hurst agreed and added she has no

good qualities except that she’s an

excellent walker i’ll never forget her

appearance this morning she really

looked almost wild

she did indeed louisa how silly of her

to come at all

why must she run around the countryside

just because her sister has a cold

her hair looked so untidy and her dress

simply covered in mud

i must say said bingley

i didn’t notice any of that

i thought she looked remarkably

attractive when she arrived this morning

you observed her wild appearance i’m

sure mr darcy said miss bingley and i

imagine you wouldn’t wish your sister to

make such a show of herself

certainly not

walking four or five kilometers whatever

it was up to her ankles in mud and alone

quite alone it seems to me to show a

dreadful sort of independence

a country girl’s indifference to what is

acceptable

i think it shows a very pleasing

affection for her sister said bingley

i’m afraid mr darcy whispered miss

bingley that this adventure has rather

lessened your admiration of her fine

eyes

not at all he replied

they were brightened by the exercise

after a short pause

mrs hurst began again

i have a great liking for jane bennett

she’s really a very sweet girl and i

wish with all my heart she were well

married but with such a father and

mother and with such vulgar relations

i’m afraid there’s no chance of it

i think the bennett girls have an uncle

who’s a lawyer in meriton

yes and they have another who owns shops

in cheapside

such a nice part of london

both the sisters laughed

if they had enough uncles to fill cheap

side cried bingley it wouldn’t make them

any less charming

but it must considerably lessen their

chances of marrying men of any position

in the world replied darcy

bingley did not answer but his sisters

agreed enthusiastically

and continued mocking their dear friends

vulgar relations for some time

late in the evening when elizabeth was

satisfied that jane was asleep she felt

she ought to go downstairs again

she found the party in the sitting room

playing cards

but although they invited her to join in

their game she refused politely and

picked up a book to read

i can fetch you more books to read if

you wish offered bingley but i’m afraid

i haven’t got a large library unlike you

i’m too lazy to spend much time reading

what a delightful library you have at

pemberley mr darcy said miss bingley and

what a beautiful house it is

charles when you buy your house i hope

it will be even half as lovely as

pemberley

i hope so too agreed bingley

and your dear sister mr darcy i expect

she’s grown since the spring i want so

much to see her again i’ve never met

anyone who delighted me so much such an

appearance such manners and so extremely

accomplished for her age

i’m always surprised said bingley to

find how very accomplished all young

ladies are how do they have the time and

patience to learn all these skills

certainly people use the word

accomplished too loosely said darcy

but i am far from agreeing with you

about ladies in general i cannot boast

of knowing more than six who are really

accomplished

then said elizabeth

your idea of an accomplished woman must

include a great many qualities

yes a great many

oh certainly

cried his faithful assistant miss

bingley an accomplished woman must have

a thorough knowledge of music singing

drawing dancing and modern languages

this a certain something in her manner

of walking in her voice and in her

behavior

all this she must possess added darcy

and something more solid

the improvement of her mind by wide

reading

i’m no longer surprised at your knowing

only six accomplished women said

elizabeth i rather wonder at your

knowing any

i’ve never seen such elegance and

intelligence and knowledge as you

describe in one woman

mrs hurst and miss bingley were both

protesting loudly that they knew many

women like this when mr hurst called

their attention back to the card game

as this meant an end to the conversation

elizabeth soon afterwards left the room

miss elizabeth bennett said miss bingley

to darcy is one of those women who tried

to appear attractive to men by

undervaluing other women i think that’s

a mean trick

it is true said darcy that there is

meanness in all the tricks used by

ladies to attract men

miss bingley was not satisfied enough

with this answer to continue the

conversation

the next morning elizabeth was glad to

be able to inform mr bingley and his

sisters that jane was very much better

in spite of this improvement however she

asked for her mother to be sent for as

she wanted mrs bennett’s opinion of

jane’s state of health

soon after breakfast therefore mrs

bennett accompanied by her two youngest

daughters reached

netherfield

elizabeth although relieved to hear that

her mother did not think jane’s illness

serious began to regret asking her to

come when she saw the bingley sisters

smiling at mrs bennett’s remarks

elizabeth blushed for her mother

who could not help showing her lack of

intelligence and common sense in

everything she said

kitty and lydia made an equally bad

impression

they had been whispering together when

suddenly lydia who was an attractive

confident well-grown girl of fifteen

pushed herself rudely forward

she begged mr bingley to hold a ball at

netherfield

with his usual politeness mr bingley

promised he would

but elizabeth saw his sisters exchanging

meaningful glances

she was quite glad when her mother and

sisters left

she and jane were to stay another night

at netherfield to allow jane to recover

completely

that evening elizabeth appeared again in

the sitting room

she could not avoid noticing how

frequently mr darcy’s eyes were fixed on

her

but as she felt sure that so great a man

could not possibly admire her she

assumed that when he looked at her he

was criticizing her in some way

this thought did not cause her any pain

as she liked him too little to care for

his approval

in the conversation she had with him she

spoke in her usual slightly mocking

manner rather expecting to offend him

but was surprised by the quiet

politeness of his replies

darcy had never before been so charmed

by any woman

he really believed that if she did not

have such vulgar relations he might be

in danger of falling in love with her

miss bingley saw or suspected enough to

be jealous

and her great anxiety for the recovery

of her dear friend jane was increased by

her wish to get rid of elizabeth

fortunately perhaps for almost everyone

at netherfield elizabeth and her sister

who was now quite recovered were

returning home the next day

only mr bingley showed real sorrow at

this

and was concerned that jane might not be

fit enough to travel

mr darcy was quite relieved and

determined that no sign of admiration

for elizabeth should escape him now

miss bingley’s politeness to elizabeth

as well as her affection for jane

increased rapidly as the moment of

departure approached

and she was able to say goodbye to them

with many warm expressions of

friendliness and a promise to visit them

very

soon mr bennett was glad to welcome his

eldest daughters home again as he had

felt their absence from the family

circle but mrs bennett who had hoped

they would stay much longer

was quite disappointed to see them come

back in such a short time

chapter 3

mr collins visits longbourne

i hope my dear

said mr bennett to his wife at breakfast

the next morning that you have told the

cook to send up a good dinner today as i

am expecting a visitor

who is it my dear i know of nobody who

is coming unless charlotte lucas happens

to call in and i hope my dinners are

good enough for her

the person i’m talking about is a

gentleman and a stranger

mrs bennett’s eyes shone with excitement

it’s mr bingley i’m sure

why jane you never mentioned it

well i’ll be extremely glad to see him

lydia my love ring the bell i must speak

to the cook at once it is not mr bingley

said her husband

it’s a person whom i have never seen

before

this caused general astonishment

and he had the pleasure of being eagerly

questioned by his wife and five

daughters all at the same time

having amused himself for some time with

their curiosity he finally explained

i have recently received a letter from

my cousin mr collins who as you know

will inherit all my property when i die

and may throw you out of this house as

soon as he wants oh my dear cried his

wife please don’t mention that hateful

man it’s the hardest thing in the world

to accept the fact that your property is

not left to your own children

and i’m sure if i were you i’d have

tried to do something about it

jane and elizabeth tried to explain the

legal situation to her again

they had often attempted to do this

before

but it was a matter which mrs bennett

refused to understand and she continued

to complain bitterly about mr collins

it certainly is most unjust agreed mr

bennett and nothing can clear mr collins

from the guilt of inheriting this house

but if you listen while i read his

letter to you you may perhaps be a

little softened by his manner of

expressing himself

he read aloud the following letter

dear sir

the disagreement between you and my late

respected father always worried me

and since his death i have frequently

wished to improve the relationship

between our

families after a long period of study

and training i have recently become a

priest and have been fortunate enough to

gain the patronage of lady catherine de

burr widow of sir luis de beau

this generous lady has given me the post

of rector at huntsford which was luckily

vacant

huntsford is the village near her own

large country house in kent

here i carry out the duties of my

profession whenever necessary and i take

great care to behave at all times with

grateful respect towards her leadership

as a priest moreover i feel it my duty

to encourage all families in my area of

influence to live peacefully

because of this i flatter myself that i

am acting correctly in offering you my

friendship

i am of course concerned that when i

eventually inherit all your property

your daughters will doubtless be very

poor and i do apologize for this i

promise you i am ready to make amends in

every possible way

but more about this later

if you do not object i propose to visit

you and your family on monday november

the 18th at four o’clock

and she’ll probably stay until the

following saturday week

this will cause me no inconvenience at

all as lady catherine is far from

objecting to my occasional absence from

my duties

i remain dear sir with respectful good

wishes to your lady and your daughters

your friend william collins

so we can expect this peacemaking

gentleman at four o’clock today said mr

bennett as he folded up the letter he

appears to be a most polite and serious

young man

how considerate of lady catherine to

allow him to visit us

well if he is ready to make amends to

the girls in some way i shall certainly

not discourage him said mrs bennett

although it’s difficult said jane to

guess how he intends to do that

it’s good of him to want to help us

i think he’s peculiar said elizabeth he

sounds too pleased with himself

and he speaks so politely of lady

catherine and why does he apologize for

inheriting father’s property and future

we know it’s not his fault

can he be a sensible man sir she added

turning to mr bennett

no my dear i think not i have great

hopes of finding him quite the opposite

there is a mixture of civility and

self-importance in his letter which

promises to be entertaining i am

impatient to see him

mary the middle daughter who spent most

of her time reading and who seldom

joined in family conversation now

remarked that in her opinion his letter

was well expressed

but kitty and lydia did not show any

interest in the letter or its writer as

it was highly unlikely that their cousin

would arrive in a regimental uniform

they could not imagine having any

pleasure in meeting him

their mother however had changed her

attitude towards mr collins after his

letter and was now preparing to meet him

with such calmness that it astonished

her husband and daughters

mr collins arrived punctually

and was received with great politeness

by the whole family

mr bennett indeed said little but the

ladies were ready enough to talk

and mr collins did not seem in need of

encouragement

he was a tall heavy-looking young man of

twenty-five

his expression was serious and his

manners very formal

soon after his arrival he said to mrs

bennett

madam i must compliment you on having

such a fine family of daughters i had

heard much of their beauty but i find

them even more beautiful than reports

have stated

i do not doubt you will see them all

well married quite soon

mrs bennett never quarreled with

compliments and she answered you were

very kind sir and indeed i do hope so

because otherwise they’ll have nothing

at all to live on

you refer perhaps to my inheriting the

bennett property

oh yes sir i do you must confess it is a

sad business for my poor girls

i am very aware madam of the hardship to

your lovely daughters and could say more

about this but i am cautious of saying

too much too soon

but i would like to say that i have come

prepared to admire the young ladies and

perhaps when we know each other better

the bell rang for dinner and the family

moved into the dining room with their

guest

the girls smiled secretly at each other

as mr collins praised the hall the

dining room and all the furniture

mrs bennett would normally have been

delighted with such praise

but she could not help thinking that he

was perhaps admiring it all as his

future property

the dinner too he considered excellent

and he asked which of his charming

cousins was responsible for it

but mrs bennett explained quite sharply

to him

that they were very well able to afford

a good cook and that her daughters had

nothing to do in the kitchen

he begged her pardon immediately for

offending her and continued to apologize

for about a quarter of an hour

mr bennett had hardly spoken up to now

but he thought it was time to enter the

conversation

you seem very fortunate in your patron

mr collins he said

he could not have chosen a better

opening remark

mr collins spoke enthusiastically for

several minutes in praise of lady

catherine

never in my life have i witnessed such

considerate behavior in a person of high

birth although she is such a great lady

she has never traited me with disdain

she talks to me almost as an equal and

gives me advice

for example

she has recommended me to marry as soon

as possible

and do you know she has asked me to

dinner twice at her house

some people consider her proud but she

has only ever been kind to me she even

took the trouble to visit my small house

and was thoughtful enough to suggest one

or two improvements some shelves

upstairs

that is very correct and polite i’m sure

said mrs bennett does she live near you

sir

only a small country road separates my

poor house from rosing’s park her lady

ship’s home

i think you said she’s a widow has she

any family

she has only one daughter who will

inherit rosing’s and all lady

catherine’s property a most charming

young lady unfortunately in weak health

i often pay her some little compliment

on her appearance or her accomplishments

when i visit rosings lady catherine

appreciates these compliments to her

daughter and i see it as my duty to

please her ladyship

i am sure you’re right said mr bennett

no doubt you are expert at flattering

with delicacy

may i ask how you think of these

pleasing compliments

some of them come to me at the time but

in my spare moments i do occasionally

prepare a few words which may be

suitable for different occasions

mr bennett listened to his cousin with

the greatest enjoyment

mr collins was as foolish as he had

hoped

but by tea time mr bennett had had

enough and after tea asked his guest to

read aloud to the ladies

however when a novel was handed to mr

collins he looked shocked and protested

that he never read novels

he chose a religious book instead and

started reading in a slow serious voice

lydia could not hide her boredom for

long and after only three pages she

interrupted him rudely to ask her mother

a question about one of the offices in

meriton

mr collins was offended and refused to

read any more although mrs bennett and

her other daughters apologized for

lydia’s lack of manners

collins was not a sensible man

and neither education nor society had

improved him

the respect he felt for his patron and

his very good opinion of himself and his

new position made him proud and servile

at the same time

now that he had a home and a

considerable income he had decided to

marry

the bennett girls who would lose their

inheritance because of him had a

reputation for being attractive and

charming and his idea of making amends

to them was to marry one of them

he considered this an excellent plan and

thought himself extremely generous and

unselfish in carrying it out

he had known he was right when he

arrived at longborne and saw jane

bennett’s lovely face

as the eldest she should marry first

and for the first evening she was his

choice

but the next morning after a 15-minute

conversation with mrs bennett

he had to change his mind

when he explained that he was hoping to

find a wife among her daughters she

replied with a happy smile that her

eldest daughter was very likely to be

engaged soon

but there are my other daughters mr

collins

she continued encouragingly

mr collins had only to change from jane

to elizabeth and it was soon done done

while mrs bennett was pouring the tea

next to jane in birth and beauty

elizabeth was the obvious choice

mrs bennett was delighted hoping that

she might soon have two daughters

married

the man whom she had so disliked the day

before was now a favorite with her

chapter four

elizabeth meets mr wickham

when later that morning lydia suggested

walking to meriton to see some of the

offices all her sisters except mary

agreed to accompany her even mr collins

went with them encouraged by mr bennett

who was by now most anxious to have some

time to himself

during their walk the girls listened

politely to mr collins self-important

speeches but as soon as they entered

meriton the younger ones no longer even

pretended to be interested in his

conversation but looked eagerly around

in search of the offices

just then all the young ladies noticed a

very gentlemanlike young man whom they’d

never seen before walking down the

street with an officer they knew

they were all wondering who the handsome

stranger could be when the officer came

up to them to greet them

he asked permission to introduce his

friend whose name was mr wickham and who

had apparently arrived recently from

london to become an officer in the

regiment

this was exactly as it should be because

the young man only needed an officer’s

uniform to become completely charming he

was very good looking with a very

pleasant sociable manner and after the

introductions conversation flowed most

enjoyably in the little group

they were still standing and talking

happily together when they heard the

sound of horses and saw darcy and

bingley riding down the street

the two gentlemen came straight towards

the ladies to greet them

bingley was clearly most interested in

jane bennett and started talking

particularly to her

darcy however was just determining not

to look at elizabeth when he suddenly

noticed the stranger

by chance elizabeth saw darcy’s and

wickham’s faces at the moment when they

caught sight of each other

and she was astonished at the effect of

the meeting

both changed color

one white the other red

after a few moments mr wickham touched

his hat and mr darcy nodded very

slightly

what could this mean it was impossible

to imagine

and it was impossible not to wish to

know

in another moment mr bingley who did not

seem to have noticed what had happened

said goodbye and rode away with mr darcy

the two officers accompanied the young

ladies to mrs phillips house but did not

go in in spite of lydia’s repeated

invitations

mrs phillips was always glad to see her

nieces and welcomed mr collins most

politely when he was introduced to her

she did not however have any more

information for the girls about the

agreeable mr wickham

but i tell you what my dears she said

brightly i’m giving a little supper

party for some of the offices tomorrow

i’ll ask mr phillips to visit mr wickham

and invite him to come too will you all

come as well

the girls were delighted and agreed at

once to this arrangement and the whole

group walked back to longborne happily

discussing the enjoyable evening they

were going to have mr collins had been

very impressed with mrs phillips

politeness and when they reached

longbourne he complimented mrs bennett

on her sister’s elegance and charming

manners

the next evening the carriage took him

and his five cousins to meriton

and the girls had the pleasure of

hearing as they entered the hall that mr

wickham had accepted their uncle’s

invitation and was at that moment in the

house

when mr collins was shown into the

sitting room and had time to look around

and admire it he said immediately to mrs

phillips

madam i must compliment you on the size

and furniture of this room really i

could almost imagine myself in the

smaller summer breakfast room at

rosing’s

this remark did not at first please

hostess very much

but when she heard from him what

rosing’s was and who its owner was and

how much lady catherine’s furniture cost

she realized what a great compliment it

was

during the evening mr collins found mrs

phillips a kind and attentive listener

which was fortunate as the bennett girls

could not bring themselves to listen to

him any longer

all the ladies were impatient to see mr

wickham

and when he came into the room he

appeared far more charming and

gentlemanly than any of the officers

present

he was the lucky man towards whom almost

every female eye turned and elizabeth

was the lucky woman beside whom he

finally took his seat

his pleasant way of making conversation

made her feel that he could talk

interestingly about anything

