第10章

The day passed much as the day before had done. Mrs. Hurst and Miss Bingley had spent some hours of the morning with the invalid, who continued, though slowly, to mend; and in the evening Elizabeth joined their party in the drawing room. The loo table, however, did not appear. Mr. Darcy was writing, and Miss Bingley, seated near him, was watching the progress of his letter, and repeatedly calling off his attention by messages to his sister. Mr. Hurst and Mr. Bingley were at piquet, and Mrs. Hurst was observing their game.

Elizabeth took up some needlework, and was sufficiently amused in attending to what passed between Darcy and his companion. The perpetual commendations of the lady either on his hand-writing, or on the evenness of his lines, or on the length of his letter, with the perfect unconcern with which her praises were received, formed a curious dialogue, and was exactly in unison with her opinion of each.

“How delighted Miss Darcy will be to receive such a letter!”

He made no answer.

“You write uncommonly fast.”

“You are mistaken. I write rather slowly.”

“How many letters you must have occasion to write in the course of the year! Letters of business too! How odious I should think them!”

“It is fortunate, then, that they fall to my lot instead of to yours.”

“Pray tell your sister that I long to see her.”

“I have already told her so once, by your desire.”

“I am afraid you do not like your pen. Let me mend it for you. I mend pens remarkably well.”

“Thank you-but I always mend my own.”

“How can you contrive to write so even?”

He was silent.

“Tell your sister I am delighted to hear of her improvement on the harp, and pray let her know that I am quite in raptures with her beautiful little design for a table, and I think it infinitely superior to Miss Grantley's.”

“Will you give me leave to defer your raptures till I write again? —At present I have not room to do them justice.”

“Oh! it is of no consequence. I shall see her in January. But do you always write such charming long letters to her, Mr. Darcy?”

“They are generally long; but whether always charming, it is not for me to determine.”

“It is a rule with me, that a person who can write a long letter, with ease, cannot write ill.”

“That will not do for a compliment to Darcy, Caroline,”cried her brother—“because he does not write with ease. He studies too much for words of four syllables. —Do not you, Darcy?”

“My stile of writing is very different from yours.”

“Oh!”cried Miss Bingley,“Charles writes in the most careless way imaginable. He leaves out half his words, and blots the rest.”

“My ideas flow so rapidly that I have not time to express them-by which means my letters sometimes convey no ideas at all to my correspondents.”

“Your humility, Mr. Bingley,”said Elizabeth,“must disarm reproof.”

“Nothing is more deceitful,”said Darcy,“than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast.”

“And which of the two do you call my little recent piece of modesty?”

“The indirect boast; -for you are really proud of your defects in writing, because you consider them as proceeding from a rapidity of thought and carelessness of execution, which if not estimable, you think at least highly interesting. The power of doing anything with quickness is always much prized by the possessor, and often without any attention to the imperfection of the performance. When you told Mrs. Bennet this morning that if you ever resolved on quitting Netherfield you should be gone in five minutes, you meant it to be a sort of panegyric, of compliment to yourself-and yet what is there so very laudable in a precipitance which must leave very necessary business undone, and can be of no real advantage to yourself or any one else?”

“Nay,”cried Bingley,“this is too much, to remember at night all the foolish things that were said in the morning. And yet, upon my honour, I believed what I said of myself to be true, and I believe it at this moment. At least, therefore, I did not assume the character of needless precipitance merely to show off before the ladies.”

“I dare say you believed it; but I am by no means convinced that you would be gone with such celerity. Your conduct would be quite as dependant on chance as that of any man I know;and if, as you were mounting your horse, a friend were to say,“Bingley, you had better stay till next week, '’you would probably do it, you would probably not go-and, at another word, might stay a month.”

“You have only proved by this,”cried Elizabeth,“that Mr. Bingley did not do justice to his own disposition. You have shown him off now much more than he did himself.”

“I am exceedingly gratified,”said Bingley,“by your converting what my friend says into a compliment on the sweetness of my temper. But I am afraid you are giving it a turn which that gentleman did by no means intend; for he would certainly think the better of me, if under such a circumstance I were to give a flat denial, and ride off as fast as I could.”

“Would Mr. Darcy then consider the rashness of your original intention as atoned for by your obstinacy in adhering to it?”

