Pride and Prejudice 31-35: “Don’t You Trust Me?”
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Do you, don't you? Lauren and Emily consider the many roles that trust plays in these chapters, from self-confidence to shocking betrayal. Also included: revelations, Aladdin, and how NOT to propose marriage.
Links to topics discussed in this episode:
Show Notes
So…we had a lot to say this episode. In fact, this is one of just a few episodes that actually passed the one-hour mark. But how could we not have a never-ending list of reactions to this section? So many iconic moments. So much to discuss. We could have continued talking through every detail for 2 more hours if it weren’t for, you know, general fatigue.
It’s the beginning of the school year for both of us (either as a staff member or as a graduate student), so it’s especially nice to have the moments of joy that this podcast helps us to create amidst all of the madness. We hope that whatever is going on in your lives, the silly banter and discussions in each episode help you find joy, too.
Alright, enough of that. On to the transcript of us dragging Darcy...
Transcript
Emily: [00:00:00] This is Reclaiming Jane, an Austen podcast for fans on the margins.
Lauren: I'm Lauren Wethers,
Emily: and I'm Emily Davis Hale.
Lauren: And today we're reading chapters 31 through 35 of Pride and Prejudice, with a focus on trust.
So we're getting into the drama with this section of Pride and Prejudice.
Emily: Yeah. Wow. It is. It is beginning. We're getting the tea.
Lauren: I feel like this is the point where, I mean, the book was interesting up until this, like this five chapter section, but I feel like this is where the action really picks up and we're going like one thing after the next, from here on out.
Emily: This is where we get to the part of the story that everyone knows about and draws people in, I think.
Lauren: Yep. Chef's kiss so good.
Emily: All right. Before we get carried away with talking about how good it is, you are up for recapping.
I believe in you.
Lauren: For once. I didn't read this chapter the day that we recorded, or section rather, and I feel like that's going to work against me now because I was actually prepared except for I read it too far in advance.
Emily: See, there are advantages to procrastinating.
Lauren: There really are because I'm really great at the recaps when I just finished reading this an hour ago.
Emily: Three, two, one. Go.
Lauren: Okay. So Elizabeth and the Collins, Mr. Collins and Charlotte spend more time with Darcy, Colonel Fitzwilliam, his cousin. And then of course, lady [00:02:00] Catherine de Bourgh, Darcy keeps talking to Elizabeth and it's kind of throwing her off.
She's like, why are you talking to me so much? Charlotte is like can you not see that the man is in love with you? And Elizabeth was like, what are you talking about? Eventually Darcy finds her on the walk that she likes to take every day and professes his love and Elizabeth shoots him down and he comes back and he writes her a letter explaining everything he's ever done.
And she feels super guilty.
Are you ready?
Emily: Yes.
Lauren: Think you can beat that?
Emily: I hope so. I've read it six hours ago. You read it like six fucking weeks ago. So.
Lauren: It was, I was struggling. This was the vaguest recap I've ever done is like, ah, these things happened it's this, this is as good as it's gonna get.
Emily: Which gives me a chance to actually beat you out for once.
Lauren: You have before, you remember that disaster of a recap two episodes ago.
Emily: Yeah. Anyway, let's keep moving. I'm ready.
Lauren: I was kidding.
Emily: Adrenaline is up.
Lauren: All right. Ready? In 3, 2, 1 go.
Emily: Lizzie is still at Hunsford and she's becoming better friends with Colonel Fitzwilliam. As they are talking, she hears from him that Darcy is responsible for Jane and Bingley's breakup. So now she's more pissed at Darcy than usual.
And then he shows up and proposes marriage to her because he's apparently been in love with her the whole time. And she's like, excuse me, what the hell are you talking about? I hate you and then tells him all of the accusations. And he has to account for it.
Lauren: Beautiful. I think we both did great jobs.
Emily: Yes, absolutely. Nailed it. 100%.
Lauren: I think the, the main element of these recaps is Elizabeth just being very angry and very confused.
Emily: Basically.
Lauren: She doesn't know what's going on. She just knows she does not like this man. And he keeps coming to talk to her and he has ruined everything. And then she gets a letter and she's like, oh, maybe I was wrong.
Emily: So shall we start from the top of our section here?
Lauren: Yes, please. I feel like we have a lot, we have so much [00:04:00] to delve into.
Emily: We do. Yeah. So it starts off. We had finished last time with basically like the first time that everyone had been together in company since Darcy and Fitzwilliam arrived. And so apparently in the week, ish, since they've been there lady Catherine has decided, you know what, they're much better company.
I don't have to invite the Collins's. And so they haven't seen any of them. Within the week. But they're finally back up at Rosings and Elizabeth is sitting down and having a grand old time with Colonel Fitzwilliam. And of course, lady Catherine just wants to be in everybody's business all the time, because no one can talk about anything without hearing her opinion on the subject.
That's preposterous.
Lauren: Heaven forbid.
Elizabeth and Colonel Fitzwilliam have been getting along quite well. And to the point where Darcy's usually like lurking on the edge of their conversation. And it's almost implied that he's a little bit jealous that Elizabeth gets on so well with his cousin and they have this immediate rapport and he doesn't have that same easy back and forth with Elizabeth as often.
You know, they have the easy back and forth when they're antagonizing one another, but not when they're genuinely having fun. Them being with lady Catherine also gives us the opportunity to see that we'll see why this is significant later on in the section as well, but that Darcy can also be embarrassed by a family member, because like you said, because lady Catherine always has to be in everybody's business and is interrupting the conversations of Elizabeth and Colonel Fitzwilliam.
You can see that Darcy's also clearly uncomfortable. Like, oh my God, aunt Catherine stop.
Emily: Yeah. It actually says like verbatim that he's ashamed of her ill breeding. Yeah. So despite the fact that she's like almost nobility and obviously super rich, like she's still really badly behaved and that reflects poorly on her and on her family members.
Lauren: Money does not buy class.
[00:06:00] Elizabeth has far more like social tact and charm and knowledge than lady Catherine does, even though Elizabeth is of like a lower station and her family doesn't have nearly as much money, but. When it comes to having a conversation and just being like a pleasant conversational partner or just a polite person, Elizabeth has her beaten every single time.
Emily: Absolutely.
And so the next day, Elizabeth is alone at the parsonage and Mr. Darcy comes in on a visit. He had assumed that everybody else was home, but he sits down with her anyway, much to her surprise, but they do manage to have a much smoother conversation than Darcy ever manages in the company of other people, poor guy. Social anxiety incarnate.