as he did not play cards which some of

the party were doing he stayed talking

to elizabeth for a large part of the

evening

she hoped he would tell her how he knew

mr darcy but she dared not mention that

gentleman

luckily however mr wickham himself began

to talk about it although in a rather

hesitating manner

netherfield is quite near meriton i

suppose

how long has has mr darcy been staying

there

he has been there about a month replied

elizabeth

unwilling to let the matter drop she

added here’s a man of very large

property and derbyshire i understand

yes replied wickham his income is ten

thousand a year at least i know more

about him than most people as i’ve been

closely connected with his family since

childhood

elizabeth could only look surprised

you might well be surprised miss bennett

at my saying that after noticing as you

probably did the very cold manner of our

meeting yesterday do you know mr darcy

well

as well as i ever wished to cried

elizabeth i’ve spent four days in the

same house as him and i consider him

very disagreeable

i’ve known him too long and too well to

judge fairly whether he’s disagreeable

or not but i believe most people would

be astonished by your opinion

he is not at all liked here in

hertfordshire everybody is disgusted

with his pride you won’t find him

praised by anyone

i can’t pretend to be sorry that he is

valued as he deserves but with him i

believe it doesn’t often happen

the world is blinded by his fortune and

importance or frightened by his proud

behavior and sees him only as he chooses

to be seen

after a pause we commanded

i wonder if he’s likely to stay at

netherfield much longer

i don’t know at all

but i hope his presence won’t stop you

becoming an officer in the regiment here

oh no i won’t be driven away by mr darcy

if he wishes to avoid seeing me he must

go

the reason i have for avoiding him is

one i could easily make public to the

whole world

he has treated me very badly

his late father miss bennett was one of

the best men who ever lived the most

faithful friend i ever had

and whenever i’m with this mr darcy i

think of his father with the most

painful regret

mr darcy has behaved wickedly towards me

but i could forgive him anything except

the insult to his father’s memory

elizabeth was fascinated and listened

eagerly

but did not like to ask any questions

mr wickham began to speak more generally

about meriton and the charming people he

had met there

in fact that’s why i was tempted to join

the regiment i’d heard that maritime

society is most agreeable society i

confess is necessary to me

i have been a disappointed man you see

i did not intend to join the army at all

the church ought to be my profession and

i should at this moment have a

comfortable income as a derbyshire

rector if the gentleman we were speaking

of just now had wished it

indeed

yes

mr darcy’s father had always been very

fond of me and intended to give me the

post of rector of pemberley

but unfortunately after his death when

the post became vacant it was given to

someone else

no cried elizabeth horrified but how

could that happen why didn’t you get

legal advice and claim what was

rightfully yours

mr darcy’s father had not stated his

wish in writing

a man of honor could not have doubted

his intention

but mr darcy chose to treat it as a

recommendation only

i really cannot accuse myself

of having done anything to deserve to

lose the post

the fact is he hates me

i think he was jealous of his father’s

affection for me which annoyed him from

the beginning

this is very shocking

i hadn’t thought mr darcy as bad as this

although i’ve never liked him

i assumed he felt superior to everyone

else but did not suspect him of behaving

in such a wicked unjust inhuman way

we grew up together at pemberley you

know

my father gave up all his time to take

care of the pemberley farms

and was greatly appreciated as a close

friend by the late mr darcy who promised

just before my father’s death to provide

for me

the present mr darcy did not choose to

respect that promise

how strange that mr darcy’s pride has

not made him help you

surely he’s too proud to wish to appear

dishonest which is what i must call him

he’s certainly very proud

proud of his position his family his

father and his sister too you know

what sort of a girl is miss darcy

he shook his head

it gives me pain to criticize a darcy

but she’s too much like her brother

very very proud

she’s a handsome girl of about 15 or 16

and i understand extremely accomplished

i am astonished at mr darcy’s close

friendship with mr bingley

how can mr bingley who seems so charming

and kind be friendly with such a man

i don’t know mr bingley at all

but mr darcy can be a pleasant companion

if he thinks it worthwhile

just then they were joined by some of

the others and the conversation became

more general

when mr collins was talking to mrs

phillips about his patron mr wickham

looked quickly in his direction and then

asked elizabeth

does your cousin know lady catherine de

bear very well

i don’t think he has known her for long

but she has recently given him the post

director of huntsford

perhaps you know that lady catherine is

the president mr tarcy’s aunt

i believe she is planning to marry her

daughter who will inherit a fortune to

mr darcy

this information made elizabeth smile

she thought of poor miss bingley’s

efforts to attract mr darcy which might

all be in vain

the supper party came to an end and

elizabeth went away with her head full

of mr wickham

she could think of nothing but him and

what he had told her all the way home

the next day

she told jane everything she had

discussed with mr wickham

jane listened with astonishment and

concern

she could not believe that mr darcy

could so little deserve mr bingley’s

friendship

and yet she did not want to doubt the

truthfulness of such an agreeable young

man as mr wickham

elizabeth however felt sure that mr

darcy was to blame

that morning an invitation arrived at

longborne

mr bingley had fixed the date for the

ball he had promised to give at

netherfield and it was to be on the

following tuesday

every female in the bennett family was

looking forward to it even mary who

lifted her head from her book to say

unsmiling as long as i have my mornings

free for serious reading i do not mind

meeting people in the evenings i

consider some relaxation and amusement

is good for everybody

elizabeth felt so cheerful at the

thought of dancing with mr wickham that

she made an unusual effort to speak

kindly to mr collins

will you accept mr bingley’s invitation

sir

and if you do will you as a priest

consider it right to dance

i shall certainly accept

and i am so far from objecting to

dancing that i hope to have the honor of

dancing with all my beautiful cousins i

take this opportunity of asking you miss

elizabeth for the first two dances

especially

she was very surprised and rather

annoyed she had hoped that wickham would

ask her for those dances but now she

would have mr collins instead

she could not refuse however

and his request also worried her in

another way

his manner to has seemed particularly

flattering

which gave her the unwelcome idea that

perhaps she had been chosen from among

her sisters to be the rector of

huntsford’s wife

as she observed the increasing number of

compliments he paid to her beauty and

character

she felt sure that he intended to

propose marriage

for the moment however she decided to do

nothing but wait and see

on tuesday evening when elizabeth

entered the hall at netherfield and

looked in vain for mr wickham among the

red coats gathered there she was

surprised and disappointed to see he was

not present

she had never doubted he would come and

had dressed with more than her usual

care looking forward to winning his

heart which he knew was already partly

hers

but she immediately suspected that darcy

had persuaded bingley not to invite

wickham

and although she discovered from one of

the officers that in fact wickham had

been invited but had been called away on

business she felt sure wickham had

wanted to avoid meeting darcy and blamed

darcy for this

as a result when darcy greeted her she

was so annoyed with him that she could

hardly reply politely

but she soon became more cheerful and

determined to enjoy the ball in spite of

wickham’s absence

unfortunately the first two dances with

mr collins were painfully embarrassing

as her cousin had no idea how to dance

and moved extremely awkwardly

she was relieved to leave him and have

the third dance with an officer who gave

her great pleasure by talking about

wickham and his popularity in the

regiment

after this she was very surprised to be

approached by mr darcy and invited to

dance

she was so astonished in fact that she

accepted him without thinking and found

herself standing opposite him on the

dance floor

what an honor for me to be allowed to

dance with mr darcy she thought

they danced for some time in silence

and then she made a remark

he replied and was silent again

after a pause she spoke again

now you must say something mr darcy

you could remark on the size of the room

or the number of couples

he smiled

i’ll say whatever you wish me to say

very well

that reply will do for the moment

perhaps soon i’ll observe that private

balls are much pleasanter than public

ones but now we can be silent

conversation needs to be arranged in

this way so that those people who don’t

enjoy talking are not required to make

any effort are you referring to yourself

or are you thinking of me

both said elizabeth smiling because i

think you and i are similar

we’re both unsociable and unwilling to

speak unless we can astonish and impress

the whole room i am sure you aren’t like

that he answered i cannot say whether i

am or not

you obviously think so

she said nothing

do you and your sisters often go to

meriton he continued

we do she replied

and unable to resist the temptation she

added

when you met us there last week we had

just been introduced to someone

the effect was immediate

there was a new coldness in darcy’s

expression

after a moment he said with difficulty

mr wickham is so agreeable that he makes

friends easily

whether he can keep them

is less certain

he has been unlucky enough to lose your

friendship replied elizabeth sharply and

in a way which will cause him hardship

all his life

darcy did not reply to this

and there was only time for a little

more conversation before the dance ended

elizabeth went to find jane and listened

with delight as she described her

feelings for bingley and her confidence

in his affection for her

but apart from jane it seemed to

elizabeth that if her family had made an

agreement to appear as stupid as

possible during the ball they could not

have been more successful

first mr collins insisted on going to

introduce himself to mr darcy the nephew

of his respected patron and was received

very coldly

then during supper mrs bennett could not

be prevented from talking very loudly to

lady lucas about her great hopes of

jane’s marriage to bingley

elizabeth blushed in embarrassment when

she realized that the bingley sisters

and mr darcy were able to hear

finally when some music was required

mary bennett went confidently to the

piano and sang and played several songs

all rather badly

the rest of the evening brought

elizabeth little amusement

she could not even go and talk to people

she knew as mr collins seemed determined

to stay close by her side all evening

fortunately her good friend charlotte

lucas occasionally gave her some relief

by kindly listening to some of mr

collins long speeches

at least elizabeth did not have to talk

to mr darcy anymore

he often stood near her quite alone

but did not come close enough to speak

at the end of the evening it was obvious

to elizabeth that although her family

had greatly enjoyed the ball the bingley

sisters were eager for these particular

guests to leave

mr collins however was enthusiastic in

his praise of the bingley’s hospitality

and mrs bennett invited the whole

bingley family to visit longborne as

soon as possible

she was feeling very satisfied convinced

that in three or four months jane would

be married to bingley

she was also sure that elizabeth would

marry mr collins

this was a good enough marriage for

elizabeth who was her least favorite

daughter but not nearly as impressive as

jane’s marriage to bingley

chapter five

mr collins proposes twice

at longbourne the next day soon after

breakfast

mr collins asked mrs bennett for

permission to speak privately to

elizabeth

mrs bennett was delighted and hurried

the other girls out of the room so that

elizabeth and mr collins were left alone

together

elizabeth did not want to stay and got

up to leave

but after a moment’s thought sat down

again quietly determined to listen and

reply politely

my dear miss elizabeth said mr collins

seriously

this little unwillingness to hear me

this modesty of yours can only add to

your other charms

you can hardly doubt the purpose of my

speech

almost as soon as i entered the house i

chose you as the companion of my future

life

but before i am carried away by my

feelings i think i should state my

reasons for marrying

elizabeth was trying so hard not to

laugh at the idea of mr collins being

carried away by his feelings that she

was unable to reply

first he continued it is right for a

priest to marry as an example to other

people

secondly i’m sure marriage will add

greatly to my happiness

and thirdly which perhaps i should have

mentioned earlier my generous patron has

advised me to marry

find an active useful sort of person she

told me a woman who can make a small

income go a long way

bring her to huntsford as your wife and

i’ll visit her

so i decided to choose a wife from among

my bennett cousins to lessen the loss to

the family when the sad event of your

father’s death takes place

i flatter myself that you will

appreciate my motives

and now nothing remains but to convince

you of the violence of my affection

i am quite indifferent to the fact that

you bring little money with you into our

marriage and promise you that i shall

make no ungenerous reference to this

after we are married

it was absolutely necessary to interrupt

him now sir

you forget i have given no answer

accept my thanks for the compliment you

are paying me but it is impossible for

me to accept your proposal

of course i understand said mr collins

that young ladies often do not accept a

proposal of marriage the first time i am

therefore not at all discouraged and

sincerely hope we shall be married soon

sir cried elizabeth your hope is rather

extraordinary after what i’ve said i am

perfectly serious

you could not make me happy and i’m

convinced i’m the last woman in the

world who would make you happy

and i’m sure that if lady catherine knew

me she would find me poorly qualified

for the situation

if i knew lady catherine thought so

began mr collins looking very worried

but i cannot imagine she would

disapprove of you and when i have the

honor of seeing her again i shall

certainly tell her how modest economical

and practical you are

indeed mr collins all praise of me will

be unnecessary pay me the compliment of

believing what i say

i hope you will be very happy and very

rich but i cannot accept your proposal

she got up and was going to leave the

room but mr collins was speaking to her

again

i am far from accusing you of crawled in

refusing me as i know it is the custom

with elegant ladies in society to refuse

a gentleman the first time i hope to

receive a more favorable answer next

time i speak to you of marriage

really mr collins cried elizabeth with

some warmth you do puzzle me

i do not know how to express my refusal

so that it convinces you

you must allow me to flatter myself dear

cousin that you do not intend to refuse

me for long my situation in life my

connections with the de bur family and

my relationship to your own all make my

proposal a very suitable one

and you should remember that in spite of

your many admirable qualities it is not

certain that you will receive any other

offer of marriage as you have very

little money of your own

sir

thank you again for the honor you have

done me but to accept your proposal is

absolutely impossible can i speak

plainer than that

don’t think of me as an elegant female

but as a thinking creature speaking the

truth from her heart

you are charming he cried

and i’m sure that when both your

excellent parents agree you will accept

my proposal

elizabeth did not reply

but left the room silently determined to

ask her father if necessary to make her

refusal clear to the self-deceiving mr

collins

mrs bennett had been waiting eagerly for

the end of the interview

and when she saw elizabeth leave the

room she hurried in to offer her

congratulations to mr collins

he received them with pleasure

adding that he was sure his cousin’s

refusal was a natural result of her

modesty and delicacy of character

refusal

repeated mrs bennett shocked

lizzie refused you do not worry mr

collins i shall speak to her at once

she’s a very obstinate foolish girl but

i’ll make her accept you pardon me madam

cried mr collins but if she’s really

obstinate and foolish i do not think she

would be a suitable wife for a man in my

situation

sir you quite misunderstand me said mrs

bennett alarmed

she’s only obstinate in a matter like

this in everything else she is very

agreeable i’ll see mr bennett and we’ll

arrange it with her i’m sure

she did not give him time to reply but

hurried to the library where she knew

she would find her husband

oh mr bennett we need you urgently we’re

all in such confusion you must come and

make lizzie marry mr collins

mr bennett raised his eyes from his book

as she entered and stared at her with

calm and concern

i do not have the pleasure of

understanding you he said what are you

talking about

lizzy declares she won’t have him and if

you don’t hurry he’ll change his mind

and not have her

so what should i do it seems a hopeless

business

speak to her about it yourself tell her

you insist on her marrying him

call her in here she shall hear my

opinion

mrs bennett gladly rang the bell and the

servant brought elizabeth into the

library

come here child said her father as she

appeared

i’ve sent for you on a very important

matter

i understand that mr collins has made

you an offer of marriage and you have

refused

when elizabeth nodded he continued very

well

now your mother insists on your

accepting

isn’t that right mrs bennett

yes or i’ll never see her again

you now have an unhappy choice to make

elizabeth

from this day on you must be a stranger

to one of your parents

your mother will never see you again if

you do not marry mr collins and i will

never see you again if you do

elizabeth could not help smiling but mrs

bennett who had been sure her husband

supported her was very disappointed

what do you mean mr bennett

you promised me you would insist on her

marrying him

my dear replied her husband i have two

small requests to make

first

that you will accept that i know what i

promised or did not promise and secondly

that you will all leave me in peace as

soon as possible

that afternoon charlotte lucas came to

visit elizabeth and found the family

still in great confusion

the younger girls were quite excited by

the news of mr collins proposal and mrs

bennett was most annoyed with elizabeth

oh dear miss lucas crying mrs bennett

can’t you persuade elizabeth to accept

mr collins

nobody else wants to help me well where

will i feel

and look at lizzy now she’s so

unconcerned but i tell you miss lizzy if

you go on refusing every offer of

marriage like this you’ll never get a

husband at all

and i won’t be able to provide for you

when your father is dead

i warn you now i told you in the library

that i wouldn’t speak to you again and i

won’t i have no pleasure in talking to

an undutiful child like you

not that i have much pleasure in talking

to anybody with my headaches

nobody knows how i suffer

but of course

those who do not complain are never

pitied

her daughters listened in silence

aware that any attempt to calm her would

only increase her annoyance

elizabeth however was determined not to

marry mr collins

and in the end mrs bennett was obliged

to accept that fact

when mr collins realized that elizabeth

had meant what she said his manner

towards her became coldly and stiffly

polite

his long speeches and flattering

compliments were transferred for the

rest of the day to kind charlotte lucas

who took on herself the trouble of

listening to him for which schaller

bennetts were very grateful

the next day a letter was delivered to

jane from netherfield

elizabeth saw her sister’s expression

change as she read it and when they were

alone she asked about it

it’s from caroline bingley said jane

and it has surprised me very much

the whole party have left netherfield

and are on their way back to london

probably for the winter

they may not return to netherfield at

all

she says the only thing she sincerely

regrets is leaving me behind in

hertfordshire and promises to write very

frequently

elizabeth did not trust miss bingley’s

apparent affection for jane

i really don’t think their departure

matters very much she said

mr bingley won’t be kept in london by

his sisters i’m sure he’ll be back at

netherfield soon

but perhaps he prefers to stay in london

where many of his friends are but i

haven’t told you everything yet

let me read you the part which

particularly hurts me

mr darcy is impatient to see his sister

and we confess we are also eager to see

her again

nobody is more beautiful elegant or

accomplished than georgiana darcy

louisa and i have great affection for

her and hope one day to call her sister

my brother admires her very much

he will have frequent opportunities of

seeing her

and although i am his sister i must say

i think he is most capable of winning

any woman’s heart

what do you think of this dear lizzy

isn’t it clear enough caroline doesn’t

wish or expect me to become her

sister-in-law she’s convinced of her

