] Mr. Bennet seems to take pleasure in his wife's disappontments. I always thought that he must really dislike his wife if he hopd that the ball was less than she hoped it to be, since the only other conclusion would be that his daughters would be let down too!

I made a not to ask about that very sentence. Surely he realizes the position that his survivors will be in if he dies before one of his daughters marries well. I'm surprised that his desire to see his wife disappointed outweights his concern about that, but apparently it does.