Hey! Thanks for giving my story a try. You might want to read my one-shot Of Compromise first, but either way around, one will be a spoiler for the other. I'd love feedback if you want to interact :)
Mr Darcy frowned. It seemed that each ball he went to was more full than the last. Each ballroom filled with so many grasping ladies that you couldn't turn around without finding a new one hanging off your elbow. As if to prove his own point, he tripped on a foot – a wallflower he hadn't noticed in his angry striding.
The lady turned up an amused face. "You must forgive me, kind sir, for inopportuning your feet. Most unintentionally done, I must assure you. It is just," she sighed dramatically, "Mine have always been so very large and, well, there is little I can possibly do to mitigate that fact, except hold my breath as people walk past."
He bowed stiffly.
"Oh," She continued, her eyes laughing at him, "I see that you are uncomfortable. We have not been introduced. But, come now good sir, you cannot pick and choose your sensibilities. Either you stand wholly on ceremony and neither speak to nor trip over-" at this point she raised an eyebrow in teasing challenge "-young ladies of little consequence, or you wholeheartedly engage in both."
"You cannot- I did not- That is to say," he swallowed, "you are not of little consequence."
She lifted her chin a little in defiance, "Oh, with four sisters, no dowry, and a small estate entailed away, I think I can assure you that I am of very little consequence."
Mr Darcy flinched.
"Oh no, you are uncomfortable again" The young lady observed, genuine concern playing across her face, "I'm very sorry. I suppose it was rather crass of me to begin with the size of my dowry – I should have worked up to it, starting with a vague and aggrandizing description of our pigs, and inching up to the cold, hard figures." She bit her lip to hide a smile, then – with wide, innocent eyes – added, "that is how it's done in town, is it not?"
"Are pigs of particular concern to you, madam?" She could not decide if he was puzzled and reluctantly participating, or genuinely enjoying her company. She resolved not to reflect on the matter any further than constituted her happiness, and so settled on the assumption that he was enjoying himself as much as she was.
"Not of particular consequence," she replied thoughtfully, although with a hint of teasing smile beneath, "but of some consequence insofar as they support my own self-image." At this she laughed, wrinkling up her nose in an endearing, although highly inelegant, manner.
"Your self-image, madam?" His confusion was evident, although he had attempted to hide it – to appear playful instead.
Her mouth twisted into a wry smile. "You have surely observed that I am more than unusually plain, no-" She held up a hand to forestall his interruption "-I will not allow you to be polite, sir. Let us, in the manner of our whole acquaintance thus far, be unfashionably candid." She paused dramatically. "I am the ugly duckling in a family of country gems. Quite honestly, sir," She added, with no trace of self-pity or design, "they are all very beautiful."
It was true that she was not unusually beautiful, but she was certainly more pretty than plain. Mr Darcy, obedient to her instruction to candidness, charged her with that.
"Oh, yes," she replied, laughingly, "you have found me out. I prefer to exaggerate my plainness in order to draw compliments, rather than face up to being only the least pretty of several very pretty girls." She laughed again, inelegantly and delightfully. "And so the pigs make excellent companions, bolstering me to the most pretty of an unforgivable selection of faces."
He smiled in spite of himself. And then frowned, scowled in fact.
"Oh," She seemed disappointed, "you are unhappy again. Do you dislike pigs particularly?"
He grabbed her hand, almost pulling her toward the centre of the room with a slight look of panic in his eyes. "No, but I do dislike- there is a slight acquaintance of mine I would wish to avoid." He sounded almost apologetic, and a little flustered.
The lady looked around obviously, and artlessly, clearly enjoying the drama immensely. "And you intend to- Oh!" She recoiled slightly, "You don't intend to dance? With me?"
Praying that her reaction was to joining an already-formed set, and not to having to dance with him, Mr Darcy pulled her forwards again. "I most certainly do."