brother’s indifference towards me and

perhaps because she suspects my feelings

for him she most kindly warns me that

he’s very likely to marry someone else

i have a totally different opinion

miss bingley sees her brother is in love

with you while she wants him to marry

miss darcy we aren’t rich enough or

grand enough for them and she is eager

to have a family connection with the

darcys so that it may be easier for her

to marry mr darcy

so she follows her brother to london

hoping to keep him there and tries to

persuade you he doesn’t care about you

but of course he’s in love with you

i really can’t agree with you about

caroline

i think she’s incapable of deceiving

anyone

but lizzy my dear sister even if she’s

wrong about her brother and he does care

for me

could i be happy and accepting a man

whose sisters and friends all wish him

to marry someone else

you must decide for yourself

and if you consider it more important to

do what his sisters want than to gain

the happiness of being his wife

i certainly advise you to refuse him

how can you say that said jane smiling a

little

you know i wouldn’t hesitate

although i’d be sad if they disapproved

of me

but oh dear

if he doesn’t come back to netherfield

i’ll never have to make the decision

but elizabeth was sure mr bingley could

not be kept away from jane by his

sisters and soon persuaded jane to take

a more hopeful view of the situation

that day the bennetts with mr collins

went to dinner with the lucas family at

lucas lodge

again it was charlotte who spent most of

the evening listening to mr collins

elizabeth was very relieved and thanked

her friend gratefully for the trouble

she was taking

but charlotte’s kindness had a

particular aim which elizabeth was

unaware of

her plan was to encourage mr collins to

transfer his attentions to herself

in fact she was managing so well

that when she said good night to him

after dinner she would have felt sure of

success if he had been staying in

hertfordshire for another week

but she did not fully appreciate the

fire and independence of his character

which caused him to get up very early

the next morning and escape from

longborne house in a great hurry to

reach lucas lodge and throw himself at

her feet

she did not keep him waiting for an

answer and the happy couple found

themselves engaged as quickly as mr

collins long speeches would allow

charlotte’s parents were delighted to

agree to the marriage and lady lucas

began to work out with more interest

than she had ever felt before how many

more years mr bennett was likely to live

charlotte herself was quite satisfied

mr collins certainly was neither

sensible nor agreeable but still he

would be a husband

she did not think highly of men or of

marriage

but she had always intended to marry

although marriage might not always bring

happiness it was the only honorable way

in which a well-educated woman with

little income could provide a home for

herself

now 27 and lacking beauty

she felt she was lucky to have found a

husband

she knew however that elizabeth whose

friendship she greatly valued would be

astonished and possibly disapproving

so she decided to go to longborne house

to tell her friend the news herself

elizabeth was indeed shocked at first

and could not help crying out in

surprise

but when charlotte explained her reasons

for accepting mr collins elizabeth tried

hard to understand

when the rest of the bennett family

heard the news they were also astonished

mrs bennett was quite horrified and

could not stop complaining bitterly

about charlotte’s wickedness mr collins

stupidity and elizabeth’s obstinacy

mr bennett was much calmer only saying

he was pleased to discover that

charlotte whom he used to consider quite

sensible was as foolish as his wife and

more foolish than his daughter

that day was mr collins last at

longborne and he left with many speeches

of thanks as well as a promise to return

very soon

mr bennett warned him to be careful not

to offend his patron by being absent

from his duties too often

but mr collins although extremely

grateful for this sign of mr bennett’s

cousinly affection for him was naturally

eager to return to hertfordshire to see

his future wife

only two weeks later he did in fact come

back to stay at longborne but spent most

of his time at lucas lodge making

arrangements for the wedding

mrs bennett still felt very offended by

him but she was now becoming anxious

about something even more important

mr bingley’s continued absence

day after day had passed with no news

since the arrival of caroline bingley’s

letter

elizabeth was now rather worried and

jane feared the worst

finally a second letter arrived from

caroline bingley

and when jane read it she realized that

all hope was over

the bingley family was staying in london

for the whole winter and georgiana darcy

was a frequent member of their circle

miss bingley boasted joyfully of this

friendship and looked forward to her

brother’s probable marriage to miss

darcy

although she was deeply upset

jane bravely tried to control her

feelings

do not worry lizzy

i shall be able to forget him in a while

i have nothing to complain of as he made

no promises to me

i just thought he cared for me but i was

wrong

luckily no one is hurt except myself

my dear jane said elizabeth you are too

good you always think the best of

everybody now i think the worst of most

people and do not see much real value or

common sense around me mr bingley for

example

he may not be intending to hurt you but

misery can be caused by someone being

just weak and indecisive

i’m convinced his sisters and his friend

mr darcy are trying to influence him

against you

another example is charlotte i can’t

understand how she could agree to marry

such a self-important proud silly man

dear lizzy said jane

we must respect charlotte’s decision

she may well be happy with mr collins

and as for mr bingley

we shouldn’t expect a sociable young man

to be so careful of his behavior

women often imagine admiration means

more than it really does

and men want that to happen

i prefer to believe that i was mistaken

in thinking he cared for me and that his

sisters love him and approve of his wish

to marry miss darcy

i don’t want to think badly of him or

his sisters

that would be worse than anything

elizabeth had to accept jane’s wishes

and from then on

mr bingley’s name was seldom mentioned

between them

chapter 6

elizabeth visits mr and mrs collins

the following monday

mrs bennett had the pleasure of

receiving her brother and his wife who

came as usual to spend christmas at

longborne

mr gardner was a sensible gentleman-like

man

the netherfield ladies would have had

difficulty in believing that a man who

lived by buying and selling could be so

well-mannered and agreeable

mrs gardner who was several years

younger than mrs bennett and mrs

phillips was a pleasant intelligent

elegant woman and a great favorite with

her long-born nieces especially the two

eldest who often stayed with her in

london

when mrs gardner had given the present

she had brought with her and described

the newest fashions

she was obliged to listen to mrs

bennett’s complaints

i’ve suffered greatly since your last

visit sister cried mrs bennett just

imagine

two of my daughters were very close to

marriage and then nothing

i do not blame jane who would have got

mr bingley if she could but lizzy oh

sister it is hard to think she might

have been mrs collins by now if she

hadn’t been so obstinate

the result is that lady lucas will have

a daughter married before me

it makes me quite ill to have such a

disobedient daughter and such selfish

neighbours

but you’re coming just now is a great

comfort to me

and i am very glad to hear what you tell

us about long sleeves

mrs gardner made a suitably sympathetic

reply to her sister-in-law

and later that day found the opportunity

to discuss the matter in more detail

with elizabeth alone

i am sorry for jane she said kindly but

lizzy these things happen so often a

young man like mr bingley frequently

falls in love with a pretty girl and

when chance separates them he forgets

her very quickly

yes aunt said elizabeth but in this case

it was not chance but the young man’s

interfering friends who separated jane

and mr bingley

i’m sure he was violently in love with

her

poor jane she’s so sensitive

i’m afraid she may not get over it for

some time

now if it had been you lizzy you would

have recovered more quickly by finding

humor in the situation

but do you think i could persuade jane

to come back with us to london perhaps a

change of air would make her feel better

elizabeth was extremely grateful to her

aunt for this kind suggestion and felt

sure jane would gladly agree

i hope added mrs gardner that she will

not be influenced by the hope of seeing

the young man

we live in such a different part of town

that it is very unlikely that we’ll meet

unless he actually comes to see her

and that is quite impossible because his

friend mr darcy would not allow him to

visit so unfashionable in a dress

but despite her protest

elizabeth secretly thought that jane

might see bingley in london and that a

meeting would probably reawaken his

affection for her

the gardeners stayed at longborne for a

week

and mrs bennett made sure there was

always some entertainment for her

brother and sister-in-law

whenever there was a dinner party at

longborne house some of the officers

were always invited

mrs gardner who had noticed that mr

wickham was a very frequent visitor and

that elizabeth spoke admiringly of him

took care to observe them both

she saw enough to make her a little

anxious and decided to speak to

elizabeth about him when they were alone

lizzie she began

i can see that you and mr wickham like

each other but i must warn you not to

get seriously involved with him

i admit he’s the most interesting young

man but sadly he has no fortune

you are a sensible girl and must realize

that you would disappoint your father by

agreeing to marry a penniless young man

my dear aunt do not worry i’ll take care

of myself and mr wickham too he won’t be

in love with me if i can prevent it

elizabeth’s serious

i’m sorry aunt

i’ll try again

at present

i’m certainly not in love with him

but he is by far the most agreeable man

i’ve ever met

and if he really loved me

but i would hate to disappoint my father

or make any of you unhappy

i cannot promise what i will do

but i will really try to do what i think

is wisest i hope you are satisfied with

that

her aunt replied that she was and

received elizabeth’s thanks for her kind

advice

several days after this the gardeners

returned to london taking jane with them

the day of mr collins wedding soon

arrived and mrs bennett had to watch

charlotte lucas become mrs collins

before the bride left longbourne for

huntsford however she asked elizabeth to

come and visit her in her new home as

soon as possible

elizabeth could not refuse although she

did not imagine it would be an enjoyable

visit

it was arranged that elizabeth would

accompany sir william lucas and mariah

one of his other daughters on their

intended visit to huntsford in march

week after jane’s departure elizabeth

received a letter from her sister saying

that she had seen miss bingley and hoped

to continue their friendship

elizabeth shook her head over this

she was not surprised to hear from jane

a few weeks later that caroline bingley

had made no further attempts to

communicate with her former dear friend

elizabeth was saddened to read of jane’s

disappointment

but felt more cheerful when she told

herself that jane would no longer be

deceived by the sister at least

all expectation from the brother was now

absolutely over

as a punishment for him she seriously

hoped he would soon marry mr darcy’s

sister who according to wickham would

make him quickly regret what he had

thrown away

at about this time elizabeth also

received a letter from mrs gardner

asking about wickham

and she was able to reply quite honestly

that there was no danger of her marrying

him

he had transferred his affections to a

miss king who had recently inherited ten

thousand pounds

elizabeth saw exactly what was happening

but her heart had only been slightly

touched and she was able to convince

herself that it was quite natural for

such an agreeable young man to wish for

fortune and independence

january and february passed and the time

for elizabeth’s visit to mr mrs collins

approached

she had improved the plan by arranging

to spend a night in london at her uncle

and aunt’s house before continuing the

journey into kent

she was very much looking forward to

seeing jane who was still staying with

the gardeners

the journey seemed long to elizabeth

because sir william and mariah had

nothing to say worth hearing

but when the coach arrived at the

gardener’s house at lunchtime elizabeth

was delighted to see that her sister

looked as healthy and lovely as before

in a private conversation with her aunt

later however elizabeth discovered that

jane had been suffering from periods of

depression although she always tried

bravely to appear cheerful

the afternoon and evening passed only

too quickly and the next day elizabeth

and the other travellers set off again

when the coach arrived in huntsford they

were all quite excited to see on one

side of the road lady catherine’s great

park which they had heard so much about

at last on the other side they came to

the rectory where they were warmly

welcomed by mr collins and

charlotte elizabeth was more and more

pleased she had come when she found

herself so affectionately received

she saw instantly that marriage had not

changed her cousin’s manners

he insisted on greeting them all with

formal politeness and long speeches and

showed them round the house explaining

its many good points in exhausting

detail

elizabeth could not help thinking that

perhaps he was speaking particularly to

her as if wishing to make her feel what

she had lost in refusing him

but although everything seemed neat and

comfortable she was unable to please him

with a sigh of regret

in fact she wondered how charlotte could

look so cheerful with such a companion

but whenever mr collins said anything of

which his wife might be ashamed which

was quite often charlotte wisely did not

appear to be listening

and when mr collins showed them proudly

round his garden in which he himself

enjoyed working elizabeth admired the

serious way in which charlotte praised

gardening as a most healthy exercise and

admitted encouraging her husband to work

outdoors as much as possible

elizabeth had to confess to herself that

surprisingly charlotte really appeared

to be happy

when mr collins could be forgotten the

house seemed very pleasant and

comfortable and from charlotte’s evident

enjoyment of her home

elizabeth supposed he must often be

forgotten

visitors had only been in the house for

a day when a message came from lady

catherine inviting them all to dinner at

rosing’s park the next day

mr collins was delighted and

congratulated his guests on their good

luck i confess that i might have

expected her leadership to invite us all

to drink tea at rosings on sunday he

said but to invite the whole party to

dinner so soon after your arrival too

what a generous and considerate lady she

is

the whole of the rest of that day and

the next morning were spent discussing

their visit to rosings

this made sir william and mariah quite

nervous when the moment came to walk

across the park and enter the great

lady’s house

elizabeth however was unimpressed by

what she had heard of lady catherine and

remained calm

she was interested to see that lady

catherine was a tall large woman who

held herself stiffly and proudly and

received her guests with an air of

disdain

she spoke loudly and decidedly on every

matter

and was clearly convinced of her

superiority over other people

her daughter anne was completely

different

a small thin ill looking lady who spoke

very little and only in a whisper

the dinner was very good and was highly

praised by mr collins his repeated

compliments which elizabeth thought were

embarrassing appeared to please lady

catherine very much

after dinner her ladyship talked

continuously giving her opinions without

any fear of contradiction or even

comment

she then asked elizabeth many detailed

questions about her education her

sisters and her father’s income

although elizabeth considered these

questions extremely personal and almost

rude she answered them politely and

calmly

at the end of the long evening the

visitors were driven home in lady

catherine’s carriage while mr collins

praised his patron for her elegance

intelligence and hospitality

this visit was repeated twice a week

but there was little other entertainment

in huntsford

elizabeth had pleasant conversations

with charlotte or read books or walked

along a narrow path by lady catherine’s

park which no one else seemed to use

it was a quiet life

but she was satisfied with it

however

two weeks after her arrival in huntsford

she heard that some visitors were coming

to stay at rosing’s

lady catherine’s nephew mr darcy was

expected soon accompanied by his cousin

colonel fitzwilliam

the next day the two gentlemen arrived

and came almost immediately to the

rectory

colonel fitzwilliam was about thirty

not handsome but very gentlemanly and he

talked pleasantly to the ladies

but mr darcy looked as cold and proud as

ever

and after greeting mrs collins spoke

only a few stiffly polite words to

elizabeth

she took the opportunity of asking him

if he had by any chance seen jane in

london recently

and thought he looked a little confused

when he answered that he had not had

that pleasure

soon after that the two gentlemen

returned to rosings

colonel fitzwilliams manners were very

much admired by the ladies who felt that

he would add considerably to the

enjoyment of their evenings at rosing’s

but it was not until easter day that

they received an invitation from lady

catherine

and when they arrived in her sitting

room it was clear that she was far more

interested in her nephews than in her

other guests

colonel fitzwilliam however seemed

really glad to see them

and he came at once to sit beside

elizabeth

they talked so agreeably and amusingly

together that mr darcy turned his eyes

towards them and looked curiously at

them several times

when her ladyship also noticed

she called loudly across the room

fitzwilliam

what are you talking about with miss

bennett

let me hear what it is

we’re speaking of music madam he said

we’re no longer able to avoid a reply

of music

then please speak to all of us

i must have my share in the conversation

if you are speaking of music

there are few people in england i

suppose who have more true enjoyment of

music than myself

or a better natural taste

if i had ever learned to play i would

have been a great musician

but i often tell young ladies practice

is very important

i have told miss bennett several times

that she will never play really well

unless she practices more

and she is very welcome to come to

rosings and practice on the piano in the

servants hall she won’t be in anyone’s

way there i can promise her

mr darcy looked a little ashamed of his

aunt’s insensitive words

meanwhile colonel fitzwilliam had

persuaded elizabeth to play some music

and she sat down at the piano but when

she had started playing mr darcy went to

stand in front of the piano where he had

a good view of her face

at the end of her first piece of music

elizabeth said smiling

you intend to frighten me mr darcy by

coming to listen to me

but i’m obstinate and won’t be

frightened

i don’t think you really believe i

intend to alarm you

and i’ve had the pleasure of knowing you

long enough to be aware that you

occasionally enjoy stating opinions

which are not your own

elizabeth laughed at this picture of

herself

and said to colonel fitzwilliam

your cousin will teach you not to

believe a word i say

indeed mr darcy it is very ungenerous of

you to mention all my faults

and perhaps rather foolish too because i

may take my revenge and tell things

about you which your relations will be

shocked to hear

i am not afraid of you said darcy

smiling

but let me hear your accusation cried

colonel fitzwilliam

i’d like to hear how he behaves among

strangers

well

prepare yourself for something very

dreadful

the first time i ever saw him was at a

ball in hertfordshire

and at this ball

what do you think he did

he danced only four dances

i’m sorry to cause you pain but that is

what happened

he danced only four dances although

gentlemen was scarce

and to my certain knowledge more than

one young lady was sitting down waiting

for a partner

mr darcy you must admit it

i had not at that time the honor of

knowing anybody at the ball apart from

my own group of friends

i should perhaps have asked to be

introduced but i do not like to

recommend myself to strangers

i do not find it easy to talk to people

i don’t know

you don’t want to take the trouble to do

it darcy that’s why said colonel

fitzwilliam

i cannot play this piano as well as some

other women said elizabeth but i’ve

always assumed it is my own fault

because i don’t take the trouble to

practice

i know that i am capable of playing as

well as anyone

darcy smiled and said

you are perfectly right

you have spent your time in a much

better way

no one who hears you could imagine any

possible improvement

we neither of us perform to strangers

just then lady catherine interrupted

them to comment on elizabeth’s playing

miss bennett would play quite well if

she had a london teacher

of course anne would have been a

delightful performer if her health had

allowed her to learn

elizabeth looked at darcy to see his

reaction to ander burr’s name

but neither at that moment nor at any

other could she observe any sign of love

or even interest in his cousin

lady catherine continued to give miss

bennett advice on her playing

but at the request of the gentleman

elizabeth stayed at the piano for the

rest of the evening

you

[音乐]

简·奥斯汀的傲慢与偏见

克莱尔·韦斯特重述

[音乐]

[掌声]

