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Pride and Prejudice
Mountaineers · 10th–12th
Jane insists she now enjoys Bingley's conversation "without having a wish beyond it." Is she deceiving herself, or protecting herself?
The tension Elizabeth laughs at Jane's claim to meet Bingley as an "indifferent" acquaintance and warns her to "take care," yet that evening she follows Darcy with her eyes, envies "everyone to whom he spoke," and scolds herself: "How could I ever be foolish enough to expect a renewal of his love?"
Notice how one smile settles where Bingley sits, while a crowded tea table and a game of cards keep Darcy at a distance from Elizabeth.
After the first visit, Elizabeth walks out alone, vexed by Darcy’s silence. If he came only to be silent and indifferent, she asks, why come at all? She resolves to think no more about him. Jane joins her, cheerful, and says she now feels perfectly easy: on Tuesday everyone will see that she and Bingley meet as indifferent acquaintances. Elizabeth laughs and tells her to take care, since she is in danger of making him as much in love with her as ever. On Tuesday there is a large party at Longbourn. Bingley hesitates at the door of the dining-room, Jane happens to look round and smile, and he takes his old place beside her. Elizabeth looks triumphantly at Darcy, who bears it calmly, though Bingley glances at him in half-laughing alarm. All through dinner Bingley shows a guarded admiration for Jane. Darcy sits by Mrs. Bennet at the far end of the table, and the two hardly speak. Her mother’s coldness pains Elizabeth, who wishes she could tell him that his kindness was known and felt. In the drawing-room Elizabeth resolves to give him up for ever if he does not come to her. When the gentlemen come, the ladies are crowded so close round the tea table that there is no room for a chair, and a girl whispers that the men shall not part them. Darcy walks away; Elizabeth follows him with her eyes and scolds herself for hoping that a refused man would ask again. He brings back his coffee-cup himself, and she asks after his sister, but she can think of nothing more to say. He stands by her in silence, then walks away when the girl whispers again. Mrs. Bennet claims him for whist, and the two are kept at different tables for the rest of the evening. When the guests have gone, Mrs. Bennet praises the venison, the soup and the partridges, and repeats Mrs. Long’s hope of seeing Jane at Netherfield. She is so sure of Bingley that she is disappointed when he does not come to propose the next day. Jane tells Elizabeth the party was well suited and she hopes they will often meet. Elizabeth only smiles. Jane begs her not to suspect her: she enjoys Bingley’s conversation without wishing for more, and is sure he never meant to win her. Elizabeth answers that we all love to instruct, though we can teach only what is not worth knowing, and asks not to be made her confidante if she persists in indifference.
Begin at the dining-room door. Read aloud from “When they repaired to the dining-room” to “He placed himself by her.” Ask who in the room is watching that empty seat, and what each of them wants. Then read the walk, from “Now,” said she, “that this first meeting is over” to Elizabeth’s “take care,” and ask whether Jane’s plan survived the evening. Then turn to the tea table and ask whether Elizabeth’s own plan, to give Darcy up “for ever”, did any better. Leave Jane’s last claim about Bingley alone, because the last written question asks it.
Retell The student retells the chapter in order: Elizabeth’s walk and her vow to think no more of Darcy; Jane’s claim that she can now meet Bingley as an indifferent acquaintance; the Tuesday dinner, Jane’s smile and Bingley’s seat; Darcy at the far end of the table beside Mrs. Bennet; the crowded tea table and the whispering girl; Elizabeth’s scolding of herself, the coffee-cup and the two questions about Darcy’s sister; the whist tables; Mrs. Bennet’s report on the day; and Jane’s protest. Then the student picks the one moment that matters most and says what Austen uses it to show.
Imitate the author After copying, the student writes three sentences on the model of the first passage: one about a person who holds back on purpose, one that sets a hesitation against two small acts in matching phrases and ends on a colon and a short verdict, and one plain sentence of five or six words that settles it. The scene can be any room where a small choice decides where someone sits, stands or goes.
Debate Take sides on the last written question. One side argues that Jane is deceiving herself, and gathers the smile at the door, “than any other man”, “so suitable one with the other” and “I hope we may often meet again”. The other side argues that she is protecting herself, and gathers “I know my own strength”, “he never had any design of engaging my affection” and “It mortifies me”. Each side must answer the other’s strongest line. No side may call Jane a liar, say that Bingley will propose, or say what Darcy feels.
