This routine continued for the next several days, with the gentlemen almost always invited to Longbourn for dinner. Both Jane and Lizzy were becoming impatient that neither of their callers had asked for their hands. Lizzy asked Jane one night just before they went to sleep, "Jane, has Mr. Bingley talked to you about the future?"

"No, he has not, but I know that he is quite shy. This may be what is holding him back. I have tried to show him more attention, but it has not helped.

"What about Mr. Darcy? Has he renewed his offer to you?"

"No. He has paid a lot of attention to me, but I cannot tell what he is thinking. He is certainly different from when he first came here with your Mr. Bingley. I like him now, very much. I do not know what we might have to do to get them to talk about their intentions."

With these words, they tried to sleep, but both worried about their own gentleman.

The next afternoon, Darcy and Bingley were at Longbourn having tea with the ladies when a caller was announced by Hill. "Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam, here to see Miss Elizabeth."

The Colonel entered, dressed in his fine red officer's coat, which certainly drew the attention of Mrs. Bennet and Lydia.

Georgiana immediately jumped up and ran to him. "Richard, what a surprise! I had no idea that you had planned to visit us here." She then noticed that the other ladies were looking at him very expectantly. She turned to them and said, "May I introduce our cousin, Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam? Richard, this is Mrs. Bennet and her daughters Miss Jane Bennet, Miss Elizabeth you know, Miss Mary, Miss Catherine, and Miss Lydia. I believe you know Mr. Bingley?" Everyone in the room was now standing to greet him and the ladies each made a polite curtsy to him.

Richard bowed politely to each of them, then turned to Elizabeth, who had been sitting on a sofa with Darcy. "Miss Elizabeth, I told you that I would call on you as soon as I could. It happened sooner than I had expected as the generals were more agreeable on letting me resign than I thought they would be. Darcy, what are you doing here, sitting with Miss Elizabeth? I was not aware that you would be here; why are you here?" Richard's voice had risen when he asked this.

Mr. Bennet heard the noise and came into the drawing room. "What is going on here? Why are there raised voices?" He turned to the Colonel. "Who are you?"

Darcy introduced his cousin and said, "Richard, I might ask you the same question: why are you here, calling on Miss Elizabeth?" It was obvious to everyone that Darcy was not pleased to see his cousin.

"When I last saw her at Matlock Manor, I talked to her about the future and asked if I might call on her here. I made it plain to her that I intended to court her as soon as my plans for leaving the army were finalized. She agreed and invited me here to call on her."

Elizabeth was not pleased to hear this version of their last talk. "Colonel Fitzwilliam, that is not quite what I said. When you surprised me by talking of your future, you asked if you might call on me and I very carefully said that you would be welcome to come to Hertfordshire to visit us whenever you are able. I believe that those were the exact words that I used and I said nothing about entering into a courtship with you. In fact, I had no idea of the seriousness of your question or that you had any special regard for me."

Mr. Bennet saw that this situation had to be stopped before it became even more serious between the two men. He walked to the center of the room and raised his hand. "Colonel Fitzwilliam, Mr. Darcy, remember that you are gentlemen and that you are guests in my home. I expect you to behave as gentlemen.

"Now Lizzy, I am afraid that I have to put you in a serious predicament where you will have to disappoint someone quite bitterly. Here we have two gentlemen calling on you with the apparent intention of being suitors for your hand, at least the Colonel made his intentions very clear and I am assuming that Mr. Darcy's attentions to you amount to the same thing. Mr. Darcy, is my assumption correct?"

"Yes, indeed."

"Well then, Lizzy, now you have to disappoint one of these fine gentlemen. I am asking you to choose between them and decide which of them will have the right to court you properly and exclusively. You have to do this as I will not tolerate an altercation over the hand of one of my daughters in my home. The last thing we need is to have cousins fighting a duel over you, although, I have to admit that that would be interesting to watch."
Of course, everyone in the room was wide-eyed at this scene. No one made a sound as their eyes went between the four people, from Mr. Bennet, to Elizabeth, to Mr. Darcy, and to the Colonel.

When Elizabeth walked up to the Colonel, there were several audible gasps. "Colonel Fitzwilliam, I know from the time we spent in Kent and in Derbyshire that you are a fine gentleman who will make someone a good husband one day." She then turned to Mr. Darcy and took his hand and smiled up at him. "However, I am afraid that Mr. Darcy has first place in my heart, if he wants it."

Mr. Bennet was very pleased at his favourite daughter and how she was handling this precarious situation. "Well, Mr. Darcy, is there something that you would like to ask my daughter?"

Darcy looked at him and realized that he had no choice but to act now. Mr. Bennet had certainly put him on the spot. "Here? Now? With everyone watching?"

Mr. Bennet was pleased at the predicament in which he had placed this proud gentleman as he loved nothing better than to watch the follies of other people, no matter who they were. "Certainly. Why not? Then there will no mistakes about your intentions."