Lauren: I really, I made several notes, especially in the initial conversation between Elizabeth, Colonel Fitzwilliam and Darcy where Colonel Fitzwilliam says like, oh, well do tell me about how my cousin behaved when he was in the countryside. And Elizabeth is like, prepare yourself for something very dreadful.
It is--,
Emily: he didn't dance!
Lauren: He can tell that Darcy is trying to figure out how to respond to the situation. It's just like, I don't really dance with people who I don't know very well. And Elizabeth is like, yeah. And you can't be introduced to people at a ball where the whole point is to speak to other people.
Emily: She's fully mocking him while he's trying to be like, but I'm anxious.
Lauren: And he just has error messages flashing across his face.
Emily: Yeah. Poor guy cannot cope with anything like people ganging up on him.
Lauren: And Darcy dot exe has stopped responding.
Emily: Elizabeth's having the time of her life.
Lauren: She really is. And Darcy's just like I don't know what to do.
Emily: I feel for him.
Lauren: And then even when they're alone in the [00:08:00] parsonage, it's the same thing where, you know, they go through the normal small-talk conversation topics, and they just kind of sit there in silence because Darcy doesn't know what to say. And Elizabeth is determined that she's going to make him speak first because he was the one who came over to her space.
And so she's just staring at him like, so are we going to talk or...
Emily: are you just going to sit there? Stare at me?
Lauren: What's the game plan here.
Emily: She has also noticed that he's staring at her an awful lot. And of course assumes once again, that it's because he hates her so much.
Lauren: You know what? This is, this is giving me very much like Harry Potter being obsessed with Draco Malfoy vibes.
Which is not my pop culture connection, but that just came to my mind where the only time where, you know, this person is staring at you all the time, because they hate you is if you're Dra-Draco, Malfoy, and Harry Potter is just looking at you every time you're in the great hall, just like burning holes into the back of your skull. Though, if you ask, you know, legions of fan fiction writers, it's because they are actually like its ultimate enemies to lovers and they're actually gay lovers.
However,
Emily: I think we're 20 years too late for Drarry.
Lauren: Perhaps.
Emily: Perhaps.
Lauren: AO3 would, would say elsewhere-- otherwise.
Emily: True, true. But yeah, this will definitely become more evident later, but I couldn't help thinking the whole time that each of them thinks that they both have the same temperament towards one another. Elizabeth thinks that they both hate each other equally and Darcy things that they like each other equally, which just makes the misunderstanding that much more hilarious.
Lauren: It's just classic miscommunication trope taken to the highest [00:10:00] extent.
Emily: Elizabeth is like, oh yes, we're mocking each other because we hate each other and we're enemies and Darcy's like, ah, yes.
We're mocking each other because this is how flirting works.
Lauren: It's just playful ribbing amongst friends.
Emily: Right. But I mean, Jane Austen in the narration doesn't necessarily do anything to align us with Lizzie's view on it. So she'll say that Lizzie has interpreted Darcy's attention as dislike, but will also throw in little things like, you know, Darcy will move a little bit closer to her and smile when he replies and things like that. And it leaves me just kind of sitting there going Lizzie, Lizzie, Lizzie, please stop being so dumb.
Lauren: And Charlotte's also been established as the character who has the most sense of literally everybody.
And even Charlotte is trying to tell Lizzie, I think something is happening here. So it says she-- meaning Charlotte --had once or twice suggested to Elizabeth, the possibility of his being partial to her. But Elizabeth always laughed at the idea. And Mrs. Collins did not think it right to press the subject from the danger of raising expectations, which might only end in disappointment. Because she thinks, you know, if-- she thinks that Elizabeth thinks the same way that she does and that marrying Mr. Darcy, regardless of whether or not she's madly in love with him would be the best and only decision for you to make. And so she thinks, you know, if I press the subject and really make Elizabeth believe that he's in love with her, and then he doesn't propose, I'm just going to disappoint her, not realizing that Elizabeth does not. Operate the same.
Emily: That's the last thing she wants.
Lauren: She does not want him to propose at all.
Emily: So she does not care how rich this man is. She hates him.
Lauren: But Charlotte looks at things from Charlotte point of view, where she's like, I mean, you will be set for life. Who cares if you like him.
Emily: That's a good catch.
Lauren: Yeah.
Emily: The actual man doesn't matter.
Lauren: Right?
Emily: Look at his bank account, Lizzie! [00:12:00]
Lauren: There was-- there is a show called family karma on Bravo. I keep thinking of things that are not my pop culture connection, but that's fine.
Emily: It's just further evidence for our ongoing hypothesis that Jane Austen is still relevant in the modern day.
Lauren: Exactly. It is a reality TV show following an Indian American community in Miami. And there was Instagram video. I saw the other day featuring one of the cast members from family karma, speaking to someone who I don't recognize. Who's probably famous and I'm very sorry. I don't know what your name is.
The cast member was asking the other woman, who's like an auntie, you know, what would your dating advice be for like young, single people in their twenties and thirties? And she was basically saying, you know, no, do not worry about true love. Just get, find somebody who has money. I know they say money doesn't buy happiness.
It does. So like it does, it buys you comfort. So just find someone with a good amount of money and it doesn't matter if you love them. If you kind of liked them, that's good enough. Not, we're not waiting for for a knight on a white horse. We're Indian. We rent white horses at the wedding.
Emily: Yeah. That's definitely like Charlotte would be that kind of--
Lauren: yes.
Emily: That kind of person.
Lauren: 100%. Yeah.
Emily: If you want a white horse, you can buy one afterwards.
Lauren: There it is. You're going to have the money, just buy your own white horse. Who cares? You'll have your own separate wing of the house--
Emily: If you can tolerate them long enough for the wedding ceremony. You're good.
Lauren: Like you'll have your own separate wing. You never have to look at them. Like Charlotte has her own room and she's happy if you're as rich as Darcy is, you can have your own wing of the house. You never have to see each other. It'll be fine.
Emily: So we also see that Elizabeth has taken to having these nice long walks around the parsonage and up towards Rosings.
And once accidentally ran into Mr. Darcy, and then she is super annoyed that it keeps happening because the first time she mentioned to him that she, this is like, this is my route. This is where I like to walk, [00:14:00] intending for that to shoo him away. And instead he keeps coming back and then doesn't even have the decency to pretend like it was accidental.