第一

章贝内特的新邻居

，一个拥有巨额财富的未婚男人

必须需要一个全世界都知道的真理 一个妻子

，当这样一个男人搬到一个

社区时，

即使他的

感受或意见一无所知，

这个事实对

周围的家庭来说是如此清楚，以至于他们

立即认为他是他们的一个或另一个女儿的未来丈夫，

亲爱的先生 班尼特

夫人有一天对她丈夫说班尼特夫人

你有没有听说有人要

租尼日菲尔德公园终于

没有了班尼特夫人我没说她

丈夫

你不想知道是谁租的

吗班尼特夫人不耐烦地哭了

你想 告诉我

，我不介意听本

内特夫人不需要进一步的

鼓励，

亲爱的，我听说他是一个

来自英格兰北部的非常富有的年轻人

，看来他周一来看尼日菲尔德

，非常高兴 知道了，

他马上安排租了

，当然这是该地区最好的房子，

有最大的花园，

他的仆人将在

本周末到来，他很快就会

到，他叫什么名字问贝内特先生

彬格莱 他是已婚还是单身

哦，单身 我亲爱的，当然

是一个拥有巨额财富的单身男人 他每年有

四五千英镑的收入

对我们的女孩来说是多么美好

为什么

它会对她们产生什么影响 本内特先生问

我亲爱的本内特先生 她回答说

你怎么这么烦人，你必须

意识到我在想他

娶我们的一个女儿

是他来这个

地区

的目的他的

目的当然不是，

但很可能他会

爱上其中一个

我希望他

在我们的其他邻居

自我介绍之前

尽快见到女孩，

所以他一到你就必须

去看他 应该发送 他们

自己是的，可能会更好，因为

你和他们中的任何一个人一样有吸引力，

宾利先生可能最喜欢你

我敢你奉承我回答他的妻子

我过去当然被称为美丽

但我认为一个有五个成年人的女人

女儿们不要再想着

自己的美人了

班尼特先生 我求你去拜访他

你知道

家里的绅士首先去拜访新邻居是正确的

我根本不能带女孩们去见

他 除非你已经见过他

你肯定也担心

我相信彬格莱先生会很高兴

见到你们，我会给他写几

行，你可以让他

高兴地同意他娶任何一个女孩，

尽管我必须特别推荐

亲爱的 little lizzy oh no mr bennett 演员

benett 夫人吓坏了 请不要那样做

虽然我知道她是你最喜欢的人，但 lizzy 并不比其他人好，

我们的女儿们都是非常愚蠢

无知的女孩，这是真的，

但至少 lizzy

比她的姐妹们聪明一点，本

内特先生，你怎么能

对你自己的孩子说这么不客气

哦，亲爱的，如果你不

怜悯我，我会

怎么感觉你不知道我真的受了多大的痛苦，

亲爱的，

我和你一起受苦 在过去的 23

年里，但我认为你会康复并

活着看到更多有钱的年轻人

在他年轻

的时候来到附近 他们的婚姻

他有时间后悔自己的错误

他很快意识到他的妻子

没有智慧或常识

，只对谈论

购物

和为女儿寻找丈夫感兴趣

他的经历让他很

痛苦

，他忍不住嘲笑自己

妻子从不理解丈夫的

幽默感，

所以

一周后，当贝内特夫人

发现她的丈夫实际上

在尼德菲尔德拜访了宾利先生时，她感到惊讶

并非常恳求 sed，

但她和她的女儿们

试图说服 benett 先生描述这个

富有的陌生人

，但最终他们不得不依靠

另一个邻居的描述，

他听起来很棒，妈妈哭了 lydia 是夏洛特·卢卡斯的父亲见过

的姐妹中最年轻、最

吵闹的

他说他很年轻 很英俊 很有

魅力 更喜欢跳舞

人人都知道这意味着他很

可能会坠入爱河

出于礼貌 宾利先生几天后来看望了班尼特先生

但他没有幸

见到 贝内特的女孩

们躲在

楼上房间的窗帘后面，以便

看到英俊的陌生人

贝内特夫人打算请他

吃饭，

但实际上她们是在另一场社交活动中遇到他的

。 Longborne

和公共舞蹈定期

在最近的城镇 Meriton 举行

女孩们非常

期待这个标准杆

因为他们听说宾利先生

将在舞会当晚与一群

来自伦敦

的朋友一起参加特殊的舞会，当宾利

先生进入房间时，所有的目光都集中在宾利先生身上，

他带着他的两个姐妹和

赫斯特先生的丈夫

还有一个年轻人，

达西先生，宾利先生确实长得帅，有

绅士风度，他的姐妹们都是漂亮的

时尚女性，

不过

很快大家都在谈论

达西先生，

一个高大英俊的男人，据说

年收入一万英镑。

房间里的女士们钦佩地注视着他

大约半个晚上，

直到他们意识到他总是

皱着眉头，不愿说话或跳舞，

然后大家普遍认为

他骄傲和讨厌，

认为自己

比宾利先生的乡下人优越 另一只手

通过跳每支舞并与每个人交谈来使自己受到女士们的欢迎，

因为没有像伊丽莎白女士那样多的

绅士 安内特没有舞伴

参加其中一场舞，达西先生

正站在她身边观看舞蹈，当

宾利先生上前与他的朋友交谈时，

伊丽莎白无法避免听到

他们的谈话

来了，达西说宾利我不想见

你 看起来很生气你为什么不

和这些可爱的女孩中的一个跳舞

当然没有

回答达西

你知道我多么讨厌和一个

伙伴跳舞我不知道

我会特别不喜欢

像这样的乡村舞会

除了你的姐妹

之外没有 房间里没有女人 我

什至会考虑和

你跳舞 和

这里唯一有魅力的女孩跳舞

他看着班尼特太太的大

女儿简，她正等着

彬格莱和她一起跳下一支舞

哦，是的，她是最美丽的生物

我见过，

但在你身后是她的一个

姐妹，

她很漂亮，我相信她

很愉快我的搭档可以介绍

你

是什么意思

，他会转身看伊丽莎白吗

有一会儿，

他冷冷地说，

她没有足够的吸引力来诱惑我

回到你的搭档宾利那里，

这次谈话并没有让

达西先生喜欢伊丽莎白，

但她非常愉快

和有趣地向她的朋友们讲述了这个故事，

对于其他人来说，这个晚上过得很愉快，

而且 贝内特夫人

对她的大女儿对宾利先生的影响感到

高兴

他和简跳了两次舞

她告诉她丈夫后来他

和其他人只跳了一次

，他真的很英俊，但他的

朋友达西先生对可怜的伊丽莎白如此粗鲁

幸运的是，她不在乎

她不想取悦他这样一个

可怕的骄傲的男人，

当简和伊丽莎白单独在一起时，我只是讨厌他，他们

讨论了他们的舞伴，

当宾利先生让我第二次跳舞时，我真的很受宠若惊

说 简脸红了我根本没想到

你不是说伊丽莎白我做了

亲爱的简你

比房间里任何其他女人漂亮五倍但

你太谦虚了 o期待

钦佩

我不得不承认我喜欢宾利先生

继续用她温柔的声音继续简

他很有礼貌和令人愉快

他也很英俊添加了她的妹妹

这使他的性格非常完美

但是当你得到时你觉得他的姐妹们

很愉快 要认识

他们，年轻的卡罗琳·宾格利小姐将

和她的兄弟一起住在尼日菲尔德，

我相信我们会喜欢让她

作为邻居

伊丽莎白安静地听她说话她

不相信

简是如此善良，她认为

总是准备好看到好的一面 在

人们的性格中，

我认为宾利先生的姐妹们太

骄傲了，

几乎是粗鲁的。事实上，

我敢肯定，她们觉得自己

比达西先生等大多数人都优越，

但她

在舞会后不再说班尼特和宾利的

家人每隔几天就会互相拜访

很明显，宾利先生

非常钦佩简

，伊丽莎白知道她的

妹妹快要爱上他了，

她正在和她的好朋友讨论这个问题

夏洛特·卢卡斯 有一天

夏洛特是一位懂事、聪明的

年轻女子，27 岁，

威廉爵士和卢卡斯夫人的长女，

他们是班尼特

家族的邻居。伊丽莎白说，如果

简爱上宾利先生，没有人

会知道，因为她总是 表现得非常

愉快和正常，

但有时

会犯错 并鼓励

他，

但我认为男人应该尝试

发现女人的感受，而不是等待

她的鼓励

，简可能不知道她

对宾利的真实感受，但

她只见过他几次，

不足以理解他的

性格 或者确保她真的

很爱

他 我衷心祝愿简成功

如果她明天嫁给他就

好像她研究了他的性格一整年

婚姻幸福只是一个

机会问题

我认为最好尽可能少

地了解你将

与伊丽莎白共度一生的人

笑了当然 夏洛特

在观察宾利先生对简的兴趣时并没有表达她的意思，

但

伊丽莎白并没有注意到达西先生对

她自己的兴趣，

虽然起初他甚至不

认为她漂亮，但现在他开始

意识到她的

黑眼睛所呈现出的美丽表情 她聪明的脸庞

和迷人的身材

当然

她只是一个不合时宜的乡村

女孩

一天晚上，在卢卡斯家的派对上，为了更好地了解她，

达西像往常一样独自站在

远离其他客人的地方 看

舞蹈

他的主人威廉爵士过来和

他说话

达西先生你喜欢跳舞吗

先生这是多么令人愉快的娱乐

达西皱起眉头是的他很冷漠地

说这是任何没有受过教育的

人都可以擅长的事情

我相信你 你会跳舞

先生 先生 回答 威廉先生 高兴地

看着这里 伊丽莎白班内特小姐 那时

她正在穿过房间

让我说服你和她

一起跳舞 当你面前有这么多美丽时，你不能拒绝

跳舞 先生 伊丽莎白迅速回答

有点尴尬，

我不想跳舞，请

原谅我，

班尼特小姐，请允许我

和你一起跳舞的乐趣说，

达西先生礼貌地伸出手，

但同样礼貌，伊丽莎白

再次拒绝并转身离开，

达西先生看着她走开

当卡罗琳·宾格莱走到他面前时，他脸上微微一笑，

达西先生，

她说我确定我知道

你在想什么，这些愚蠢的事情多无聊

小乡村的人

根本不是宾利小姐，其实

我只是在想

一双漂亮的眼睛真的能给你

带来什么快乐，这些漂亮的眼睛属于谁，

请问

伊丽莎白·贝内特小姐，

好吧，

让我第一个祝贺你，

达西先生 婚礼什么时候举行

啊

这就是我期待你说的

一个女人的想象力从

钦佩到爱到结婚的

瞬间

当然好了，当你结婚的时候，你

经常会有她迷人的母亲和

姐妹留下来，多么让你

和 彬格莱小姐看到达西

保持冷静，

继续尽可能地嘲笑班尼特一家

第 2 章

简的病

班尼特先生每年有两千的舒适收入，在朗伯恩

有一所舒适的房子

，

但不幸的是，他的女儿

在他去世后他所有的财产

贝内特夫人的父亲曾是一名律师

，只给女儿留下了一小

笔钱，

她有一个兄弟拥有 d 在

伦敦开店

，她还有一个姐姐嫁给了

菲利普斯先生，菲利普斯

先生曾是她父亲的文员，现在

继续他已故雇主的生意

，菲利普斯夫妇住在

距离朗伯恩村只有一公里左右

的梅里顿。

对于班尼特女孩来说，最方便的距离

是每周三到四次

去拜访他们的姨妈或

住

在最小的女儿凯蒂和莉迪亚对面的裁缝，

她们的头脑比她们的姐妹更空虚

，如果没有 有更好的

娱乐活动 去麦利顿散步 总是能

带来一些乐趣以及

来自他们姑姑的有趣的当地新闻 让凯蒂和莉迪亚

高兴的最新消息

是，最近

抵达麦利顿的团要在这两个女孩

待一整个

冬天 现在每天都去拜访他们的姑妈

，正如菲利普斯先生所知，所有办公室的

凯蒂和莉迪亚很快就被介绍给

他们

在 hom e

他们只能谈论

穿着漂亮制服的办公室，即使

宾利先生的财富现在似乎也不

值得考虑

，因为一天早上班尼特先生听了他们对军官的称赞，

从我看来，你一定是两个

最愚蠢的女孩。 国家

我已经怀疑了一段时间，但现在

我确信

凯蒂很尴尬没有回答，

但最小的莉迪亚继续

表达她对

卡特船长的钦佩，完全冷漠

我很惊讶亲爱的

贝内特夫人说你应该 随时准备

认为自己的孩子很傻，

他们都很聪明

，这是我认为我们不同意的唯一一点，

恐怕我必须说，我认为

我们的两个最小的女儿异常

愚蠢，

亲爱的班尼特先生，您 不要指望

这样的年轻女孩有

他们父亲或母亲的常识

我记得我以前自己喜欢一件红色的

外套，确实

如果一个好看的我仍然喜欢 年收入五

六千的军官

想娶我的一个女孩，我不会拒绝他

，我觉得福斯特上校

昨晚穿着团制服在威廉斯爵士面前看起来很英俊，

这时一个仆人拿着一张给简的便条进来了

来自尼德菲尔德 班尼特

太太的眼睛里闪烁着喜悦的光芒

，她在女儿读得很好时急切地喊道，

简是谁

，他说了什么，告诉我们快告诉我们，

亲爱的，斯宾利小姐说简

她请我去吃晚饭 尼德菲尔德，

因为她和她妹妹一个人

，她哥哥和绅士似乎

正在美利通的办公室吃饭

，军官哭着说，莉迪亚我不知道

菲利普斯阿姨为什么没有告诉我们

在美利通吃晚饭，贝内特

夫人反复摇头，那是 很

倒霉，

我可以坐马车吗，求简，

不，亲爱的，你最好骑过去，

因为看起来可能会下雨，然后

你必须留下一晚

，这将是一个不错的选择 一个伊丽莎白

对她母亲说，如果你确定他们

不会提议用他们的马车送她回家，

哦，但他们不能，这位绅士

一定是乘坐宾利先生的马车

去美利通，

我宁愿坐马车简

说但是我亲爱的你父亲不能饶恕

这些马我敢肯定他们在农场上是需要

的不是吗

班尼特先生班尼特先生终于同意他们

那天实际上是在田里被使用

