Darcy begins to fear that, if he does not take action, he will lose this treasure. He must act now. Despite the social drawbacks associated with marrying Elizabeth, Darcy decides to offer his hand, but, once again, his timing could not be worse because the day before his offer, she learns from Fitzwilliam (unintentionally) of Darcy's dominant role in purposely separating Bingley from his sister Jane. Thus, when Darcy asks Elizabeth's hand, she rejects him out of hand based primarily on his role in separating Jane and Bingley and also because of his scandalous treatment of Wickham.