Purpose Close on where the chapter stops. It ends not with Bingley or with Darcy but with Elizabeth’s refusal to be Jane’s “confidante”, after a whole evening in which she says nothing to Jane about Darcy. Ask why Austen gives the last word to the sister who sees clearly into Jane, and what the reader knows at that moment that Jane does not.
Easier Read aloud the dinner from “When they repaired to the dining-room” to “He placed himself by her”, the tea table from “The gentlemen came” to “for being so silly!”, and the last talk from “It has been a very agreeable day” to the end. Talk about what “forbore”, “ungraciousness” and “rapacity” mean in the chapter. Talk through the questions on Jane’s smile and on who lets the talk die, then answer the last written question aloud before writing it.
On level Talk through all five discussion questions in order, then write all three written questions as a thesis, the strongest objection and a revised thesis, each with lines from the chapter.
Harder Ask for one argued essay on what each sister can and cannot see. It should set Elizabeth’s reading of Jane beside her own evening over Darcy, judge whether Austen makes either sister wiser than the other, and meet the strongest objection. It must not draw on anything that happens later in the book.
1. Bingley seems to hesitate at the door, and then Jane “happened to look round, and happened to smile.” How much of an accident was that smile?Inference
What it asks It asks the student to weigh the narrator’s word “happened” against what the smile does. “When they repaired to the dining-room, Elizabeth eagerly watched to see whether Bingley would take the place which, in all their former parties, had belonged to him, by her sister. Her prudent mother, occupied by the same ideas, forbore to invite him to sit by herself. On entering the room, he seemed to hesitate; but Jane happened to look round, and happened to smile: it was decided. He placed himself by her.” On the walk after the first visit, Jane had said she wanted it “publicly seen, that on both sides we meet only as common and indifferent acquaintance.” The card does not say that Jane is lying about her feelings, or that Bingley will propose.
Close to a true accident. Nothing shows that Jane knows she is being watched. She looks round and smiles as she would at anyone, in the easy manner she promised on the walk. The choice at the door is Bingley’s: he is the one who hesitates, and he is the one who sits. On this reading “happened” is fair to Jane, and the scene shows how little it takes to tip a man who was already half decided.
On entering the room, he seemed to hesitate
He placed himself by her.
Not much of one. The narrator says “happened” twice, and a word said twice starts to sound like an excuse. Everyone else is planning: Elizabeth “eagerly watched”, and her “prudent” mother held back from asking him to sit by her. Jane looks round at the very moment he hesitates. On this reading the smile is a choice Jane may not admit even to herself, and it settles the very thing her talk of “indifferent acquaintance” said would not matter.
but Jane happened to look round, and happened to smile: it was decided.
Her prudent mother, occupied by the same ideas, forbore to invite him to sit by herself.
A strong answer A strong response takes a side on how much chance there was and grounds it in the door. One reader finds a true accident: Bingley hesitates and Bingley sits, so the choice is his, and Jane only smiles as she would at anyone. Another finds a choice Jane may not see in herself: the narrator says “happened” twice, as if repeating an excuse, and the smile comes at exactly the moment it is needed. The best answers notice that the scene is told through Elizabeth, who is watching for this very thing, and that, accident or not, the smile tests Jane’s plan to be seen as “common and indifferent” on its first evening.
2. At the tea table a girl whispers, “We want none of them; do we?” We never learn her name. Why does Austen give that line to her?Author's choice
What it asks It asks the student to notice a small figure Austen sets at the centre of the scene. Elizabeth has just said to herself, “If he does not come to me, _then_,” and “I shall give him up for ever.” Then: “the ladies had crowded round the table, where Miss Bennet was making tea, and Elizabeth pouring out the coffee, in so close a confederacy, that there was not a single vacancy near her which would admit of a chair. And on the gentlemen’s approaching, one of the girls moved closer to her than ever, and said, in a whisper”. The girl: “The men shan’t come and part us, I am determined. We want none of them; do we?” Later, while Darcy stands by Elizabeth in silence, “at last, on the young lady’s whispering to Elizabeth again, he walked away.” The card does not say what Darcy feels.
To say what the sisters say, and mean it. Jane has promised to meet Bingley as an “indifferent acquaintance”; Elizabeth has just vowed to give Darcy up “for ever”. The girl says the same thing and acts on it, moving closer so no chair can come between them. The scene shows at once how little Elizabeth keeps her own vow: she follows Darcy with her eyes the moment he walks away. On this reading the girl is a comic mirror, and she has no name because she could stand in for either sister.
