Chapter 33

Summary

Elizabeth, rambling in the park, often meets Darcy unexpectedly. On these occasions, he walks with her and asks odd questions about her likes and dislikes. Once she meets Fitzwilliam while she is strolling, and they speak of Darcy. Fitzwilliam tells her that recently Darcy has saved a friend from an unwise marriage, and he suspects this friend to be Bingley. Elizabeth is pained over hearing the news. She is furious with Darcy for ruining her sister’s life. She later feigns a headache so she will not have to accompany the others to Rosings; angry with Darcy for his interference in Jane’s life, she does not want to see him.

Notes

When she strolls in the park, Elizabeth sometimes encounters Fitzwilliam or Darcy, who walk with her. It is obvious that Fitzwilliam adores Elizabeth; but he cannot contemplate marrying her, for as the younger son, he has neither wealth nor property to offer.

The mystery of Bingley’s abrupt departure from Netherfield is solved. Colonel Fitzwilliam unknowingly tells Elizabeth that Darcy has stopped a friend, probably Bingley, from an unwise marriage. Elizabeth is agitated over the news and hates Darcy as never before for meddling in Jane's life. It is a part of Austen’s dramatic stratagem that Darcy’s proposal should follow immediately after this revelation.

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