Jane Austen
much mistaken if there are not some among us to whom a ball would be rather a
punishment than a pleasure."
"If you mean Darcy," cried her brother, "he may go to bed, if he chooses, before it
begins--but as for the ball, it is quite a settled thing; and as soon as Nicholls has made
white soup enough, I shall send round my cards."
"I should like balls infinitely better," she replied, "if they were carried on in a different
manner; but there is something insufferably tedious in the usual process of such a meeting.
It would surely be much more rational if conversation instead of dancing were made the
order of the day."
"Much more rational, my dear Caroline, I dare say, but it would not be near so much like
a ball."
Miss Bingley made no answer, and soon afterwards she got up and walked about the
room. Her figure was elegant, and she walked well; but Darcy, at whom it was all aimed,
was still inflexibly studious
annaabi.ee 
