Mr. Bennet was one of the first people to visit Mr. Bingley. He always intended to go, although he kept telling his wife that he would not. She had no idea he had actually gone until the next evening.
The secret came out while his second daughter, Elizabeth, was decorating a hat. Mr. Bennet suddenly said to her, "I hope Mr. Bingley will like it, Lizzy."
"We will never know what Mr. Bingley likes," her mother said angrily, "since we aren’t allowed to visit him."
"But mother," said Elizabeth, "we will meet him at the local dances. Mrs. Long promised to introduce us to him."
"I don't believe her," Mrs. Bennet replied. "She has two nieces of her own. She is a selfish woman and I don't trust her."
"I don't trust her either," said Mr. Bennet. "I’m glad you aren't counting on her help."
Mrs. Bennet did not answer. Instead, she began scolding her daughter Kitty.
"Stop coughing, Kitty! Have some sympathy for my nerves. You are tearing them to pieces!"
"Kitty has no control over her coughs," her father said. "She picks the wrong time to do it."
"I don't cough for fun," Kitty replied crossly.
Mrs. Bennet continued to complain. She was worried because Mrs. Long would not return until the day before the next ball. This meant Mrs. Long wouldn't have time to meet Mr. Bingley herself before the dance.
"Then, my dear," Mr. Bennet said, "you can introduce Mr. Bingley to Mrs. Long!"
"Impossible, Mr. Bennet! I don't know him myself. How can you tease me like this?"
"I admire your caution," Mr. Bennet replied. "Two weeks is a very short time to truly know a man. But if we don’t visit him, someone else will! Since you don't want to introduce him, I will do it myself."
The girls stared at their father. Mrs. Bennet cried out, "Nonsense, nonsense!"
"Why do you say that?" he asked. He then turned to his daughter Mary, who was known for reading deep books and thinking a lot. "What do you think, Mary?"
Mary wanted to say something very smart, but she didn't know what to say.
"While Mary is thinking," Mr. Bennet continued, "let's talk more about Mr. Bingley."
"I am sick of Mr. Bingley!" his wife shouted.
"I am sorry to hear that," Mr. Bennet said. "If I had known that this morning, I would not have visited him. It is very unlucky. But since I have already paid the visit, we cannot avoid him now."
The women were incredibly surprised. Mrs. Bennet was the most shocked of all, but as soon as she felt happy, she started claiming she knew he would go all along.
"How good you are, my dear Mr. Bennet! I knew I would persuade you in the end. I was sure you loved your daughters too much to miss such a chance. What a great joke—you went this morning and didn't say a word until now!"
"Now, Kitty, you can cough as much as you like," said Mr. Bennet. He felt tired from his wife’s excitement, so he left the room.
"What an excellent father you have, girls," Mrs. Bennet said when the door closed. "I don’t know how you will ever thank him. At our age, it isn't easy to make new friends every day, but we would do anything for you. Lydia, my love, even though you are the youngest, I’m sure Mr. Bingley will dance with you at the next ball."
"Oh," Lydia said confidently, "I’m not worried. I may be the youngest, but I am the tallest!"
They spent the rest of the evening wondering when Mr. Bingley would visit them and deciding when to invite him to dinner.