傲慢與偏見1 A Young Man of Fortune

CHAPTER ONE

A Young Man of Fortune

It is well known throughout the world that a singleman wants to marry a wife, especially if he is rich andsuccessful.

Certainly, a mother of five daughters who are oldenough to marry also thinks a lot about marriage.When she hears that a wealthy man has moved into herneighborhood, she will surely think of him as a futurehusband for one of her daughters. This was the view ofMrs. Bennet of Longbourn House, which is nearMeryton in Hertfordshire. Mrs. Bennet had heard thenews in February 1810 that a single, wealthy man wasmoving near them. Excited by the opportunity, shedecided to tell her husband.

"My dear Mr. Bennet," she said to her husband,"do you know that someone is finally rentingNetherfield Park?"

Mr. Bennet was silent and did not answer her.

"Don't you want to know who is there?" cried hiswife, impatiently.

"Well, I'm sure you want to tell me."

"Well," Mrs. Bennet said excitedly, "Netherfieldis being rented by Mr. Bingley. He is a young, wealthyman from the north. "

"You don't say?" Mr. Bennet replied. "Is hemarried or single?"

"Oh, single, my dear!" cried Mrs. Bennetexcitedly. "What a good fortune for our daughters!"

"What do you mean by that? What does this haveto do with their fortune?"

"Oh, don't be so difficult, my dear Mr. Bennet!"replied his wife. "I'm just thinking that perhaps Mr.Bingley might marry one of our daughters."

"Is this why he has rented the house?" herhusband asked, jokingly.

"What nonsense! Still, it's likely that if he meetsone of our girls, he'll fall in love. So, you must go andpay him a visit soon. It's the only respectable way foran introduction."

Mr. Bennet stood up and looked at his wife. "I donot want to do that, and you cannot make me, Ipromise you. "

"But what about the future of your daughters?"cried his wife, shocked. "I don't see why I must visit him." said Mr.Bennet.

"How difficult you are!" she cried. "I cannot takethe girls to visit him unless you have already met him.It's the only correct way. "

"That's not true at all," said Mr. Bennet calmly."I will write this young man a letter. I will tell him hehas my permission to marry whichever of our daughtershe chooses. And I'll make sure that I say somethingvery good about my little Lizzy."

"You will not do such a thing!" cried his wifeangrily. "Anyway, Elizabeth is no better than ourother daughters."

"Our daughters," replied Mr. Bennet, "haven'tmuch in way of praise or recommendation. They don'tknow very much and are often silly, like other girls.But Lizzy is more clever and smarter than her sisters."

" Mr. Bennet, how you make me worry!Sometimes I feel you even enjoy it! You don't careabout my poor nerves."

Mr. Bennet walked over to the door of his library."You are wrong, my dear," he said. "I do havefeelings for your nerves. After all, they are like oldfriends. I have lived with them for twenty years. "

"Oh!" said Mrs. Bennet. She was beginning tocry. "How you enjoy making me worry!"

"You will have many other chances to see richyoung men move into our neighborhood, my dear. So Ihope you can forget this."

"You have no thought for your daughters. Five ofthem -- five! -- and Jane in her twenty-third year!Are they all to be old maids and never get married?"

"I'm sure you won't let this happen," he said, andthe library door closed behind him.

The Bennet family met together in the drawingroom after dinner that evening. Four of Mr. Bennet'sdaughters were quite pretty. Jane was the mostbeautiful of them but Elizabeth, who was twenty, hadmore spirit. Also, Elizabeth's fine dark eyes seemedfull of light. Kitty was their seventeen-year-olddaughter. She was pretty in a thin way. Lydia wasalmost sixteen and she was tall with healthy, redcolored cheeks. Nineteen-year old Mary was the onlyplain member of the family. She was thin, round-shouldered, and near-sighted. Because she read toomany books, she had to wear glasses.

Elizabeth was busy working on a hat when Mr.Bennet said to her: "I hope our new neighbor Mr.Bingley will like it. "

"And how are we to know whether Mr. Bingleylikes it or not," asked her mother, "if we cannot visithim?"

"Don't worry, Mama, you forget that we shall seehim at the town meeting," Elizabeth said.

"Lady Lucas will introduce us to Mr. Bingley ifyou ask her. " said Jane.

"Lady Lucas," said Mrs. Bennet, without anyhope, "has her own daughter. She'll want him to meether."

"That's not a very nice thing to say about her,Mama," said Elizabeth.

Mrs. Bennet threw up her arms and turned angrilyto Elizabeth. "Do not speak back to me, Elizabeth,"she cried. "My nerves will not stand it. A friendlyintroduction at a public meeting will not be as good asyour papa introducing himself. He has no thought foryour future at all."

She looked angrily across the room at herhusband.

"How can we convince you to visit Mr. Bingley,Papa?" asked Elizabeth, nicely. She hoped to changeher father's mind.

"Please do," said Jane.

"Oh yes, sir, I beg you!" requested Lydia.

"Leave me out of this request, Papa," said Mary,coldly. "I don't wish to go chasing after Mr. Bingley."

Mr. Bennet looked from one daughter to theother. "I've already told you -- I'm not going to call onMr. Bingley," he said.

"You see!" cried Mrs. Bennet. "He doesn't care!Oh, my poor head!" But Mrs. Bennet's complaininghad no effect on her husband. Since she was still upset,she began to yell at one of her daughters. "By heavens,stop coughing, Kitty! You will tear my poor nervesapart.

"Do you think I cough because I like to, Mama?"said Kitty.

"Please Kitty, your mother's being difficult,"remarked Mr. Bennet. "Let us talk a little more aboutMr. Bingley -- "

"No, no," cried his wife. "No more about Mr.Bingley !"

"I'm quite sorry to hear that, my dear," said herhusband. He was enjoying himself very much. "Whydidn't you tell me this before?" Mr. Bennet said,jokingly. "If I had known, I wouldn't have gone tovisit him yesterday morning."

"What!" cried Mrs. Bennet "You went to visithim?"

"Oh. Papa!" exclaimed Jane, Elizabeth, Kittyand Lydia, all at the same time.

"But my dear -- you said so strongly that youwould not go!" said his wife.

"That's because I had already done so, you see."

"Oh, how good of you, my dear! I knew youloved your daughters too much to miss the opportunityto meet with such a man of good fortune. What a goodjoke to play on us! Oh, my dear Mr. Bennet, howvery happy l am!"

"Now, Kitty, you may cough as much as you needto," said Mr. Bennet as he left the room. He was verytired after dealing with his wife.

"What a fine, thoughtful father you have, girls,"said Mrs. Bennet after the door was shut.

For the rest of the evening, the girls and theirmother wondered how soon it would be before Mr.Bingley returned their father's visit.