Darcy was attracted to Elizabeth long before she returned his feelings. Instead, it was Lydia who followed Wickham before he paid attention to her. Darcy also gives Wickham money to convince him to marry Lydia. He does this to try to change Elizabeth's opinion of him and to make amends for his past mistakes, as were made clear by Elizabeth during her harsh rejection of his marriage proposal. Wickham must be paid to marry Lydia while Darcy is willing to give away money for even a small chance of changing Elizabeth's opinion of him. When he and Elizabeth discuss this shortly before his second proposal is accepted, he says “your family owes me nothing. As much as I respect them, I think I only thought of you” (346). Austin sets boundaries for Darcy and Elizabeth's relationship by having them seek a specific relationship with each other, rather than any relationship. Darcy never seeks another partner in the novel besides Elizabeth and Elizabeth rejects multiple suitors before finally accepting Darcy's second proposal. This contrasts with the relationship between Lydia and Wickham because Lydia tries to marry any man, as long as he is in the army, and Wickham has to be convinced by money to marry Lydia. In this way, Elizabeth and Darcy's relationship is one of mutual love and respect while Wickham and Lydia's relationship is,