He just keeps walking with her and she's so mad.
Lauren: And she doesn't, it just still is not ringing a bell for her that he wants to spend time with her. She still does not get it. She thinks he's just antagonizing her. It was like her her quote is, "it seemed like willful ill nature or voluntary penance, for on these occasions, it was not merely a few formal inquiries and an awkward pause and then away. But he actually thought it necessary to turn back and walk with her. He never said a great deal, nor did she give herself the trouble of talking or of listening, but it struck her in the course of their third recontre that he was asking some odd unconnected questions." Girl!
Emily: Please, an ounce of self-awareness. Half an ounce, even!
Lauren: I beg of you.
Emily: Yeah. I noted that same, that same quote, that same excerpt and Given that our theme was trust. I had to point out just how much unquestioning trust Elizabeth has in her own initial judgments. She was 100% confident that when she decided Darcy hated her, that was correct.
Lauren: Right.
Emily: She is not going to examine that belief. Yeah. Elizabeth's self-confidence is unparalleled.
Lauren: She has the ultimate amount of trust in herself and absolutely none in Darcy's good intentions, which is why when we get to this massive moment of Darcy meeting her on a walk yet again, but with a, an important message to deliver her, she is not receptive to it at all.
Emily: Not in the [00:16:00] least, but before we get to that, there's another reveal, which only cements her opinion of Darcy. When she's talking to Colonel Fitzwilliam and he mentions that yes, Darcy does take care of the people that he cares about. He, he does look out for his friends and offers the example that he had just saved a dear friend from an imprudent marriage and poor Colonel Fitzwilliam.
I can only imagine, like if all of this ever came out, just his absolute mortification, because he makes all these caveats because he and Elizabeth were talking about Bingley and says, "oh, I, I think it was Bingley." Like he didn't say straight out. That that's who was involved. So, "I think it was Bingley, but take it with a grain of salt and also like, it would be really embarrassing for everybody involved, if any word of this got back to the family of the young lady."
And so he's, he's trying to put all these, these safety measures in place, and then finally tells Elizabeth that Darcy broke up Bingley and this girl, because there was some kind of objection to her family, and you could just see the steam coming out of Elizabeth ears.
Lauren: The other thing too, is that Colonel Fitzwilliam probably thinks he's being an excellent wing man.
Like, man, I know I can help my friend Darcy out. I'm going to tell the girl who he's not so secretly in love with about all the ways that he cares about his friends, because I know that she doesn't really think that he's the most social person ever. So let me give her an example of like what he does when he cares for people and all Elizabeth hears is, Darcy is a monster who breaks up people in love.
Emily: Oh, it's just, it just gets worse and worse. [00:18:00]
Lauren: Like truly could not have planned it any worse. The timing was awful. Because she didn't think she had thought that Caroline was responsible for breaking them up before, you know, she disliked Darcy, but she didn't think that he had been the mastermind behind the whole thing.
Emily: But now she can add malicious intent to her tally of points against him.
Lauren: So not only does she think that he has ruined the happiness of Wickham forever and ever, and has taken everything good away from him, but now she thinks that he has permanently ruined Jane's chance at happiness. And the only person who Elizabeth loves in this world is Jane.
And you cannot hurt Jane if you ever want to be in Elizabeth's good esteem ever again.
Emily: Yeah. Elizabeth is so distressed by this revelation that when they're all supposed to go and have tea at Rosings, like she she's worked herself up into such a headache that she stays home, but that just prompts Darcy to come and check on her. Unfortunately, unfortunately this only makes things worse because in addition to checking on her, he decides this is the moment to shoot his shot.
Lauren: He realizes like, oh, cool. This is a way for me to get Elizabeth alone, without it being super obvious because everybody else is at Rosings and Elizabeth has stayed back because she's not feeling well.
So he can go under the guise of checking up on her. And nobody will think that anything is amiss. Versus with if he had like, been very obvious about like, I'm going to pull Elizabeth alone, everyone would have been like all up in their business, wondering what's happening. And as soon as Elizabeth is like, yeah, you know, actually like I'm pretty okay.
Everything is mostly fine. She's coldly civil, it says. And then he sits there for a couple of minutes and then walks around the room because he knows what he wants to say and can't work up the courage to do it. He literally just sat and stared at her in silence after he asked, are you okay? And she was like, yes. [00:20:00] Full stop.
That's it. He'd just sit there quietly. And then he gets up and paces and she's just staring at him. Like I hate your guts. Get out of the house. And then... he proposes. Would you like to do the honor?
Emily: I would love to. Mr. Darcy says, "in vain, I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you."
Lauren: Iconic, iconic line resonated throughout history.
Emily: Truly tragic, then, that. Elizabeth just sits there. Stares at him, silent. And unfortunately he takes this as a good sign for some reason. Well, because he thinks that they've been flirting the entire time.
Lauren: And she's just overwhelmed with love. She never thought this day would come and she doesn't know what to say.
Emily: And so he just continues talking about how he's had to overcome his distaste of her family and standing in life.
Lauren: His sense of her inferiority of its being a degradation. Real flattering words in the midst of a marriage proposal.
Emily: And it doesn't come off any better by the fact that although, quote, "he spoke of apprehension and anxiety, but his countenance expressed real security." So it just sounds like platitudes.
Lauren: Right.
Emily: That's like saying, oh, well, I wasn't sure about this. I had questions about this, but also seems to come off as totally confident that she's going to say yes.
Lauren: Right? Well, because why wouldn't he, he has-- he's --his social standing and the amount of wealth that he has means that if he had asked literally anyone else, he probably would have been assured of a yes, because everyone understands how the world works. And they're not trying to turn down a comfortable living for the literal rest of their lives.
Like they wouldn't have done it. And so he's not incorrect. He's proud to do that. And it is a character flaw that he's that [00:22:00] proud. It's not a good thing, but he's not incorrect to assume that she would say yes, even though it's not doing him any favors in this instance, because she can tell that he doesn't actually believe that she would say no, he's not actually like worried that he's going to be rejected.
He's like, oh, I don't know if you're gonna say yes. All right. Have you said, have you said yes yet? Do I need to go on?
Emily: Yeah. And this plays right into. What I was saying earlier about how both of them are totally convinced that they have the same feelings towards one another. Darcy thinks that this has been friendly ribbing the entire time. That they've been sharing, you know, affectionate jokes.
