"Pride and Prejudice"
by Jane Austen

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     "How I long to see her again! I never met with anybody who delighted me so much. Such a countenance, such manners! And so extremely accomplished for her age! Her performance on the pianoforte is exquisite."

     "It is amazing to me," said Bingley, "how young ladies can have patience to be so very accomplished as they all are."

     "All young ladies accomplished! My dear Charles, what do you mean?"

 

     "Yes, all of them, I think. They all paint tables, cover screens, and net purses. I scarcely know anyone who cannot do all this, and I am sure I never heard a young lady spoken of for the first time, without being informed that she was very accomplished."

     "Your list of the common extent of accomplishments," said Darcy, "has too much truth. The word is applied to many a woman who deserves it no otherwise than by netting a purse or covering a screen. But I am very far from agreeing with you in your estimation of ladies in general. I cannot boast of knowing more than half-a-dozen, in the whole range of my acquaintance, that are really accomplished."

     "Nor I, I am sure," said Miss Bingley.

 
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