half so well and mary at the end of a long was glad to purchase praise and gratitude by scotch and irish airs at the request of her younger sisters who with some of the and two or three pride and prejudice joined eagerly in dancing at one end of the room mr stood near them in silent indignation at such a mode of passing the evening to the of all conversation and was too much engrossed by his thoughts to perceive that sir william was his neighbour till sir william thus began what a charming amusement for young people this is mr there is nothing like dancing after all i consider it as one of the first of polished societies certainly sir and it has the advantage also of being in amongst the less polished societies of the world every savage can dance sir william only smiled your friend delightfully he continued after a pause on seeing join the group � and i doubt not that you are an in the science yourself mr you saw me dance at i believe sir yes indeed and received no pleasure from the sight do you often dance at st james s never sir do you not think it would be a proper compliment to the place it is a compliment which i never pay to any place if i can avoid it you have a house in town i conclude mr bowed i had once some thoughts of fixing in town myself � for i am fond of superior society but i did not feel quite certain that the air of london would agree with lady lie paused in hopes of an answer but his companion was not to make any and elizabeth at that instant moving towards them he was struck with the pride and prejudice notion of doing a very gallant thing and called out to her � my dear miss why arc not you dancing � mr you must allow me to present this young lady to you as a very desirable partner you cannot refuse to dance i am sure when so much beauty is before you and taking her hand he would have given it to mr who though extremely was not unwilling to receive it when she instantly drew back and said with some to sir indeed sir i have not the least intention of dancing i entreat you not to suppose that i moved this way in order to beg for a partner mr with grave propriety requested to be allowed the honour of her hand but in vain elizabeth was determined nor did sir william at all shake her purpose by his attempt at persuasion you so much in the dance miss that it is cruel to deny me the happiness of seeing you and though this gentleman the amusement in general he can have no objection i am sure to oblige us for one half hour mr is all politeness said elizabeth smiling he is indeed but considering the my dear miss we cannot wonder at his � for who would object to such a partner elizabeth looked and turned away her resistance had not injured her with the gentleman and he was thinking of her with some complacency when thus by miss � i can guess the subject of your reverie i should imagine not you are considering how it would be to pass many evenings in this manner � in such society � and indeed i am quite of your opinion i was never i c pride and prejudice more annoyed the and yet the noise � the and yet the self importance of all these people what would i give to hear your on them your conjecture is totally wrong i assure you my mind was more agreeably engaged i have been meditating on the very great pleasure which a pair of fine eyes in the face of a pretty woman can bestow miss immediately fixed her eyes on his face and desired he would tell her what lady had the credit of inspiring such reflections mr replied with great � miss elizabeth miss elizabeth repeated miss i am all astonishment how long has she been such a favourite � and pray when am i to wish you joy that is the question which i expected you to ask a lady s imagination is very rapid it from admiration to love from love to matrimony in a moment i knew you would be wishing me joy nay if you are so serious about it i shall consider the matter as absolutely you will have a charming mother in law indeed and of course she will be always at with you he listened to her with perfect indifference while she chose to entertain herself in this manner and as his composure convinced her that all was safe her wit flowed long chapter f x mr s property almost entirely in an estate of two thousand a year which unfortunately for his daughters was in of male on a distant relation pride and prejudice and their mother s fortune though ample for her situation in life could but ill supply the deficiency of his her father had been an attorney in and had left her four thousand pounds she had a sister married to a mr who had been a clerk to their father and succeeded him in the business and a brother settled in london in a respectable line of trade the village of was only one mile from a most convenient distance for the young ladies who were usually tempted thither three or four times a week to pay their duty to their aunt and to a s shop just over the way the two youngest of the and were particularly frequent in these attentions their minds were more vacant than their sisters and when nothing better offered a walk to was necessary to amuse their morning hours and 