Friday, April 11, 2008

*~* Miss Jane Day *~*

I really liked this scene from Pride and Prejudice because Mr. Darcy reminds me of my older brother. :) My brother, like Darcy, is very to the point in his answers, if he answers at all. Any one who knows him I'm sure would agree.

"The day passed much as the day before had done. Mrs. Hurst and Miss Bingley had spent some hours of the morning with the invalid, who continued, though slowly, to mend; and in the evening, Elizabeth joined their party in the drawing-room. The loo table, however, did not appear. Mr. Darcy was writing, and Miss Bingley, seated near him, was watching the progress of his letter, and repeatedly calling off his attention by messages to his sister. Mr. Hurst and Mr. Bingley were at piquet,* and Mrs. Hurst was observing their game.
Elizabeth took up some needlework, and was sufficiently amused in attending to what passed between Darcy and his companion. The perpetual commendations of the lady either on his hand-writing, or on the evenness of his lines, or on the length of his letter, with the perfect unconcern with which her praises were received, formed a curious dialogue, and was exactly in unison with her opinion of each.
"How delighted Miss Darcy will be to receive such a letter!"
He made no answer.
"You write uncommonly fast."
"You are mistaken. I write rather slowly."
"How many letters you must have occasion to write in the course of a year! Letters of business, too! How odious I should think them!"
"It is fortunate, then, that they fall to my lot instead of to yours."
"Pray tell your sister that I long to see her."
"I have already told her so once, by your desire."
"I am afraid you do not like your pen. Let me mend it for you. I mend pens remarkably well."
"Thank you -- but I always mend my own."
"How can you contrive to write so even?"
He was silent.
"Tell your sister I am delighted to hear of her improvement on the harp, and pray let her know that I am quite in raptures with her beautiful little design for a table, and I think it infinitely superior to Miss Grantley's."
"Will you give me leave to defer your raptures till I write again? At present I have not room to do them justice."
"Oh, it is of no consequence. I shall see her in January. But do you always write such charming long letters to her, Mr. Darcy?"
"They are generally long; but whether always charming, it is not for me to determine."
"It is a rule with me, that a person who can write a long letter with ease cannot write ill."
"That will not do for a compliment to Darcy, Caroline," cried her brother, "because he does not write with ease. He studies too much for words of four syllables. Do not you, Darcy?"
"My style of writing is very different from yours."
"Oh," cried Miss Bingley, "Charles writes in the most careless way imaginable. He leaves out half his words, and blots the rest."
"My ideas flow so rapidly that I have not time to express them; by which means my letters sometimes convey no ideas at all to my correspondents."

*Two-person game played with thirty-two cards.

~Pride and Prejudice

7 comments:

N said...

Hee-hee! I like that part! :)

Ana said...

Natalie~
Me too! :) Have you read Pride and Prejudice or any other Jane Austen books?

N said...

Oh yes! I've read all of them! :) I love them...and the movies too, but of course the books are best.

Ana said...

Natalie~
How fun!! I am making my way through her books, I own all her complete ones but I would love to find her unfinished ones too. :) I love how she writes!!!

Anonymous said...

I have read all her books too and I like them all, but Pride and Prejudice is by far my favorite!

N said...

Yes...my mom has a book that has the unfinished Sanditon and all the stories Jane Austen wrote when she was younger. And we also have the Sanditon that was finished by someone else...it's really funny!

Ana said...

Abigail~
I love all her books!! I read one and think, "Oh, this is my favorite," but then I read another one (or watch the movie) and think, "No, this one is my favorite." But I think if I had to pick I'd pick Persuasion. But I'm reading Pride and Prejudice right now and I'm LOVING it. I've seen all the movies so I know what's going to happen, but I love the books so much better then movies!!

Natalie~
I did see Sanditon while shopping at the bookstore for other Jane Austen things (because what else does one look for in the bookstores? :) ), both unfinished and the one finished by some other lady. I have never read it, and I don't even know what it's about. I haven't bought any unfinished ones yet but I'm looking. :)