And because Elizabeth is so given to that kind of self-depreciating humor, like all the times where she's tried to own Darcy by comparing the two of them and talking about how shitty they both are. I think that it's come across to him like, oh, I have license to make this kind of observation now, too. He doesn't realize that she's going to be mortally offended by any slight to her family that's made by someone other than her.
And he also
Lauren: doesn't realize that, like, that kind of self-deprecating humor, wasn't a way to find common ground. It was a way to throw jabs at him. And I'd also don't think she realizes sometimes that she was being self-deprecating like, I think she was throwing jabs at Darcy and didn't always realize that it was also a self-own.
Like, I don't think she got that.
Emily: Lizzie, I love you, but you're, you're not as witty as you think you are. I mean, she is very witty, but yeah, not quite getting across the point that she intends.
Lauren: Well, that wit comes out when she decides to absolutely tear him a new one, as soon as he finishes speaking.
Emily: Oh my goodness. Yes.
Lauren: His speech ends. And then he looks at her like waiting for her answer. She pauses for a moment. Like the blood [00:24:00] rises to her cheeks. And then she goes, if I could feel gratitude, I would now thank you. But I cannot. I have never desired your good opinion. And you have certainly bestowed it most unwillingly.
I'm sorry to have occasioned pain to anyone. It has been most unconsciously done. And I hope it will be of short duration, the feelings which you tell me have long prevented the acknowledgement of your regard can have a little difficulty in overcoming it after this explanation.
Emily: And Mr. Darcy is just gobsmacked.
This came out of left field for him entirely, because again, he thought they were flirting!
Lauren: And she won't even be like, oh, I'm so flattered, but no, she said, if I could feel gratitude, which I don't,
Emily: yeah.
Lauren: I would say something nice to you.
Emily: He just proposed and she said, fuck you
Lauren: And Darcy literally goes pale because he's so mad and was like, you really, I just poured my heart out to you. And you're just going to rip it apart into little pieces. This is, this is all the civility that I can expect from you? And she's like, yep. Would you like me to continue?
Emily: Yeah. Like he, he leans into the sarcasm after this. Probably tried to mask to some extent, his own emotional reaction. And he says, I might perhaps wish to be informed why with so little endeavor at civility, I am thus rejected, but it is of small importance, to which Elizabeth fires back. I might as well inquire why with so evident a design of offending and insulting me, you chose to tell me that you liked me against your will, against your reason, and even against your character. Was not this some excuse for incivility if I was uncivil? And then she lays at his feet, the accusations that that Wickham made and the new information she has from Colonel Fitzwilliam, that he's the one who broke up Jane and Bingley.
Lauren: And then she continues and just twists the knife for that final [00:26:00] blow. I have every reason in the world to think ill of you, no motive can excuse the unjust and ungenerous part you acted there. You dare not. You cannot deny that you had been the principal, if not the only means of dividing them from each other of exposing one to the censure of the world for Caprice and instability, the other to its derision for disappointed hopes and involving them both in misery of the acutest kind, can you deny that you have done it because he doesn't say anything and she's like, hello?
Are you going to respond to any of this? Yeah. Cause then he asks, you know so could I have said this differently and you wouldn't have torn me apart? Was there, was it the delivery? He's still running through his mind, like, okay, wait, I had, I had this mapped out and this didn't go the way that I thought it would. So, where did I make...?
Emily: Where did I go wrong? You went wrong in the very first moment my dude. You didn't dance with her at Meryton. That's where you fucked up.
Lauren: You said she wasn't pretty and she's never forgiven you. And she's like, you were mistaken, Mr. Darcy, if you suppose that the mode of your declaration affected me in any other way than as it spared me the concern which I might have felt in refusing you had you behaved in a more gentleman-like manner.
So basically she's like now we just don't even have to care about rejecting you.
Emily: If I could snap, I would snap. Like, like if you had been nice about it, I might've felt a little bit bad, but actually no. So goodbye.
Lauren: Byeeeee! The parting blow, which I can only ever hear in Keira Knightley's voice.
Emily: Right?
Lauren: The exact cadence, the whole thing. It's all it's. It will be burned into my brain forever.
Emily: Yup. The last man in the world who I could ever be prevailed on to marry.
Lauren: Cue the rain. Cue the sexual tension. Oh, wait, no, that's the movie, not the book.
Emily: Cue everybody going, oh!!!
Lauren: Can you, can you imagine [00:28:00] if, do you know the-- okay. Probably not, but do you know the TV show that Nick Cannon hosts, that's just people roasting each other for the entirety of the show.
Emily: Nope.
Lauren: Elizabeth would win.
Emily: Yeah. I mean, this is just no punches pulled.
Lauren: None.
Emily: Absolutely not. And then after being utterly destroyed, Mr. Darcy says, I perfectly comprehend your feelings and have now only to be ashamed of what my own have been. And then he leaves and then he is gone. Lizzie sits down and cries for half an hour, which yeah, like that was so emotionally charged, I would have done the same. Absolutely. And then she runs off to her room before the Collins's and Maria return.
Lauren: Because Lord knows she does not want to face Charlotte after that because Charlotte would immediately know something was wrong. And then Elizabeth would have to tell her everything that's happened.
And she's not ready for that yet.
Emily: Because Charlotte already knows that. I mean, Darcy must've left in the middle of that visit probably saying that he was going to go and check on Elizabeth. She is probably thinking to herself, oh, something is about to happen. And so if she had seen Lizzie, she would have known that shit went down.
Lauren: Yes. So she wakes up in the morning, still just like brooding over everything that happened the night before. I mean, how can you not.
Emily: Yeah.
Lauren: There was a lot that went down in a very short span of time. And eventually, you know, decides that she's going to go for her walk to go and try and clear her head.
And of course who was there, but Mr. Darcy.
Emily: She even avoids her usual route. Cause she's like, actually, you know what? I've run into him one too many times over there. And then it turns out that he is there. He has [00:30:00] been waiting to run into her there. All he does is hand her a letter and ask her to read it and then fucks off. Which, a credit to him.
Lauren: Yeah. He couldn't very well mail her a letter because we kind of talked about this in Sense and Sensibility where correspondence was very intimate and you really shouldn't-- like single men and single women should not be corresponding unless they're engaged, which is why Elinor thinks that Marianne and Willoughby are engaged, but he has to tell her. He's like, no, no, no, no.
Like this cannot fly. You just had a whole, you threw a lot of dirt on name. And I'm very upset about it. So here's my explanation of everything that has happened. But you can almost see the thought process where it's like, well, she's not going to sit there and listen to me while I explain all this, but also... nah, like I can't let this slide.
