After the Colonel left Netherfield, Mr. Bingley continued to visit Longbourn, but now he was often accompanied by Mr. Darcy. The first few times they were together, Darcy did not say much when he was there, but he was quite willing to accompany Elizabeth on walks to act as chaperones for Bingley and Jane. Elizabeth was not sure what to make of Mr. Darcy as he never said much about himself, even when they were alone unless she asked him specific questions. She did learn a bit more about his sister and his worries that he was not being a proper guardian for her. However, he would not give her any details of why he had this concern. She also noticed that he was not very sociable when they were in larger gatherings, just as he had not been at the Meryton Assembly. She began to wonder if he was just quite shy in public. She could not understand how such a prominent gentleman could be like this; surely he should be used to being in large groups. However, she could think of no other explanation for his behaviour.

After several such quiet walks, they found that they both liked to read interesting books. They began to discuss their thoughts on what they had read and found that sometimes their views coincided, but their more memorable discussions occurred when they had different views on the same book. This resulted in vigorous debates, with Darcy becoming even more impressed with her intelligence and lively thought processes. Then he began to wonder if she sometimes made statements that she did not entirely agree with but just happened to be opposite to his own position. This realization made him think that she was enjoying their friendly debates. For some reason this pleased him.

Even though he was reluctant to admit it, Darcy was becoming more impressed by this lady the more he was in her company. Not only was she very intelligent and quite knowledgeable about many matters, but he also had to admit that she was very attractive in both face and form. His belief that she was too good for his cousin was reinforced, but he doubted there was anything he could do about it. He and Richard were as close as brothers and he would not want interfere with his personal life. However, he was certainly impressed by her.

On her part, Elizabeth continued to be confused about this gentleman. He seemed so different depending on the situation he was in.

One morning, Jane received a note from Miss Bingley inviting her to come for dinner as the gentlemen had been invited to dine with the officers. This is what the note said:

My Dear Friend,

If you are not so compassionate as to dine today with Louisa and me, we shall be in danger of hating each other for the rest of our lives, for a whole day's tête-à-tête between two women can never end without a quarrel. Come as soon as you can on receipt of this. My brother and the gentlemen are to dine with the officers.

Yours ever,

Caroline Bingley

"The gentlemen are dining with the officers!" cried Lydia. "I wonder our aunt did not tell us about that."

"Dining out," said Mrs. Bennet. "Jane, that is very unlucky. You will likely not see them when you go there as it will be late when they return."

"Can I have the carriage?" asked Jane her mother.

"No, my dear, you had better go on horseback, because it seems likely to rain and then you must stay all night. That will ensure that you will see Mr. Bingley."

"That would be a good scheme," said Elizabeth, "if you were sure that they would not offer to send her home in their carriage."

"Oh! but the gentlemen will use Mr. Bingley's carriage to go to Meryton, and the Hursts have no horses to theirs."

"I had much rather go in the coach."

Elizabeth was concerned for her sister's health if she were to be caught in the rain. "Mama, we cannot risk Jane's health. She can use my chaise; I will not need it this afternoon."

Mrs. Bennet knew that she would not win an argument with Elizabeth as she would just appeal to her Uncle Philips who, as guardian, had complete control over the estate and everyone on it. She had lost too many arguments with her daughter in the past already because of his support, so she gave in, although not gracefully. Her prediction about rain was accurate but Jane was protected in the chaise and returned home that night dry and safe. Jane commented on how friendly the Netherfield ladies were with her. Mrs. Bennet was not pleased when she heard that Jane had not seen the gentlemen before she returned home.

The next morning all the Bennet sisters decided to take advantage of the mild and sunny weather to walk into Meryton to do some shopping and to visit their Aunt Philips. The rain from the previous afternoon was followed by a perfect autumn day. Jane and Elizabeth worried that their youngest sisters wanted to go into the village mainly to see what officers might be there. They continued to be concerned about their flirting with anyone in a red coat. Elizabeth had tried to improve their behaviour, but their mother would not support her.

Just as they were entering the village, Kitty and Lydia's hopes were rewarded as they spied an officer they knew.

