Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 65

As soon as the guests were gone, Elizabeth wandered out, in order to recover her spirits; or, in other words, to think undisturbed about things which only served to sink her spirits still further.Mr. Darcy's conduct surprised and annoyed her. "If he's only here to appear silent, prim, and icy," she said, "why should he come?"

No matter how she thought about it, she didn't feel happy.

"When he was in the city, he was still very kind and pleasant to my uncle and aunt, but why did he treat me like this? If he was afraid of me, why did he come? If he didn't love me anymore, why should he Why don't you tell? This man is so confusing! I don't want to think about him any more."

Her determination was really used up for a while when her sister came forward, and when she saw her sister's happy expression, she knew that although the two guests had disappointed her, they were also full of her sister's wishes.

"Now," said Jane, "after this meeting, I'm quite at peace, and I know I'll handle it well, and I'll never feel awkward about his presence again. I'm glad he Come here for dinner on Tuesday, and then people will see that the meeting between me and him is just as a casual friend."

"Yes, the relationship is very weak," said Elizabeth, laughing. "Oh, Jane must be more careful."

"Dear Lizzy, don't think I'm so weak that I'm still rekindled."

"I think you are very likely to make him fall in love with you again and again."

On Tuesday, they saw the two guests again.Because Mrs. Bennet had seen Bingley in high spirits and good manners during the half-hour interview last time, she was in a good mood again and made many wishful thinking.

Many people came to Longbourne on Tuesday, and the two guests, whom the host was eagerly looking forward to, kept their word and came punctually for the dinner.Elizabeth watched Bingley carefully, as they entered the dining-room, to see if he would take the seat beside Jane, as he had formerly occupied that seat whenever there was a party.Her mother, too, had thought of this in advance, and was wise not to have Bingley on her side.He seemed hesitant when he first came in, but at this moment Jiying turned her head and smiled at him, and decided the matter.He sat down beside Jane.

Elizabeth felt a rush of satisfaction, and went to see his friend, to see how he would react.Darcy seemed too gracious to be indifferent to it; and if she had not given him a look of surprise and delight at seeing Bingley at this moment, she would have thought he had obtained Mr. Grace.

Mr. Bingley's manner towards his sister at dinner, though more restrained than before, showed a certain degree of admiration, which made Elizabeth feel that Jane's happiness and their Your own happiness will come soon.Although she was still not quite sure about the outcome of the matter, she was really happy to see his attitude like that.This gave her spirits a sudden life and vitality; for she was not in a happy mood at the moment.Mr. Darcy and her could not have been further apart, and he sat with his mother.She knew, of course, that the situation was neither pleasant nor interesting to either of them.She couldn't hear what they were talking about because of the distance, but she could see that they rarely spoke to each other, and when they did, they were both restrained and cold.Whenever her mother's neglect reminded her of the debt her family owed him, it made her sad; , and it's not that no one is grateful.

Elizabeth hoped that in the evening there would be an opportunity for them to be together, and that the whole interview would not end with a greeting when Darcy came in, and without a word.The time she had to wait in the drawing room before the gentlemen came in seemed restless and uninspiring to her, and almost made her lose her temper.She looked forward to their coming, and she knew that her evening's happiness depended on it.

"If he doesn't look for me when he comes in," she said, "then I'm going to give him up forever."

They came into the drawing-room, and it seemed to her that he was about to do what she wished; but unfortunately, while Miss Bennet was serving the tea, the ladies gathered round the table, where Elizabeth poured the coffee. , there is not even room for a chair.After they had come in, one of the girls came closer to her, and whispered to her:

"We can't have these two men squeezed between us. We don't want them; do we?"

Darcy walked across the room.Her eyes followed him all the time, and she was so jealous that he talked to anyone, she didn't even have the heart to pour coffee for others; later she hated herself for being so stupid.

"For a man who was rejected by me, how can I imagine that he will fall in love with me again? Which man would be so humble and propose to the same woman for the second time? How could their relationship bear such humiliation! "

But when she saw him coming towards him with the coffee, her spirits rekindled; and she seized the opportunity to say to him:

"Is your sister still at Pemberley?"

"Yes, she was there until Christmas."

"Is she alone? Are all her friends gone?
"Mrs. Agnesley's with her. The others are gone to Scarborough. He's going to be there for three weeks."

Elizabeth could think of nothing else to say; but if he would talk to her, he would have nothing to say.But he stood by her for some minutes without saying a word; and when the girl began to mutter something to Elizabeth, he went away.

After the tea sets were removed and the card tables were set, and the ladies stood up, Elizabeth hoped that he would come to her soon; but it was not good for him to see her mother playing Whistle around. He declined, and sat down at the poker table with other guests a few minutes later.And all her hopes were dashed.Now all the happiness she had hoped for was gone.They could only sit at their own card-tables, and she was all hopeless, and Darcy's eyes kept flicking to her, so that, like her own, his cards were not played well.

Mrs. Bennet wanted the two friends of Netherfield to supper; but unfortunately, their carriage arrived before any of the other guests, and she had no chance of retaining them.

"Daughters," said Mrs. Bennet, when the company was over, "do you think you are having a good day? I dare say everything is beautifully prepared. The food has never been so well cooked. Deer The meat was well cooked--everybody said they had never eaten such a fat loin. As for the soup, it was a hundred times better than what we had at Lucas's last week; even Mr. Darcy said partridge The roast was very good; I think he has at least two or three French cooks. And, my dear Jane, I never saw you more handsome than you are today. When I asked Mrs. Lange for her opinion, she So too. Guess what else she said? 'Ah! Mrs. Bennet, Jane's going to marry Nicerfield.' She really said it. I do think Mrs. Long is a very good person, too. —Her nieces are very sensible girls, only a little less handsome; I like them very much."

In short, Mrs. Bennet was now in a very good mood; she had seen Bingley's behavior towards Jane, and believed that Jane would get him in the end; He fantasized about such a beautiful thing, and even became quite depressed the next day because he didn't see him propose.

"It was a pleasant day," said Jane to Elizabeth afterward. "The guests were well received, and very agreeable to one another. I hope we shall be together often again."

Elizabeth smiled knowingly.

"Lizzy, you shouldn't be like this. You shouldn't have believed me. It hurts my pride. Honestly, I've learned to chat pleasantly with such a sensible and lovely young man now, without any other grievances." I am very satisfied with his current behavior, he never thought of trying to win over my feelings. It’s just that his conversation is better than others, and he hopes to win people’s favor.”

"You are cruel!" said her sister. "You don't make me laugh, but you make me laugh all the time."

"How hard it is to make people believe in themselves in some things!"

"And there are things that are simply impossible to believe!"

"But why do you insist on persuading me to admit that I have not been able to speak my mind?"

"I simply don't know how to answer this question of yours. We all like to persuade others, even if what we say is not worth listening to. Please forgive my frankness; if you insist on putting on a If nothing happened, then don't want me to be your confidant."

(End of this chapter)