This is infuriating. So you're going to find out one way or the next. So he's only, his only avenue is lurking in the trees for her to come on her walk so that he can hand her this letter.
Emily: Yeah. And really, I think a couple of things are to his credit about this. One, that he didn't try and stay and explain himself after the proposal, because God knows they both had some shit to work through.
But then also the opening of his letter is completely contrary to the way Mr. Collins's proposal played out where Collins convinced himself that Elizabeth was just being demure and that she would change her mind eventually. The first line of the letter that Darcy gives her is, "Be not alarmed, Madam, on receiving this letter by the apprehension of it's containing any repetition of those sentiments or renewal of those offers, which were last night so disgusting to you." It's like, don't worry. I'm not trying to talk you into this. I'm not going to ask again. This is literally just it's just clearing up confusion because things have been passed [00:32:00] second and third hand and okay. You accused me of some stuff. I just want to clear that up. Because his own pride and a sense of honor, won't let that go unaddressed. And really considering what he goes on to say, that's-- it really did need to be cleared up.
He spends a little bit of time, understandably little time, addressing the situation first between Jane and Bingley.
Lauren: Instead of, he's not that into you, she's not that into you. He didn't think that Jane was as interested in Bingley as he was in her. And not only that, like Colonel Fitzwilliam said to Elizabeth earlier, he did have objections to members of Elizabeth and Jane's family, not to Elizabeth obviously, but had watched the way that Lydia and Kitty and their mother, especially just acted without any kind of tact whatsoever.
And even Mary and Mr. Bennet, aren't excluded from that either. And Jane and Elizabeth are really the only ones who have any kind of like propriety and really thought that he was saving Bingley from heartbreak because this girl with a family who's a bunch of nutcases isn't that into him, but probably would have said yes, because as Charlotte assumes, like every other person, Bingley has a lot of money.
So why wouldn't she say yes? But she doesn't love him. And Bingley is a hopeless romantic, and he wants somebody who loves him back. So Darcy was like, you know what? We're just going to remove you from the situation. And I will convince you that Jane actually doesn't love you because it's for your own good. Cause he really does believe that Jane doesn't have any feelings for him.
Emily: Which is also something that Charlotte pointed out very early on is Jane is extremely reserved in expressing her emotion. And that has been proven true.
Lauren: And Lizzie shook that away. She was like, oh no, it's fine. Everyone can see that she's in love with him. And Charlotte says, no, the [00:34:00] two of us can, because we know her. We are not everyone. I don't think everyone can see it. And Elizabeth like, nah, bah humbug. Yes they can. And Charlotte's like, okay, if you say so.
Emily: Yeah. So Darcy was, he doesn't try to deny that. Yeah, he was responsible for removing Bingley from Jane's presence in an effort to end their attachment. But it was because he thought that she didn't care for him. And he says, if you have not been mistaken here, I must have been in an error. Your superior knowledge of your sister must make the latter probable.
So he says, this is what I assumed. It seems like I was probably wrong and is pretty straight forward about that. And about the fact that he, he did it because he really did think that it was for Bingley's benefit.
Lauren: Yeah. He was, as Colonel Fitzwilliam says, he's just trying to be a good friend. He was trying to look out for somebody who we cared for. He just didn't have all the information.
Emily: But the. Whew. The much more serious thing. Is what happened with Wickham. Because Elizabeth, like us, only has Wickham's side of the story. That he was supposed to have a living from the Darcy's. And then after old, Mr. Darcy died, young Darcy said, no, you can't have it. And she, she doesn't give the particulars of what Wickham had said, because you know, it's a heated moment.
She's rejecting his proposal, yada yada, yada. And so in the letter, Darcy says, "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." So he's also showing Elizabeth, I'm [00:36:00] not going to ask you to 100% trust just my word on this.
Like he recognizes that she might be a little reluctant to believe him for all of this, but he basically says like, if you want to ask somebody else who has the details, they'll confirm this. And then goes on to relate what exactly went down with Wickham.
Lauren: Yeah. Yeah. So after old Mr. Darcy died Wickham actually was offered the living and he said, actually, no, I don't want that.
Can you just give me the lump sum of what it's worth? And then I'll just figure things out for myself. And Darcy was like, I mean, okay, if that's what you want then fine. And he gave him the lump sum of money. And then Wickham disappeared. And then he came back and he was like, so about that. I actually spent all that money.
Can I have that? Can I have that living back now? And Darcy was like, no, I gave you the value of the living, like you asked for, and then you went and gambled away and spent it on stupid stuff. No.
Emily: Yeah. And Darcy had given him the lump sum with the understanding that Wickham was relinquishing his claim to any support from Darcy in the future if he, for some reason, changed his mind and decided to go into the church after all. Old, Mr. Darcy had already supported him through school, he sent him to Cambridge and then Wickham said, actually, I'm going to study law instead made the deal with young Darcy to take the lump sum instead of any kind of clerical support.
And then yes, spent it all turned around and said, wait a minute. I was supposed to get that living. And then when Darcy refuses and thinks that they're done and dusted, that he won't have to bother with Wickham anymore, Georgiana happens.
Lauren: Yes. So Georgiana is Darcy's younger sister who he and Colonel Fitzwilliam are both the guardians of, and it's implied [00:38:00] that one, that he loves Georgiana dearly. And two, that Georgiana is like the budding crown jewel of like eligible young women in the countryside. You know, she comes from a great family, is beautiful, is talented, is put together. But is also very young and naive and perhaps susceptible to declarations of love from somebody who ostensibly had grown up around her, at least when she was quite young and comes out that when Wickham was refused the living, he was like, I know a way that I can get the Darcy money, I'll run away and elope with Georgiana.
And luckily that plan was thwarted before it could ever, before it could take place, but it was a despicable choice of actions and Darcy no longer after that wants to see or hear his name, or even have him come close to anybody associated with him, which is why when they saw each other in Meryton, they had that moment of, you know, the mortal enemy stare down because not only did Wickham take advantage of Darcy's generosity by spending all the money that he had been given and then coming back and asking for more, he then had the gall to try and, you know, seduce and harm Darcy's younger sister for his own material benefit with no regard for her feelings whatsoever.
Emily: Darcy even now is, he's sort of trying to defend Georgiana's honor. Because he loves her and he knows that it, it was not her fault. He says that he found out about it from her. He had shown up a couple of days before she and Wickham were planning to elope.
