Question

pride and prejudice
by jane austen (excerpt)
in this excerpt from jane austen’s novel pride and prejudice, elizabeth bennet arrives at the country home of the bingleys where her sister jane, a guest of the bingleys has fallen ill. after elizabeth leaves the dining room, her hosts and mr. darcy begin talking about her.
(1) when dinner was over, she returned directly to jane, and miss bingley began criticizing her as soon as she was out of the room. her manners were pronounced to be very bad indeed, a mixture of pride and impertinence¹, she had no conversation, no style, no taste, no beauty, mrs. hurst thought the same, and added,
(2) “she has nothing, in short, to recommend her, but being an excellent walker. i shall never forget her appearance this morning. she really looked almost wild.”
(3) “she did indeed, louisa. i could hardly keep my countenance². very nonsensical to come at all! why must she be scampering³ about the county, because her sister had a cold? her hair so untidy, so blowsy⁴.”
(4) “yes, and her petticoat, i hope you saw her petticoat, six inches deep in mud, i am absolutely certain; and the
select the correct answer from the drop down menu.
what compliment does mrs. hurst sarcastically pay elizabeth behind her back?
mrs. hurst proclaims that elizabeth has “nothing to recommend her” other than the fact that elizabeth is
drop down menu options: a fine runner, beautiful and stylish, an excellent walker, good in conversation
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Explanation:

To solve this, we analyze Mrs. Hurst's sarcastic compliment. From the excerpt, Mrs. Hurst says Elizabeth has "nothing to recommend her" except being "an excellent walker" (from the line "She has nothing, in short, to recommend her, but being an excellent walker"). The options include "an excellent walker" as a choice. We match this to the relevant option.

Answer:

an excellent walker (the option corresponding to this text, likely one of the dropdown choices with this description)