With respect to that other, more weighty
accusation, of having injured Mr. Wickham, I can only refute it by laying before you the whole of his connection with my family. Of what he has particularly accused me, I am ignorant; but of the truth of what I shall relate, I can
summon more than one witness of undoubted veracity. Mr. Wickham is the son of a very
respectable man, who had for many years the management of all the Pemberley estates; and whose good conduct in the discharge of his trust naturally inclined my father to be of service to him; and on George Wickham, who was his god-son, his kindness was therefore liberally bestowed. My father supported him at school, and afterwards at Cambridge; -- most important assistance, as his own father, always poor from the
extravagance of his wife, would have been unable to give him a gentleman's education. My father was not only fond of this young man's society, whose manners were always engaging; he had also the highest opinion of him, and hoping the church would be his profession, intended to provide for him in it. As for myself, it is many, many years since I first began to think of him in a very different manner. The
vicious propensities -- the want of principle, which he was careful to guard from the knowledge of his best friend, could not escape the observation of a young man of nearly the same age with himself, and who had opportunities of
seeing him in
unguarded moments, which Mr. Darcy could not have. Here again I shall give you pain -- to what degree you only can tell. But whatever may be the sentiments which Mr. Wickham has created, a suspicion of their nature shall not prevent me from
unfolding his real character. It adds even another motive. My excellent father died about five years ago; and his
attachment to Mr. Wickham was to the last so steady, that in his will he particularly recommended it to me to promote his
advancement in the best manner that his profession might allow, and, if he took orders, desired that a valuable family living might be his as soon as it became vacant. There was also a
legacy of one thousand pounds. His own father did not long survive mine, and within half a year from these events Mr. Wickham wrote to inform me that, having finally
resolved against
taking orders, he hoped I should not think it
unreasonable for him to expect some more immediate pecuniary advantage, in lieu of the preferment by which he could not be benefited. He had some intention, he added, of studying the law, and I must be aware that the interest of one thousand pounds would be a very
insufficient support
therein. I rather wished than believed him to be sincere; but, at any rate, was
perfectly ready
to accede to his proposal. I knew that Mr. Wickham ought not to be a
clergyman. The business was therefore soon settled. He resigned all claim to assistance in the church, were it possible that he could ever be in a situation to receive it, and accepted in return three thousand pounds. All connection between us seemed now dissolved. I thought too ill of him to invite him to Pemberley, or admit his society in town. In town, I believe, he chiefly lived, but his studying the law was a mere
pretence, and being now free from all
restraint, his life was a life of
idleness and dissipation. For about three years I heard little of him; but on the
decease of the incumbent of the living which had been designed for him, he
applied to me again by letter for the
presentation. His circumstances, he
assured me, and I had no difficulty in believing it, were
exceedingly bad. He had found the law a most
unprofitable study, and was now absolutely
resolved on being ordained, if I would present him to the living in question -- of which he trusted there could be little doubt, as he was well
assured that I had no other person to provide for, and I could not have forgotten my revered father's intentions. You will hardly blame me for refusing to
comply with this
entreaty, or for resisting every
repetition of it. His
resentment was in proportion to the distress of his circumstances -- and he was doubtless as violent in his abuse of me to others, as in his reproaches to myself. After this period, every appearance of acquaintance was dropt. How he lived I know not. But last summer he was again most
painfully obtruded on my notice. I must now mention a circumstance which I would wish to forget myself, and which no obligation less than the present should induce me to
unfold to any human being. Having said thus much, I feel no doubt of your
secrecy. My sister, who is more than ten years my junior, was left to the guardianship of my mother's nephew, Colonel Fitzwilliam, and myself. About a year ago, she was taken from school, and an establishment formed for her in London; and last summer she went with the lady who presided over it, to Ramsgate; and thither also went Mr. Wickham, undoubtedly by design; for there proved to have been a prior acquaintance between him and Mrs. Younge, in whose character we were most unhappily deceived; and by her connivance and aid he so far recommended himself to Georgiana, whose
affectionate heart retained a
strong impression of his kindness to her as a child, that she was persuaded to believe herself in love, and to consent to an elopement. She was then but fifteen, which must be her excuse; and after stating her imprudence, I am happy to add that I owed the knowledge of it to herself. I joined them
unexpectedly a day or two before the intended elopement; and then Georgiana, unable to support the idea of grieving and offending a brother whom she almost looked up to as a father, acknowledged the whole to me. You may imagine what I felt and how I acted. Regard for my sister's credit and feelings prevented any public
exposure, but I wrote to Mr. Wickham, who left the place immediately, and Mrs. Younge was of course removed from her charge. 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. His revenge would have been complete indeed.
This, madam, is a faithful
narrative of every event in which we have been
concerned together; and if you do not absolutely
reject it as false, you will, I hope,
acquit me henceforth of
cruelty towards Mr. Wickham. I know not in what manner, under what form of
falsehood, he has imposed on you; but his success is not, perhaps, to be wondered at. Ignorant as you
previously were of every thing
concerning either, detection could not be in your power, and suspicion certainly not in your
inclination. You may possibly wonder why all this was not told you last night. But I was not then master enough of myself to know what could or ought to be revealed. For the truth of every thing here
related, I can
appeal more particularly to the
testimony of Colonel Fitzwilliam, who from our near
relationship and constant
intimacy, and still more as one of the executors of my father's will, has been unavoidably acquainted with every particular of these transactions. If your abhorrence of me should make my assertions valueless, you cannot be prevented by the same cause from confiding in my cousin; and that there may be the possibility of consulting him, I shall endeavour to find some opportunity of putting this letter in your hands in the course of the morning. I will only add, God bless you.
FITZWILLIAM DARCY."
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