Chapter LIII — Pride and Prejudice

When the man you wronged and the man you still want arrive together in your mother's drawing room, every word becomes a landmine. Wickham leaves satisfied and silent; Lydia departs for Newcastle with breezy promises to write. Mrs. Bennet dulls until news spreads that Mr. Bingley is returning to Netherfield to shoot for several weeks. Jane professes indifference to Elizabeth but cannot hide her disturbed spirits; Mr. Bennet refuses to call on Bingley, despising the etiquette of running after neighbours while Mrs. Bennet plots dinner for thirteen.

On the third morning Bingley rides to Longbourn, and Elizabeth, sent to the window, sees Mr. Darcy with him. Mrs. Bennet vows to hate Darcy yet be civil as Bingley's friend; Jane receives them with pale composure while Elizabeth guards her hope: let me first see how he behaves. Darcy is grave and mostly silent, watching Jane as often as Elizabeth; Mrs. Bennet boasts of Lydia's marriage in the Times and thanks heaven Wickham has some friends, torturing Elizabeth with shame.

She wishes never to see either gentleman again, then notices Bingley's attention to Jane steadily return and accepts a dinner invitation for a few days hence. Mrs. Bennet regrets she could not detain them that afternoon, since nothing less than two courses would satisfy her ambitions for a man worth ten thousand a year.