Mrs. Bennet and her five daughters tried to ask Mr. Bennet many questions about Mr. Bingley, but he refused to give them a good description. In the end, they had to find out information from their neighbor, Lady Lucas. Her report was very positive. She said Mr. Bingley was young, handsome, and extremely friendly. Best of all, he planned to come to the next public dance with a large group of friends. Mrs. Bennet was thrilled. "If I can see one of my daughters happily married at Netherfield," she told her husband, "I will be perfectly happy."
A few days later, Mr. Bingley visited Mr. Bennet in his library. The girls hoped to see him, but he only spoke with their father. However, they managed to watch him from an upstairs window. They noticed he wore a blue coat and rode a black horse.
Mrs. Bennet soon invited him to dinner. She was already planning the menu when a letter arrived. Mr. Bingley had to go to London, so he could not come. Mrs. Bennet was worried. She feared he might always be traveling and never settle down at Netherfield. However, Lady Lucas told her that he probably went to London just to bring a large group of people back for the ball.
When the night of the ball arrived, Mr. Bingley’s party entered the room. There were only five of them: Mr. Bingley, his two sisters, his brother-in-law, and a friend named Mr. Darcy.
Mr. Bingley was a true gentleman. He had a pleasant face and easy, natural manners. His friend Mr. Darcy, however, quickly caught everyone's attention. He was tall, handsome, and noble-looking. Within five minutes, a rumor spread that he earned ten thousand pounds a year. For the first half of the evening, everyone admired him. But then, the mood changed. People realized he was proud and looked down on everyone else. Even his great wealth couldn't make people like him. He looked annoyed and refused to be happy.
Mr. Bingley was the exact opposite. He was lively, met everyone in the room, and danced every single dance. He was even sad when the ball ended. But Mr. Darcy only danced twice—once with each of Bingley’s sisters. He refused to be introduced to any other lady and spent the night walking around the room. Everyone agreed he was the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world.
Mrs. Bennet hated him the most because he had been rude to Elizabeth. Because there were more women than men, Elizabeth had to sit down for two dances. During this time, Mr. Darcy was standing nearby. Mr. Bingley left the dance floor for a moment to speak to his friend.
"Come on, Darcy," Bingley said. "I want you to dance. I hate seeing you stand here by yourself. It looks stupid."
"I certainly will not," Darcy replied. "You know I hate dancing with people I don't know. Your sisters are already busy, and there isn't another woman in this room that I would want to dance with."
"I wouldn't be as picky as you for the whole world!" Bingley cried. "I’ve never met so many pretty girls in my life."
"You are dancing with the only handsome girl in the room," Darcy said, looking at the eldest Bennet daughter, Jane.
"She is the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen!" Bingley said. "But look, one of her sisters is sitting right behind you. She is very pretty and probably very nice. Let me introduce you."
Darcy turned around and looked at Elizabeth for a moment. When she looked back at him, he looked away. "She is okay," he said coldly, "but she is not handsome enough to tempt me. I am not in the mood to help young ladies that other men don't want to dance with. Go back to your partner and enjoy her smiles. You are wasting your time with me."
Mr. Bingley went back to Jane. Mr. Darcy walked away, and Elizabeth was left feeling very annoyed with him. However, she had a great sense of humor and loved ridiculous things, so she told the story to her friends and laughed about it.
Overall, the family had a wonderful evening. Mrs. Bennet saw that Jane was greatly admired. Mr. Bingley danced with her twice and his sisters were very kind to her. Mary heard someone say she was the most accomplished girl in the area, and Kitty and Lydia had partners all night.
When they returned home to the village of Longbourn, they found Mr. Bennet still awake reading. He hoped his wife's plans had failed, but he soon realized he had to listen to a long story.
"Oh, my dear Mr. Bennet," she cried, "we had a wonderful evening! Jane was so admired. Mr. Bingley thought she was beautiful and danced with her twice! Think of that! He only asked Jane twice."
She tried to describe every dance and every dress, but Mr. Bennet became impatient. He didn't want to hear about fashion. Then, Mrs. Bennet told him about Mr. Darcy's rudeness.
"I can assure you," she said, "that Lizzy isn't missing much. He is a horrid, proud man. He thought he was so great that he was too good to dance with her! I quite hate the man."