This week I started at my new job and its really fun, sadly it means not Internet during the week because my hospital is too far from home to drive every day and I am staying at a dorm. On the other hand I have a little free time at hand to write, so here is the rather long next chappi.

please leave me some review *puppydogeyes*

thanks to all of you who reviewed or added me to favs or alerts and big thanks to the incredible Alice Vampire.

Fourteenth chapter

The dinner party at the Stanleys mansion was well attended. Beside the four daughters of the house there were four young ladies present, namely the Miss Mallory, Miss Swan, Miss Brandon and Miss Hale. Gentlemen in attendance were mainly from the corps and to the delight of all ladies Mr Newton had brought his friend Mr Black, who looked even more handsome in his new regimentals.

In addition to the 7 Lieutenants of the corps there was a gentlemen present, a stranger to Chawton. He was a distant cousin to the Miss Stanleys and the beneficiary of the entailment that concerned the estate and most of the fortune of Mr Stanley.

Other than this it was not much known about Mr Yorkie in the vicinity. Mrs. Stanley and to some effect her daughters had voiced their guesses about this unknown heir since he had announced his visit in a letter some three weeks ago. There seemed to exist a past disagreement between Mr Stanley and the late Mr Yorkie that had ultimately resulted in the estrangement of the two families to the extend that not even Mr Stanley had met the young heir before. He was said to be a clergymen and as yet unmarried.

With the prospect of a fortune this man should have all the attraction that is needed to entrance a young lady and maybe, if it had been accompanied by faultless manners and satisfying looks he would have charmed at least half the ladies in the room. As it was Mr Yorkie indeed made a memorable first impression to Miss Swan and her two friends.

When they first entered the sitting room Mr Yorkie was heard in loud and ecstatic praise of his patroness, a Lady Catherine de Bourgh, who in all goodness and charity had granted him a living. His parish was proclaimed to be one of the best in the whole country for containing within its borders Lady de Bourghs estate, Rosings. It was his most dutiful honour to preach his sermons to Milady and he professed her to be always satisfied by his performance.

Mrs Stanley, to whom his speech was directed, seemed discontented with her lot and tried repeatedly to interrupt the hymn. She finally succeeded in her attempt to disrupt him, when she proposed to introduce him to his cousins friends. Mr Yorkie, elated at the thought of an even greater auditorium, readily agreed and postponed the rest of his seemingly endless praise.

Miss Swan in a vain attempt to escape the introduction turned hastily to the first person of her acquaintance she could find. This person was no other than Mr Black, who had earlier in the day managed to excite her curiosity, when she had witnessed his encounter with Mr Cullen. To satisfy her nosy character Miss Swan then proceeded to greet this almost stranger warmly. He offered her a seat and she readily complied. She was still trying to determine how to approach the delicate subject on her mind, when her thoughts were interrupted by his pleasant baritone.

"Has Mr Cullen been staying in the vicinity for long?" she was asked. She replied with the negative and was promptly asked for the duration of the stay of said gentleman. She gave him the intelligence and added a description of the rest of the party.

"May I ask, if you are acquainted with the gentleman?" she then asked with a inviting smile.

Mr Black answered that he was indeed intimate with most of the family at one time in the past. This earned an astonished look from his confidante.

"You wonder, Miss Swan, why our greeting was of such a short and cold manner, do you not?" She replied in the affirmative.

"I was born as the son of the Steward of Denali, the estate of the Cullen family in ----- shire. When I was but a mere boy my mother died in childbirth and I was left on my own, since my father was very much occupied by his task. Lady Cullen then took me on and I was raised like a brother to Edward Cullen. Sir Cullen later assisted me in my studies and the church was to be my profession. A valuable living was to be mine, once it became free. But when the time arose, Edward Cullen spoke against me and Sir Cullen gave the living to another. This however destroyed all my prospects and searching in vain for another living, I was finally pressed to give up my carrier in the church and accept a commission with the corps."

Miss Swan was shocked.

"How could anyone do such a thing?" she asked in amazement.

"I can only guess that he was jealous for the intimacy I shared with his mother, who at the time, seemed to like me more than him."

Miss Swan then hurried to assure him that Mr Cullen was disliked in the whole town for the pride he displayed and only few people could be found in the vicinity who could tell actual good from the man. Mr Black in turn assured her that he would not tell his sad story to everyone since he was still fond of Lady Cullen and for her sake felt himself to be unable to expose the son in a public manner.

At this point the talk was interrupted by Mr Yorkie, who claimed his introduction and immediately began the endless praise of his patroness. In the course of the evening Miss Swan found no opportunity for further discourse with Mr Black and she had to content herself with the prospect of sharing and discussing her intelligence with her friends in the morning.

How do you like Mr Collins? remember: review!