Fitzwilliam Darcy

Almost against his will he begins to admire Elizabeth, her eyes and her quickness, though he would not own it aloud.

The long evenings at Netherfield deepen what he will not name; he watches Elizabeth, provoked and drawn in equal measure.

At the Netherfield ball he asks Elizabeth to dance, surprising them both, his civility to her at odds with his coldness to the room.

At Rosings he is thrown again into Elizabeth's company and calls at the parsonage oftener than anyone can explain.

He proposes to Elizabeth at Hunsford, telling her he loves her against his better judgement. She refuses him.

His letter answers her charges: he confesses parting Bingley from Jane, but lays bare the true history of Wickham, including the attempt on his sister Georgiana.

At Pemberley he meets Elizabeth again, civil and warm, eager that she think better of him and that she meet his sister.

Unknown to her family, it is he who finds Lydia and Wickham in London and buys the marriage that saves the Bennets' name.

He proposes again, humbled and changed, and is accepted.