Mr. Bennet was one of the first people in the neighborhood to visit Mr. Bingley.
He had actually planned to call on him from the beginning. But he had kept telling Mrs. Bennet that he had no intention of going.
She did not discover the truth until the evening after the visit.
Mr. Bennet was watching Elizabeth, his second daughter, working on a hat when he suddenly said,
“I hope Mr. Bingley will like that, Lizzy.”
Mrs. Bennet looked at him with surprise.
“How would we know what Mr. Bingley likes? We are not even supposed to visit him.”
“But, Mama,” Elizabeth said, “we will meet him at the balls. And Mrs. Long has promised to introduce him to us.”
“I don’t believe Mrs. Long will do anything of the sort. She has two nieces of her own. She is selfish and dishonest, and I don’t think much of her.”
“Neither do I,” Mr. Bennet said. “And I’m glad you don’t have to depend on her.”
Mrs. Bennet ignored him.
Instead, she turned angrily toward one of her daughters.
“Kitty, please stop coughing like that! Have some consideration for my nerves. You’re driving me crazy.”
“Kitty has terrible timing when it comes to coughing,” Mr. Bennet said. “She always seems to cough at exactly the wrong moment.”
“I don’t cough because I enjoy it,” Kitty replied irritably.
“When is the next ball, Lizzy?” she asked.
“In two weeks.”
“Exactly!” Mrs. Bennet exclaimed. “And Mrs. Long won’t be back until the day before. So she can’t possibly introduce Mr. Bingley to us. She won’t even know him herself.”
“Well, my dear,” Mr. Bennet said, “you could introduce Mr. Bingley to Mrs. Long instead.”
“Impossible! Absolutely impossible!” Mrs. Bennet protested. “I don’t know him well enough myself. Why are you teasing me?”
“I admire your caution,” Mr. Bennet replied. “Two weeks is certainly not enough time to understand what kind of man someone really is.”
“But if we don’t introduce him to someone, somebody else will. And Mrs. Long and her nieces deserve a chance too.”
“So, if you don’t want to do it yourself, I suppose I could take care of the introduction.”
The girls stared at their father.
Mrs. Bennet could only mutter,
“Nonsense! Complete nonsense!”
“What exactly do you find so ridiculous?” Mr. Bennet asked.
“Do you think the rules of introductions are nonsense? I can’t agree with you there.”
He turned toward Mary.
“What do you think, Mary? You are always thinking deeply, reading serious books, and writing down important passages.”
Mary wanted to give a thoughtful answer.
But she couldn’t quite figure out what to say.
“While Mary is trying to organize her thoughts,” Mr. Bennet continued, “let’s get back to Mr. Bingley.”
“I am sick of hearing about Mr. Bingley!” Mrs. Bennet exclaimed.
“I’m sorry to hear that. But why didn’t you tell me this morning?”
“If I had known you were already tired of him, I certainly wouldn’t have visited him.”
“Unfortunately, I’ve already paid the call. So I suppose we can’t avoid knowing him now.”
The girls were completely astonished.
That was exactly what Mr. Bennet had wanted.
Mrs. Bennet was more shocked than any of them.
Then, once her surprise had turned into excitement, she suddenly acted as though she had expected this all along.
“How wonderful of you, my dear Mr. Bennet!”
“I always knew you would agree eventually. I knew you loved your daughters too much to ignore such an excellent opportunity.”
“Oh, I’m so happy!”
“And what a joke! You visited Mr. Bingley this morning and didn’t tell us a thing until tonight!”
“Now, Kitty,” Mr. Bennet said, “you can cough as much as you like.”
With that, he left the room, already exhausted by his wife’s excitement.
As soon as the door closed, Mrs. Bennet turned to her daughters.
“What a wonderful father you have!”
“I don’t know how you girls will ever repay him for being so kind to you.”
“And I suppose I deserve some credit too.”
“At our age, it isn’t easy to meet new people all the time. But we would do anything for you girls.”
“Lydia, my dear, you’re the youngest, but I’m sure Mr. Bingley will ask you to dance at the next ball.”
“Oh, I’m not worried about that,” Lydia said confidently.
“I’m the youngest, but I’m also the tallest!”
The rest of the evening was spent talking about Mr. Bingley.
They wondered how soon he would return Mr. Bennet’s visit.
They also began planning when they should invite him to dinner.