"Denny!" shouted Lydia as she ran to him with Kitty following. They saw that he was with another gentlemen who was not in uniform but was very handsome. "I am pleased to see that you have returned from town." Lydia's statement warned Elizabeth that her youngest sister must have been in close communication with Mr. Denny to know of his travel plans; she was not aware how close her sister's friendship with him had become. This made her realize that she would have to watch over her youngest sisters more closely than she had been.

Mr. Denny addressed them directly, "Good morning, Miss Lydia, ladies." He bowed to them. "May I have your permission to introduce my friend, Mr. Wickham, who returned with me yesterday from town? I am happy to say he has accepted a commission in our corps."

This was exactly as it should be for the young man wanted only regimentals to make him completely charming. His appearance was greatly in his favour; he had all the best part of beauty, a fine countenance, a good figure, and very pleasing address. The introduction was followed up on his side by a happy readiness of conversation—a readiness at the same time perfectly correct and unassuming.

The whole party were still standing and talking together very agreeably, when the sound of horses drew their notice, and Darcy and Bingley were seen riding down the street. On distinguishing the ladies of the group, the two gentlemen came directly towards them and began the usual civilities. Bingley was the principal spokesman and the eldest Miss Bennet the principal object.

"We are," he said, "on our way to Longbourn on purpose to enquire after you. We wanted to ensure that you made it home last night in good health. I was worried about the rain."

Mr. Darcy corroborated Bingley's words with a bow, and was beginning to determine not to fix his eyes on Mrs. Collins when they were suddenly arrested by the sight of the stranger. Elizabeth, happening to see the countenance of both as they looked at each other, was all astonishment at the effect of the meeting. Both faces changed colour, one turned white, the other red. Mr. Wickham, after a few moments, touched his hat—a salutation which Mr. Darcy just barely deigned to return. What could be the meaning of it? It was difficult to imagine; it was impossible not to long to know the reason for this strange greeting. It was obvious to her that there was an interesting story behind it all.

In another minute, Mr. Bingley, but without seeming to have noticed what passed between the two gentlemen, took his leave and rode on with his friend.

The two officers walked with the ladies to the door of their Aunt Philips and left them there. The main topic of conversation with their aunt was the pleasing appearance of the new officer. Their aunt reminded her nieces that they were to come to her place the next evening for dinner and entertainments. She promised to invite Mr. Wickham to come with his fellow officers.

The next evening, Mr. Wickham singled out Elizabeth and soon began to ask her about Mr. Darcy. As her feelings about this gentleman were quite ambivalent and confused, she did not volunteer much information but hoped that she would learn more about him. Wickham was very willing to fill her ears with complaints about Mr. Darcy and how he had condemned him to his life of poverty by denying a valuable living that he should have received in Derbyshire.

This accusation did not seem right to her as she had not found Mr. Darcy to be anything but a complete gentleman after his first insult about her appearance. Colonel Fitzwilliam had assured her that his cousin had never acted in any despicable manner and she believed him in spite of what Mr. Wickham said. She did not argue or question Mr. Wickham in any detail about his tale of woe but decided to ask Mr. Darcy about this story. She felt that she now knew him well enough to ask such questions.

Wickham even stated that Darcy was engaged to his cousin, Miss Anne de Bourgh and that he expected that the wedding would not be too distant in the future as her mother, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, was anxious for this event to take place. Elizabeth was not surprised to hear this as marriages of conveniences were quite common among the upper classes.

Elizabeth was a bit uncomfortable when Mr. Wickham questioned her about her control of Longbourn and her life as a widow. She had heard rumours about how some widows were free with their favours with handsome gentlemen and hoped that he did not have designs on her. She did not mention the attention she had received from Colonel Fitzwilliam; in fact, she did not mention that she had met the Colonel at all. She had not the slightest idea that the Colonel might have thought these same thoughts about her when he first met her.

The next day, she told Jane about her conversation with Mr. Wickham about Mr. Darcy's shameful treatment of him. Neither sister could believe that he could have done anything so improper, so they thought there must be more to the story than she had been told. They soon began to speak of a more pleasant topic—the ball that Mr. Bingley was planning at Netherfield. Nothing could compare to the thoughts of a ball to any young lady. Even Elizabeth was looking forward to it as she had been reminded how much she enjoyed this activity at that Meryton Assembly. Before that Assembly when the Netherfield party first appeared, she had not danced even once since her marriage; now she was brave enough to look forward to this activity once again.

