第2章

Mr. Bennet was among the earliest of those who waited on Mr. Bingley. He had always intended to visit him, though to the last always assuring his wife that he should not go; and till the evening after the visit was paid, she had no knowledge of it. It was then disclosed in the following manner. Observing his second daughter employed in trimming a hat, he suddenly addressed her with,

“I hope Mr. Bingley will like it, Lizzy.”

“We are not in a way to know what Mr. Bingley likes,”said her mother resentfully,“since we are not to visit.”

“But you forget, mama,”said Elizabeth,“that we shall meet him at the assemblies, and that Mrs. Long has promised to introduce him.”

“I do not believe Mrs. Long will do any such thing. She has two nieces of her own. She is a selfish, hypocritical woman, and I have no opinion of her.”

“No more have I,”said Mr. Bennet;“and I am glad to find that you do not depend on her serving you.”

Mrs. Bennet deigned not to make any reply; but unable to contain herself, began scolding one of her daughters.

“Don't keep coughing so, Kitty, for heaven's sake! Have a little compassion on my nerves. You tear them to pieces.”

“Kitty has no discretion in her coughs,”said her father;“she times them ill.”

“I do not cough for my own amusement,”replied Kitty fretfully.

“When is your next ball to be, Lizzy?”

“To-morrow fortnight.”

“Aye, so it is,”cried her mother,“and Mrs. Long does not come back till the day before; so it will be impossible for her to introduce him, for she will not know him herself.”

“Then, my dear, you may have the advantage of your friend, and introduce Mr. Bingley to her.”

“Impossible, Mr. Bennet, impossible, when I am not acquainted with him myself; how can you be so teasing?”

“I honour your circumspection. A fortnight's acquaintance is certainly very little. One cannot know what a man really is by the end of a fortnight. But if we do not venture, somebody else will; and after all, Mrs. Long and her nieces must stand their chance; and therefore, as she will think it an act of kindness, if you decline the office, I will take it on myself.”

The girls stared at their father. Mrs. Bennet said only,“Nonsense, nonsense!”

“What can be the meaning of that emphatic exclamation?”cried he.“Do you consider the forms of introduction, and the stress that is laid on them, as nonsense? I cannot quite agree with you there. What say you, Mary? for you are a young lady of deep reflection I know, and read great books, and make extracts.”

Mary wished to say something very sensible, but knew not how.

“While Mary is adjusting her ideas,”he continued,“let us return to Mr. Bingley.”

“I am sick of Mr. Bingley,”cried his wife.

“I am sorry to hear that; but why did not you tell me so before? If I had known as much this morning, I certainly would not have called on him. It is very unlucky; but as I have actually paid the visit, we cannot escape the acquaintance now.”

The astonishment of the ladies was just what he wished; that of Mrs. Bennet perhaps surpassing the rest; though when the first tumult of joy was over, she began to declare that it was what she had expected all the while.

“How good it was in you, my dear Mr. Bennet! But I knew I should persuade you at last. I was sure you loved our girls too well to neglect such an acquaintance. Well, how pleased I am! and it is such a good joke, too, that you should have gone this morning, and never said a word about it till now.”

“Now, Kitty, you may cough as much as you choose,”said Mr. Bennet; and, as he spoke, he left the room, fatigued with the raptures of his wife.

“What an excellent father you have, girls,”said she, when the door was shut.“I do not know how you will ever make him amends for his kindness; or me either, for that matter. At our time of life, it is not so pleasant I can tell you, to be making new acquaintance every day; but for your sakes, we would do anything. Lydia, my love, though you are the youngest, I dare say Mr. Bingley will dance with you at the next ball.”

“Oh!”said Lydia stoutly,“I am not afraid; for though I am the youngest, I'm the tallest.”

The rest of the evening was spent in conjecturing how soon he would return Mr. Bennet's visit, and determining when they should ask him to dinner.

