Mr. Darcy is a wealthy gentleman with an income exceeding £10,000 a year (equivalent to over £13,000,000 a year in relative income) and the proprietor of Pemberley, a large estate in Derbyshire, England. Darcy first meets Elizabeth Bennet at a ball, where he makes rather demeaning remarks about her while she is within earshot. Gradually he becomes attracted to her and later attempts to court her while simultaneously struggling against his continued feelings of superiority. Darcy disapproves when his friend Bingley develops a serious attachment to Elizabeth's elder sister Jane, and persuades Bingley that Jane does not return his feelings (which Darcy honestly but wrongfully believes). He later explains this seeming hypocrisy by asserting "I was kinder to than to myself". Although he doesn't realise it, Mr. Wickham's tale of how Darcy mistreated him and Elizabeth's later discovery of Darcy's interference in Bingley and Jane's budding relationship, along with Elizabeth's previous observations of Darcy's arrogance, conceit, and selfish disdain of the feelings of others, has caused her to dislike him intensely.