"Society has claims on us all; and I profess myself one of those who consider intervals of recreation and amusement as desirable for every body."
Previously, William Collins, the man who will inherit Longbourne House when Mr Bennet dies, paid a visit to the Bennet so he could marry one of them and share the house. Why he doesn’t just waive his right to the house away if he’s such a pious fellow, I don’t know,
With Ms Jane Bennet being out of the picture thanks to her interest in Charles Bingley, new arrival to the area, Collins has set his sights on the other four, especially main character Lizzy.
In other news, Lizzy was (somewhat) shocked to learn that the aloof Mr Darcy - a good friend to Bingley and no one else - cheated his father’s godson, Mr Wickham, out of his promised inheritance.
Dying to share this scandalous story, the chapter opens with Lizzy confiding in Jane, to rather little avail. Despite her shock, Jane is eager to “defend the conduct of each” man. Darcy had every right to rob Wickham of house and home, she appears to argue, because both of them were “deceived”.
Now, although it is entirely possible that Wickham was stretching the truth a bit considering he’s our only source of information beyond Mr Darcy’s look of utter horror when bumping into him in Chapter 15, I’m inclined to think that the son of the lord who reportedly denied anything to the boy his father promised to care for might just be in the wrong.
Lizzy agrees with me, and is all too happy to mock Jane for trying to avoid forming any opinion whatsoever on the issue, but fails to get her to reconsider her (lack of) stance. This makes me doubt my earlier theory that Jane was essentially a self-insert for Austen, what with them sharing the same name and all, since she’s happy to skewer her with Lizzy here.
All that the two can agree on is that if all that Wickham shared was true, then Mr Bingley is liable to suffer the most when his friend’s old affairs become public. Maybe we’ll see some blackmailing later in the story?
No sooner do they discuss Bingley than he appears at their door, his sisters in tow. There to personally invite the family to Netherfield’s ball on Tuesday, the sisters opt to fawn over their good friend Jane and drag their brother away from the other Bennets instead. As a result, each of the Bennet women fantasise about the ball in their own way, unfettered by any details from their host.
Mrs Bennet is flattered that Bingley would hold an entire ball just for her darling Jane; Jane looks forward to talking to the Bingley sisters; and the rest dream of dancing in Mr Wickham’s arms. Lizzy also wants to study Mr Darcy to see how much he looks like the type to do what Wickham accused him of.
When Lizzy checks if Collins is going out of formality, she’s horrified to learn that not only does he plan to go, but that he wants to do some of it with her. Far too polite to turn him down and far too overcome with elation to even feign disinterest in the idea of dancing, she goes along with it. At this point, it’s clear to her that Collins has her in his cross-hairs. Whether she actually takes him up on it or not, I guess we’ll find out next week.
Thoughts
- Did Bingley make the trip from Netherfield on foot? Because if not, then he made several of his servants go out of their way to deliver a message that a letter could far more efficiently.
