"It is a truth universally recognised that a single man of good fortune should want a wife". Pride and Prejudice tells the story of fiercely independent Elizabeth Bennett, one of five sisters who must marry rich, while confounding the arrogant, wealthy Mr Darcy. What emerges is one of the most delightful and grippingly readable courtships known to literature, written by an Austen at an early age when she was only twenty-one.
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"What's his name?"
"Bingley."
"Is he married or single?"
"Ah! Single, darling, to be sure! A single man of great wealth; four or five thousand a year. What a good thing for our girls!"
"How so? How can he influence them?"
"My dear Mr Bennet," replied his wife, "how can you be so tiresome! You must know that I am thinking of his marrying one of them."
"Is that his design in settling here?"
"Design! Nonsense, how can you talk like that! But the fact that he's in love with one of them
and that's why you should visit him as soon as you arrive. "
"I see no occasion for that. You and the girls can go, or you can send them off on their own, which will perhaps be better, for you are as handsome as any of them, and Mr Bingley may like you as the best of the party."
"Darling, you flatter me. I've certainly had my share of beauty, but I don't pretend to be anything extraordinary now. When a woman has five grown-up daughters, she should stop thinking about her own beauty."