“Upon my word I cannot exactly explain the matter; Darcy must speak for himself.”

“You expect me to account for opinions which you choose to call mine, but which I have never acknowledged. Allowing the case, however, to stand according to your representation, you must remember, Miss Bennet, that the friend who is supposed to desire his return to the house, and the delay of his plan, has merely desired it, asked it without offering one argument in favour of its propriety.”

“To yield readily-easily-to the persuasion of a friend is no merit with you.”

“To yield without conviction is no compliment to the understanding of either.”

“You appear to me, Mr. Darcy, to allow nothing for the influence of friendship and affection. A regard for the requester would often make one readily yield to a request without waiting for arguments to reason one into it. I am not particularly speaking of such a case as you have supposed about Mr. Bingley. We may as well wait, perhaps, till the circumstance occurs, before we discuss the discretion of his behaviour thereupon. But in general and ordinary cases between friend and friend, where one of them is desired by the other to change a resolution of no very great moment, should you think ill of that person for complying with the desire, without waiting to be argued into it?”

“Will it not be advisable, before we proceed on this subject, to arrange with rather more precision the degree of importance which is to appertain to this request, as well as the degree of intimacy subsisting between the parties?”

“By all means,”cried Bingley;“Let us hear all the particulars, not forgetting their comparative height and size; for that will have more weight in the argument, Miss Bennet, than you may be aware of. I assure you that if Darcy were not such a great tall fellow, in comparison with myself, I should not pay him half so much deference. I declare I do not know a more aweful object than Darcy, on particular occasions, and in particular places; at his own house especially, and of a Sunday evening when he has nothing to do.”

Mr. Darcy smiled; but Elizabeth thought she could perceive that he was rather offended; and therefore checked he laugh. Miss Bingley warmly resented the indignity he had received in an expostulation with her brother for talking such nonsense.

“I see your design, Bingley,”said his friend. —“You dislike an argument, and want to silence this.”

“Perhaps I do. Arguments are too much like disputes. If you and Miss Bennet will defer yours till I am out of the room, I shall be very thankful; and then you may say whatever you like of me.”

“What you ask,”said Elizabeth,“is no sacrifice on my side; and Mr. Darcy had much better finish his letter,”

Mr. Darcy took her advice, and did finish his letter.

When that business was over, he applied to Miss Bingley and Elizabeth for the indulgence of some music. Miss Bingley moved with alacrity to the piano-forte, and after a polite request that Elizabeth would lead the way, which the other as politely and more earnestly negatived, she seated herself.

Mrs. Hurst sang with her sister, and while they were thus employed, Elizabeth could not help observing, as she turned over some music books that lay on the instrument, how frequently Mr. Darcy's eyes were fixed on her. She hardly knew how to suppose that she could be an object of admiration to so great man; and yet that he should look at her because he disliked her was still more strange. She could only imagine however, at last, that she drew his notice because there was a something about her more wrong and reprehensible, according to his ideas of right, than in any other person present. The supposition did not pain her. She liked him too little to care for his approbation.

After playing some Italian songs, Miss Bingley varied the charm by a lively Scotch air; and soon afterwards Mr. Darcy, drawing near Elizabeth, said to her-

“Do not you feel a great inclination, Miss Bennet, to seize such an opportunity of dancing a reel?”

She smiled, but made no answer. He repeated the question, with some surprise at her silence.

“Oh!”said she,“I heard you before; but I could not immediately determine what to say in reply. You wanted me, I know, to say“Yes, '’that you might have the pleasure of despising my taste; but I always delight in overthrowing those kind of schemes, and cheating a person of their premeditated contempt. I have therefore made up my mind to tell you that I do not want to dance a reel at all-and now despise me if you dare.”

“Indeed I do not dare.”

Elizabeth, having rather expected to affront him, was amazed at his gallantry; but there was a mixture of sweetness and archness in her manner which made it difficult for her to affront anybody; and Darcy had never been so bewitched by any woman as he was by her. He really believed, that were it not for the inferiority of her connections, he should be in some danger.

Miss Bingley saw, or suspected, enough to be jealous; and her great anxiety for the recovery of her dear friend Jane received some assistance from her desire of getting rid of Elizabeth.

She often tried to provoke Darcy into disliking her guest, by talking of their supposed marriage, and planning his happiness in such an alliance.

