Maybe I've read P&P too many times, or maybe I just have far too much time on my hands, but I started wondering about some little things.

Chapter 2:

-- When Kitty Bennet is first introduced, one of her distinguishing characteristics is that she's coughing. Were we meant to think, even momentarily, that she is generally in poor health? (Not that she shows any signs of it in the next ten chapters!) Or was it all just a setup for Mr. Bennet's "you may cough as much as you choose"?

-- Where did Mrs. Long run off to, preventing her from introducing Mr. Bingley to the Benents? Was it a trip she had already planned, but somehow forgot when making her promise? Or was it some kind of emergency that took precedence over her promise? Or did she have second thoughts about her promise, and conjure up an excuse to keep herself away?

Chapter 3:

-- In P&P2, when Mrs. Bennet introduces her daughters to Bingley at the assembly, why does she refer to her second daughter as "Elizabeth", but her fourth daughter as "Kitty"? Shouldn't she have introduced Kitty as "Catherine"? Or if she's determined to use nicknames, why not call Elizabeth "Lizzy"?

-- When Darcy says to Bingley "You are dancing with the only handsome girl in the room", isn't he slighting Bingley's sisters, who are still in the room ("your sisters are engaged ...")?

Chapter 4:

-- The Bingley sisters' "behavior at the assembly had not been calculated to please in general". So why don't the locals think as poorly of them as they do of Darcy?

Chapter 6:

-- Why do the Lucases have a pianoforte? None of the Miss Lucases appear to be musical. Solely to allow other young ladies a chance to exhibit?

Chapter 7:

-- "... a whole day's tête-à-tête between two women can never end without a quarrel." Does this say something about the Bingley sisters' relationship? I can't imagine such a statement applying to Lizzy and Jane.

Chapter 8:

-- "Elizabeth joined them again only to say that her sister was worse, and that she could not leave her." But she did leave Jane -- to inform the others! Why didn't she just give a servant the message?

Chapter 11:

-- Was Darcy taking a swipe at Miss Bingley when he said "My feelings are not puffed about with every attempt to move them"? After all, she has spent a great deal of time attempting to move his feelings towards herself.