Posted on 2012-07-20
There was once a time I met someone I thought was the most beautiful woman in the world. She walked into Almack's in a stunning white gown. Her golden hair was swept up and decorated with baby's breath. She reminded me so much of my sister and my mother, had a fortune of £50000, and had great connections. Once we were acquainted, I asked to dance the supper set with her.
But during supper, I found myself quite disappointed that her beauty was the only thing I was drawn to. She spoke of her accomplishments as if she was reading a laundry list and spoke of going to the opera and theater as if they were duties rather than enjoyments. In short, she was a bore. I did not ask her for another dance. Miss Grey was not what she turned out to be.
About a few months later, Charles Bingley took me to Hertfordshire to meet his new neighbors at the Meryton Assembly. It was the last place I wanted to be. The women were worse than dull; they were boisterous and uncouth. The matrons were boasting of the fortunes Bingley and I had and the younger women were looking upon me as if I was a prized stallion. Worst of all, I had to go stick my foot in my mouth and denounce a lady whose name I barely knew as "tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me."
As I sat with a book in my drawing room at Pemberley, I thought of the lady I insulted. She recently visited my home and is staying at Lambton with her aunt and uncle. I honestly thought she was tolerable at first, or at least not as pretty as her elder sister. But now, I realized that somehow, as I got to know her, it was almost like those fine eyes of hers reflected her lively personality.
On the other hand, it seemed like Caroline Bingley got uglier the longer I stayed around her. Like Miss Grey, I thought her to be beautiful, but her acidic words and affinity to be cunning rendered her despicable in my eyes. Especially whenever she talks down Miss Elizabeth Bennet.
"How very ill Miss Eliza Bennet looks this morning, Mr. Darcy," she cried; "I never in my life saw anyone so much altered as she is since the winter. She is grown so brown and coarse! Louisa and I were agreeing that we should not have known her again."
I sighed, trying to hold back my annoyance at her impropriety. "The only difference I noticed was that she seemed rather tanned, but she has been traveling this season, so it's not surprising."
She continued on, ignoring what I said. "For my own part, I must confess that I never could see any beauty in her. Her face is too thin; her complexion has no brilliancy; and her features are not at all handsome. Her nose wants character--there is nothing marked in its lines. Her teeth are tolerable, but not out of the common way; and as for her eyes, which have sometimes been called so fine, I could never see anything extraordinary in them. They have a sharp, shrewish look, which I do not like at all; and in her air altogether there is a self-sufficiency without fashion, which is intolerable."
I refused to answer to her antagonism. In my mind, while Elizabeth lacked overall symmetry, her face was soft and pretty, especially when she smiled. Her complexion was rosy, especially when she just came from a walk and her features reminded me of a face carved into a cameo. Her nose was thin, but it brought a sense of balance to her face. And while her teeth were crooked, they made her smile all the more brilliant. But her eyes, her fine eyes...
I could not get those eyes out of my head back when I stayed in Hertfordshire, and the hesitant hope in Elizabeth's eyes as she and I crossed paths at Pemberley made me wish that Hunsford never happened. That I knew how much Elizabeth was worth in the beginning.
But Caroline couldn't read my mind, so she continued with her ramble.
"I remember, when we first knew her in Hertfordshire, how amazed we all were to find that she was a reputed beauty; and I particularly recollect your saying one night, after they had been dining at Netherfield, 'She a beauty!--I should as soon call her mother a wit.' But afterwards she seemed to improve on you, and I believe you thought her rather pretty at one time."
I don't even think I actually said that, but I wouldn't put it past the Old Darcy. However, New Darcy was tired of Caroline's attitude. So I decided for once that I would shut Caroline up.
"Yes," I said, "but that was only when I first saw her, for it is many months since I have considered her as one of the handsomest women of my acquaintance."
Elizabeth Bennet was the most beautiful lady I ever met.
The End