I was reading about the elopement, and about how Mr. Bennet believed that Wickham would be a fool for taking Lydia for less than 10,000 pounds. However, when I got to Mrs. Gardiner's letter, I found something that seemed to me (unless I'm totally wrong) to be a contradiction of that amount - I don't remember the exact particulars (and I'm too lazy to find my book), but it was along the lines that she believed a bit more than 1000 pounds to have been used to discharge Wickham's debts, another 1000 settled on Lydia, plus the commission which was bought for Wickham. This, however, seems to be to be around the area of 3000 - 4000 pounds total (although I have no clue how much a commission costs, nor the extent of his debts), and nowhere near the 10,000 Mr. Bennet believed would have to be used to bribe Mr. Wickham into marriage. I was wondering if we know which account of the amount is the true one. I'm more inclined to go with Mr. Bennet's comment, since they seem to fit more of the reality of Mr. Wickham, yet Mrs. Gardiner would seem to know the particulars of the amount of money spent on Lydia. Does anyone know which account is true?