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CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

Elizabeth's immediate problem is how to break her extraordinary news to her family. She knows that no one except Jane likes Darcy, and she blames this on herself for having expressed her own dislike of him so freely in the past.

She tells Jane her news that night, but the astonished sister can't believe it. Elizabeth is shaken. If Jane doesn't believe her, who will? To cover her dismay, she at first tells Jane that she began to love Darcy when she saw Pemberley. Then, becoming serious, she assures Jane that her change of feelings has come in response to everything that has happened. Very gradually, she explains, her initial prejudice gave way to understanding, appreciation, and finally love. She tells Jane of Darcy's part in the Lydia-Wickham affair, and the two sisters spend half the night talking.

The next day Bingley arrives, and by the warmth of his greeting Elizabeth can see that Darcy has told him of their engagement. Darcy is with him, and Mrs. Bennet asks Elizabeth to take him out for a walk again. She apologizes for making Elizabeth spend time with "that disagreeable man," but explains it is for Jane.

That evening Darcy visits Mr. Bennet in his study to ask his consent, and soon Mr. Bennet sends for Elizabeth. He is greatly troubled. He has given his consent, but he warns Elizabeth against marrying a man whom she cannot respect.

Elizabeth reassures him that she not only likes Darcy, she loves him. She explains the gradual change of her feelings and the events that changed them, then tells her father the whole story of how Darcy secretly rescued Lydia, managed her marriage, and paid out large sums to clear Wickham's past and insure his future. Amazed at all this, Mr. Bennet admits that Darcy deserves Elizabeth. He is happy that the expenditure of money on Lydia's behalf was Darcy's and not his brother-in-law's. "I shall offer to pay him... he will rant and storm about his love for you, and there will be an end of the matter."

Elizabeth has one more scene to face, her mother's reaction to her news. This she attends to in private, to spare Darcy. At first, Mrs. Bennet is as still as if she'd been turned to stone, but then she reacts exactly as Elizabeth had expected: she is overjoyed that Elizabeth has found such a rich husband. Elizabeth has some momentary forebodings about her mother's future behavior to Darcy. Fortunately, though, Mrs. Bennet is in such awe of her prospective son-in-law that she is hardly able to utter a word to him when they meet the next day. Mr. Bennet quips to Elizabeth that Wickham is still his favorite son-in-law, but he expects to like her husband quite as well as Jane's.

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