Nodiver d.o.o. · Pride & Prejudice · page 34 of 640

Pride & Prejudice – page 34

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 tolerable fortune, and

risen to the honour of knighthood by an address to the

king during his mayoralty. The distinction had perhaps

been felt too strongly. It had given him a disgust to

his business, and to his residence in a small market

town; and, in quitting them both, he had removed

with his family to a house about a mile from Meryton,

denominated from that period Lucas Lodge, where he

could think with pleasure of his own importance, and,

unshackled by business, occupy himself solely in being

civil to all the world. For, though elated by his rank,

it did not render him supercilious; on the contrary, he

was all attention to everybody. By nature inoffensive,

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