Chapters 4/9

Chapter 4: the Netherfield Ball

Mr Wickham is invited to the Bennet’s house and he and Elizabeth get to stay together for a while. Liz thinks he’s a real gentleman.They even bring up the subject of Mr Darcy and Wickham doesn’t speak well of him.The next day, the day of the ball, the girls go to Netherfield and they all are quite disappointed in not seeing Mr Wickham. Elizabeth, in particular, suspects that Darcy did not invite him and that makes her even more mad at him.

During the ball Darcy asks her to dance and she accepts but she tries in any way possible to make him uncomfortable. For example, she makes him talk about Wickham. Apart from this, they do not talk about anything else and the conversation results dull and dissatisfying to both of them.Afterwards, Miss Bingley tells Elizabeth not to believe what Wickham says about Darcy because he is not a gentleman and she kind of tries to explain to her that Wickham has acted terribly towards Darcy when he, on the contrary, has always been kind.Still, Elizabeth doesn’t believe a word Miss Bingley says and just won’t even slightly change her mind.

Chapter 9: Bad NewsElizabeth is still in Lambton with her uncle and aunt and she receives two letters from Jane.The oldest one says that Lydia has gone to Scotland with Mr Wickham. They all are sure the marriage will be a disaster.Those sure are bad news but the other letter is even worse.It says that Lydia and Wickham have disappeared since they are not in Scotland as promised, in fact, it seems like Mr Wickham has never actually had the intention of marrying Lydia at all. They agree that the help of uncle Gardiner is needed.Even Darcy, as soon as he learns about the news, decides to help and he goes off to find the couple along with Lizzie’s uncle.

Several days pass but in the end the Bennet family gets a letter from Mr Gardiner, in which he says that he found Lydia but she is not married yet though she will be soon as long as Mr Bennet agrees to give her 1000 pounds per year. Mr Bennet accepts and her daughter finally gets married in London.Few days later they get to see the new couple just before they head to the north of England. Elizabeth learns from Lydia that also Mr Darcy was at the wedding but the sister says no more because she promised not to tell anything.