Welcome to our epistolary retelling of Pride & Prejudice! Jane Austen’s original version of the story, First Impression, was told entirely in letters, so it seemed like a great group project. We’ll be posting a new letter every Wednesday.
Jane writes in her private journal
Longbourn, September 2, 1812
At dinner today, Lydia revealed a strange secret. Mr. Darcy attended Lydia’s wedding! I do not know what to make of it at all. I only wish Lizzy had pressed Lydia harder to discover more, but she did not. It was unlike Lizzy to hold back, and even more odd, she made it clear afterwards that she did not wish me to pursue it any further. I know she is right, of course. Mr. Darcy explicitly asked Lydia not to reveal that he was there, and we must respect his wishes. Yet I am so overcome with curiosity, I am sorely tempted to go to Lydia’s room right now and make her tell me everything.
In any case, that would be impossible, because Wickham is there, sharing the guest bedroom with Lydia. How strange to think that she is now a married woman! And what a relief!
Still, I cannot stop thinking about Mr. Darcy and how this whole thing came about. According to my sister, she met Mr. Darcy quite by accident when she visited Pemberley with Uncle and Aunt Gardiner, and was invited to Pemberley. Then, the morning my letter arrived, Mr. Darcy arrived at the the inn Lizzy was staying at in Lambton. What unfortunate timing! To arrive immediately Lizzy received the bad news of Lydia’s elopement! That would account for Lizzy’s surprising lapse of judgement. How otherwise can I explain that Lizzy chose to blurt out the truth to Mr. Darcy without considering the consequences? Especially when there was a chance that Mr. Darcy might pass on the news to Mr. Bingley.
Though I suppose it does not really matter. Mr. Bingley never loved me. He never called on me in London. He did not even put up a pretense of being civil. Nor did he show any sign of wishing to continue our acquaintance. I could hardly sink further in his eyes. Though I imagine his sisters would undoubtedly congratulate themselves on their wisdom and tell their brother, I told you so. But perhaps I am being too harsh. All this to say that perhaps it shows that Lizzy really trusted Mr. Darcy.
Is it too much to think she might have told him the truth because she hoped for his help? That, without thinking, she had thrown himself at his mercy?
Or perhaps it was the other way round. Perhaps Mr. Darcy was moved by Lizzy’s trust in him to go in search of Mr. Wickham himself. From everything I have heard, there is no love lost between Mr. Darcy and Mr. Wickham. Though it is possible there must be two sides to the story, and that perhaps, when Mr. Wickham agreed to marry Lydia, Mr. Darcy decided to show his support. I never believed that Mr. Darcy could have behaved so abominably to his childhood companion. Perhaps they were friends all along, and there was only a small quarrel between them. They must have reconciled their differences and put the past behind them, and who better to bear witness to his wedding than Wickham’s childhood companion.
Still, it does not fully explain why Mr. Darcy would lower himself to attend such a lowly event, one that is steeped with scandal. Was it possible he did it to lend an air of respectability to the proceedings?
There must be more to it. Could Mr. Darcy have set out from Lambton, intending at that very moment to provide what assistance he could in finding Lydia and Wickham? But why would he go to all that trouble, when Lizzy had rejected him so rudely, and he had every reason to resent her? Clearly he did not do it to earn her love, since he had made Lydia promise not to tell anyone.
I believe the answer is simple. He loves her still, and, even if Lizzy never discovered the truth, he would be satisfied in the knowledge that he had managed to help her in some way.
If I am right, then he is a gentleman in the truest sense of the word, and Lizzy is a fool to have rejected him.
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