The day of the ball, all the Longbourn ladies were busy dressing in their finest. Elizabeth had even agreed to the purchase of new gowns for herself and all of her sisters for this special occasion. She was adamant that Jane had to look her very best for their host as she knew how much her sister thought about this very eligible gentleman.

They arrived at Netherfield and each sister immediately looked for people they hoped to see, especially, for the youngest two, if they were wearing a red coat. Elizabeth looked to see if Mr. Wickham was among the officers who were in attendance, but she did not see him. Mr. Bingley asked Jane to open the ball with him for the first set, which she gladly accepted. Mr. Darcy came up to Elizabeth to ask that she reserve a set with him. This surprised her as she thought that he did not like to dance, based on what she had heard him say at the Assembly.

The officers at the ball made up for the lack of gentlemen in the area, so all the Bennet ladies were able to dance almost every set. One of Elizabeth's first partners was Lieutenant Denny. She asked him, "I do not see Mr. Wickham here tonight. Is he coming?"

"No, he is not. He found that he was needed to go to London yesterday." When Elizabeth exclaimed at this unusual trip, he added, "I do not imagine his business would have called him away just now if he had not wanted to avoid a certain gentleman here." This intelligence made her suspect that Mr. Wickham was likely in the wrong because of the timing of his trip. It certainly appeared that he did not want to meet Mr. Darcy, which did not reflect well on the veracity of his story.

At the beginning of an early set, Mr. Darcy came to Elizabeth. "Mrs. Collins, if you have this next set free, I would be pleased if you would allow me to partner you."

Elizabeth decided that she needed to clarify some of her confusion about him. "Mr. Darcy! I thought that you did not care to dance."

"I admit that I am not comfortable dancing with a partner with whom I am not particularly well acquainted."

"Does that mean that you feel we are well acquainted?"

Darcy first thought that this was rather an impertinent question, but then he had to admit to himself that this lack of fawning over him appealed to him. It was one of the things that made him interested in her. "Not especially close, but I have certainly come to appreciate how remarkable you are. May I also say that you look very beautiful tonight? In any case, I wanted to warn you about someone you recently met."

These compliments surprised her, but she could not help but be pleased to hear them. What lady would not appreciate being called 'remarkable' and 'beautiful,' especially by such a distinguished gentleman? "I presume you mean Mr. Wickham? I noticed how you reacted on seeing him in Meryton. I hoped to have a chance to ask you about him."

"As my cousin is not here to warn you about him, I thought that I should. Mr. Wickham is blessed with such happy manners as may ensure his making friends—whether he may be equally capable of retaining them, is less certain. Please be very careful in any dealings with him. His words are not to be trusted."

"He certainly said some harsh things about you."

"He does that, but please remember that there may be more to the story than what he admitted. He has a history of distorting the facts to suit his purposes. In addition to his other bad habits, he has left debts wherever he goes. It does not bother him that his unpaid debts seriously hurt small businesses."

"I thank you for the warning. I suspected as much; that is why I wanted to ask you about him." Mr. Darcy then led her onto the dance floor.

Elizabeth greatly enjoyed her dance with him as he was an excellent dancer, very light on his feet. He even complimented her again on her appearance, which he had never done even once before. She saw that many people in attendance were paying close attention to them as they had not seen him dance with anyone other than the ladies in his own party.

All in all, she had a good time at the ball, as did all her sisters, even Mary danced more than she usually did. She saw that Mr. Bingley spent most of his time with Jane. He danced three sets with her, which was normally taken to mean that there was a commitment between them.

When they arrived back home, Jane and Lizzy talked about their experience at the ball. Jane volunteered, "Mr. Bingley said that he had to go to town in the morning for some business, but he expected that it would take him only a week or so and then he would be returning to Netherfield." She continued, "I noticed that Mr. Darcy danced with you, Lizzy. How did that happen?"

"He said that he wanted to warn me about Mr. Wickham. He said that we should be very careful with him as he is not to be trusted." This statement worried Jane as she knew how flirtatious their youngest sisters were with officers. With no man in the house to protect them, she knew they would be vulnerable to unscrupulous rogues.