The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet (26 page)

Lizzie—

Don’t be alarmed. This letter is not meant as a reiteration of the feelings I expressed to you previously—and as I now know, on video. I
won’t do us both the insult of replaying that scene. But you once asked me to simply say what I mean, and though I made that my goal when I approached you last, apparently I had not
expressed myself well before that. You charged me with two very different crimes last night, and I feel I have the right to answer those charges.

The first is that I intervened in the relationship between your sister and my friend Bing. I admitted this freely, and I stand by what I said—the reservations I
expressed about your family (specifically your mother and younger sister) and our fundamental differences apply equally to Jane and Bing. But most especially I stand by what I saw when they
interacted. Bing is a person who falls in love easily, be it with a girl or a house in a remote town in central California. I have seen it happen half a dozen times, and it never lasted. But
Jane seemed to be different for him. Which is why it was painful for me to see that she didn’t seem to be as invested in their relationship as he was. The way she looked at and spoke to
him was pretty much the same way she looked at and spoke to everyone, including myself.

I will admit, I cannot account for Bing and Jane’s interactions in private moments and, having watched your videos now paints their relationship in a very
different light. It is possible Jane’s feelings for Bing were deeper than I initially thought. That said, it does not justify her indiscretion on the night of his birthday party, nor does
it negate the fact that Bing was so easily separated from her. If his feelings were as engaged as Jane’s, it would have been a much more difficult task. His summer was tumultuous, anyway;
it was time for him to get back to the reality of his life. Like I said, Bing falls in love easily. He also falls out of love easily.

I am sorry for any pain your sister may have felt, but perhaps it’s best in the long run. I am very cautious of situations where one of my friends might be
getting used. You will see why in a moment.

The second charge you lay at my door is that I ruined George Wickham’s future, by ignoring my father’s wishes for his education after my parents’
deaths. While you may feel the weight of your accusations about Jane and Bing heavier, this one is the far worse, in my opinion. Because it is patently false.

I’m sure it doesn’t surprise you that I didn’t have many friends growing up. But one friend I did have was George. He was the son of our housekeeper,
and she was practically family, having the charge of both my sister and me when we were young and our parents had to be away on business. As we got older, George and I started to go to separate
schools and run in different crowds, but I still considered our friendship bedrock.

My parents died when I was a freshman in college. Technically, I was an adult, but I didn’t feel like one. Suddenly I was the head of my family’s company,
and the guardian to my little sister. George—who since his mother had decided to retire had been less and less in our lives—came to me the day after my parents’ funeral. He
asked, as he’d been recently accepted to college, if he would still be able to go, as my father had promised to pay for his education. I told him of course—I was aware of my
father’s request and intended to honor it. But when I asked that George have the school send the bills to me, he said that he didn’t want to bother me with paperwork when I
obviously had so much going on, having to deal with the company and my sister on top of being in school. I must have been run over with grief, because I agreed to simply transfer $125,000 to
his bank account.

I didn’t hear from George again—which was unfortunate, because I could have used a friend then—until near the end of his first year. He said college
cost more than he thought, and could he please have some of the tuition bills sent my way, as my father no doubt had wanted?

I have no idea how he spent all the money, but there’s not a school in the country that costs $125,000 a year. I told him no.

Our relationship suffered after that.

I know, again from your videos, that this is not the story you were told by George. And also that your relationship with him was closer than that of mere friends. So
before you discount what I say as stemming from jealousy, please consider that I do have proof—bank statements, etc. I have also known George much longer than you have. And while he can
be charming, he can also be ruthless. But I didn’t know how much he hated me—and had probably hated me for a while—until he took things to the next level and involved my
sister, Gigi.

As George was around when Gigi was growing up, she naturally looked up to him. She even developed a bit of a childish crush on him, but as George was our close friend,
it was considered by all parties involved rather harmless.

Gigi grew up, and began college herself a few years ago. I hadn’t thought about George in quite a while when suddenly (and more recently than I think would make
you comfortable) I received an email from him.

It was full of the usual cordialities. He was simply “saying hi,” was eager to catch up the next time I was in San Francisco and put the “ugly
financial matters of the past” behind us. Then he included a photo. It was a penthouse apartment deck at sunset, with a girl in a hot tub. I knew that deck, that view, and that girl. It
was my sister Gigi, and the photo was taken at her apartment in the city.

I left for San Francisco immediately. When I arrived at the apartment, Gigi was—to put it mildly—surprised to see me. She knew nothing, and still knows
nothing, about the email George sent, which was as blatant as a ransom note. George was waiting for me to pull out my checkbook, so I did. He must have been hard up for cash, because it took
significantly fewer zeroes for him to remove himself from our lives this time. But as glad as I was to see him go, he left my sister devastated to realize that the man she was falling in love
with had just been using her.

I still don’t think she’s fully recovered.

I kept this quiet for my sister’s sake, even when I knew he was maligning me far and wide, buying friendship with a smile and a round of beers. But if you want a
secondary source, ask Fitz. He and Gigi are close and she confided in him everything, especially during that period when she was refusing to talk to me.

This was a very hard letter for me to write. And you may choose to not believe me. You can rip up this letter—and actually, I hope you will when you are done
with it. But as you allowed me to be privy to the truth of your perspective through your videos, I hope you will be accepting of mine.

Thank you for your attention, and giving this letter the benefit of the doubt.

Sincerely,

William Darcy