“I hope,”said she, as they were walking together in the shrubbery the next day,“you will give your mother-in-law a few hints, when this desirable event takes place, as to the advantage of holding her tongue; and if you can compass it, do cure the younger girls of running after the officers. —And, if I may mention so delicate a subject, endeavour to check that little something, bordering on conceit and impertinence, which your lady possesses.”

“Have you anything else to propose for my domestic felicity?”

“Oh! yes. —Do let the portraits of your uncle and aunt Philips be placed in the gallery at Pemberley. Put them next to your great uncle, the judge. They are in the same profession, you know; only in different lines. As for your Elizabeth's picture, you must not attempt to have it taken, for what painter could do justice to those beautiful eyes?”

“It would not be easy, indeed, to catch their expression, but their colour and shape, and the eye-lashes, so remarkably fine, might be copied.”

At that moment they were met from another walk, by Mrs. Hurst and Elizabeth herself.

“I did not know that you intended to walk,”said Miss Bingley, in some confusion, lest they had been overheard.

“You used us abominably ill,”answered Mrs. Hurst,“in running away without telling us that you were coming out.”Then taking the disengaged arm of Mr. Darcy, she left Elizabeth to walk by herself. The path just admitted three.

Mr. Darcy felt their rudeness and immediately said, -

“This walk is not wide enough for our party. We had better go into the avenue.”

But Elizabeth, who had not the least inclination to remain with them, laughingly answered,

“No, no; stay where you are. —You are charmingly group'd, and appear to uncommon advantage. The picturesque would be spoilt by admitting a fourth. Good bye.”

She then ran gaily off, rejoicing, as she rambled about, in the hope of being at home again in a day or two. Jane was already so much recovered as to intend leaving her room for a couple of hours that evening.

这一天和前一天过得几乎一样。赫斯特太太和宾利小姐上午陪了病人几个小时。尽管病人好转得慢，但在继续好转；晚上，伊丽莎白和宾利一家坐在客厅。然而，卢牌桌没有出现。达西先生正在写信；宾利小姐坐在他的身边，目不转睛地看着他写信，反复打断他的注意力，让他随信问候他的妹妹。赫斯特先生和宾利先生在打皮克牌，赫斯特太太则在看着他们打。

伊丽莎白拿起针线活，听着达西和宾利小姐的谈话，觉得格外有趣。宾利小姐不断赞扬，要么是赞扬他写的字，要么是赞扬他的字行行工整，要么是赞扬他的信写得长，对方对她的赞扬却漠不关心。这形成了一段奇妙的对话。伊丽莎白对他们俩各自的看法完全一致。

“达西小姐收到这样一封信将会多么高兴！”

他没有回答。

“你写得真快。”

“你错了。我写得相当慢。”

“你一年必须写多少封信啊！还要写商务信函！我认为这十分讨厌！”

“这么说，这些信幸亏遇到了我，没有遇到你。”

“请你告诉你的妹妹，我很想见她。”

“我已经奉命告诉过她一次了。”

“我怕你不喜欢你那支笔。让我替你修一下。我修笔很在行。”

“谢谢你——不过，我一向都是自己修。”

“你怎么能写得如此工整？”

他沉默不语。

“告诉你的妹妹，我很高兴听到她在竖琴上的进步，也请告诉她，我非常喜欢她给桌子配的漂亮小图案，觉得比格兰特利小姐的出色得多。”

“你允许我推迟到下次写信时再转告你的喜悦之情好吗？——现在我写不了那么多了。”

“噢！这不要紧。我一月份就会见到她。可你总是给她写这么有趣的长信吗，达西先生？”

“它们一般都很长；不过，是不是总是动人，我确定不了。”

“我一向认为，一个能熟练写长信的人，不可能写不好。”

“卡罗琳，这种恭维话不能用在达西的身上，”她的哥哥嚷道——“因为他写得并不熟练，他研究四音节的词太多了。——达西，难道你不是吗？”

“我写信的风格跟你的截然不同。”

“噢！”宾利小姐大声说道，“查尔斯写信粗心极了。他漏掉一半话，剩下的还要涂抹。”

“我的思想流动得太快，来不及表达——因此，有时我的信对通信者根本传达不了什么思想。”

