Pride and Prejudice — Chapter Ten (Abridged)

The day passed much as the day before had done. Jane, though slowly, continued to mend; and in the evening Elizabeth joined the party in the drawing-room. Mr. Darcy was writing, and Miss Bingley, seated near him, was watching the progress of his letter, and repeatedly calling off his attention by messages to his sister. Mr. Hurst and Mr. Bingley were at cards, while Mrs. Hurst observed their game.

Miss Bingley’s notice of Mr. Darcy was less employed in any concern for his letter than in admiration of his manner of writing. She praised the evenness of his lines, the length of his letters, and the pleasure his sister must have in receiving them. Darcy answered with civility, but little eagerness. Bingley, in contrast, confessed that he wrote carelessly, his ideas flowing too fast to be properly set down. Elizabeth, with playful irony, observed that such humility must disarm reproof; but Darcy maintained that modesty is often only another form of vanity, and that people are apt to value themselves for defects they imagine connected with superior qualities.

He then blamed Bingley’s readiness in forming resolutions and executing them too hastily. Bingley laughed at the charge, and declared that he disliked arguments, preferring ease and good humour to debate. Elizabeth, who entered readily into the spirit of such conversation, agreed that Mr. Darcy had better finish his letter than pursue the dispute; and Darcy, taking the advice, returned to his writing.

When his letter was completed, music was proposed. Miss Bingley immediately placed herself at the pianoforte, and Elizabeth, turning over some music books, could not help observing how often Mr. Darcy’s eyes were fixed on her. She hardly knew how to account for such attention, except by supposing that he found in her something more blameable than in any other person present. The thought did not vex her. She liked him too little to care for his approbation.

After a lively air had been played, Darcy approached her and asked whether she did not feel a great inclination to dance a reel. Elizabeth smiled, and after a moment replied that she believed he wished her to say yes, only that he might have the pleasure of despising her taste. She therefore determined to disappoint him, and declared that she had no desire to dance at all. Darcy answered, with more gallantry than she expected, that he did not dare despise her.

Elizabeth was astonished at such civility. There was, however, in her own manner a mixture of sweetness and arch playfulness which made it difficult for her to affront anybody; and Darcy had never been so bewitched by any woman as he was by her. In spite of his former objections, he found his admiration increasing. Miss Bingley saw enough of this to be jealous, and her anxiety for Jane’s recovery was not a little assisted by her desire of seeing Elizabeth removed from Netherfield.