I shall give him up for ever.
She followed him with her eyes
To show how small things keep people apart. The girl wants nothing from the story but her place at the table. Yet her chair and her whisper do what no rival could: there is no room for Darcy near Elizabeth, and the second whisper is the moment he walks away. On this reading she has no name because she has no part in the plot except to be in the way, and the reader feels how much of the evening turns on chance.
there was not a single vacancy near her which would admit of a chair
at last, on the young lady’s whispering to Elizabeth again, he walked away.
A strong answer A strong response names what the girl does for the scene and grounds it in the tea table. One reader hears her as a mirror: she says, and means, what Jane and Elizabeth both claim, so her line shows up their denials. Another sees her as chance in person: a chair with no room beside it and a whisper at the wrong moment keep Darcy away. The best answers notice that the two readings work together, since the very girl who echoes the sisters’ claim is the one who keeps the claim from being tested.
3. After Darcy walks away, Elizabeth tells herself that no man would ever propose twice to the same woman. Who is she arguing with?Character
What it asks It asks the student to find the other side of a quarrel Elizabeth holds alone. “Darcy had walked away to another part of the room. She followed him with her eyes, envied everyone to whom he spoke, had scarcely patience enough to help anybody to coffee, and then was enraged against herself for being so silly!” Then: “A man who has once been refused! How could I ever be foolish enough to expect a renewal of his love? Is there one among the sex who would not protest against such a weakness as a second proposal to the same woman? There is no indignity so abhorrent to their feelings.” The next line: “She was a little revived, however, by his bringing back his coffee-cup himself”. The outburst is one mood in a jumpy evening, not her settled view. The card does not say whether Darcy still loves Elizabeth.
With her own hope. Every sentence is aimed at the “silly” woman who followed him with her eyes. She calls herself “foolish” for expecting “a renewal of his love”, which admits she was expecting it. Turning the hope into a rule about all men makes it look impossible, so she can stop feeling it. On this reading the speech is a scolding, and the next line shows it fail: one coffee-cup is enough to revive her.
How could I ever be foolish enough to expect a renewal of his love?
She was a little revived, however, by his bringing back his coffee-cup himself
With Darcy, and with men. “A man who has once been refused!” sounds less like self-blame than a charge: she guesses that his pride will never let him ask again, and the rule about “the sex” blames every man for it. On the walk she had already called him a “Teasing, teasing man!” On this reading she argues with a Darcy who is not there, and lends him a pride the chapter never hears him speak.
Is there one among the sex who would not protest against such a weakness as a second proposal to the same woman?
Teasing, teasing man!
A strong answer A strong response names the opponent and grounds the choice in the speech and what follows it. One reader finds Elizabeth arguing with her own hope: “foolish enough to expect” admits the hope, and the rule about all men is a way to make it impossible. Another finds her arguing with Darcy and with men in general, blaming a pride she guesses at but has not heard. The best answers notice how quickly the coffee-cup undoes the speech, and that she is doing to herself what she teases Jane for: talking herself out of a hope.
4. After two questions about his sister, Elizabeth “could think of nothing more to say; but if he wished to converse with her, he might have better success.” He stands by her for some minutes in silence. Which of them lets the talk die?Character
What it asks It asks the student to judge a short exchange that both of them let fall, and a sentence that hands the next move to him. “She was a little revived, however, by his bringing back his coffee-cup himself; and she seized the opportunity of saying”: “Is your sister at Pemberley still?” He answers, “Yes; she will remain there till Christmas.” She asks, “And quite alone? Have all her friends left her?” He answers, “Mrs. Annesley is with her. The others have been gone on to Scarborough these three weeks.” Then: “She could think of nothing more to say; but if he wished to converse with her, he might have better success. He stood by her, however, for some minutes, in silence; and, at last, on the young lady’s whispering to Elizabeth again, he walked away.” Before the men came in she had said, “If he does not come to me, _then_,” and “I shall give him up for ever.” The card does not say what Darcy feels, or why he brought the cup back himself.
Elizabeth. She asked, he answered, and then she stopped. The thought that “if he wished to converse with her, he might have better success” hands the next move to him, but that is her reasoning, not a fact. She had made his coming to her the test, “If he does not come to me”, and now that he has come she leaves the rest to him. All through dinner she had wished she could tell him something; now, beside him, she says nothing. On this reading the silence is as much hers as his.