Darcy looked at Elizabeth, who was smiling up at him. "Miss Elizabeth, this is not how I had hoped the situation would be when I asked you this important question. I was waiting until I was sure how you would answer me, and now I know." He looked around and saw his sister smiling at him encouragingly. He returned her smile and nodded to her. He looked back at Elizabeth and said, "Miss Elizabeth, my regard for you has not changed for many months. I still feel as deeply for you as I did last Easter. May I have your permission to court you properly?" He waited for just a moment, then added, "However, if your feelings for me have grown so that you now believe that we will make each other happy, I will ask for something different." With a deep breath, he went down on one knee in front of her. "Elizabeth, I have loved you for a long time and had every intention of asking for your hand when I thought that you would accept it. Now I will ask you in front of all these witnesses: Will you make me the happiest man in England and agree to be my wife?"

No one in the room took a breath until she smiled down at him. "Yes! Yes! I will." Her next action surprised everyone as she bent down and kissed him on his lips, right in front of everyone. She did not hold her kiss long, but just touched her lips to his for the briefest of moments. As she pulled back, she murmured, "I love you, too." Mr. Bennet was not pleased that his favourite daughter had been so forward, but he did not say anything.

Darcy then stood up and put his arms around her, pulling her to him. The room erupted in cheers and the ladies all swarmed them, holding them both as close as they could. Of course, Mrs. Bennet's voice was the loudest to be heard.

Only Mr. Bennet stood back, watching the Colonel, who was being ignored in all this excitement. He saw that he had better defuse the situation as he could see that the Colonel was not pleased. "Colonel, I believe you could use a drink. Will you come with me to my office?"

The Colonel shook his head at his disappointment and looked at Mr. Bennet, who was smiling at him. "I certainly could use a drink. A stiff one. Lead the way." No one noticed when they left as they were all still congratulating the happy couple.

When they entered Mr. Bennet's office, he poured two drinks and said, "Colonel, I do not know exactly what happened between you and Lizzy before today, and I do not need to know. I only hope that you will accept her decision and wish them well. Darcy is your cousin and will always be your family. Now Lizzy will be as well, so you have to accept the situation as there is nothing you can do about it. In any case, I do have other daughters, as you saw." He chuckled when he said this.

The Colonel was not pleased, but knew there was nothing to be done as she had made her choice very clear. "Mr. Bennet, Miss Elizabeth is a special lady and I will regret day this for the rest of my life, but I know that I have to get over it. I certainly admired her, but my feelings had not grown too seriously, although I am sure that they easily would have. I just wish things had turned out differently.

"One more stiff shot and I will go to congratulate them."

Mr. Bennet poured another drink for him, which was quickly downed. "Thank you for these drinks. I needed them. Now, as good King Henry said, 'Once more unto the breach.' After you, sir." They went back to the drawing room and both congratulated the happy couple, one perhaps much more warmly than the other. However, the Colonel was shaking Darcy's hand and smiling sadly at Elizabeth.

Mr. Bennet saw that Jane was now standing beside Mr. Bingley and that they were smiling deeply into each other's eyes. He had heard that one wedding would often result in others as well. He saw that they needed only a small push. "Jane, perhaps you should take Mr. Bingley out into the garden for some peace and quiet." He gently guided the two of them towards the door while saying quietly to Bingley, "Get on with it, Bingley. It is your turn." They went out the door. Mr. Bennet could not resist his natural impulse to watch them, so he moved to a window. He smiled when he saw Mr. Bingley turn red as he went down on one knee in front of Jane. Then they were holding each other and Jane must have copied her sister's bravery as she reached up to kiss him. Mr. Bennet had to wipe his eyes at the scene. He turned away from the window to give them more private time, completely alone, lost in each other.

Mr. Bennet went to his wife and gently pulled her away from Lizzy and Mr. Darcy, who were still surrounded by the other ladies. "Mrs. Bennet, when Jane and Mr. Bingley come in from the garden, they may have something to tell you."

She looked blankly at her husband, wondering what he was suggesting. Then she realized what he was saying. "Oh, Mr. Bennet! Jane and Mr. Bingley! Did he really propose to her? Two daughters married to such fine gentlemen! I will go distracted. What a happy day! Such flutterings in my heart! Oh, my poor nerves! Where are my salts? Hill, where are you?"

Jane and Mr. Bingley came in then, and Mr. Bennet clapped his hands as loudly as he could. "May I have everyone's attention, please!" He had to raise his voice, but the din lessened. "Jane, my dear, do you have something to tell us?" He smiled at her encouragingly.

She blushed while she looked around. She looked at Lizzy and said simply, "Mr. Bingley has asked for my hand and I said yes."

Lizzy and Darcy were the first to go to them, but the four of them were quickly surrounded by the other ladies who were all congratulating them at the same time.

Mr. Bennet looked at the Colonel, standing alone. "Colonel, as I said, I do have three other daughters, if you would like to choose one of them to make it three in a row."

The Colonel was still not happy, but he knew there was nothing that he could do except accept the situation. "Mr. Bennet, I certainly agree that all your daughters are quite attractive, but I would prefer to get to know my intended first before committing myself. May I suggest that another drink would go down well? Perhaps Darcy and Bingley will need one after all this noise. Do the ladies deserve a glass of sherry, perhaps?"

Mr. Bennet agreed with this and saw Hill smiling at all the joy in the room. "Hill, perhaps you might serve the ladies all a glass of sherry while we gentlemen go find somewhere quiet?"