所以简出发了 她的马，而她的

母亲在她身后兴高采烈地呼唤着她 我真

希望下大雨 我的爱人

和简刚离开

不久就下起了大雨

伊丽莎白有点担心她的

妹妹，但本内特夫人很高兴

我的主意真好 那是她

不止一次说对

自己非常满意，

直到第二天早上，

她才意识到早餐后她的成功程度，

一位来自

尼日菲尔德的仆人带着简给伊丽莎白的便条来了

，解释说简

在晚上感冒了 呃，湿滑的，

被邀请留在尼日菲尔德，

直到她康复为止，

我亲爱的班尼特先生说，

如果你的女儿

病重并死去

，知道她

死于正当的理由并服从

你的命令，那将是一种安慰

哦 我不怕她会死，人们

不会因为感冒而死，她会

在冥府得到很好的照顾，只要她

待在那里，一切都会好起来的，

但伊丽莎白真的很着急

，决定去找她姐姐

当 没有马车，

她也不喜欢骑马。

她决定步行五公里

到尼日菲尔德，

小猫和莉迪亚陪她

到梅里顿，他们去

拜访办公室的一位妻子

伊丽莎白继续独自

穿越田野，

不耐烦地跳过去

当她带着

疲倦的双脚和泥泞的长袜和一张

因运动而健康的粉红色的脸到达尼日菲尔德时，她急切地想见她的妹妹，她

被直接带进客厅

宾利小姐和赫斯特夫人两姐妹

简直不敢相信她

在如此恶劣的天气里独自徒步走到了这么远，

但他们礼貌地接待了她，

他们的兄弟不仅

礼貌

而且对她友善和体贴，

达西先生

毫不犹豫地说 在钦佩她

健康的美貌和怀疑她是否

应该独自走这么远之间，

赫斯特先生什么也没说，因为他

只想到他的早餐

伊丽莎白很高兴几乎立即被

带到她姐姐的房间里，

她发现简很高兴 看到她，但

非常发烧和

不适，医生来了，在检查了他的

病人后，建议她应该

躺在床上吃点药，

伊丽莎白整天和她在一起

照顾她，宾利

姐妹也花了一些时间在

病人的房间里，

但是在 下午

到了伊丽莎白离开的时候，简似乎

很不高兴，以至于彬格莱小姐

只好邀请伊丽莎白留下来。

尼日菲尔德目前，一名

仆人被派往朗伯恩

通知班尼特一家并带回一些

衣服

，那天晚上伊丽莎白下楼

去吃晚饭，把简留在她房间的床上

瞬间

，她知道她第一眼不喜欢他们

是对的

不受欢迎的客人

宾利小姐把所有的注意力都集中在达西先生身上，

赫斯特夫人也加入了他们的

谈话，

而赫斯特先生只对吃喝玩乐打牌感兴趣，

这时伊丽莎白在晚饭后离开房间

看看简是否需要什么

宾利小姐 开始批评

她态度恶劣

，对上司既骄傲又缺乏礼貌

没有交谈 没有

优雅 没有美貌

赫斯特夫人同意并补充说 她没有什么

好的品质 除了她是一个

出色的步行者 我永远不会忘记她

今天早上的样子 她

看起来真的几乎疯狂

她确实做了 路易莎 她来的时候真是太傻了

为什么她要在乡下跑，

就因为她姐姐感冒

了她的头发看起来那么凌乱，她的衣服

完全沾满了泥

我必须说宾利说

我没有注意到这些

我认为

她今天早上到达时看起来非常有吸引力

你观察到她狂野的外表，我敢

肯定达西先生说宾利小姐，我

想你不希望你姐姐

做这样的表演

当然不会

走四五公里，

不管她的脚踝在泥泞中，独自一人

独自一人，在我看来，它表现出

一种可怕的独立性

一个乡村女孩对可接受的事物漠不关心

我认为这

对她的姐姐表示非常令人愉快的感情 说宾利，

我害怕 达西先生低声对

宾利小姐说这次冒险

减少了你对她漂亮眼睛的钦佩，

但他回答说，

他们在短暂的停顿后因锻炼而变得明亮，

赫斯特夫人又开始了

我全心全意地希望她嫁得好，

但是有这样的

父母和如此粗俗的关系，

恐怕没有机会了

谁

在

伦敦这么漂亮的地方

开着

商店 世界回答

达西宾利没有回答，但他的姐妹

们热情地同意，

并继续嘲笑他们亲爱的朋友

粗俗的关系，

直到深夜伊丽莎白

对简睡着了感到满意 她觉得

她应该再下楼

她发现客厅里的派对

正在打牌，

但尽管他们邀请她加入

他们的游戏，但她礼貌地拒绝了，并

拿起一本书读

我可以给你拿更多 如果您愿意，可以阅读的书籍

提供宾利，但恐怕

我没有像您这样的大型图书馆

我懒得花很多时间阅读

您在彭伯利的图书馆多么令人愉快，

达西先生说宾利小姐，

多么美丽 房子是

查尔斯，当你买你的房子时，我希望

它会像彭伯利一样可爱，

我希望也同意宾利

和你亲爱的妹妹达西先生，

我希望她从春天开始就长大了我

非常想再见到她我已经 从来没有见过

任何人让我如此高兴，

如此举止，如此有礼貌，

以她的年龄来说

如此

出色 这些技能

当然人们使用“

成功”这个词说达西太松散了，

但我与你

对女士们的看法相去甚远

品质

是的 很多

哦 肯定

哭了 他忠实的助手

宾利小姐 一个有成就的女人必须

对音乐 唱歌

绘画 舞蹈和现代语言有透彻的了解

这是

她走路的方式和她的

行为中的某些东西

她必须具备这一切 加上达西

和更坚实

的东西 通过广泛阅读来改善她的思想

我不再对你知道

只有六个有成就的女性

感到惊讶 伊丽莎白

说 在一个女人中

，赫斯特夫人和宾利小姐都

大声抗议说他们认识很多这样的

女人 当赫斯特先生把

他们的注意力拉回到纸牌游戏上时，

因为这意味着谈话的结束，

伊丽莎白很快就离开了房间，

伊丽莎白贝内特小姐说宾利小姐

对达西说，是那些试图

通过低估其他女人来吸引男人的

女人之一，我 认为这是

一个卑鄙的把戏

确实，达西说

女士们用来吸引男人的所有技巧

都是卑鄙的 和他的

姐妹们说

，尽管有这种改善，但简还是好很多了，但是她

要求把她的母亲送去，因为

她希望贝内特夫人

在早餐后不久就简的健康状况发表意见，因此

贝内特夫人在她的两个最小的

女儿的陪同下到达了

尼日尔菲尔德

elizabeth 虽然听到

她妈妈不认为简的病

很严重感到欣慰开始后悔请她

什么时候来 她看到宾利姐妹对

贝内特夫人的言论微笑，

伊丽莎白为她的母亲脸红了，她说的每一句话

都忍不住表现出她缺乏

智慧和常识

十五岁的漂亮自信、成熟的女孩

粗鲁地向前推

她用他一贯的礼貌请求宾利先生在尼日菲尔德举行一个舞会

宾利先生

答应他会，

但伊丽莎白看到他的姐妹们交换着

意味深长的眼神，

当她的母亲和姐妹们离开时，她很高兴

和

简要在尼日菲尔德再住一晚，让

简在那天晚上完全康复

可能很佩服她，她

认为当他看着她时，他

在以某种方式批评她

他的想法并没有给她带来任何痛苦，

因为她太不喜欢他了，

在与他的谈话中不在乎他的认可。

她以通常略带嘲讽的方式说话，

不想冒犯他，

但对他平静的礼貌回答感到惊讶

达西 他从来没有被任何女人如此迷恋过

，

他真的相信，如果她

没有这种粗俗的关系，他

可能会爱上她的

彬格莱小姐看到或怀疑到

足以嫉妒

和她对她康复的巨大焦虑

亲爱的朋友简因

她希望摆脱伊丽莎白而感到更加高兴，

幸运的是，也许

尼日尔菲尔德的几乎每个人伊丽莎白和

她现在已经完全康复的姐姐

第二天就要回家了，

只有宾利先生对此表示真正的悲伤，

并担心简可能不会

适合旅行

达西先生松了一口气，他

决定现在对伊丽莎白的钦佩之情

不应该逃过他的

视线，彬格莱小姐的礼貌 ss 对 elizabeth

以及她对 jane 的喜爱

随着出发时刻的

临近

而迅速增加，她能够以许多友好的热情表达方式与他们说再见，

并承诺很快就会拜访他们

bennett 先生很高兴欢迎他的

大女儿们 再次回家，因为他

感到他们不在家庭

圈子中，但希望

他们能待更长时间的班尼特夫人

看到他们

在这么短的时间内回来感到非常失望

第 3 章

柯林斯先生访问隆伯恩

我希望亲爱的

班尼特先生说 他的妻子

第二天早上吃早餐时你告诉

厨师今天要送上一顿丰盛的晚餐，因为我

在等一位访客

，亲爱的，我知道没有人

会来，除非夏洛特·卢卡斯

碰巧打电话来，我希望我的晚餐

对她来说已经足够好

了 我说的是一个

绅士和一个陌生人

班尼特夫人的眼睛里闪烁着

兴奋的光芒 是宾利先生 我很确定

为什么简你从来没有

好好提起过 我会的 非常高兴看到他，

莉迪亚，我的爱人按铃我必须

马上和厨师说话不是宾利先生

说她的丈夫

这是一个我以前从未见过的人

这引起了普遍的惊讶

，他很高兴被急切地

询问 由他的妻子和五个

女儿

同时用他们的好奇心逗乐了一段时间，

他终于解释说

我最近收到了

我堂兄柯林斯先生的来信，如你所知，他

将在我死后继承我所有的财产

，可能会扔给你

哦，亲爱的，他的妻子哭了就离开这房子，

请不要提及那个可恨的

男人，这是世界上最难

接受的事实，即您的财产

不留给自己的孩子

，我敢肯定 如果我是你，我会

试着做点什么，

简和伊丽莎白试图

再次向她解释法律情况，

他们以前经常试图这样做

，

但这是贝内特夫人

拒绝理解的事情， 她继续

痛苦地抱怨柯林斯先生，

这当然是最不公正的同意

贝内特先生，没有什么可以使柯林斯先生

从继承这座房子的罪恶感中解脱出来，

但是如果你在我读他

给你的信时听你说话，你可能会

被他的态度软化一点 为了

表达自己，

他大声朗读了下面的信

亲爱的先生

您和我已故

尊敬的父亲之间的分歧一直让我担心

，自从他去世以来，我经常

希望改善

我们的家庭关系，

经过长时间的学习

和培训，我最近变得 一位

牧师，很幸运

得到了路易斯·德博爵士的遗孀凯瑟琳·德·伯尔夫人的惠顾，

这位慷慨的女士给了我

亨茨福德的校长职位，幸运的是，

亨茨福德是她自己位于肯特郡的大乡间别墅附近的村庄

在这里，我在必要时履行我的职业职责，我

非常小心，在任何时候都以

感激的态度行事 t 对她

作为一名牧师的领导 此外，我觉得我有

责任鼓励我影响范围内的所有家庭

和平生活

，因此我自夸我

在向你提供我的友谊方面做得正确

我当然担心当我

最终 继承你所有的财产，

你的女儿们无疑会

很穷，我为此道歉，我

向你保证，我准备好以

各种可能的方式弥补，

但

如果你不反对，稍后再谈这件事，我建议

周一拜访你和你的家人 11 月

18 日 4 点钟

，她可能会一直待到

下一个星期六，

这不会给我带来任何不便

，因为凯瑟琳女士并不

反对我偶尔缺勤，

我仍然亲爱的先生，并怀着尊敬的良好

祝愿 你的夫人和你的女儿们

你的朋友威廉·柯林斯

所以我们可以期待这位促成和平的

绅士今天四点钟

贝内特先生一边说一边折叠着他似乎要寄给他的信

做个最有礼貌和严肃的

年轻人 他打算这样做，

他愿意帮助我们是件好事，

我认为他很奇怪，伊丽莎白说，他

听起来对自己太满意了

，他对凯瑟琳夫人说话很

有礼貌，为什么他为

继承父亲的财产而道歉，未来

我们知道这不是他的 错了

，他是个通情达理的人吗，先生，她补充说

转向班尼特先生，

不，亲爱的，我认为不是，我

希望能找到完全相反的他

，他的信中混合了礼貌和自负，这

保证我很有趣

迫不及待地想见他

的二女儿玛丽

，她大部分时间都在读书，很少

参与家庭谈话，现在

她说，在她看来，他的信

表达得很好，

但小猫 nd lydia 对这封信或其作者没有表现出任何

兴趣，

因为他们的表弟不太可能

穿着军团制服到达，

他们无法想象

见到他有任何乐趣，

他们的母亲然而在

柯林斯先生的信之后改变了她对他的态度

现在正准备迎接他

，

她的丈夫和女儿都

惊呆了，柯林斯先生准时到达

，全家人都非常有礼貌地接待了

班尼特先生，班尼特先生确实很少

说话，但女士们已经准备好说话了

，柯林斯先生似乎没有 需要

鼓励的

是，他是个二十五岁的高个子，看上去

很胖，他的表情很严肃，举止也很正式。他刚到就对班内特夫人说，

夫人，我必须恭维你有

这么好的女儿家庭。

听说过她们的美貌，但我发现

她们比报道

中所说的还要美

嗯，本内特夫人从不与

恭维争吵，她回答说，

先生，您非常友善，我确实希望如此

，否则他们将

一无所有。

您也许指的是我继承了本

内特的财产

哦，是的，先生，您必须承认

对于我可怜的女儿们来说，这是一件可悲的事情，

我非常清楚女士们对

您可爱的女儿们的艰辛，并且可以对此多说一些

，但我对说得太早谨慎，

但我想说我已经

准备好欣赏 年轻的女士们，

也许当我们彼此更加了解时

，晚餐的铃声响起，

一家人带着他们的客人搬进了餐厅。

当柯林斯先生称赞大厅、

餐厅和

班内特夫人喜欢的所有家具时，女孩们互相偷偷地笑了笑 通常会

很高兴得到这样的赞美，

但她不禁想到

他可能正在欣赏这一切作为他

未来的

