Two days after Mr. Bennet’s return, Jane and Elizabeth were walking in the garden when the housekeeper, Mrs. Hill, ran toward them. She looked very excited.
"Oh, Miss Jane! I hoped you had good news from London," she said.
"What do you mean, Hill?" Jane asked. "We have heard nothing."
"An urgent letter has just arrived for Mr. Bennet from Mr. Gardiner!" Hill cried. "Your father has been reading it for half an hour!"
The girls ran into the house, but they couldn't find their father in the library. A servant told them he was walking in the small woods near the house. Elizabeth ran ahead, panting for breath, and found him.
"Oh, Papa! What news? Have you heard from my uncle?"
"Yes," Mr. Bennet said, taking a letter from his pocket. "I have received an urgent message."
"Is it good or bad?" Elizabeth asked impatiently.
"What good news can we expect?" he sighed. "But perhaps you would like to read it yourself."
Elizabeth grabbed the letter and read it aloud as Jane caught up with them. The letter said that Mr. Gardiner had finally found Lydia and Wickham. They were not married yet, and Wickham had not planned to marry her. However, Mr. Gardiner had made a deal. If Mr. Bennet promised Lydia her share of the family’s money and gave her one hundred pounds a year, Wickham would agree to marry her.
"Is it possible?" Elizabeth cried. "Will he really marry her?"
"Wickham is not as bad as we thought," Jane said, feeling relieved. "Papa, I congratulate you!"
Elizabeth was silent. She knew Wickham was a greedy man. One hundred pounds a year was a very small amount. She realized that her uncle, Mr. Gardiner, must have paid Wickham a huge sum of money secretly to make him agree to the marriage.
"My uncle is a very generous man," Elizabeth thought. "He has probably spent a lot of his own money to save Lydia’s reputation."
Mr. Bennet agreed. "Wickham would be a fool to marry her for so little money. Your uncle must have paid off all his debts and given him thousands of pounds more."
They went back to the house to tell the news. When Mrs. Bennet heard the letter, her mood changed instantly. She was no longer crying or staying in her room. She was full of joy!
"My dear, dear Lydia!" she shouted. "She will be married at sixteen! How wonderful! I must see her. I must buy her wedding clothes! Lizzy, run and ask your father for money for the clothes. Oh, Mrs. Wickham! What a beautiful name!"
Jane tried to make her mother understand that they owed everything to Mr. Gardiner’s kindness, but Mrs. Bennet didn't care. She was already planning which neighbors she would visit to brag about the wedding. She ordered the carriage and went to Meryton to spread the news.
Elizabeth went to her room to think. She was happy that the scandal was over, but she was sad for Lydia. Her sister was marrying a man without honour, and their future would probably be very unhappy.