MR.
GARDINER
Edward Gardiner was greatly superior to his sister, Mrs. Bennet.
He had grown wealthy in respectable trade in London, but still clung to
his home in an unfashionable part of the city. He was gentlemanly
in manner, intelligent, and full of regard and concern for the welfare
of the Bennets, Elizabeth especially. Darcy was attracted to him
at their first meeting and treated him as an equal. The importance
he placed in business duties led him to give up his plans for a holiday
in the Lake District, and he instantly dropped all pleasure in his effort
to trace Wickham and Lydia. It went against his sense of right, as
manifested in his letter to Mr. Bennet, to assume credit for Darcy' s payments
to Wickham' s creditors but he accepted the innocent deceit as necessary
for welfare of the family name.
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