财产，他认为晚餐也很棒

，他问他的哪个 伤害

表亲是造成这件事的原因，

但班尼特夫人非常尖锐地

向他解释

说，他们很能负担得起

一个好厨师，而且她的女儿们

在厨房里无事可做，

他请求她立即

原谅她冒犯了她，并继续

为 一刻钟，本

内特先生至今几乎没有说话，

但他认为是时候进入

谈话了，

您在您的赞助人柯林斯先生身上似乎很幸运，

他说

他不能选择更好的

开场白

柯林斯先生热情洋溢地讲

了几分钟 赞美凯瑟琳女士

，我一生中从未见过如此

体贴的举止，

尽管她是一位如此伟大的女士，

但她从未鄙视过我，

她几乎以平等的态度与我交谈并

给我建议

，例如

她 建议我尽快结婚

，你知道她曾两次请我

到她家吃饭，

有些人认为她很自豪，但

她坚持 我曾经对我很好，她甚至

不厌其烦地参观我的小房子，

并且很周到地建议对楼上的

一些架子进行一两个改进

，这非常正确和礼貌我敢

肯定贝内特夫人她住在您附近吗

？ 乡间小路把我的

破房子和罗辛的公园隔开 她的夫人

船的家

我想你说她是寡妇 她有

什么家庭

她只有一个女儿将

继承罗辛和凯瑟琳夫人

的所有财产 一位最迷人的

年轻女士 不幸的是身体虚弱

我经常 当我拜访罗辛斯时，

对她的外表或成就稍微称赞

一下，凯瑟琳女士

感谢她对她

女儿的这些赞美，我认为我有责任

取悦她的夫人，

我相信你是对的，贝内特先生

毫无疑问你是

我想问一下你如何看待这些

令人愉悦的赞美

可能

适合不同场合的

词 benett 先生听他的表弟听得津津有味

柯林斯先生和他希望的一样愚蠢，

但是到下午茶时间，bennett 先生已经受

够了，喝完茶后让他的客人

大声朗读给

女士们听。 一本小说递给了柯林斯先生，

他看起来很震惊，并抗议

说他从不读小说，

而是选择了一本宗教书籍，

开始用缓慢而严肃的声音阅读

莉迪亚无法长时间掩饰她的无聊，

只看了三页后，她

粗鲁地打断了他问 她的

母亲被问到关于美利顿的一个办公室的问题，

柯林斯先生被冒犯了，她

拒绝再读下去，尽管贝内特夫人和

她的其他女儿为莉迪亚

的不礼貌而道歉

柯林斯不是一个理智的人

，教育和社会都没有

提高他

的尊重 他对他的赞助人感到同情，

他对自己的良好评价和他的

新职位使他既骄傲又奴性

，因为他已经 一个家和一笔

可观的收入，他决定

娶班尼特的姑娘们，这些姑娘们将

因为他而失去继承权

他认为自己

在执行这件事时非常慷慨和无私，

当他

到达朗伯恩并看到简

贝内特可爱的脸庞

是她应该首先结婚的大女儿时，他就知道自己是对的，

而且在第一个晚上她是他的

选择，

但第二天早上在

与贝内特夫人进行了 15 分钟的交谈，

当他解释说他希望

在她的女儿中找到一个妻子时，他不得不改变主意

，她开心地笑着回答说，她的

大女儿很可能

很快就会订婚，

但还有我的其他女儿 柯林斯先生，

她继续鼓励

柯林斯先生只需从简

换成伊丽莎白，就在班尼特夫人倒茶时很快就完成了。

t to jane 出生和美丽

伊丽莎白是显而易见的选择

班内特夫人很高兴，希望

她能很快有两个女儿

嫁给

她前一天非常不喜欢的男人，

现在她在第四章中很喜欢她，

伊丽莎白遇见了威克姆先生

，后来那个 早上

，莉迪亚建议步行到美利通去参观一些

办公室

柯林斯先生自言自语，但当

他们进入美

利顿时，年轻的那些甚至不再

假装对他的谈话感兴趣，

而是急切地

四处寻找

办公室，这时所有的年轻女士都注意到了一个

非常绅士的年轻人，他们

以前从没见过

和警察一起走在街上，他们知道

他们都想知道这个英俊的

陌生人是谁 当军官

上前迎接他们时，

他请求允许介绍他的

朋友，他的名字叫 wickham 先生，他

显然是最近从

伦敦来的，要成为团里的军官，

这正是应该的，

因为年轻人只需要 军官的

制服变得完全迷人

他长得非常

漂亮，社交方式非常愉快，

介绍

完之后，小群里的谈话非常愉快，

他们仍然站着

愉快地交谈，当他们听到

马声，看到达西和

宾利时 两位绅士骑着马直奔

女士们打招呼，

宾利显然对

简·贝内特最感兴趣，并开始

特别对她的

达西说话，然而他刚决定

不看伊丽莎白，突然

注意到那个陌生人

，伊丽莎白偶然看到了达西的 和

威克姆在他们

看到对方

和她的那一刻的脸 威克姆先生摸了摸他的帽子，对会议的效果感到惊讶，

两人的颜色

一白一红

。 又过了一会儿，

似乎没有注意到发生了什么事的彬格莱先生

说再见，和达西先生一起骑马离开

了。 两位军官陪同年轻

女士们到菲利普斯夫人家，但

尽管莉迪亚一再

邀请

菲利普斯夫人总是很高兴，但他没有进去。 见她的

侄女们，并

在介绍

柯林斯先生

时最

礼貌地欢迎他 明天的一些办公室

我会请菲利普斯先生拜访威克姆先生

并邀请他也来，你们都来吗？

女孩们很高兴并

立即同意 他的安排和整个

小组愉快地回到朗伯恩，

讨论

他们将要与柯林斯先生度过一个愉快的夜晚，菲利普夫人的礼貌

给他留下了深刻的印象

，当他们到达朗伯恩

时，他称赞贝内特夫人第二天晚上她姐姐的优雅和迷人的

举止。

马车载着他

和他的五个表兄弟到美利坚

，

当她们进入大厅时，女孩们很高兴听到

威克姆先生已经接受了他们叔叔的

邀请，并且就在

这时柯林斯先生被带到

客厅并有时间 环顾四周

并欣赏它，他立即对

菲利普斯

夫人说，我必须赞美你

这个房间的大小和家具真的我

几乎可以想象自己在罗辛的

较小的夏季早餐室里

这句话一开始并没有让

女主人很高兴，

但是 当她从他那里

得知罗斯辛的房子是什么，它的主人是谁，以及凯瑟琳

夫人的家具要多少钱时

她意识到

那天晚上柯林斯先生发现

菲利普斯夫人是一位和蔼而细心的倾听者

，这是多么棒的赞美，这很幸运，因为班尼特的姑娘们

再也不能让自己听他讲话了，

所有的女士们都迫不及待地想见

威克姆先生 走进房间，他

显得

比在场的任何军官都更有魅力和绅士风度。

他是幸运的男人，几乎

所有女性的目光都转向他，伊丽莎白

是幸运的女人，他

终于在他身边坐下，

他愉快的交谈方式

使她 觉得他可以

很有趣地谈论任何事情，

因为他不玩

派对中的一些人正在玩的牌 他在晚上

的大部分时间里一直和伊丽莎白交谈，

她希望他能告诉她他是怎么认识

达西先生的，但她不敢提及

幸运的是，先生，不过 wickham 先生本人

开始谈论它，尽管我想以一种相当

犹豫的方式，

netherfield 离 meriton 很近

达西先生在那儿呆了多久

他在那儿呆了大约一个月

伊丽莎白

不愿就此罢休 她

补充说 这是一个拥有大量

财产和

德比郡的人 我明白 是的 回答 威克姆 他的年收入至少是一

万 我

比大多数人都更了解他，因为我从小

就和

他的

家人关系密切 你很了解达西先生

，就像我想哭的那样，

伊丽莎白我

和他在同一个房子里待了四天，我认为他

很讨厌

我认识他太久了，太了解他了

但我相信大多数人都会

对你的看法感到惊讶，

在赫特福德郡，他一点也不喜欢，

每个人都

对他的骄傲感到厌恶，你不会发现他

受到任何人的

称赞 不要假装

为他得到应有的重视而感到抱歉，但我

相信，对于他来说，这种情况并不经常发生

暂停后，我们命令

我想知道他是否会在

尼日菲尔德停留更长时间，

我完全不知道，

但我希望他的存在不会阻止你

成为这里的团里的军官

哦不，我不会被赶走 达西先生，

如果他不想见我，他必须

走，我之所以要避开他，是因为

我可以很容易地向全世界公开

他对我非常不好

他已故的父亲贝内特小姐是

有史以来最好的人之一

我曾经有过的最忠实的朋友

，每当我和达西先生在一起时，我都会非常

遗憾地想起他的父亲，

达西先生对我的行为很恶劣，

但我可以原谅他任何事情，除了

对他父亲记忆的侮辱，

伊丽莎白很着迷，

热切地听着 ly

但不想问任何问题

wickham 先生开始更一般地

谈论 Meriton 和他在那里遇到的迷人的人

事实上这就是为什么我很想加入

这个团的原因 我听说海事

协会是最令人愉快的社会 我

承认 对我来说，

我是一个失望的人，你看，

我根本不打算参军

刚才真希望

是的，

达西先生的父亲一直很

喜欢我，打算给我

彭伯利校长的职位，

但不幸的是，在他去世后，当

这个职位空缺时，它被给了

别人，

没有哭泣的伊丽莎白吓坏了，但是如何

会发生这种情况吗 为什么你没有得到

法律建议并声称你的东西是

正当的

达西先生的父亲没有书面表达他的

愿望

一个有荣誉感的人不会怀疑

他的意图

但达西先生选择将其视为

推荐，

我真的不能指责

自己做了任何应该

失去职位

的事情事实上他恨我

我想他是嫉妒他父亲

对我的爱，这从一开始就让他很恼火

非常令人震惊

我没想到达西先生这么坏

虽然我从不喜欢他

知道

我父亲放弃了他所有的时间来

照顾彭伯利农场

，并作为密友受到已故达西先生的高度赞赏，

他

在我父亲去世前承诺为

我提供现在的达西先生并没有选择

尊重这个承诺

奇怪的是，达西先生的骄傲并

没有让他帮助你，

他太骄傲了，不想表现得

不诚实，我必须这样称呼他

他当然

为自己的地位感到骄傲他的家人他的

父亲 r 和他姐姐你也知道

达西小姐是什么样的女孩

他摇摇

头 批评达西让我很痛苦

但她太像她哥哥了

非常非常自豪

她是一个大约 15 或 16 岁的英俊女孩

我非常理解 完成

我

对达西先生与宾利先生的亲密

友谊感到惊讶

就在这时，其他一些人也加入了他们的

行列，当柯林斯先生和菲利普斯夫人谈论他的赞助人时，谈话变得

更加笼统 他认为他认识她的时间不长，

但她最近给了他亨茨福德的一职

，

也许你知道凯瑟琳夫人

是总统塔西先生的姑姑，

我相信她打算毁了 y 她的

女儿将把一笔财产传给

达西先生

这个消息让伊丽莎白笑了起来

她想起了可怜的宾利小姐

为吸引达西先生所做的努力 可能

一切都是徒劳

的 晚宴结束了

伊丽莎白带着

满头 威克姆

除了他和

他第二天回家的路上她对她说的话她什么都想不起来 她

把她

和威克姆先生讨论的一切都告诉

简

友谊

，然而她不想怀疑

像 wickham elizabeth 先生这样和蔼可亲的年轻人的真实性，但她

确信

那天早上应该责备

达西先生

下个星期二在尼德菲尔德捐献，

班尼特家的每个女性都

期待着它，甚至连玛丽都

抬起头来 她的书说

只要我早上有

空闲认真阅读就不会微笑 我不介意

晚上与人见面 我

认为放松和娱乐

对每个人都有好处

与柯林斯先生亲切交谈的非同寻常的努力，

您能接受宾利先生的邀请

吗？

和

我所有美丽的表亲一起跳舞，我

借此机会请你

为前两支舞的伊丽莎白小姐

特别是

她感到非常惊讶和

恼火，她曾希望威克姆会

请她跳那些舞，但现在她

可以让柯林斯先生代替

她 然而他没有拒绝

，他的要求也让她担心，

他的态度似乎特别

讨人喜欢

，这让她产生了一个不受欢迎的想法，

也许是 他从

她的姐妹中被选为亨茨福德妻子的校长，

因为她观察到

他对她的美丽和性格的赞美越来越多，

她确信他

暂时打算求婚，但她决定什么也不做，

只等 看到

星期二晚上，伊丽莎白

走进尼瑟菲尔德的大厅，

徒劳地在

聚集在那里的红大衣中寻找威克姆先生，她

惊讶和失望地看到他

不在场，

她从不怀疑他会来，

而且穿着比她更多 平时的

关心是希望赢得他的

心，他知道这已经是她的一部分了，

但她立刻怀疑是

达西说服宾利不要邀请

威克姆

，尽管她从

一名军官那里发现，事实上威克姆是

被邀请的，但被叫走了。

她确信威克姆

想避免遇到达西，

因此当达西向她打招呼时，她将此归咎于达西 e

对他很生气，

几乎无法礼貌地回答，

但很快她就变得开朗起来，

尽管威克姆不在，她也决心享受舞会，

不幸的是，与柯林斯先生的前两支舞

令人尴尬，

因为她的表弟不知道如何跳舞，

而且 非常尴尬

地离开了他，她松了一口气，

和一个军官跳了第三支舞，他

很高兴谈论

威克姆和他在

团里的声望，

之后她很

惊讶达西先生走近并邀请

她跳舞。 事实上，她惊讶地

接受了他，发现

自己站在舞池的他对面

，我很荣幸被允许

与达西先生跳舞

顿了顿，她又说话了

ouples

他笑了，

我会说任何你想让我说的

很好

的答复，

也许很快我会发现私人

舞会比公共舞会更愉快

