Every lingering struggle in his favour grew fainter and fainter; and in farther justification of Mr. Darcy, she could not but allow that Mr. Bingley, when questioned by Jane, had long ago asserted his blamelessness in the affair; that proud and repulsive as were his manners, she had never, in the whole course of their acquaintance--an acquaintance which had latterly brought them much together, and given her a sort of intimacy with his ways--seen anything that betrayed him to be unprincipled or unjust--anything that spoke him of irreligious or immoral habits; that among his own connections he was esteemed and valued--that even Wickham had allowed him merit as a brother, and that she had often heard him speak so affectionately of his sister as to prove him capable of _some_ amiable feeling; that had his actions been what Mr. Wickham represented them, so gross a violation of everything right could hardly have been concealed from the world; and that friendship between a person capable of it, and such an amiable man as Mr. Bingley, was incomprehensible.
Darcy igazolására kénytelen volt azt is elismerni, hogy Bingley már régen kijelentette, amikor Jane nála kérdezősködött: barátja nem hibás a Wickham-ügyben; hogy bármilyen gőgös és elutasító is a modora, ismeretségük egész folyamán - pedig az utóbbi időben sokat voltak együtt, és Elizabeth közelebbről megismerhette gondolkodásmódját - soha nem tapasztalt olyasmit, ami elvtelen vagy igazságtalan felfogásra vallott, ami vallásba vagy erkölcsbe ütköző szokásokról tanúskodott volna. Baráti körében becsülték, és nagyra tartották; még Wickham is elismerte róla, hogy jó testvér - ő maga gyakran hallotta, milyen szeretettel beszél húgáról, bizonyságául annak, hogy van benne legalább némi meleg érzés.