Pride and Prejudice / Гордость и предубеждение. Джейн Остин

and of associating with people of rank, and were therefore in every respect entitled to think well of themselves, and meanly of others. They were of a respectable family in the north of England; a circumstance more deeply impressed on their memories than that their brother's fortune and their own had been acquired by trade.

      Mr. Bingley inherited property to the amount of nearly a hundred thousand pounds from his father, who had intended to purchase an estate, but died. Mr. Bingley intended it likewise; but as he was now provided with a good house, it was doubtful to many of those who best knew the easiness of his temper, whether he might not spend the remainder of his days at Netherfield.

      His sisters were anxious for his having an estate of his own; but, though he was now only a tenant, Miss Bingley was not unwilling to preside at his table[14] – nor was Mrs. Hurst, who had married a man of more fashion than fortune,[15] less disposed to consider his house as her home when it suited her. Mr. Bingley had not been of age two years,[16] when he received an accidental recommendation to look at Netherfield House. He did look at it, and was pleased with the situation and the principal rooms, satisfied with what the owner said in its praise, and took it immediately.

      Between him and Darcy there was a very steady friendship, in spite of great opposition of character. Darcy liked Bingley for the easiness, openness, and flexibility of his temper, though it was a great contrast to his own, and though with his own he never appeared dissatisfied. Bingley had the highest opinion of Darcy's judgement. In understanding, Darcy was the superior. Bingley was not deficient[17], but Darcy was clever. He was at the same time haughty, reserved, and fastidious, and his manners were not inviting. In that respect his friend had greatly the advantage. Bingley was sure of being liked wherever he appeared, Darcy was continually giving offence.

      The manner in which they spoke of the Meryton assembly was sufficiently characteristic. Bingley had never met with more pleasant people or prettier girls in his life; everybody had been most kind and attentive to him; there had been no formality, no stiffness; he had soon felt acquainted with all the room; and, as to Miss Bennet, he could not imagine an angel more beautiful. Darcy, on the contrary, had seen a collection of people in whom there was little beauty and no fashion, for none of whom he had felt the smallest interest, and from none received either attention or pleasure. Miss Bennet he acknowledged to be pretty, but she smiled too much.

      Mrs. Hurst and her sister allowed it to be so – but still they admired her and liked her, and pronounced her to be a sweet girl, and one whom they would not object to know more of. Miss Bennet was therefore established as a sweet girl, and their brother was allowed to think of her as he chose.

      Chapter 5

      Within a short walk of Longbourn lived a family with whom the Bennets were particularly intimate. Sir William Lucas had been formerly in trade in Meryton, where he had made a good fortune, and risen to the honour of knighthood[18] by an address to the king during his mayoralty. The distinction had given him a disgust to his business, and to his residence in a small market town. He had removed with his family to a house about a mile from Meryton, named from that period Lucas Lodge, where he could think with pleasure of his own importance. Though elated by his rank, it did not make him arrogant; on the contrary, he was all attention to everybody.

      Lady Lucas was a very good kind of woman, not too clever to be a valuable neighbour to Mrs. Bennet. They had several children. The eldest of them, a sensible, intelligent young woman, about twenty-seven, was Elizabeth's intimate friend.

      That the Miss Lucases and the Miss Bennets should meet to talk over a ball was absolutely necessary; and the morning after the assembly brought the former to Longbourn to hear and to communicate.

      “You began the evening well, Charlotte,” said Mrs. Bennet to Miss Lucas. “ You were Mr. Bingley's first choice.”

      “Yes; but he seemed to like his second better.”

      “You mean Jane, I suppose, because he danced with her twice. That did seem as if he admired her – I heard something about it.”

      “Perhaps you mean what I overheard between him and Mr. Robinson; did not I mention it to you? Mr. Robinson asked him how he liked our Meryton assemblies, and whether he did not think there were very many pretty women in the room, and which he thought the prettiest, and he answered immediately to the last question: 'Oh, the eldest Miss Bennet, beyond a doubt; there cannot be two opinions on that point.'”

      “Upon my word![19] Well, that is very decided – but, however, it may all come to nothing, you know.”

      “My overhearings were more to the purpose[20] than yours, Eliza,” said Charlotte. “Mr. Darcy is not so well worth listening to as his friend, is he? – Poor Eliza! – to be only just tolerable.”

      “I beg you would not put it into Lizzy's head to be vexed by his ill-treatment, for he is such a disagreeable man, that it would be quite a misfortune to be liked by him. Mrs. Long told me last night that he sat close to her for half-an-hour without once opening his lips.”

      “Are you quite sure, ma'am?” said Jane. “I certainly saw Mr. Darcy speaking to her.”

      “Yes – because she asked him at last how he liked Netherfield, and he could not help answering her.”

      “Miss Bingley told me,” said Jane, “that he never speaks much, unless among his intimate acquaintances. With them he is remarkably agreeable.”

      “I do not believe a word of it, my dear. If he had been so very agreeable, he would have talked to Mrs. Long. But I can guess how it was; everybody says that he is eaten up with pride[21], and I dare say he had heard somehow that Mrs. Long does not keep a carriage, and had come to the ball in a hack chaise[22].”

      “I do not mind his not talking to Mrs. Long,” said Miss Lucas, “but I wish he had danced with Eliza.”

      “Another time, Lizzy,” said her mother, “I would not dance with him, if I were you.”

      “I believe, ma'am, I may safely promise you never to dance with him.”

      “His pride,” said Miss Lucas, “does not offend me so much as pride often does, because there is an excuse for it. One cannot wonder that such a fine young man, with family and fortune, should think highly of himself. If I may so express it, he has a right to be proud.”

      “That is very true,” replied Elizabeth, “and I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine.”

      “Pride,” observed Mary, “is a very common failing, I believe. By all that I have ever read, I am convinced that it is very common indeed; that human nature is particularly prone to it. Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.”

      “If I were as rich as Mr. Darcy,” cried a young Lucas, who came with his sisters, “I would not care how proud I was. I would keep a pack of foxhounds, and drink a bottle of wine a day.”

      “Then you would drink a great deal more than you ought,” said Mrs. Bennet; “and if I saw you at it, I would take away your bottle directly.”

      The boy protested that she would not; she continued to declare that she would, and the argument ended only with the visit.

      Chapter 6

      The ladies of Longbourn soon visited those of Netherfield. Miss Bennet's pleasing manners were liked by Mrs. Hurst and Miss Bingley; and though the mother was found to be intolerable, and the younger sisters not worth speaking to, a wish of being better acquainted with them

14

играть роль хозяйки за его столом

15

которая вышла замуж, скорее, за светского льва, а не богача

16

Не прошло и двух лет с момента совершеннолетия мистера Бингли

17

(зд.) недалёкий

18

удостоился дворянского титула

19

Честное слово!

20

Мои сведения были ценнее

21

он снедаем гордостью

22

приехала на бал в наёмной карете