，但现在我们可以保持沉默，

谈话需要安排在

这 这样一来，那些不

喜欢说话的人就不需要

付出任何努力，你是指自己

还是想我

除非我们能让整个房间感到惊讶和印象深刻

，否则我相信你不会

那样 他回答我不能说

我是否是

你显然认为所以

她什么

也没说你和你的姐妹们经常去

美利坚他继续

我们做她回答

并且无法抗拒

上周你在那里见到我们时她添加的诱惑 我们

刚刚被介绍给

某人 效果立竿见影

达西的

表情

在他艰难地说了一会儿之后又出现了新的冷漠

威克姆先生很随和，他

很容易交到朋友，

能不能留住他们

不太确定

他是不是很不幸失去了你的

友谊

舞会结束前只剩下再谈一点的时间了，

伊丽莎白去找简

，高兴地听着她描述她

对宾利的感情以及她

对他对她的爱的信心，

但除了简之外，

伊丽莎白似乎认为，如果她的家人

同意在舞会上尽可能地显得愚蠢，

他们

再成功不过了。

首先，柯林斯先生坚持要向

他尊敬的赞助人的侄子达西先生介绍自己，然后在晚饭时受到了

非常冷淡的接待，

然后无法阻止贝内特夫人

从大声对卢卡斯

夫人谈论她对

简与宾利结婚的巨大希望，

伊丽莎白尴尬地脸红了。

意识到宾利姐妹

和达西先生终于能够

听到需要音乐的

声音了

对于

她认识的人来说，柯林斯先生似乎决心

整晚都在她身边，

幸运的是，她的好朋友夏洛特·

卢卡斯偶尔会

通过亲切地听柯林斯先生的一些

长篇演讲让她松一口气

，至少伊丽莎白不必再和

达西先生说话了

他经常独自站在她身边，

但

在晚上结束时没有

靠近到足以

说话 热情

地称赞宾利的热情好客

，班尼特夫人邀请

宾利全家一起去朗伯恩看望

她尽可能地

感到非常满意，

相信在三四个月后简

会嫁给彬格莱，

她也确信伊丽莎白会

嫁给柯林斯先生，

这对伊丽莎白来说已经足够好，

她是她最不喜欢的

女儿，但没有那么令人印象深刻

简与宾利的婚姻

第五章

柯林斯先生

第二天早餐后不久在朗伯恩两次求婚，

柯林斯先生请贝内特夫人

允许与伊丽莎白私下谈话

被单独留下

伊丽莎白不想留下

起身离开

但想了一会儿 又坐下来

静静地听着

礼貌回答

再加上

你的其他魅力，

你几乎一进门就几乎不会怀疑我演讲的目的

我

选择了你作为我未来生活的伴侣，

但在我被自己的感情带走之前，

我想我应该说明我

嫁给

伊丽莎白的理由，他努力不去

嘲笑柯林斯先生

被他的感觉带走的想法 她

首先无法回答，

他继续说，

牧师嫁给其他人是正确的榜样，

其次，我相信婚姻会

大大增加我的幸福感

，第三，也许我应该

早先提到，我慷慨的赞助人曾

建议过我

找一个积极有用的人结婚，她

告诉我一个可以赚取微薄收入的女人

走很长一段路

，带她去亨茨福德做你的妻子，

我会去看她，

所以我决定从

我的贝内特表亲中选择一个妻子

当你父亲去世的悲伤事件发生时，减少对家庭的损失

鉴于

您在我们的婚姻中随身携带的钱很少，

并向您保证，我们结婚后我

不会无礼地提及这

件事，先生，现在绝对有必要打断

他，

您忘记了我没有回答

接受我的感谢 你

对我的恭维，但我当然

不可能接受你的

求婚，我理解柯林斯先生

说，年轻的女士们往往不接受

第一次求婚，因此我一点

也不气馁，

真诚地希望我们会 快结婚了，

伊丽莎白先生哭了，你的希望是相当

非凡的，在我说过之后，我

非常认真，

你不能让我快乐，我

相信我是世界上最后一个

能让你快乐的女人

，我敢肯定 如果凯瑟琳夫人认识

我，她会觉得我不

适合这种情况

当我

有幸再次见到她时，我

一定会告诉她

柯林斯先生，您确实是多么的谦虚

和实用

有钱，但我不能接受你的提议，

她起身准备离开

房间，但柯林斯先生又和她说话了

一位绅士第一次我希望

下次我和你谈论婚姻时得到更有利的回答

真的柯林斯先生有点

温暖地哭了伊丽莎白你让我感到困惑

我不知道如何表达我的拒绝，

以便让你相信

你必须允许 我自吹自擂，亲爱的

表弟，你不打算

长期拒绝我我的生活状况我

与德布尔家族的

关系以及我与你自己的关系都使我的

提议非常合适，

而你 应该记住，尽管

您有许多令人钦佩的品质，但由于您自己的钱很少

，因此不确定您是否会收到任何其他

婚姻提议，

先生

，再次感谢您对我的荣幸，

但接受您的提议

绝对是 我不可能说

得比这更直白了

不要认为我是一个优雅的女性，

而是一个会说真话的有思想的生物，

你很迷人，他哭了

，我相信当你

优秀的父母都同意时，你会接受

我的提议

伊丽莎白没有回答，

而是默默地离开了房间，决定

是否有必要询问她的父亲，以

向自欺欺人的柯林斯先生表明她的拒绝，

班内特夫人一直在

急切地等待采访结束

，当她看到伊丽莎白离开

房间时，她急忙赶去 在

向柯林斯先生表示祝贺时，

他高兴地接受了他们，

并补充说他确信他表弟的

拒绝是她

谦虚和优雅的性格的自然结果 再次

拒绝

贝内特夫人震惊

莉齐拒绝了 你别担心

柯林斯先生 我会马上和

她说话 她是一个非常固执的愚蠢女孩 但

我会让她接受你 请原谅我 女士

柯林斯先生哭了 但如果她真的

固执又愚蠢 我愿意 不认为她

会是我这种情况的男人的合适妻子，

先生，您误解了我的意思，说

班尼特夫人惊慌失措，

她只是在这样的事情上固执己见，

其他一切她都非常

和蔼可亲，我会见班尼特先生，我们会

安排的 和她在一起，我敢肯定

她没有给他时间回复，而是

匆匆赶到图书馆，她知道

她会在那里找到她的丈夫

哦，班尼特先生，我们迫切需要你，我们

都陷入了如此混乱，你必须来

让莉齐嫁给柯林斯先生

贝内特先生从他的书上抬起眼睛，

她走进来，

平静而

关切地凝视着

她

你他会改变主意

，没有她，

所以我该怎么办，这似乎是件没有希望的事

，你自己跟她谈谈，告诉她

你坚持要她嫁给他，

把她叫到这里，她会听到我的

意见，

班内特夫人高兴地按门铃

仆人把伊丽莎白带到

图书馆

来了，孩子说她父亲

出现了，

我已经派人来处理一件非常重要的

事情，

我知道柯林斯先生向

你求婚，你

拒绝

了。

好吧，

现在你妈妈坚持要你

接受，对不对，班内特夫人，

是的，否则我再也见不到她了

，从今天起，你现在有一个不愉快的选择要让

伊丽莎白

成为你的父母，你的父母一定是陌生人。

如果

你不嫁给柯林斯先生，我就

再也见不到你了

贝内特先生，

你答应过我，你会坚持让她

嫁给他，

亲爱的，她丈夫回答说，我有两个

小要求，

首先你要接受我知道我

承诺或没有承诺的事情，其次

，你们都会让我平静下来，因为

那天下午，夏洛特·卢卡斯尽快来

拜访伊丽莎白，发现全家人

仍然很困惑

你说服伊丽莎白接受

柯林斯先生

没有人愿意帮助我

完全

没有，

当你父亲死后

我将无法养活你我现在警告你我在图书馆告诉你

我不会再和你说话，我

不会说话我不开心

对像你这样不孝的孩子，

并不是说我很高兴

与头痛的任何人交谈，

没人知道我有多痛苦，

但当然，

那些不抱怨的人永远不会

可怜

她的女儿们默默地听着，

意识到任何试图让她平静下来

只会增加 然而，她的烦恼

伊丽莎白决定不

嫁给柯林斯先生

，最终贝内特夫人

不得不接受这一事实，

因为柯林斯先生意识到伊丽莎白

对她说的话是认真的，他

对她的态度变得冷淡而生硬，

他长篇大论和恭维

恭维

余下的一天都转给了好心的夏洛特·卢卡斯

，夏洛特·卢卡斯自己承担了听他的麻烦，为此夏勒·

贝内茨非常

感激第二天，一封

来自尼瑟菲尔德的信给简

伊丽莎白看到她姐姐

读信时的表情发生了变化， 当他们一个人的时候

，她问起这

件事是卡罗琳宾利说的简

，这让我非常惊讶

整个派对都离开了尼日菲尔德

，正在回伦敦的路上

可能过冬

他们可能根本不会回到尼日菲尔德

她说她唯一真正

后悔的事情是把我留在

赫特福德郡并承诺会经常写作

伊丽莎白不信任 宾利小姐

对简的感情

我真的不认为他们的离开

很重要她说

宾利先生不会被

他的姐妹们留在伦敦我相信他很快就会回到

尼日菲尔德

但也许他更喜欢留在 伦敦

，他的许多朋友都在那里，但我

还没有告诉你一切，

让我读给你特别伤害我的部分，

达西先生迫不及待地想见他的妹妹

，我们承认我们也渴望再次见到

她，

没有人比她更美丽优雅 或

比乔治亚娜·达西·

路易莎（Georgiana darcy louisa）有成就，我对她有好感

，希望有一天能打电话给她的姐姐，

我的兄弟非常钦佩她，

他将有很多机会

见到她

虽然我是他的妹妹，但我必须说，

我认为他最有能力赢得

任何女人的心，

你怎么看这位亲爱的莉齐，这

还不够清楚吗？卡罗琳不

希望或期望我成为她的

嫂子 她深信她

哥哥对我的冷漠，

也许是因为她怀疑我

对他的感情，她最善意地警告我，

他很可能会嫁给别人，

我的看法完全不同

嫁给

达西小姐，我们对他们来说不够富有或不够

盛大，她渴望

与达西一家建立家庭联系，

这样她可能更容易嫁给达西先生，

所以她跟随她的兄弟到伦敦

希望留住他 在那里并试图

说服你他不在乎你，

但他当然爱你

我真的不能同意

你关于卡罗琳的看法

她的兄弟和他确实关心

我，

我能不能幸福并接受一个他

的姐妹和朋友都希望他

嫁给别人的男人，

你必须自己决定

，如果你认为

做他姐妹们想做的事情比

获得幸福更重要 作为他的妻子

我当然建议你拒绝他

你怎么能这么说简微笑着说

你知道我会毫不犹豫

虽然如果他们不赞成我我会很难

过

但

如果他不回来的话我亲爱的

我永远不必做决定，

但伊丽莎白确信宾格利先生

不能被他的

姐妹们挡在简身边，并很快说服简对

当天的情况

抱有更乐观的看法。 卢卡斯旅馆的卢卡斯一家

又是夏洛特，晚上大部分时间都

在听科林斯先生的讲话。

伊丽莎白

不知道

她的计划的主要目的是鼓励柯林斯先生

把注意力转移到自己身上

，事实上，她做得很好

，以至于当她在晚饭后对他说晚安时，

如果他留在家里，她肯定会成功的。

赫特福德郡又过了一个星期，

但她并没有完全理解

他性格的热情和独立，

这导致他

第二天早上很早就起床，

急忙逃离朗伯恩的房子，赶到卢卡斯

旅馆，扑倒在

她的脚下，

她没有 让他等待

答案，这对幸福的

夫妇很快就订婚

了 贝内特先生很可能在夏洛特生活多年，

她自己很满意

柯林斯先生当然既

不明智也不讨人喜欢，但他仍然

会是一个 丈夫，

她不看好男人，也不看好

婚姻，

但她一直打算结婚，

尽管婚姻可能并不总是带来

幸福，但这

是一个受过良好教育、

收入微薄的女人现在为自己提供一个家的唯一体面方式

27 和 缺乏美貌的

她觉得自己很幸运找到了一个

她认识的丈夫，然而

她非常重视友谊的伊丽莎白会

感到惊讶，甚至可能不赞成，

所以她决定去朗伯恩的

房子告诉她的朋友这个消息，她自己

伊丽莎白一开始确实很震惊

， 夏洛特忍不住惊呼出声，

但当夏洛特解释她

接受科林斯先生的理由时，伊丽莎白

努力理解

当班尼特家族的其他人

听到这个消息时，他们也很惊讶，

班尼特夫人非常害怕，

忍不住痛苦地

抱怨夏洛特的邪恶 柯林斯先生的

愚蠢和伊丽莎白的

固执 很高兴地发现，

他曾经认为相当

通情达理的夏洛特和他的妻子一样愚蠢，

比他的女儿更愚蠢

，那天是柯林斯先生最后一次在

朗伯恩，他带着许多

感谢词离开，并承诺很快回来

班尼特先生警告他要小心，不要

因为经常缺勤而冒犯他的赞助人，

但柯林斯先生虽然非常

感谢班尼特先生

对他表亲的爱意，但他自然

渴望回到赫特福德郡，看看

他未来的妻子

只有两个 几周后，他确实

回到了朗伯恩，但他大部分时间都

在卢卡斯旅馆

安排婚礼，

班尼特夫人仍然觉得他很生气，

但她现在开始

担心更重要的事情，

宾利先生继续缺席

一天 自从卡罗琳宾利的信来了之后，一天过去了，没有任何消息

，

伊丽莎白现在相当担心，

简担心最坏

的情况

终于收到了卡罗琳·宾利的第二封信

，当简读到这封信时，她意识到

宾利一家人

整个冬天都待在伦敦，乔治亚娜·达西

是他们圈子的常客，

宾利小姐高兴地吹嘘这种

友谊，看着 期待她

哥哥可能的婚姻 想念

达西

尽管她很沮丧

简勇敢地试图控制她的

感情

不用担心 莉齐

我很快就会忘记他

我没有什么可抱怨的，因为他

没有对我做出任何承诺

我只是 以为他关心我，但我

错了，

