Saturday dawned clear and bright. As he had arranged when he visited the previous day, Darcy walked to Longbourn and met Elizabeth at the edge of the garden. He kissed her hand in greeting, then she took his arm. They strolled down the drive together.

"I am pleased to see your bruises are beginning to fade."

"They are, but the rainbow of colors they sport makes it difficult to choose the best gown for tonight," she said in a teasing tone. "Do I go for a choice that enhances my new coloring or choose something to deliberately contrast with it?"

"And your decision?"

"Neither, really," she said with a laugh. "I just decided to wear my favorite gown and not worry about the color."

"I know I will appreciate you no matter what gown you chose." he replied.

They enjoyed their walk, although they kept it short in deference to Mrs. Bennet's nerves and Darcy's desire to avoid overtiring Elizabeth. When they had gone as far as they wished he escorted her back to the door and returned to the dower house.

As planned, the Darcy party arrived before any other guests. Miss Mary was able to successfully sneak inside. Elizabeth joined Darcy and he complimented her on her excellent choice of gown. When Mrs. Bennet was distracted by the arrival of the Lucas family shortly thereafter Dr. Burrows was directed to the back hall where Miss Mary waited with her father. Bennet had been brought into the plan. He saw the potential for amusement and agreed to go along with it. He anticipated great fun in distracting Mrs. Bennet if she saw Mary and attempted to bring about a meeting with Collins.

The prominent families in the neighborhood arrived steadily. By now Darcy knew all of them well enough to be comfortable offering greetings and accepting their congratulations. Many curious glances were directed at Elizabeth's bruises, but most offered sympathy and none were cruel. Clearly word had gone round of Wickham's attack and Elizabeth's defense of Miss Darcy. Many people told him they were sorry she was not able to attend. Most added that she such a pleasant girl it was a joy to be around her and they wished her a quick recovery.

Darcy noticed that Mrs. Bennet was a little taken aback the first time she answered a neighbor's inquiries about Miss Kitty and Miss Lydia with the explanation they were upstairs with their governess and was congratulated on her wisdom in seeing that the girls were not yet ready to be out in society. The first questioner had also calmly added that their wild behavior had become somewhat disruptive at local gatherings and it was good to see her taking action. Mrs. Bennet was momentarily struck dumb at that and the neighbor moved on to another conversation. By the fourth time the question had come up Darcy was chuckling to himself as he heard Mrs. Bennet taking credit for keeping her daughters away.

"Oh, yes, I saw that they were overexcited in company and needed a little more training for society. My Lydia has such lively ways but no control, you see. Lizzy's Mr. Darcy was so kind and loaned us Miss Darcy's companion while she is recovering from her injuries. Mrs. Annesley is giving lessons to my girls until their permanent governess arrives from London. With my Lizzy making such a good match they need to be ready for the society they will come into."

Darcy did not know if Miss Kitty or Miss Lydia would ever be ready for London society. If it helped Mrs. Bennet to think so he was not going to argue the point now.

The Bingley party were late, as usual. Although Darcy noted they were not as late as usual. The Hursts were not with them. Miss Bingley's voice was brittle and her words cold, but she did accept Mrs. Bennet's greetings and congratulations. She gave Darcy the cut direct. He chose not to annoy her further and kept himself from laughing out loud. He also briefly took note that if she had chosen to wear perfume it was delicately applied and not of her usual variety.

The rooms filled with talking, happy people. Darcy and Elizabeth were encouraged to join the conversation of any group they neared. He found himself glad that Richard had not come. Darcy's cousin would have teased him endlessly at seeing him so sociable. Of course the difference was Elizabeth. She helped him relax and find the right words.

Mrs. Bennet had provided a buffet of light finger foods to please her guests. Bennet's wine cellar provided several very fine vintages for the company to enjoy. All in all, the evening was too good to last. And it didn't, not the pleasant bits, anyway.

Darcy met Sir Howard when he arrived with the Bingleys. The new baronet was a rugged man who had probably never been truly handsome. Now, a network of fine scars cut across his face courtesy of a French cannonball that had splintered a deck railing near where he stood in his last battle. He had been fortunate none of the flying splinters had found his eyes. They found the rest of his face well enough and his hands. His uniform had largely protected his body. He said it did not bother him much. He felt grateful just to be alive.

Darcy saw that Sir Howard stayed close to Miss Bingley throughout the evening. He responded graciously to words of congratulation and occasionally prodded Miss Bingley to do the same as they slowly moved through the company. At one point he must have felt she was content enough with the company for he stepped over to the buffet to fix her a plate. Darcy had just done the same, so he missed the beginning of the conflict. Elizabeth told him that she had joined a small group near the one by which Miss Bingley stood and was surprised to by the woman's comment to her.

"You should be hiding your face in shame, not flaunting those bruises in open company."

Elizabeth told him she did not want to escalate the situation by making a response so she had attempted to step away. Miss Bingley grabbed her arm and shouted, "I am speaking to you, you country whore! You and this whole backward company. You ruined my life! You had the nerve to upbraid a man like Mr. Darcy in public yet you are to marry him and it is I who has been confined to my room for weeks! You don't deserve to be Mrs. Darcy! You don't deserve to be anything!"

Both Curlow and Darcy had heard her shouts and had rushed back to the scene. Miss Bingley looked as if she was about to physically attack Elizabeth. Darcy stepped in between them just as Curlow came up behind Miss Bingley and wrapped his arms around her to hold her still. She continued to rant about how unfair it was that she had been forced to come her to this backward country and have her freedom taken away by a country nobody as Darcy peeled her fingers from their grip on Elizabeth's arm. He could tell Elizabeth was simply shocked by the attack. When he had her free he turned his back to the irate woman and gently took Elizabeth in his embrace, heedless of the crowd now gathered around them.

He heard Curlow's gruff voice over Miss Bingley's rant saying "Sorry about this, Mr. Darcy. I will take Caroline home now." Immediately after he felt two very sharp kicks to his shins. He looked to see that Curlow had lifted her to carry his betrothed out. She had apparently taken advantage of the opportunity to attack him.

Elizabeth pushed gently away to stand at arm's length when he jerked with the sudden sharp pains. "Will? What happened?" she asked with concern.

"Miss Bingley kicked me," he said simply. "Will you be well?" he asked her. She had only time to nod before they, and the hum of gossip around them, were interrupted by Bingley's unusually raised voice.

"I apologize to this company and to Miss Elizabeth in particular. Despite your gracious welcome of us, my sister has been very discontented with her time here in Meryton. I have been reluctant to bring her into your company because of her poor mood. I could not refuse, though, when Mrs. Bennet so kindly offered to share a little of the joy of this gathering to celebrate her daughter and my friend's engagement with Caroline and her betrothed. My sister promised to be on her best behavior and we took her at her word. I am so very sorry this happened. We will be returning to Netherfield now." He caught Darcy's eye and nodded to him sadly before he turned to make his farewells to Miss Bennet. When Darcy saw him walk to the door he noticed a look of grim determination about his friend that he had never before seen.

The hum of excited conversation had barely time to start back up before it was once again interrupted. Darcy groaned as he recognized the braying tones.

"Fitzwilliam Darcy! Come away from here at once! I will not have you staying in this house of ill repute! Screaming women in the drive! Vulgar people in the hall! I will not have you here! IT WILL NOT DO!"

Lady Catherine had arrived at Longbourn.