And basically with him around, she like, couldn't keep the secret and had to tell him. Poor thing. I just, I feel for Georgiana so much. She's, she was 15 at the time. And this dashing young man who was, who grew up around her. It says that [00:40:00] she's about 10 years younger than Darcy and Wickham is about the same age as he is.
Yeah. An older man that, you know, Darcy probably doesn't talk much about at all, if ever. He had been kind to her when she was a child.
Lauren: I mean, he was her father's godson.
Emily: Yeah.
Lauren: And the other thing is, I think we can probably assume that Darcy wouldn't have told Georgiana all the particulars of what was going on. So she doesn't know that Wickham had spent all the money and then came back asking for more. And that there was this falling out between Darcy or at least I don't think she does because she's so young. I doubt Darcy would've said any of that.
Emily: Yeah, he says that old Mr. Darcy had died about five years prior to this. So she only would have been around 10 years old.
So aside from the fact that she's, you know, a young woman who shouldn't have to worry about matters of business, she was 10. Like you're not going to tell a 10 year old, "oh yeah. My scrubby, former friend showed up and demanded a bunch of money." Like she doesn't need to worry about that.
Lauren: Right.
Emily: Especially when she's just lost her father.
Lauren: For all, she knows, you know, her father's godson, who's young and dashing and ostensibly in love with her, wants to run away with her to Scotland so they can get married.
And she was like, okay.
Emily: We know from Elizabeth that he is handsome, he's charming. He's a good conversationalist. He's fun to be around. And certainly he would have turned all of that on Georgiana, tried to convince her that this is a good idea. And apparently he had help from her lady companion too, which is just despicable.
Lauren: Yeah. When you're 15 and someone tells you, they love you, you're going to believe them. Not quoting Taylor Swift lyrics again.
Emily: Yeah. So that, that final note of our section contents fits in pretty nicely with my historical research for this episode, which. So [00:42:00] I decided to focus on the idea of guardianship.
Lauren: Okay.
Emily: Because something is abstract as trust is kind of tough.
Lauren: You mean you can't research 19th century trust?
Emily: I mean, I probably could, but I would need a couple extra years to go about it. But I, yeah, I decided to focus on guardianship because so much of what Darcy is talking about here is the violation of trust that he put in various people.
Most notably the guardian of the moment, this-- her name is Mrs. Young who was taking care of Georgiana, essentially being sort of her like live-in chaperone, I guess we've talked before about the relatively strict mores of etiquette and morality and expectations of behavior for people among the upper classes.
Because of that emphasis on morality as such young women's behavior was really closely monitored. And there were such complex conventions for social interactions and the way that you acted in public or in semi-public spaces, that's what people have to go on when they're forming private interpretations of your morality.
So the fact that this woman was willing to absolutely shatter the trust Darcy had is just, I don't even like have words. I'm, I'm so pissed at this woman. This is the only mention we ever get of her, but I'm so pissed at her.
Lauren: I mean, I feel like she is not only in charge of safeguarding Georgiana's physical wellbeing, but also her moral reputation. And she put both of those in danger. [00:44:00]
Emily: Yeah. So she's presumably been engaged this position as part of the legal obligations that both Darcy and Fitzwilliam have to Georgiana as her official guardians, according to the will of old Mr. Darcy. But yeah, I mean, she's also functionally endangering the wellbeing of a minor because she's allowed Wickham to have access to this 15 year old girl and has apparently supported this plan to elope, which she knows will absolutely ruin Georgiana, probably ruin Darcy in the process. Psychologically, if nothing else.
There's no way as a person who would have been able to secure that kind of position, there's no way she doesn't understand the consequences this would have, the fallout there would be throughout society, and how utterly destroyed Georgiana would have been in the aftermath.
Lauren: You have to wonder if Wickham had promised her like some kind of monetary incentive, too.
Emily: There has to be.
Lauren: Because one of the reasons that Darcy gives for why Wickham would have been, so suddenly in love with Georgiana is because she has her own fortune that she would bring with her to any man any marriage of 30,000 pounds.
So for men, it was, their fortunes were told in like how much money their estates brought in per year, which is why Darcy's net worth or like his income that people talk about is, "oh he has 10,000 per year," or for women, there's no like estate living that they get each year. They just have an, a lump sum inheritance and she gets 30,000 pounds to bring with her, which is huge.
That is more money than most people would ever see in their lifetimes. And so I wonder if part of why Mrs. Young is convinced to completely set aside any of the duties that she's been entrusted with is because Wickham says, you know, if you do this, I'll have Georgiana's 30,000 pounds. I'll kick over some of that to you.
Emily: Yeah. [00:46:00] You'll get a cut. Yeah. And I mean, there's, there's a reason for such complex restrictions and expectations around guardianship because especially for a young woman, a legal guardian has control over her finances has control over whatever business interests might be linked to her. Typically she would also need as a minor, she would need the guardian's permission to marry.
So obviously Wickham's planning to subvert that by eloping, running away to Scotland where they don't have the same...
Lauren: you don't have to post the marriage banns for two weeks.
Emily: Exactly. Yeah. But there was also a. I don't know if it was like required, but it was typical that a gentleman's will, if he was going to be leaving behind a daughter or a young female ward that he would provide for more than one guardian, there would be at least two. So likely whoever his sort of default heir would be. So in this case, it would be young Mr. Darcy would be one guardian, but he would also name a second person to act as guardian so that they would sort of be checks and balances against one another. So in this case, Colonel Fitzwilliam is the other guardian, but that's the kind of thing that was supposed to prevent things like, you know, Wickham coming out of the woodwork and saying, Hey baby, let's get married and then I can have all your money.
Lauren: And they also, it would have been exponentially more money than what he got as the living, you know, so he was supposed to get, if he had followed the will of the, the elder Mr. Darcy, would have had the living in the church and then [00:48:00] living of 1000, legacy of 1000 pounds. And because he rejected the living in the church and he wanted to go into law instead.
They agreed like, okay, you'll just get 3000 pounds total which he spent in a record amount of time. And so instead he sets his sights on 30,000 pounds because he managed the 3000 so well.
Emily: Yeah, it's just the only word I can think of is dastardly. He's a scoundrel.
Lauren: We had a hate club for Willoughby. And I feel like, because this is the first time where we actually been able to talk about how much Wickham sucks. We haven't been able to delve into how much of a crappy person he is. He's been kind of off page for a while now. And whenever he's there, we only see him like filtered through Elizabeth's Rose colored glasses.
