Darcy's intervention in Lydia's marriage

Darcy's intervention in Lydia's marriage is the hidden engine of the novel's resolution—a secret, costly, and self-effacing act that not only rescues the Bennet family from irreparable disgrace but also completes Elizabeth's moral education and makes their own marriage possible. Without it, Lydia would have been ruined, the Bennet name would have been permanently tainted, and Darcy's love for Elizabeth, however ardent, could never have overcome the barrier of such a connection. The intervention is the practical proof of the character Elizabeth had only begun to glimpse at Pemberley, and it is the deed that finally silences every remaining objection between them.

Background and Motive

Darcy's decision to act was neither casual nor convenient. He left Derbyshire only one day after Elizabeth and the Gardiners, traveling to London with the express resolution of hunting for Lydia and Wickham. The motive he professed to Mr. Gardiner was his conviction that it was owing to himself that Wickham's worthlessness had not been so well known as to make it impossible for any young woman of character to love or confide in him; he generously imputed the whole to his own mistaken pride and confessed that he had before thought it beneath him to lay his private actions open to the world. He called it his duty to step forward and endeavor to remedy an evil which had been brought on by himself. Mrs. Gardiner, however, shrewdly suspected another interest in the affair, and Darcy himself later admitted to Elizabeth that the wish of giving happiness to her added force to the other inducements that led him on.

The Search and Negotiation

Darcy had a crucial advantage over the Bennet family in his search: he knew of Mrs. Younge, the former governess to his sister Georgiana who had been dismissed for her role in Wickham's attempted elopement with her. Mrs. Younge had since taken a large house in Edward Street and maintained herself by letting lodgings, and Darcy knew she was intimately acquainted with Wickham. It took him two or three days and what Mrs. Gardiner delicately called "bribery and corruption" to extract the information from her, for she would not betray her trust without inducement. Wickham had indeed gone to her on his first arrival in London, and had she been able to receive them into her house, they would have taken up their abode with her. At length Darcy procured the direction and found them in —— Street. He saw Wickham repeatedly and insisted on seeing Lydia once. His first object with her was to persuade her to quit her disgraceful situation and return to her friends, offering his assistance as far as it would go, but he found Lydia absolutely resolved on remaining where she was—she cared for none of her friends, wanted no help of his, would not hear of leaving Wickham, and was sure they should be married some time or other, it did not much signify when. Since such were her feelings, Darcy thought it only remained to secure and expedite a marriage, which in his very first conversation with Wickham he easily learned had never been his design. Wickham confessed himself obliged to leave the regiment on account of pressing debts of honor, scrupled not to lay all the ill consequences of Lydia's flight on her own folly alone, meant to resign his commission immediately, and knew he should have nothing to live on. Darcy asked him why he had not married Lydia at once, pointing out that Mr. Bennet, though not imagined to be very rich, would have been able to do something for him, but found that Wickham still cherished the hope of more effectually making his fortune by marriage in some other country. Under such circumstances, however, he was not likely to be proof against the temptation of immediate relief. They met several times, for there was much to be discussed; Wickham of course wanted more than he could get, but at length was reduced to be reasonable.

The Financial Settlement

Everything being settled between them, Darcy's next step was to make Mr. Gardiner acquainted with it. He first called in Gracechurch Street the evening before Mrs. Gardiner came home from Longbourn, but Mr. Gardiner could not be seen, and Darcy found on further inquiry that Mr. Bennet was still with him but would quit town the next morning. He did not judge Mr. Bennet to be a person whom he could so properly consult as Mr. Gardiner, and therefore readily postponed seeing him till after the former's departure. On Saturday he came again, and they had a great deal of talk together; they met again on Sunday, when Mrs. Gardiner saw him too, and it was not all settled before Monday. Darcy was very obstinate—Mrs. Gardiner later wrote to Elizabeth that obstinacy was the real defect of his character after all—and nothing was to be done that he did not do himself, though Mr. Gardiner would most readily have settled the whole. They battled it together for a long time, but at last Mr. Gardiner was forced to yield, and instead of being allowed to be of use to his niece, was forced to put up with only having the probable credit of it. The terms Darcy arranged were these: Wickham's debts, amounting to considerably more than a thousand pounds, were to be paid; another thousand in addition to Lydia's own fortune was to be settled upon her; and Wickham's commission was to be purchased. All this was to be done by Darcy alone, on the grounds that it was owing to him, to his reserve and want of proper consideration, that Wickham's character had been so misunderstood and consequently that he had been received and noticed as he was. Mrs. Gardiner, however, assured Elizabeth that Mr. Gardiner would never have yielded if they had not given Darcy credit for another interest in the affair.

Secrecy and the Wedding

Darcy returned to his friends at Pemberley after the settlement was made, but it was agreed that he should be in London once more when the wedding took place, and all money matters were then to receive the last finish. He was punctual in his return and, as Lydia later carelessly revealed to Elizabeth, attended the wedding itself at St. Clement's Church. Lydia, in her usual thoughtless manner, let slip that Mr. Darcy had been there and was to have given her away if her uncle had been prevented, a disclosure that threw Elizabeth into utter amazement and set her on a feverish course of inquiry. Darcy dined with the Gardiners the next day and was to leave town again on Wednesday or Thursday. The secret was so well kept that even Mr. Bennet, when he received Mr. Gardiner's express letter announcing the discovery of the couple and the terms of the settlement, had no idea that Darcy was the source of the money. He assumed his brother-in-law had advanced the funds and spoke of repaying him, only learning the truth months later when Elizabeth finally told him.

Consequences and Significance

The intervention had profound consequences for every major relationship in the novel. For Elizabeth, it was the final, irrefutable proof of Darcy's true character. She had already begun to respect and esteem him after reading his letter and seeing Pemberley, but this act—undertaken at great personal cost, involving dealings with a woman he must abominate and a man whose very name was punishment to him to pronounce, all for a girl he could neither regard nor esteem—demonstrated a generosity and self-command that went far beyond anything she had previously imagined. Her heart whispered that he had done it for her, and though she tried to check the hope, she could not help feeling proud of him, proud that in a cause of compassion and honor he had been able to get the better of himself. The intervention also removed the last great obstacle to their own marriage. Had Lydia been left to her fate, the disgrace would have been so complete that no connection with the Bennet family could have been contemplated by a man of Darcy's position; as it was, the marriage, however wretched in itself, at least provided a formal cover for the elopement and allowed the family to hold up its head. When Darcy later made his second proposal, he could tell Elizabeth that his affections and wishes were unchanged, and she could accept him with a clear conscience, knowing that he had already proved his love in the most practical and costly way imaginable. The intervention thus serves as the grand gesture that, in the structure of the romance, finally and fully wins the heroine's heart and makes the happy ending possible.