Volume 1: Chapter 2 Summary

In keeping with his general perverse penchant for torturing his wife, Mr. Bennet does not tell her that he intends to visit Mr. Bingley, the new tenant of Netherfield Park, and she does not know of his visit until after he has made it. When he does reveal to them that he has made Mr. Bingley's acquaintance, it is done casually, in mockery of the eagerness of his wife and daughters. The evening after his morning visit, he comments to his second daughter, Elizabeth, that he hopes Mr. Bingley will appreciate the hat she is trimming. Resentfully, Mrs. Bennet replies that they have no way of knowing what Mr. Bingley liked. Elizabeth reminds her mother that they will meet him at the next assemblies, although Mrs. Bennet stubbornly refuses that anything good will come of it, as she had hoped to...