She could think of nothing more to say; but if he wished to converse with her, he might have better success.
she would, at times, have given anything to be privileged to tell him, that his kindness was neither unknown nor unfelt by the whole of the family.
Darcy. He brought the cup back himself and chose to stand by her, so the opening was his. He answers her questions fully but asks nothing back, and stays “in silence” for minutes. On the walk she had asked, “If he no longer cares for me, why silent?” The tea table repeats that puzzle in small. On this reading he lets the talk die, and the girl’s whisper only gives him his moment to leave.
He stood by her, however, for some minutes, in silence
If he no longer cares for me, why silent?
A strong answer A strong response chooses one of the two and grounds it in the exchange. One reader blames Elizabeth: she had a whole dinner’s worth of things to say, asks two safe questions, and then leaves the rest to him. Another blames Darcy: he came to her, answers and adds nothing, and stands silent until the whisper lets him go. The best answers notice that both are waiting for the other, and that the chapter gives us only Elizabeth’s side of the silence.
5. Mrs. Bennet sums up the day by the venison, the soup and what Mrs. Long said about Jane. Is she any worse at reading the evening than her daughters are?Inference
What it asks It asks the student to take Mrs. Bennet’s measures seriously and set them beside her daughters’. “I think everything has passed off uncommonly well, I assure you. The dinner was as well dressed as any I ever saw. The venison was roasted to a turn--and everybody said, they never saw so fat a haunch. The soup was fifty times better than what we had at the Lucases’ last week; and even Mr. Darcy acknowledged that the partridges were remarkably well done”. Then: “I never saw you look in greater beauty. Mrs. Long said so too”, and Mrs. Long’s “we shall have her at Netherfield at last!” The narrator: “she had seen enough of Bingley’s behaviour to Jane to be convinced that she would get him at last; and her expectations of advantage to her family, when in a happy humour, were so far beyond reason, that she was quite disappointed at not seeing him there again the next day, to make his proposals.” At dinner, Bingley’s manner “persuaded Elizabeth, that, if left wholly to himself, Jane’s happiness, and his own, would be speedily secured.” The card does not say that Bingley will propose.
Worse. She measures the day by dishes, by gossip and by beating the Lucases’ soup. She calls the dinner a triumph, though she and Darcy, side by side, hardly spoke. The narrator calls her hopes “so far beyond reason” that she expects a proposal the very next day. On this reading her report shows how little she sees of what happened at her own table.
The soup was fifty times better than what we had at the Lucases’ last week
her expectations of advantage to her family, when in a happy humour, were so far beyond reason
No worse, and in one way better. Under the venison she sees what Elizabeth sees: Bingley admires Jane. Elizabeth was “persuaded” that Jane’s happiness would be “speedily secured” if Bingley were left to himself; her mother only says it louder and sooner. Unlike Jane, she does not claim to want nothing. On this reading her measures are coarse, but she owns her wish openly, which neither daughter does about her own tonight.
she had seen enough of Bingley’s behaviour to Jane to be convinced that she would get him at last
persuaded Elizabeth, that, if left wholly to himself, Jane’s happiness, and his own, would be speedily secured.
A strong answer A strong response judges Mrs. Bennet against her daughters and grounds the judgment in her speech and the narrator’s comment. One reader finds her worse: she measures by soup and gossip, misses the coldness at her own end of the table, and expects a proposal “beyond reason”. Another finds her no worse: she reads Bingley as Elizabeth does, and she owns her wish openly, which neither Jane nor Elizabeth will do. The best answers notice that her mistake is one of timing and degree, not of sight, and ask whether wanting something openly is a kind of clear seeing.
1. The words “indifferent” and “indifference” come up five times in this chapter, for Darcy and for Jane. Does anyone in the chapter fit that word?
What it asks It asks the student to follow one word through the chapter and test it against what each person does. On the walk Elizabeth asks why Darcy came, “if he came only to be silent, grave, and indifferent”. Jane wants it seen that “on both sides we meet only as common and indifferent acquaintance”. Elizabeth answers, “Yes, very indifferent, indeed,” laughingly. At dinner, when Bingley sits by Jane, Darcy “bore it with noble indifference; and she would have imagined that Bingley had received his sanction to be happy, had she not seen his eyes likewise turned towards Mr. Darcy, with an expression of half-laughing alarm.” At the end Elizabeth tells Jane, “if you persist in indifference, do not make _me_ your confidante.” Jane is the only one who claims the word for herself; Elizabeth never does. The card does not say whether Darcy still loves Elizabeth, that he has given Bingley his blessing, or that Jane is lying.
