Pride and Prejudice

The next morning, Elizabeth goes for a walk and encounters Darcy, who hands her a letter and walks away. She opens the letter and reads it where she stands.

Darcy begins by assuring her he doesn’t intend to propose again. He apologizes for requiring her time, adding that he knows she “will bestow it unwillingly” but that he “demand[s] it of your justice” (185).

He writes that, like everyone else, he’d noticed Bingley was in love with Jane. After hearing a marriage was imminent, he observed them carefully. While Jane was “open, cheerful, and engaging” (186), she didn’t seem especially interested in Bingley. If Elizabeth disagrees, he writes, he “must have been in error” (186). He admits to hoping they wouldn’t marry but insists he did not make decisions based on his hopes. Her family’s lack of connection was less a concern than their “total want of propriety” (187). He apologizes for offending her and compliments her and Jane for “conducting yourselves so as to avoid any share of the censure” (187).

Bingley had been planning to return to Netherfield, but Darcy and Bingley’s sisters convinced him to stay in London. Darcy’s concerns regarding Jane’s family wouldn’t have convinced Bingley to end the relationship had not it been for his more important suggestion that she didn’t reciprocate Bingley’s feelings.