But now we can just be like, Wickham is awful.
Emily: I feel like hate club has been tending towards Caroline Bingley because she is just unpleasant, but Wickham is actually a horrible person, literally only out for money.
Lauren: Yup. And will just charm him, charm himself into any situation that will get him, the money that he wants to then squander away.
Emily: If he doesn't have a fortune in his sights immediately, he'll just wile away his time flirting with somebody else random.
Lauren: And, and that also puts into perspective, you know, Mrs. Gardner had tried to warn Elizabeth about this ages ago when they were speaking of Wickham and he had turned his attentions from Elizabeth to another young woman who had come into a fortune recently, and her aunt is telling Elizabeth, let's think about this. Why do you think that all of a sudden she has money, he's decided to go and pursue her and Elizabeth is waving it away. Like, well, of course he's just being prudent, blah, blah, blah. Not...
Emily: Honey, no, he's a gold Digger.
Lauren: So much of this, like you [00:50:00] said, she has so much trust and her own intuition and her perceptions of other people. And she just spends this first half of the book being so consistently wrong. Yeah.
Emily: Yeah. So that's, that was what jumped out to me in terms of trust here. As well as, like we talked about before, with Elizabeth and Darcy they're absolute trust in their own judgements being correct. Unfortunately for them their judgments of each other are actually diametrically opposed.
Lauren: Yup. And Elizabeth has a complete lack of trust in Darcy.
She doesn't have any trust in the fact when he could act for positive reasons in general or when it comes to her. So like when he comes to hear her play, when she's at the piano forte, when she's having the conversation with Colonel Fitzwilliam, he comes over and she thinks to herself, oh, he, he must want to mess me up.
And she says something to that effect. Like, I'm not going to be shaken by you lurking over here. Ha ha. And she doesn't trust that, oh, maybe he's coming over because he wants to make conversation or because he actually enjoys hearing me play. She doesn't have any trust in that at all. And, you know, nor does she trust the Colonel's judgment of his own friend, because he's trying to tell her all of the positive things about Darcy that he knows and is trying to explain.
He really isn't good with new people. We're trying to work on that. He's kind of just, it's just a little hopeless and she's like, yeah. Okay, sure. Your friend sucks.
Emily: My God Fitzwilliam and Darcy is like you and me in college. Lauren's out here just like, just, it's okay. Just get to know them.
Lauren: The amount of times people would say," who's your roommate?" "Emily Davis." "Who is..." "the redhead who I hang out with." "Oh!"
Emily: It's the social anxiety. I'm better about it now.
Lauren: "The one that comes with you as a package deal." Yeah, that one. [00:52:00]
Yeah. I think that the last like obvious place where we see trust. I mean, there's, it was throughout this entire section, which was perfect because there were so many aspects of trusts that are kind of woven throughout this entire-- the biggest plot point hinges on mistrust and not having trust.
That's the only thing that makes it work. We even close with Darcy discussing deception and his own lack of trust. Like his lack of trust in Wickham, his lack of trust in Jane and her intentions towards Bingley and really just showing that he has had faith in people in the past, and then that trust was taken away and it was stomped on and misused.
And so you, you get the sense that he may have been more trusting before we meet him as a character, but because of life proving to him, or so he thinks, that you really shouldn't trust anyone ever. He's just decided, okay, well then. I won't.
Emily: Yeah, looking at Elizabeth versus Darcy. I kind of get the impression that Darcy has come to expect that his is the only judgment he can trust because when he's tried to trust other people it's been betrayed.
Whereas Elizabeth is just convinced from the people that she's grown up around that hers is the only judgment she should trust. That hers is superior to other people's.
Lauren: And both of them have been proven right in some ways. And so that, that just keeps getting reinforced. It's not entirely correct as we can see in the madness that just happened on the page, but we can see how they would come to that conclusion because we've just talked about how Elizabeth's family can be a little bit ridiculous so we can see how she can think my judgment is the only one who I should rely on because Lord knows she can't rely on her mother's judgment. Where's that going to get her?
Emily: Well, that's all that I had [00:54:00] in terms of trust and the, the historical context of guardianship and everything. So did you have one final thought to close this out on, on the book content?
Lauren: I don't think so. I think that really kind of sums up everything trust wise that we can see. I feel like we've done a good enough job of touching on the different ways that trust has really motivated these characters to the decisions that propel them towards this explosive confrontation. Cause neither of them has, has any trust.
Emily: It's so much.
Lauren: And God, God bless them. They're just not, not seeing eye to eye here.
Emily: Although. I mean, I, I actually wrote down a couple of points where they are explicitly, or at least where Darcy is explicitly trusting Elizabeth. I mean, for one he's spilling all of the truth about what happened with Georgiana, which is something that like Elizabeth now has the power to wreck his sister's reputation.
So that's, that's a big show of trust.
Lauren: This is very true. I mean, this is the epitome of the title of the book. It's, it's their pride and their prejudice that have gotten them to this point, the prejudices that they have against each other or against other people have all been born out of either trusting too much or not being able to trust at all.
Like not trusting in other people enough to let down barriers or consider that your opinion might not be 100% correct.
Emily: Yeah, actually I do want to add that also sort of playing off of what we said earlier about Elizabeth and Darcy, both having such confidence in their own initial judgments, that they're also kind of like in a weird way, trusting each other to continue playing out the parts that [00:56:00] they expect. So Elizabeth is trusting Darcy to continue being an asshole who hates her, except that he's not. And Darcy trusts that Elizabeth is just kind of a cattily flirtatious person and has been acting in good faith. So they're still kind of placing a weird, not quite trust in one another.
Lauren: Right.
Emily: That is still based on their own judgements.
Lauren: Yeah. And they both trust that neither of them will speak of this to anyone. It's not like they had a conversation. That's like, don't tell anyone that this happened. They just--
Emily: There was no pinky promise.
Lauren: No, they just mutually agreed. We will take this to the grave.
You're not going to say anything. I'm not going to say . It's fine.
I do think that our account of Wickham as a good for nothing person does kind of tie into the pop culture connection I was thinking of for today. So I know often I think of tropes when it comes to pop culture things. Sometimes I have something specific, but because so many building blocks of stories and Jane Austen novels also appear in pop culture things.