“宾利先生，你的谦逊，”伊丽莎白说，“一定会消除人们的非难。”

“表面的谦逊最容易让人上当，”达西说，“它常常只是信口开河，有时又是一种拐弯抹角的自吹自擂。”

“你认为我刚才说的一小段谦逊话属于两类中的哪一种？”

“拐弯抹角的自吹自擂；——因为你对自己写信方面的缺点的确非常自豪，你认为这些缺点源自思想敏捷、写得粗心，而且你认为你这些即使算不上可贵，至少也非常有趣。雷厉风行的人总是非常看重做事快的能力，常常不关心做得是否完美。你今天上午对贝内特太太说，要是你决心离开内瑟菲尔德庄园，你不出五分钟就会离开，你这是一种过分夸奖，是称赞自己——而急躁鲁莽的结果只会使必须做的事儿做不成，无论对自己还是对别人都没有真正的好处，这有什么值得赞赏呢？”

“不，”宾利大声说道，“这太过分了，都到夜里了，还记得早上说过的所有那些蠢话。不过，我以自己的名誉担保，我过去相信自己说过的都是真话，而且我此刻也相信这一点。因此，我至少没有为了仅仅在小姐们面前炫耀自己而装出无用的急躁鲁莽的性格吧。”

“我敢说，你当时相信这一点；可我绝不相信你会这么快就离开。你的行为完全是见机行事，跟我认识的任何人都一样；要是你正上马时，一位朋友要说：‘宾利，你最好还是待到下周吧。’你也许就会这样做，可能会不走——他再说一句话，说不定你会待一个月。”

“你这话只是证明了，”伊丽莎白说，“宾利先生没有由着自己的性情去做。你现在夸他比他自夸好多了。”

宾利说：“你把我朋友说的话转换成了他夸我性格随和，我真是高兴极了。可我怕你给出的解释绝不是那位先生的本意，因为要是在那种情况下，我就会干脆拒绝，骑上马尽快跑走，那他就一定会更看好我。”

“那么，达西先生认为，无论你原来的打算多么轻率，只要你一意孤行，就可以情有可原了吗？”

“的确，我对这件事说不清道不白；达西必须亲自解释。”

“你是指望我解释你强加给我、我从未承认过的那些看法吧。然而，贝内特小姐，即使你陈述的情况站得住脚，你也必须记住，那个朋友希望他回到庄园、推迟计划的朋友仅仅是对此表示希望，问了一下，没有提供适当的理由。”

“随随便便——轻而易举——听从一个朋友的劝告，对你不是什么优点。”

“没有信服就听从，对任何一方的认识都不是什么恭维。”

“达西先生，在我看来，你好像完全否定了友谊和感情的影响。要是一个人对提出请求的人尊重，常常就会欣然同意接受这个请求，不会等到对方拿出证据来说服你。我并不是因你假设宾利先生的情况而特意说起。也许我们不妨等到这种情况发生时再来讨论他的行为是否得当。不过，一般情况下，朋友之间相处，要是一位朋友请另一位改变一个无关紧要的决定，另一位不等劝说就答应他的要求，你不会因此低看那个朋友吧？”

“在继续讨论这个话题之前，我们不妨先更加精确地研究一下，这个请求重要到什么程度，双方亲密到什么程度，难道不可取吗？”

宾利大声说道：“让我们一定听到所有的细节，不要忘记她们的身高和大小；贝内特小姐，因为你一定想象不到讨论问题时这一点更重要。我向你保证，跟我本人相比，达西要不是这样又高又大的家伙，我就绝不会对他那样敬重。我敢说我知道，在某些时候，在某些场合，达西是一个再讨厌不过的家伙；尤其是在他自己的家里星期天晚上他无所事事的时候。”

达西先生微微一笑；但是，伊丽莎白认为她能看出他有些生气，所以忍住没有笑出声来。宾利小姐对达西先生受到这样的侮辱，心里愤愤不平，劝告她的哥哥不要这样胡说八道。

“宾利，我明白你的意图，”他的朋友说——“你不喜欢辩论，想平息这场辩论。”

“我也许是这样。辩论过于像争论。要是你和贝内特小姐推迟辩论，等我走出房间，我就会感激不尽；随后，你们爱怎么说我就怎么说。”