No one. Each time the word is claimed, the scene around it argues back. Jane’s “indifferent acquaintance” meets its first test at the door, and her smile settles where Bingley sits. Darcy’s “noble indifference” is followed at once by Bingley’s look of “half-laughing alarm” toward him, so his calm may be a held pose. Elizabeth, who never claims the word, spends the evening proving she could not. On this reading “indifferent” is the chapter’s mask: everyone reaches for it, and no one fits it.
He bore it with noble indifference
with an expression of half-laughing alarm.
Darcy, at least on the surface. The word is used of him twice, once by Elizabeth and once by the narrator, and nothing he does tonight disproves it. He is “formal and cold” with Mrs. Bennet, answers Elizabeth’s questions and adds nothing, and lets himself be put at the whist table. Elizabeth’s hope that he plays badly for looking at her is only a hope. On this reading the chapter lets Darcy keep the word because it shows him only from outside, through eyes that cannot tell what the calm hides.
how formal and cold was their manner whenever they did
she had nothing to hope, but that his eyes were so often turned towards her side of the room, as to make him play as unsuccessfully as herself.
A strong answer A strong response might argue that no one in the chapter fits the word: Jane’s claim to be an “indifferent acquaintance” meets its first test in the smile that seats Bingley beside her, and Elizabeth’s evening at the tea table shows the opposite of calm. Key evidence to consider includes “noble indifference” set right before Bingley’s look of “half-laughing alarm”, which hints that Darcy’s calm may be held in place. The strongest objection is that nothing Darcy does tonight disproves it; we see him only through Elizabeth, and her hope that he plays badly at whist is a hope, not a fact. A revised thesis might hold that the word fits only people seen from outside, and that the chapter keeps giving it to whoever someone else is trying to read.
2. Elizabeth answers Jane with a rule: “We all love to instruct, though we can teach only what is not worth knowing.” Does this chapter prove her right?
What it asks It asks the student to test Elizabeth’s maxim against the lessons she gives tonight, to Jane and to herself. Jane asks, “But why should you wish to persuade me that I feel more than I acknowledge?” Elizabeth: “That is a question which I hardly know how to answer. We all love to instruct, though we can teach only what is not worth knowing. Forgive me; and if you persist in indifference, do not make _me_ your confidante.” Her lesson to Jane on the walk: “Oh, Jane! take care.” Jane: “My dear Lizzy, you cannot think me so weak as to be in danger now.” Her lessons to herself: “I will think no more about him”; “I shall give him up for ever”; and “How could I ever be foolish enough to expect a renewal of his love?” In this chapter she says nothing to Jane about Darcy. The card does not say that Jane is lying or that Bingley will propose.
Yes, and more about herself than about Jane. Elizabeth teaches two pupils tonight, and neither learns. Jane hears “take care” and answers that she is too strong to be “in danger now”. Elizabeth teaches herself three times to give Darcy up, and no lesson holds for long: the first is kept only because Jane comes up, and the last gives way to a coffee-cup. What each sister needs to learn cannot be taught from outside. On this reading the rule is the truest thing Elizabeth says all day.
My dear Lizzy, you cannot think me so weak as to be in danger now.
I will think no more about him.
No. What Elizabeth tries to teach Jane is worth knowing, and the evening shows it: the smile at the door, Bingley’s “admiration”, Mrs. Long’s “at Netherfield at last!” The rule is a polite retreat, not a belief. Jane has asked a question Elizabeth cannot answer, so she turns it into a joke against herself. On this reading the maxim is modest on purpose, and the lesson Elizabeth will not hear, about her own heart, is the one most worth knowing.
That is a question which I hardly know how to answer.
His behaviour to her sister was such during dinnertime as showed an admiration of her
A strong answer A strong response might argue that the chapter proves Elizabeth right, and more right about herself than about Jane: her “take care” teaches Jane nothing, and none of her three lessons to herself holds for long. Key evidence to consider includes Jane’s “you cannot think me so weak as to be in danger now”, which shuts the lesson out. The strongest objection is that what Elizabeth tries to teach is worth knowing, since the dinner shows Bingley’s “admiration” plainly, and the rule is a graceful way out of a question she says she hardly knows how to answer. A revised thesis might hold that the rule is a joke that comes true in a way Elizabeth does not mean: the lessons that fail tonight are the ones she gives herself.
