Wickham should invent such a history of himself as he gave me last
night; names, facts, everything mentioned without ceremony
Besides, there was truth in his looks.”

“It is difficult, indeed--it is distressing
One does not know what to
think.”

“I beg your pardon;--one knows exactly what to think.”

But Jane could think with certainty on only one point,--that Mr
Bingley, if he _had been_ imposed on, would have much to suffer when
the affair became public
The two young ladies were summoned from the shrubbery, where this
conversation passed, by the arrival of some of the very persons of whom
they had been speaking; Mr
Bingley and his sisters came to give their
personal invitation for the long expected ball at Netherfield, which was
fixed for the following Tuesday
The two ladies were delighted to see
their dear friend again, called it an age since they had met, and
repeatedly asked what she had been doing with herself since their
separation
To the rest of the family they paid little attention;
avoiding Mrs
Bennet as much as possible, saying not much to Elizabeth,
and nothing at all to the others
They were soon gone again, rising from
their seats with an activity which took their brother by surprise, and
hurrying off as if eager to escape from Mrs
The prospect of the Netherfield ball was extremely agreeable to every
female of the family
Bennet chose to consider it as given in
compliment to her eldest daughter, and was particularly flattered by
receiving the invitation from Mr
Bingley himself, instead of a
ceremonious card
Jane pictured to herself a happy evening in the
society of her two friends, and the attentions of their brother; and
Elizabeth thought with pleasure of dancing a great deal with Mr
Wickham, and of seeing a confirmation of everything in Mr
The happiness anticipated by Catherine and Lydia depended
less on any single event, or any particular person; for though they
each, like Elizabeth, meant to dance half the evening with Mr
Wickham,
he was by no means the only partner who could satisfy them, and a ball
was, at any rate, a ball
And even Mary could assure her family that she
had no disinclination for it
“While I can have my mornings to myself,” said she, “it is enough
I
think it is no sacrifice to join occasionally in evening engagements
Collins, she could not help asking
him whether he intended to accept Mr
She had fully proposed being
engaged by Wickham for those very dances; and to have Mr
Collins
instead!--her liveliness had been never worse timed
There was no help
for it, however
Wickham’s happiness and her own was perforce
delayed a little longer, and Mr
Collins’s proposal accepted with as
good a grace as she could
She was not the better pleased with his
gallantry, from the idea it suggested of something more
Elizabeth, however, did not choose
to take the hint, being well aware that a serious dispute must be the
consequence of any reply
Collins might never make the offer, and,
till he did, it was useless to quarrel about him
No
aunt, no officers, no news could be sought after; the very shoe-roses
for Netherfield were got by proxy
Even Elizabeth might have found some
trial of her patience in weather which totally suspended the improvement
of her acquaintance with Mr
Wickham; and nothing less than a dance on
Tuesday could have made such a Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday
endurable to Kitty and Lydia
[Illustration]




CHAPTER XVIII
[Illustration]

Till Elizabeth entered the drawing-room at Netherfield, and looked in
vain for Mr
Wickham among the cluster of red coats there assembled, a
doubt of his being present had never occurred to her
The certainty of
meeting him had not been checked by any of those recollections that
might not unreasonably have alarmed her
But in an instant arose the
dreadful suspicion of his being purposely omitted, for Mr
Darcy’s
pleasure, in the Bingleys’ invitation to the officers; and though this
was not exactly the case, the absolute fact of his absence was
pronounced by his friend Mr
Attention, forbearance, patience with Darcy, was injury to Wickham
She
was resolved against any sort of conversation with him, and turned away
with a degree of ill-humour which she could not wholly surmount even in
speaking to Mr
Bingley, whose blind partiality provoked her
The two first dances, however, brought a return of
distress: they were dances of mortification
The moment of her
release from him was ecstasy
She danced next with an officer, and had the refreshment of talking of
Wickham, and of hearing that he was universally liked
When those dances
were over, she returned to Charlotte Lucas, and was in conversation with
her, when she found herself suddenly addressed by Mr
Darcy, who took
her so much by surprise in his application for her hand, that, without
knowing what she did, she accepted him
He walked away again
immediately, and she was left to fret over her own want of presence of
mind: Charlotte tried to console her
“I dare say you will find him very agreeable.”

“Heaven forbid
_That_ would be the greatest misfortune of all
To find
a man agreeable whom one is determined to hate