Pride and Prejudice

In the carriage, Elizabeth and the Gardiners discuss the situation. The Gardiners have hope that Lydia and Wickham are married, but Elizabeth fears the worst, believing Wickham would never marry a woman from whom he couldn’t benefit financially. She also believes Wickham must see that Lydia has no brothers to defend her and a father who has given “little attention” (263) to her behavior. When Mrs. Gardiner asks if Elizabeth really thinks Wickham is capable of such travesty, Elizabeth replies that she knows he is but can’t relate the whole story. She blames herself for not warning Lydia about Wickham, though she notes that neither Wickham nor Lydia had ever demonstrated a particular preference for the other.

At Longbourn, Mrs. Bennet complains about “her own sufferings” and blames “every body but the person to whose ill-judging indulgence the errors of her daughter must be principally owing” (267). She blames Mr. Bennet for not letting them all go to Brighton, Wickham for his “villainous conduct” (267), the Forsters for not keeping a close eye on Lydia, and the Collinses, preemptively, for evicting them from Longbourn when Mr. Bennet is killed in a duel with Wickham.

Mr. Gardiner assures Mrs. Bennet that he will join Mr. Bennet in London to help. She thanks him and instructs him to tell Lydia not to worry about her wedding clothes, that she can have as much money for clothes as she’d like after she is married.

Jane shows Elizabeth the letter Lydia left Mrs. Forster. Lydia writes that she’s run off to Gretna Green—the Scottish town closest to the English border, therefore popular with elopers—to marry Wickham and that it will be “a good joke” (277) when she surprises her family with her marriage. Though Elizabeth is infuriated by the levity of the letter, she is relieved that at least Lydia had intended to be married.

Jane tells Elizabeth that Mrs. Philips came to help; also, Lady Lucas visited and offered the help of herself and her daughters. Elizabeth says that at times like this, “one cannot see too little of one’s neighbors,” who should “triumph over us at a distance, and be satisfied” (272).

Mrs. Gardiner stays at Longbourn while Mr. Gardiner is in London. People in Meryton “[seem] striving to blacken the man who, but three months before, had been almost an angel of light” (273). He’s left behind many debts and is now considered “the wickedest young man in the world” (273). They also claim to always have “distrusted the appearance of his goodness” (273). From London, Mr. Gardiner writes that Colonel Forster has been generous and kind in his help. Every day the family awaits the mail, anxious for news.

A letter arrives from Mr. Collins sending sympathy for “the grievous affliction […] which no time can remove” (275). He writes that Lydia’s death “would have been a blessing in comparison of this” (275). Charlotte believes Lydia’s irresponsibility “has proceeded from a faulty degree of indulgence” (275), but he thinks “her own disposition must be naturally bad” (275). Lady Catherine agrees with Mr. Collins that Lydia’s behavior will impact the lives of all her sisters, for who “will connect themselves with such a family?” (276). He notes how narrowly he missed being “involved in all your sorrow and disgrace” and concludes by suggesting they “throw off” Lydia “for ever” (276).

Mr. Gardiner writes that it appears Wickham has no living relations and large gaming debts. Mr. Bennet is to come home shortly; Mrs. Bennet wonders who is going “to fight Wickham, and make him marry her” (277). Mrs. Gardiner meets Mr. Gardiner in London, still considering Elizabeth’s relationship with Darcy. Elizabeth feels that “had she known nothing of Darcy, she could have borne the dread of Lydia’s infamy somewhat better” (277).

Upon his return, Elizabeth tells Mr. Bennet she’s sorry for what he’s suffered. He says he deserves to suffer because “[i]t has been my own doing” (278). When Elizabeth objects, he tells her to “let me once in my life feel how much I have been to blame” (278).

Mr. Bennet makes an offhand joke about Kitty running away; she denies she would, saying if she ever goes to Brighton, she will “behave better than Lydia” (279). Mr. Bennet says not only will she never go to Brighton but he will prohibit all balls, and she can’t leave the house unless she spends “ten minutes of every day in a rational manner” (279). When Kitty cries, Mr. Bennet says that if she behaves for ten years, he’ll reconsider.