3. Jane insists she now enjoys Bingley's conversation "without having a wish beyond it." Is she deceiving herself, or protecting herself?
What it asks It asks the whole question of the chapter, at its last turn. “It has been a very agreeable day,” said Miss Bennet to Elizabeth. “The party seemed so well selected, so suitable one with the other. I hope we may often meet again.” “Elizabeth smiled.” Jane: “Lizzy, you must not do so. You must not suspect me. It mortifies me. I assure you that I have now learnt to enjoy his conversation as an agreeable and sensible young man without having a wish beyond it. I am perfectly satisfied, from what his manners now are, that he never had any design of engaging my affection. It is only that he is blessed with greater sweetness of address, and a stronger desire of generally pleasing, than any other man.” Then: “How hard it is in some cases to be believed! And how impossible in others! But why should you wish to persuade me that I feel more than I acknowledge?” On the walk she had said, “I know my own strength, and I shall never be embarrassed again by his coming.” The card does not say that Jane is lying, that Bingley will propose, or what Darcy feels.
Deceiving herself. Her own words keep giving her away. A woman with no wish beyond friendship does not find a man sweeter “than any other man”, or hope “we may often meet again”, or call the guests “so suitable one with the other”. The dinner began with the smile that seated him beside her. She is not lying to Elizabeth; she believes it, and that belief is the deception. On this reading Jane cannot see what everyone around her can.
It is only that he is blessed with greater sweetness of address, and a stronger desire of generally pleasing, than any other man.
The party seemed so well selected, so suitable one with the other.
Protecting herself. The key sentence is the middle one: she is “perfectly satisfied” that “he never had any design of engaging my affection.” If he never meant anything, then nothing was taken from her, and nothing can be taken again. “I know my own strength” names a guard put up against being hurt. On this reading she knows the danger well, her words are a wall rather than a blindness, and Elizabeth’s smile hurts (“It mortifies me”) because it presses on the wall.
I am perfectly satisfied, from what his manners now are, that he never had any design of engaging my affection.
You must not suspect me. It mortifies me.
A strong answer A strong response might argue that Jane is protecting herself: by deciding that Bingley “never had any design of engaging my affection”, she makes the past painless and the future safe, and “I know my own strength” names the guard she has put up. Key evidence to consider includes “It mortifies me”, which shows how much Elizabeth’s smile threatens that guard. The strongest objection is that her own words undo it: a man she wants nothing from is sweeter “than any other man”, and her smile at the door decided his seat. A revised thesis might hold that the protection works only by deceiving: Jane believes her claim because she needs to, and the chapter sets her beside a sister who sees this clearly in Jane and not at all in herself.
Her prudent mother, occupied by the same ideas, forbore to invite him to sit by herself.Held back from doing something one could have done (past tense of forbear: for-, away, and bear). Mrs. Bennet, who seldom holds back, “forbore” to ask Bingley to sit by her, which leaves him free to take his old place by Jane. The narrator calls this “prudent”, and the joke is that her restraint is itself a scheme.
Her mother’s ungraciousness made the sense of what they owed him more painful to Elizabeth’s mind; and she would, at times, have given anything to be privileged to tell him, that his kindness was neither unknown nor unfelt by the whole of the family.A cold, grudging manner; a lack of kindness in how one treats someone (un-, not, and gracious, from Latin gratia, favour or thanks). Gratitude grows from the same root, which sharpens the word here: Mrs. Bennet is ungracious to the one guest to whom, in Elizabeth’s mind, the family owes thanks.
When the tea things were removed, and the card tables placed, the ladies all rose; and Elizabeth was then hoping to be soon joined by him, when all her views were overthrown, by seeing him fall a victim to her mother’s rapacity for whist players, and in a few moments after seated with the rest of the party.Grasping greed; a hunger to seize and keep (from Latin rapax, grasping, from rapere, to seize, the root of raptor). The word belongs to wolves and robbers, and Austen spends it on a hostess filling her card tables. It makes Darcy her “victim”, and shows a small household habit taking him from Elizabeth for the rest of the night.