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Chapter I · Pride and Prejudice | Audiobook

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  Speaker 1: Gates of Imagination presents Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
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  Speaker 1: Read by Olivia Lane Chapter One It is a truth
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  Speaker 1: universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a
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  Speaker 1: good fortune must be in want of a wife. however
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  Speaker 1: little known the feelings or views of such a man
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  Speaker 1: may be on his first entering a neighbourhood. This truth
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  Speaker 1: is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding
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  Speaker 1: families that he is considered as the rightful property of
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  Speaker 1: someone or other of their daughters. My dear Mr Bennet,
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  Speaker 1: said his lady to him one day, have you heard
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  Speaker 1: that Netherfield Park is let at last? Mr Bennet replied
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  Speaker 1: that he had not. But it is, returned she, for
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  Speaker 1: Mrs Long has just been here, and she told me
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  Speaker 1: all about it. Mr Bennet made no answer. Do not
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  Speaker 1: you want to know who has taken it? cried his wife, impatiently.
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  Speaker 1: You want to tell me, and I have no objection
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  Speaker 1: to hearing it. This was invitation enough. Why, my dear,
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  Speaker 1: you must know. Mrs Long says that Netherfield is taken
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  Speaker 1: by a young man of large fortune from the north
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  Speaker 1: of England, that he came down on Monday in a
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  Speaker 1: chaise and four to see the place, and was so
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  Speaker 1: much delighted with it that he agreed with Mr Morris immediately,
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  Speaker 1: that he is to take possession before Michaelmas, and some
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  Speaker 1: of his servants are to be in the house by
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  Speaker 1: the end of next week. What is his name? Bingley.
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  Speaker 1: Is he married or single? Oh, single, my dear, to
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  Speaker 1: be sure. A single man of large fortune. Four or
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  Speaker 1: five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls.
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  Speaker 1: How so? How can it affect them? My dear Mr. Bennet,
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  Speaker 1: replied his wife, how can you be so tiresome? You
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  Speaker 1: must know that I am thinking of his marrying one
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  Speaker 1: of them. Is that his design in settling here? Design? Nonsense!
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  Speaker 1: How can you talk so? But it is very likely
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  Speaker 1: that he may fall in love with one of them,
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  Speaker 1: and therefore you must visit him as soon as he comes.
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  Speaker 1: I see no occasion for that. You and the girls
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  Speaker 1: may go, or you may send them by themselves, which
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  Speaker 1: perhaps will be still better, for as you are as
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  Speaker 1: handsome as any of them, Mr. Bingley might like you
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  Speaker 1: the best of the party. My dear, You flatter me.
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  Speaker 1: I certainly have had my share of beauty, but I
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  Speaker 1: do not pretend to be anything extraordinary now. When a
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  Speaker 1: woman has five grown-up daughters, she ought to give over
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  Speaker 1: thinking of her own beauty. In such cases, a woman
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  Speaker 1: has not often much beauty to think of. But, my dear,
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  Speaker 1: you must indeed go and see Mr. Bingley when he
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  Speaker 1: comes into the neighbourhood.' It is more than I engage for,
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  Speaker 1: I assure you. But consider your daughters. Only think what
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  Speaker 1: an establishment it would be for one of them. Sir
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  Speaker 1: William and Lady Lucas are determined to go, merely on
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  Speaker 1: that account. For in general, you know, they visit no newcomers. Indeed,
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  Speaker 1: you must go, for it will be impossible for us
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  Speaker 1: to visit him if you do not. You are overscrupulous, surely.
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  Speaker 1: I dare say Mr. Bingley will be very glad to
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  Speaker 1: see you, and I will send a few lines by
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  Speaker 1: you to assure him of my hearty consent to his
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  Speaker 1: marrying whichever he chooses of the girls, though I must
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  Speaker 1: throw in a good word for my little Lizzie. I
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  Speaker 1: desire you will do no such thing. Lizzie is not
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  Speaker 1: a bit better than the others. and I am sure
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  Speaker 1: she is not half so handsome as Jane, nor half
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  Speaker 1: so good-humoured as Lydia. But you are always giving her
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  Speaker 1: the preference. They have none of them much to recommend them,
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  Speaker 1: replied he. They are all silly and ignorant like other girls,
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  Speaker 1: but Lizzie has something more of quickness than her sisters. Mr. Bennet,
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  Speaker 1: how can you abuse your own children in such a way?
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  Speaker 1: You take delight in vexing me. You have no compassion
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  Speaker 1: on my poor nerves. You mistake me, my dear. I
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  Speaker 1: have a high respect for your nerves. They are my
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  Speaker 1: old friends. I have heard you mention them with consideration
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  Speaker 1: these twenty years at least. Ah, you do not know
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  Speaker 1: what I suffer. But I hope you will get over it.
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  Speaker 1: and lived to see many young men of four thousand
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  Speaker 1: a year come into the neighbourhood. It will be no
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  Speaker 1: use to us, if twenty such should come, since you
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  Speaker 1: will not visit them. Depend upon it, my dear, that
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  Speaker 1: when there are twenty, I will visit them all. Mr.
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  Speaker 1: Bennet was so odd a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humour, reserve,
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  Speaker 1: and caprice, that the experience of three and twenty years
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  Speaker 1: had been insufficient to make his wife understand his character.
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  Speaker 1: Her mind was less difficult to develop. She was a
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  Speaker 1: woman of mean understanding, little information and uncertain temper. When
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  Speaker 1: she was discontented, she fancied herself nervous. The business of
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  Speaker 1: her life was to get her daughters married. Its solace
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  Speaker 1: was visiting and news.