Mr. Gardiner writes that he has located Lydia and Wickham and has seen them both. They aren’t married yet, but he believes they will marry soon, as long as Mr. Bennet agrees to settle upon Lydia her share of the 5,000 pounds to be split by the Bennet daughters after his death, in addition to 100 pounds a year. He adds that after Wickham’s debts are paid, money will still be left over for him and Lydia. Mr. Gardiner has taken the liberty of agreeing to these terms on Mr. Bennet’s behalf and awaits only his answer before seeing Lydia and Wickham marry.

Jane and Elizabeth are ecstatic. Mr. Bennet wonders how much money Mr. Gardiner paid Wickham to ensure the marriage, believing Wickham surely isn’t only receiving the money specified in the terms. Elizabeth agrees Mr. Gardiner must have paid Wickham’s debts and worries “he has distressed himself”(282) with such a large financial investment. Mr. Bennet says “Wickham’s a fool” to marry Lydia for less than £10,000 and that he “should be sorry to think so ill of him, in the very beginning of our relationship” (282).

Jane holds that Wickham must love Lydia if he’s marrying her, and that it’s impossible that Mr. Gardiner has been able to contribute so much money to the cause. Elizabeth says Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner have been so kind to help Lydia and that “[i]f such goodness does not make her miserable now, she will never deserve to be happy” (283).

Jane and Elizabeth share the news with Mrs. Bennet, who is all excitement. She spends no time remembering how irresponsibly Lydia has behaved; she is delighted that Lydia will be married at sixteen and relieved that her brother has taken care of everything. Her first concern is how much money Mr. Bennet will give Lydia for new clothes.

Jane attempts to remind Mrs. Bennet of Mr. Gardiner’s sacrifices. Mrs. Bennet says Mr. Gardiner is Lydia’s uncle and that he should have done it. She goes to Lady Lucas’s to share the good news. Elizabeth, “sick of this folly” (285), goes to her room. She tries to be thankful that the crisis has ended as well as it could.

Saving money had not seemed urgent early in the Bennets’ marriage, when they assumed they would have a son who would cut off the entail and secure the daughters’ financial futures. Mr. Bennet regrets not having saved money, for had he done so, “Lydia need not have been indebted to her uncle” (286). He vows to repay Mr. Gardiner as soon as possible. He agrees to the terms Mr. Gardiner put forth and is glad to have to exert so little effort, for after the anger passes, “he naturally return[s] to all his former indolence” (287).

The news spreads. People regret that Lydia’s marrying Wickham makes for more boring conversation than her becoming a prostitute or being ostracized. However, people take comfort in the fact that “with such a husband her misery [is] considered certain” (287).

Mrs. Bennet, feeling no shame, is “in spirits oppressively high” (288). In her search for a house for Lydia, she “reject[s] many as deficient in size and importance” (288). Mr. Bennet tells her he will never receive Lydia and Wickham as visitors at Longbourn. Mrs. Bennet is horrified that Mr. Bennet won’t send Lydia money for clothes, wondering how he can “refuse his daughter a privilege, without which her marriage would scarcely seem valid” (288).

Elizabeth wishes she hadn’t told Darcy about the elopement. She believes “a gulf impassable [exists] between them” (289), for he would never marry into a family connected with Wickham. Feeling more than ever that she could have loved him, she realizes that “in disposition and talents” (289) he is actually perfect for her, that their marriage “must have been to the advantage of both” (290). She has no hope for Lydia and Wickham’s happiness, for they were “only brought together because their passions [are] stronger than their virtue” (290).

Mr. Gardiner writes to Mr. Bennet that, on his advice, Wickham is joining the army. Colonel Forster is letting Wickham’s creditors near Brighton know that they will soon be paid and asks that Mr. Bennet do the same for creditors in Meryton. The family is happy for the news—all except Mrs. Bennet, who laments that Lydia has to move away.

Lydia wants to visit before they depart for the north. Mr. Bennet at first refuses to let them, but Jane and Elizabeth convince him to receive them.