贝内特先生是跟第一批人一起去拜访了宾利先生。尽管他总是向太太保证说他不想去拜访宾利先生，但他始终想去拜访；而且直到他拜访过后那天晚上，他的太太才知道这件事。当时这件事是以下面的方式披露的。看到二女儿在给一顶帽子镶边，他突然对她说道：

“丽齐，我希望宾利先生会喜欢这顶帽子。”

“我们不去拜访，”她的妈妈充满愤恨地说，“就不会知道宾利先生喜欢什么。”

“可你忘记了，妈妈，”伊丽莎白说，“聚会时我们会遇见他，朗太太答应过要介绍他的。”

“我相信朗太太不会做这种事儿。她自己还有两个侄女呢。她是一个自私伪善的女人，所以我瞧不起她。”

“我也瞧不起她，”贝内特先生说，“发现你不指靠她给你帮忙，我也很高兴。”

贝内特太太不屑回答，但又控制不住自己，就开始责骂起了其中一个女儿。

“基蒂，行行好，不要一直这样咳嗽了！稍微体谅一下我的神经吧。你会撕碎我的神经的。”

“基蒂咳嗽起来不管不顾，”她的爸爸说，“她咳嗽得不是时候。”

“我咳嗽又不是为了自己好玩。”基蒂烦躁不安地回道。

“丽齐，你们下次舞会是什么时候？”

“明天起再过两个星期。”

“唉，是这样，”她的妈妈嚷道，“朗太太要等到舞会前一天才回来；这么说，她不可能来介绍他了，因为她自己都还不认识他呢。”

“那么，亲爱的，你可以抢在你的朋友前面，把宾利先生介绍给她。”

“不可能，贝内特先生，不可能，我自己跟他不熟悉。你怎么能这样取笑呢？”

“你小心谨慎，我好有光彩。两个星期的认识当然算不了什么。跟一个人相处两个星期，不可能了解他的真正为人。不过，要是我们不冒险，别人就会冒险；别忘了，朗太太和她的侄女们一定会抓住这个良机；所以，她会认为这是对她的一番好意，要是你拒绝做这件事，那我就自己来吧。”

几个女儿盯着她们的父亲。贝内特太太只是说：“胡说！胡说！”

“你这样用力叫喊能有什么意思？”他大声说道，“你认为正经介绍和郑重其事是胡说？你这样说，我不大同意。玛丽，你说呢？因为我知道，你见解深刻，读过一些巨著，还做过摘录呢。”

玛丽想说几句通晓事理的话，但又不知道该怎么说才好。

“在玛丽整理思绪时，”他接着说道，“让我们再说说宾利先生吧。”

“我讨厌宾利先生！”他的太太嚷道。

“听到你这样说，我很难过；可你为什么以前不对我这样说呢？要是今天早上我知道这么多，那我肯定就不会去拜访他了。真倒霉；不过，既然我已经拜访过了，那我们现在就避不开结交他喽。”

太太小姐们表现出的惊讶正是他希望的，也许贝内特太太比女儿们更惊讶；然而，欢天喜地闹过之后，她开口宣称，这一直都是她意料之中的事儿。

“亲爱的贝内特先生，你心地真好啊！不过，我就知道我最后会说服你。我就确信你这样疼爱我们的女儿，不会忘了去认识这样一个人。啊，我真高兴！这是一个多棒的玩笑啊！你居然会今天上午去拜访他，而且到现在都只字未提。”

“好了，基蒂，你爱怎么咳嗽就怎么咳嗽吧，”贝内特先生说；而且，他一边说，一边离开了房间，厌烦了太太的欢天喜地。

“姑娘们，你们有一位多么出色的爸爸啊！”房门关上之后，她说，“我不知道你们为这件事会怎么报答他的恩情、怎么报答我。我可以告诉你们，我们活到了这个年纪，并不乐意每天去结交新朋友；不过，为了你们，我们什么都愿意做。丽迪雅，我的宝贝，尽管你年龄最小，但我敢说宾利先生下一场舞会一定会跟你跳舞。”

“噢！”丽迪雅坚定地说，“我才不怕呢，因为尽管我最年轻，但我个子最高。”

这个夜晚剩下的时间，她们是在猜测宾利先生会多快回访贝内特先生、决定何时请他吃饭中度过的。