It's just an easy connection to make, not claiming that Jane Austen invented tropes because God knows some of these have been there since the Dawn of time. But what I was thinking of was the, "do you trust me, trope?" that you always hear of, and usually in like movies with some kind of romantic tension, whether or not they're supposed to be like explicitly romantic or not, especially when it's characters who were not-- either enemies to lovers or mistrustful of one another at first.
Some kind of friction keeping them apart. And then of course, there's one pivotal moment where one character says to the other, perhaps reaching out a hand, do you trust me?
Emily: The first thing that I thought of when you said, do you trust me was the parallel scenes in Aladdin.
Lauren: Yes. [00:58:00] Good. Because that's exactly what I was thinking of.
Emily: That's the reason that Jasmine first starts to recognize him because out in the street, he reached out his hand and said, do you trust me? As they were running from the guards, and then he's trying to get her to go on the magic carpet ride and says, do you trust me?
Lauren: Exactly. Love princess Jasmine.
Emily: Same wavelength.
Lauren: Always. But then the flip side of that trope is there is one word change that can tell you that the character is perhaps not someone to be trusted. And instead of do you trust me?
It's don't you trust me.
Emily: Implying that you should, and there's something wrong with you for not trusting me.
Lauren: Exactly.
Emily: Wickham is a don't you trust me.
Lauren: Exactly.
That's what I was thinking of, where it was like, Wickham would be telling Georgiana don't you trust me, trying to manipulate her into giving him some kind of trust rather than the earnest and honest, like, do you trust me? Like, I want to take you somewhere. I want to take this leap with you perhaps literally, but don't you trust me?
Like, what is it about me that you're picking up on that is telling you that I am not someone to be trusted and how dare you think that I should not be trusted? Don't you trust me? Why not? You should trust me.
So that's, that's what I was thinking of. This section and how you can tie that. I mean like Aladdin, I feel like is the most obvious example, but also like, I mean, you think about Titanic.
Like, do you trust me? Like, you know, any, any pivotal moment in two characters' relationships can very often hinge upon that one sentence. Or don't you trust me? In which case, if you ever hear don't you trust me in a movie or in a book, this is a way to spoil the rest of the movie or the book for you, because the answer is no.
No, I can't.
Emily: Bad guy.
Lauren: I should not trust you. If you ever hear that, you're like, oh, that's the villain. Okay, cool. Now I know.
Emily: Especially if they say it in that kind of wheedling way, like what don't you [01:00:00] trust me?
Lauren: Yeah. And bonus points if the actor delivers it in a way that's like actually earnest so that it slips past your notice for a bit like, oh, don't you trust me?
Emily: Where it sounds like a, do you trust me?
Lauren: Exactly. If they deliver the line well, it isn't as obvious. But if they use, like you said, that wheedling voice, it's like, oh, come on. Now I know I shouldn't trust you. No, I don't.
Emily: You just gave the whole thing away.
Lauren: That's all I got.
Emily: Well, I thought it was really good. I liked that. That's such a good shorthand that like I never consciously thought about before. The difference between do you trust me and don't you trust me, but yeah, that's really good. I like it. And now I'm never going to not think that when I hear one of those lines.
Lauren: Sorry. Like you said, I think a lot of people realize that subconsciously, but they've never actually sat down to make the connection of why those two lines sound different. We just know that they imply two completely different things.
Do you have anything else that you'd like to add?
Emily: I think that's it. It's pretty straightforward this time.
Lauren: Yeah. Gosh, I feel, yeah. I mean, given, given the time and the space, we would probably talk about these five chapters for like five hours, because there's so many things that you can discuss.
Emily: Oh my god. I mean, we could, we could do an entire in-depth episode, probably just on Darcy's letter.
Lauren: Easy.
Emily: I mean, I've always been obsessed with this letter, but.
Lauren: We can do a director's cut of these five chapters. What do you want to hear us talk more about that is not necessarily directly related to trust, but you want to hear more about in this episode, because there was so much in these five chapters that we truly could just pick something and talk about it.
Emily: Like, I want to do a dramatic reading of the letter.
Lauren: Subscribe to our Patreon to hear Emily's dramatic reading of Darcy's letter.
Emily: Yes.
Lauren: We'll add it to the fanfiction.
Emily: One day, maybe, or [01:02:00] maybe not. This might happen. Maybe I'll write those fanfictions. Maybe I'll do a dramatic reading of Darcy's letter. We'll see.
Lauren: I'm gonna put it to a vote. I will create a Twitter poll. Should Emily do a dramatic reading of Darcy's letter? And if it wins, you have to do it.
Emily: Okay. I'm down. I'll commit myself to that.
Lauren: Give the people what they want.
Emily: Only if they want it.
Lauren: They do. All right. Should we do final takeaways before we make good on our promise to make this a five-hour episode?
Emily: It's my turn to go first, but I think I actually have a decent one.
Lauren: Oh, okay.
Emily: Because my final takeaway is trust is a delicate thing and it requires careful maintenance. Otherwise it can be broken beyond repair.
Lauren: I like that you say that because my final takeaway was going to be that, I should trust more was what this chapter gave to me, because I think I can see myself more like Elizabeth from like ehh...Or perhaps not Elizabeth, maybe more with Darcy where it's just easier to have walls up because I won't hurt myself, but other people can.
So my takeaway is that having more trust, as delicate as it is, is a good thing. And letting people in to correct whatever misconceptions you might have can only be good.
Emily: Because connections are formed through trust.
Lauren: Exactly. And closing yourself off from trusting other people also closes yourself off from really wonderful connections that you might be able to make. You might even have the love of your life turn down your proposal in a fiery, fiery fashion because you couldn't trust people enough not to be a dick.
Thank you for joining us in this episode of Reclaiming Jane. Next time we'll look at chapters 36 through 40 of Pride and Prejudice through the lens of humility. [01:04:00]
Emily: To read a full transcript of this episode, check out our website, reclaimingjanepod.com, where you can also find show notes, the full back catalog and links to our social media.
Lauren: If you'd like to support us and gain access to exclusive content like Emily's eventual dramatic reading of Darcy's letter, you can join our Patreon @ReclaimingJanePod.
Emily: Reclaiming Jane is produced and co-hosted by Lauren Wethers and Emily Davis-Hale. Our music is by Latasha Bundy and our show art is by Emily Davis-Hale.
Lauren: We'll see you next time.
Emily: Oh man. And the music is going to be so apropos for this episode.
Lauren: Oh, yeah.
Emily: We finally got to that scene.