Lydia and Wickham are married, and they visit Longbourn. Mrs. Bennet is thrilled, while Mr. Bennet scarcely speaks. Elizabeth and even Jane are “disgusted” and “shocked” by Lydia’s “untamed, unabashed, wild, noisy, and fearless” behavior as she unapologetically “turn[s] from sister to sister, demanding their congratulations” (293). Lydia eagerly wants to know if everyone in town knows she’s married; Elizabeth runs out of the room, joining the family again only when they sit down for dinner.

Lydia tells Jane that she now has the right to sit at her mother’s right side, that Jane “must go lower, because I am a married woman” (294). Lydia grows bolder and bolder as the day goes on, saying she wants to meet all her friends to hear them call her “Mrs. Wickham” and to “boast of being married” (294). She says all her sisters must “envy” her for her “charming” (294) husband and that they all should have gone to Brighton so the other girls could find husbands. She says that if her sisters visit her in the north, she will be sure to find dancing partners for them. Mrs. Bennet eagerly agrees to this plan.

Lydia and Wickham stay for ten days, and many parties are thrown. Elizabeth finds that Wickham, as she’d expected, does not love Lydia as much as Lydia loves him. Elizabeth is convinced that he wouldn’t have married her, that he’d intended to flee only because of “distress of circumstances” (295), and that he merely didn’t object to Lydia joining him.

Despite Elizabeth’s objections, Lydia tells Elizabeth about her wedding. She had been eager for it to take place and wondered if Wickham would wear his blue coat. She relates that Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner had been “horrid unpleasant” to her and that they hadn’t let her out of the house for two weeks. In giving her account of that day, she offhandedly mentions that Darcy was at the wedding. Elizabeth is stunned. Lydia says she wasn’t supposed to mention Darcy’s presence, that it was supposed to be a secret; Elizabeth doesn’t question her but, impatient to know more, runs out of the room to immediately, in order to write a letter to Mrs. Gardiner asking why Darcy had been “where he had apparently least to do, and least temptation to go” (297).

Mrs. Gardiner writes that the day she returned from Longbourn, Darcy visited Mr. Gardiner to tell him he’d spoken with Lydia and Wickham. His motive, he said, was that he blamed himself for the fact that Wickham’s true character wasn’t known and felt it was “his duty to step forward” (299). Mrs. Gardiner suggests he perhaps had another motive.

Darcy learned Lydia and Wickham’s location from Mrs. Younge, who was in charge of Miss Darcy when she eloped with Wickham. He tried to convince Lydia to return home, but Lydia refused. Darcy realized the next best option was to ensure the marriage. Wickham told Darcy he’d been forced to leave because of “debts of honour which were very pressing” and, at the very least, “scrupled not to lay all the ill consequences of Lydia’s flight on her own folly alone” (300). He admitted he hadn’t married Lydia because he hoped to marry a wealthier woman. However, Wickham ended up succumbing to “the temptation of immediately relief” (300). Darcy and Wickham met several times to talk about the terms of Wickham’s marrying Lydia. Once this was accomplished, Darcy spoke with Mr. Gardiner about the plan.

Mrs. Gardiner writes that Darcy did everything himself but required that Mr. Gardiner take the credit, “which went sorely against the grain” (301). Mr. Gardiner was glad for Elizabeth’s letter, which required him to relinquish “his borrowed feathers” (301).

After the wedding, Mrs. Gardiner lectured Lydia on her distressing behavior, to no avail. At the end of her letter, Mrs. Gardiner tells Elizabeth how much she likes Darcy, how he lacks only “liveliness,” which “his wife may teach him” if he marries “prudently” (302). She adds that she would like to explore more of Pemberley.

Elizabeth is overcome by Darcy’s “exertion of goodness” (303). She thinks about the “trouble and mortification” he endured to “bribe the man whom he always most wished to avoid” and dares to hope he did it for her (303). Her family owes “every thing to him” (303), and she regrets every “ungracious sensation she had every encouraged, every saucy speech she had ever directed towards him” (304).

Wickham approaches. He says they were always friends, and she agrees. They discuss her time visiting Pemberley, and Elizabeth subtly reveals she knows the truth of his story. She tells him that as they are now brother and sister, they shouldn’t quarrel, and he kisses her hand.