Free Pride and Prejudice (The Wild and Wanton Edition) by Annabella Bloom Page A

trespass a little longer on your kindness.”
    “Removed!” cried Bingley. “It must not be thought of. My sister, I am sure, will not hear of her removal.”
    “You may depend upon it, Madam,” said Miss Bingley, with cold civility, “that Miss Bennet will receive every possible attention while she remains with us.”
    Mrs. Bennet was profuse in her acknowledgments, before adding, “If it was not for such good friends I do not know what would become of her, for she is very ill indeed, and suffers a vast deal, though with the greatest patience in the world, which is always the way with her, for she has, without exception, the sweetest temper I have ever met with. I often tell my other girls they are nothing to her. You have a sweet room here, Mr. Bingley, and a charming prospect over the gravel walk. I do not know a place in the country that is equal to Netherfield. You will not think of quitting it in a hurry, I hope, though you have but a short lease.”
    “Whatever I do is done in a hurry,” he replied honestly, “and therefore if I should resolve to quit Netherfield, I should probably be off in five minutes. At present, however, I consider myself as quite fixed here.”
    “That is exactly what I should have supposed of you,” said Elizabeth.
    “You begin to comprehend me, do you?” he asked happily, turning towards her.
    “Oh, yes! I understand you perfectly.”
    “I wish I might take this for a compliment, but I am afraid it is pitiful to be so easily seen through.”
    “It does not follow that a deep, intricate character is more or less estimable than such a one as yours.”
    “Lizzy,” cried her mother, “remember where you are, and do not run on in the wild manner as you are inclined to do at home.”
    “I did not know,” continued Bingley immediately, “that you were a studier of character. It must be an amusing occupation.”
    “Yes, but intricate characters are the most amusing.” She gave a pointed glance at Mr. Darcy. “They have at least that advantage.”
    “The country,” said Darcy, “can in general supply but a few subjects for such a study. A country neighborhood is a very confined and unvarying society.”
    “But people themselves alter so much,” Elizabeth said to the contrary, not that she so much believed it as she liked disagreeing with him. “There is something new to be observed in them forever.”
    “Yes, indeed,” stated Mrs. Bennet, offended by his manner of mentioning a country neighborhood. “I assure you there is quite as much going on in the country as in town.”
    Everybody was surprised, and Darcy, after looking at her for a moment, turned silently away.
    Mrs. Bennet, who fancied she had gained a complete victory over him, continued her triumph. “I cannot see that London has any great advantage over the country, for my part, except the shops and public places. The country is a vast deal pleasanter, is it not, Mr. Bingley?”
    “When I am in the country,” he replied, “I never wish to leave it. When I am in town it is pretty much the same. They have each their advantages, and I can be equally happy in either.”
    “Aye, that is because you have the right disposition. But that gentleman,” Mrs. Bennet looked at Darcy, “seemed to think the country was nothing at all.”
    “Indeed, Mamma, you are mistaken,” said Elizabeth, blushing for her mother. It was one thing for her to debate Mr. Darcy, for she fancied herself more adapt at forming logical arguments, but quite another for her mother to do it. Not for the first time in her life she wished she could will the woman to be quiet. “You quite mistook Mr. Darcy. He only meant that there was not such a variety of people to be met with in the country as in the town, which you must acknowledge to be true.”
    “Certainly, my dear, nobody said there were, but as to not meeting with many people in this neighborhood, I believe there are few neighborhoods larger. We dine with four-and-twenty