Nodiver d.o.o. · Pride & Prejudice · page 26 of 640

Pride & Prejudice – page 26

JANE AUSTEN

introduced, and asked her for the two next. Then the

two third he danced with Miss King, and the two fourth

with Maria Lucas, and the two fifth with Jane again, and

the two sixth with Lizzy, and the Boulanger ”

“If he had had any compassion for me,” cried her

husband impatiently, “he would not have danced half

so much! For God’s sake, say no more of his partners.

O that he had sprained his ankle in the first place!”

“Oh! my dear,” continued Mrs. Bennet, “I am quite

delighted with him. He is so excessively handsome!

And his sisters are charming women. I never in my life

saw anything more elegant than their dresses. I dare

say the lace upon Mrs. Hurst’s gown”

Here she was interrupted again. Mr. Bennet

protested against any description of finery. She was

therefore obliged to seek another branch of the subject,

and related, with much bitterness of spirit and some

exaggeration, the shocking rudeness of Mr. Darcy.

“But I can assure you,” she added, “that Lizzy does

not lose much by not suiting his fancy; for he is a most

disagreeable, horrid man, not at all worth pleasing. So

high and so conceited that there was no enduring him!

He walked here, and he walked there, fancying himself

18