伊丽莎白说：“你的要求对我没有什么损失；达西先生最好把他的信写完。”

达西先生听从她的建议，真的把信写完了。

写完信之后，他请宾利小姐和伊丽莎白弹奏一些曲子。宾利小姐脚步轻快地走到钢琴边，客气地请伊丽莎白先弹，伊丽莎白彬彬有礼更加诚恳地谢绝，宾利小姐这才落座。

赫斯特太太给她的妹妹伴唱；当她们这样表演时，伊丽莎白一边翻着钢琴上放的一些乐谱，一边情不自禁地看到达西先生的眼睛是多么频繁地盯着她。她简直不知道如何去想她会成为这个了不起的男人爱慕的目标；然而，要是说达西是因为讨厌她才望着她，那就更莫名其妙了。最后，她只能认为，她之所以引起达西的注意，是因为达西认为她比在场的任何人都更不顺眼，更应受到斥责。这个假想并没有使她感到痛苦。她根本不喜欢他，所以就不关心他的赞许。

弹奏过几首意大利歌曲之后，宾利小姐改变风格，弹起了充满活力的苏格兰曲；不久以后，达西先生走近伊丽莎白，对她说道——

“贝内特小姐，你不觉得很想抓住这次机会跳一曲里尔舞吗？”

她微微一笑，但没有回答。达西对她的沉默有些奇怪，又问了一遍那个问题。

“噢！”她说，“我以前听你说过；可我还无法马上确定该如何回答。我知道，你早就想要我同意，这样你就可以荣幸地鄙视我的趣味了；不过，我总是乐于戳穿那种诡计，愚弄一下那些预谋蔑视的人。所以，我现在决定告诉你，我根本不想跳里尔舞；你要是敢，现在就可以蔑视我。”

“我的确不敢。”

伊丽莎白原以为会冒犯他，却惊讶地发现他颇为殷勤；但是，伊丽莎白的样子是既可爱又调皮，这让她很难冒犯任何人；而达西没有被别的女人迷住，却被这个女人迷住了。他的确相信，要不是因为她的亲戚们出身低微，他就会有些危险了。

宾利小姐见此情景，要么是起了疑心，妒火中烧；她盼望好友简尽快康复，想得到一些帮助，摆脱伊丽莎白。

她经常跟达西说起，如果和伊丽莎白结婚，他怎么做才能在这桩婚姻中得到幸福，设法来挑拨达西讨厌伊丽莎白。

第二天，他们在灌木林中一块散步时，她说：“我希望，等这门称心如意的亲事结成时，你给你那位岳母暗示一下保持沉默的好处；要是你能做到，就请治好她的两个小女儿追求军官的毛病。——还有，一个话题非常微妙，不知是否可以提起，就是你那位夫人有些类似自高自大和傲慢无礼的小毛病，你要设法控制。”

“你对我的家庭幸福还有其他建议吗？”

“噢！是的。——请把你的菲利普姨父、姨妈的画像挂到彭伯利的画廊。挂在你那位当法官的伯祖父遗像旁边。你知道他们是同行；只是部门不同。至于你的伊丽莎白的画像，你不要让别人为她画像，哪个画家能把她那双美丽的眼睛画得惟妙惟肖？”

“那双眼神的确不易捕捉，但眼睛的颜色、形状和睫毛都非常美妙，也许可以画出来。”

正在这时，他们遇到了从另一条路走来的赫斯特太太和伊丽莎白本人。

“我不知道你们想要散步……”宾利小姐有些慌乱地说，唯恐她们听到了刚才她说的话。

“你们对我们真不够意思，”赫斯特太太答道，“不告诉我们一声就跑出来了。”说着，她挽起达西先生那只闲着的胳膊，撇下伊丽莎白，让她独自走着。小路只能容下三人并排走。

达西先生觉得她们失礼，马上说道——

“这条路不够宽，走不下我们四个人。我们最好还是走大路。”

但是，伊丽莎白根本不想跟他们在一起，笑着回答。

“不，不，你们就这样走吧。——你们仨走在一起非常迷人，显得再好不过了。加上第四个就大煞风景了。再见。”

说完，她欢快地跑走了。一边四处溜达，一边开心地希望过一两天就能回家了。简已经好转多了，那天晚上打算离开房间两小时呢。