幸运的是，除了我自己，没有人受伤

我亲爱的简说伊丽莎白你

太好了，你总是认为每个人都是最好的，

现在我认为大多数人都是最坏的

，看不到太多真正的价值或

常识 例如，在我身边的宾利先生，

他可能并不打算伤害你，但

痛苦可能是由一个软弱和优柔寡断的人造成的，

我相信他的姐妹和他的朋友

m r darcy 正试图影响他

反对你

另一个例子是 charlotte 我无法

理解她怎么会同意嫁给

这样一个自以为是的骄傲的傻男人

亲爱的 lizzy 说 jane

我们必须尊重 charlotte 的决定

她很可能会对柯林斯先生

和 至于宾利先生，

我们不应该指望一个善于交际的年轻人

对他的行为如此小心，

女性通常认为钦佩的

意义远大于实际意义，

而男人希望这种情况发生

我更愿意相信我

误以为他关心我是错误的 并且他的

姐妹们爱他并同意他

与达西小姐结婚

的愿望

他们之间

第 6 章

伊丽莎白

下周一拜访柯林斯

夫妇 德纳是个懂事的绅士

，尼德菲尔德的女士们

很难相信一个

以买卖为生的男人会

如此彬彬有礼和令人愉快

，

比贝内特夫人和菲利普斯夫人年轻几岁的加德纳夫人

是一个令人愉快的人 聪明

优雅的女人，是

她长生不老的侄女们的最爱，尤其是

当加德纳夫人送出她带来的礼物

并描述

她不得不听

贝内特夫人抱怨的最新时尚时，经常和她一起住在伦敦的两个大女儿

自从你上次来访后，我受了很大的痛苦，

贝内特夫人

，我的两个女儿

都快要结婚了

如果她不是那么固执，她现在可能已经是柯林斯

夫人了，结果是卢卡斯夫人会

在我之前娶一个女儿，

这让我很 有这么一个

不听话的女儿和这么自私的

邻居，

但你刚刚来，

对我来说是一个

很大

的安慰 -law

，那天晚些时候，我有机会

单独和 elizabeth 更详细地讨论这件事，

我为简感到抱歉，她和蔼地说，但

lizzy，这些事情经常发生，

像宾利先生这样的年轻人经常

爱上一个漂亮的女孩，

当 机会将他们分开，他很快就忘记

了她

是的，阿姨说伊丽莎白，但在这种情况下，

这不是机会，而是年轻人的

干涉朋友将简

和宾利先生分开，

我敢肯定他是猛烈地爱上了

她

可怜的简，她是如此敏感，

我 恐怕她现在可能有一段时间无法克服它，

如果是你，莉兹，你会

通过

在这种情况中找到幽默来更快地恢复，

但你认为我可以说服简

和我们一起回来吗 到伦敦

换换空气或许会让她感觉好些

伊丽莎白非常感谢她

姑妈的好意建议，并

确信简会很乐意同意

我希望加德纳夫人补充说，她

不会被希望见到我们

的年轻人

所影响 住在城里如此不同的地方，

除非他真的来看她

，否则我们不太可能见面，这是完全不可能的，因为他的

朋友达西先生不允许他

穿着如此不合时宜的衣服去拜访

，尽管她提出了抗议

伊丽莎白暗地里想，简

可能会在伦敦见到宾利，一次

会面可能会重新唤起他

对她的感情。

园丁们在朗伯恩住了一个

星期

，班内特夫人确保

她的

兄弟和嫂子

无论何时在那里都能得到一些娱乐。 是在

朗伯恩家的一次晚宴，一些

军官总是被邀请

加德纳夫人，她注意到威克姆先生是常客，

而伊丽莎白 eth 对他赞不绝口，

小心翼翼地观察他们俩。

她看到的足以让她有点

焦虑，并决定

在他们单独的时候和 elizabeth 谈起他，

lizzie 她开始

我可以看出你和 wickham 先生彼此喜欢，

但我必须警告 你不要

认真对待他

我承认他是最有趣的

年轻人 但遗憾的是他没有财产

你是一个懂事的女孩 必须

意识到你

同意嫁给一个身无分文的年轻人会让你父亲失望

我亲爱的阿姨别担心 我会照顾好

自己和威克姆先生

，如果我能阻止的话

，他不会爱上我的

是迄今为止我见过的最讨人喜欢的人

，如果他真的爱我，

但我不想让我父亲失望

或让你们中的任何一个人不开心

我不能保证我会做什么，

但我会真的尽力去做我

认为 最明智的，我希望你对此感到

满意 姨妈回答说她是，并

得到了伊丽莎白的感谢，

几天后，园丁

们带着简回到了伦敦

，柯林斯先生的婚礼很快就

到了，贝内特夫人不得不看着

夏洛特·卢卡斯

在新娘离开前成为柯林斯夫人 亨茨福德的

朗伯恩，但是她要求伊丽莎白

尽快来她的新家看望她，

伊丽莎白无法拒绝，尽管她

不认为这是一次愉快的

访问，

但安排伊丽莎白将

陪伴威廉卢卡斯爵士和

他的一位玛丽亚 其他女儿

打算在 3 月去亨茨福德

简离开后的一周 伊丽莎白

收到姐姐的来信，

说她见过宾利小姐，希望

继续他们的友谊

几周后，卡罗琳·

宾格利不再尝试

与她以前的挚友交流

伊丽莎白得知简的失望后感到很难过，

但当她告诉

自己简不会再

被姐姐欺骗时，她感到更加高兴，至少

现在对哥哥的所有期望都已经

完全结束

，这是对他的一种惩罚，她真诚地

希望他很快就会嫁给先生。

根据威克姆的说法，达西的妹妹

会让他很快后悔他

在这个时候扔掉的东西伊丽莎白也

收到了加德纳夫人的一封信，

询问威克姆的情况

，她能够非常诚实地回答

说她没有嫁给

他的危险。 把感情

转嫁给刚刚继承了一万英镑的金小姐，

伊丽莎白看清了事情的经过

，心里却只是微微一

动，她能够说服

自己，

这样一个和蔼可亲的小伙子

发财是理所当然的事情。 独立的

一月和二月过去了，

伊丽莎白拜访柯林斯夫人的时间

临近

了。 改进了计划，安排

在伦敦的叔叔

和婶婶家过夜，然后继续

前往肯特郡。

她非常期待

见到仍然和园丁们住在一起的简。

对伊丽莎白来说，旅程似乎很长，

因为威廉爵士和玛丽亚爵士 没有

什么值得一听的，

但是当

午餐时间马车到达园丁家时，伊丽莎白

很高兴地看到她的妹妹

看起来像以前一样健康可爱，

后来在与她姑姑的私人谈话中，伊丽莎白发现

简一直在经期

尽管她总是

勇敢地装出快乐

的样子，但下午和晚上过得

太快了，第二天

，

当马车到达亨茨福德时，伊丽莎白和其他旅行者再次出发，

看到

路边的女士，她们都很兴奋 凯瑟琳的大

公园，他们听说了很多

，终于在另一边他们来到

了娱乐场 他们

受到柯林斯先生的热烈欢迎，而

夏洛特·伊丽莎白

对她的到来感到越来越高兴，因为她发现

自己受到如此亲切的接待，

她立即看到婚姻并没有

改变她堂兄的举止，

他坚持要以

正式的礼貌和长篇大论来问候他们 并带

他们参观房子

，用详尽的细节解释它的许多优点

伊丽莎白不禁想到，

也许他是在特别对

她说话，好像想让她感受到

拒绝他所失去的

东西，但尽管一切看起来都很整洁

舒适，但她还是

遗憾地叹了口气，无法取悦他，

事实上，她想知道夏洛特

和这样的同伴在一起怎么会显得如此愉快，

但每当柯林斯先生

说出他妻子可能会感到羞耻的事情时，

夏洛特通常明智地似乎没有

在听，

而当 柯林斯先生自豪地带他们

参观了他的花园，他本人

很喜欢在花园里工作 red

夏洛特严肃地称赞

园艺是一种最健康的运动，并

承认鼓励她的丈夫

尽可能多地在户外工作

伊丽莎白不得不对自己承认，当

柯林斯先生被遗忘时，夏洛特似乎真的

很高兴

房子看起来很 愉快而

舒适，而且夏洛特显然很喜欢

她的家，

伊丽莎白猜想他一定经常被

遗忘，

来访者只在屋里呆

了一天，凯瑟琳夫人发来一条消息，

邀请他们第二天在罗辛公园吃晚饭，

柯林斯先生很高兴 并

祝贺他的客人

好运 我承认我可能

期待她的领导会邀请我们所有人

在星期天在rosings喝茶 他

说但是

在你到达后不久就邀请全党共进晚餐真是

一位慷慨和体贴的女士 她

是那天剩下的时间

，第二天早上都在讨论

他们对罗辛斯的访问

这让威廉和玛丽亚爵士

在穿过公园进入

大夫人家

的那一刻

变得非常紧张 一个

僵硬而骄傲的女人，

以轻蔑的神情接待她的客人

她在每件事上都大声而果断，

并且清楚地相信自己

比其他人优越

她的女儿安妮完全

不同

一个瘦弱的女人，

很少说话 只是在耳语中

，晚餐非常好，

得到了柯林斯先生的高度赞扬，他一再的

赞美，伊丽莎白认为很

尴尬，似乎让凯瑟琳夫人

在晚餐后非常高兴，她的夫人

不断地谈论她的意见，

不怕矛盾甚至

评论

她 然后问了伊丽莎白许多

关于她对

姐妹们的教育的详细问题 和她父亲的收入

尽管伊丽莎白认为这些

问题非常私人而且几乎是

粗鲁的，但她礼貌而平静地回答了这些问题

，在漫长的夜晚结束时，

游客们

乘坐凯瑟琳夫人的马车回家，而柯林斯先生则

称赞他的赞助人这次访问的优雅、

智慧和热情好客

每周重复两次，

但在亨茨福德几乎没有其他娱乐活动

伊丽莎白与夏洛特愉快地交谈

或看书或

沿着凯瑟琳夫人公园旁的一条狭窄小路走，

似乎没有其他人使用

这是一种安静的生活，

但她很满意

然而，

在她到达亨茨福德两周后，

她听说一些访客要

来罗辛

夫人凯瑟琳夫人的侄子住宿，

预计达西先生很快就会在他的堂兄

菲茨威廉上校的陪同

下抵达第二天，这两位先生

几乎立即来到了

教区长菲茨威廉上校。 三十左右

不帅但很有绅士风度 他

和女士们愉快地交谈，

但达西先生看起来一如既往的冷酷和骄傲

，在问候柯林斯夫人之后

，她只对伊丽莎白说了几句生硬的客气话，

她趁机

问他最近有没有机会在伦敦见过简

，

当他回答说他

在两位先生

回到

罗辛斯后不久就没有那种快乐时，他觉得

他看起来有点困惑

但直到复活节，

他们才收到凯瑟琳夫人的邀请

，当他们到达她的

起居室时，很明显她

对她的侄子比对她的其他客人更感兴趣，

但菲茨威廉上校似乎

很高兴见到他们

， 他立刻来到伊丽莎白身边坐下，

他们在一起谈得那么愉快，那么有趣

，以至于达西先生把目光

转向他们，我 好奇地看了

他们几眼

，夫人也注意到

她在房间对面大声

喊菲茨威廉

，你和班尼特小姐在说

什么让我听听

我们在说什么音乐，夫人他说

我们再也无法避免

回复音乐

那么请和我们所有人

谈谈 如果你说的是音乐，我必须在谈话中分享我的

看法，我想在英国很少

有人比我更真正地享受

音乐，

或者

如果我曾经有过更好的自然品味 学会了演奏我

会成为一个伟大的音乐家，

但我经常告诉年轻女士练习

很重要

我已经多次告诉贝内特小姐

，除非她练习更多，否则她永远不会演奏得非常好

，

非常欢迎她来

rosings练习

仆人大厅里的钢琴 她不会

妨碍任何人 我可以向她保证

达西先生对他姑姑麻木不仁的话显得有些羞愧 同时菲茨威廉上校

说服了伊丽莎 贝丝要弹奏一些音乐

，她在钢琴前坐下，但当

她开始弹奏时，达西先生走到

钢琴前，在

她的第一首乐曲结束时，他可以

清楚地看到她的脸，伊丽莎白说对

你微笑 打算来听我说话来吓唬达西先生，

但我很固执

，不会害怕 意识到你

偶尔喜欢发表

不属于你自己的观点

伊丽莎白嘲笑自己的这张照片

并对菲茨威廉上校说

你的堂兄会教你不要

相信一个词

也许也很愚蠢，因为

我可能会报仇雪恨，

告诉你的亲戚听到这些事情会

感到震惊

我不怕你说达西

微笑

但让我听到你的指责哭泣

菲茨威廉上校

我想 听听他在

陌生人中的表现

为非常可怕的事情做好准备

我第一次见到他是

在赫特福德郡的一个舞会上

，在这个舞会上

你认为他做了什么

他只跳了四支舞

我很抱歉让你痛苦但是 事情

就是这样，

他只跳了四支舞，尽管

绅士很少

，据我所知，不止

一位年轻女士坐下来

等舞伴，

达西先生，你必须承认

，当时我没有

幸在舞会上认识任何人 除了

我自己的一群朋友，

我也许应该要求被

介绍，但我不喜欢

向陌生人推荐自己

达西，这就是为什么菲茨威廉上校说

我不会弹这架钢琴，就像

其他一些女人说伊丽莎白一样，但我

一直认为这是我自己的错，

因为我不花时间

练习

我知道我有能力 aying

和任何人一样

darcy 笑着说

你是完全正确的

你已经以一种更好的方式度过了你的时间

没有听到你的人可以想象任何

可能的改进

我们都没有对陌生人进行任何改进

就在这时，凯瑟琳女士打断了

他们评论 elizabeth 的

如果班尼特小姐

有一位伦敦

老师，她会演得很好当然，如果安妮的

健康状况允许她学习的话，她会是一个令人愉快的表演者

。

否则她会不会发现任何爱的迹象，

甚至对他的表妹有兴趣

凯瑟琳夫人继续就她的演奏给贝内特小姐提供建议，

但应这位绅士的要求，

伊丽莎白在

晚上剩下的时间里一直待在钢琴

上