In the next part of the book Elizabeth receives a letter from Darcy. In the letter, he explains his intentions for trying to break up Jane and Bingley and he tells Elizabeth the truth about Mr. Wickham. Darcy tells her that Wickham wanted to marry his sister Georgiana, but he only wanted to take advantage of her: "Mr. Wickham's chief object was unquestionably my sister's fortune, which is thirty thousand pounds; but I cannot help supposing that the hope of revenging himself on me was a strong inducement." (pg. 229). I think Darcy seems very sincere in his letter and seems like a completely different character from how he was described earlier in the book. Even Elizabeth is surprised by this transformation and cannot believe he would actually apologize to her. When she reads about the part about Wickham, she is a little hesitant to believe it. She assumes that it isn't true and tosses it aside, but something inside of her wonders if Darcy is telling the truth. This shows that Elizabeth may actually have some trust in Darcy despite his terrible personality.
Elizabeth decides to return home even though Lady Catherine wishes she would stay longer. When she gets back home Elizabeth and Collins meet for breakfast and Collins brags about how happy he is and how perfect his marriage is: "My dear Charlotte and I have but one mind and one way of thinking. There is in everything a most remarkable resemblance of character and ideas between us. We seem to have been designed for each other." (pg. 244). I think Collins's description of his marriage is actually pretty corny. I mean, if he and Charlotte were made for each other, why was he trying to marry Elizabeth just the other week? And most importantly, why is he rubbing all this in Elizabeth's face? It's obvious that he's still upset about the rejection and trying to make Elizabeth regret her decision. That seems like the type of thing a child would do but oh well.
Elizabeth tells Jane about Wickham and how she doesn't want to see him again. She explains the letter to Jane and Jane is appalled that someone would do such an evil thing. Jane feels sorry for Darcy and thinks about the pain he went through, which shows that Jane is kindhearted and sympathetic.
Later on Elizabeth tours Pemberley Estate and begins to wonder what it would be like to live there: "They were all of them warm in their admiration; and at that moment she felt that to be mistress of Pemberley might be something!" (pg. 274). This sort of implies that later on she actually might become the mistress of Pemberley and marry Darcy. During this visit, Elizabeth's opinion of Darcy changes because she hears nothing but good things about him: "This was praise of all others most extraordinary, most opposite to her ideas. That he was not a good-tempered man had been her firmest opinion. Her keenest attention was awakened; she longed to hear more." (pg. 278).
I think this part of the book has really showed the reader that Elizabeth's opinion of Darcy is slowly changing for the better and shows that their relationship will continue to grow. I think that Elizabeth and Darcy will definitely fall in love eventually, but the question is if they will actually stay together.
