Title: Dare to Refuse Such a Man
Rating: T (PG-13) – Most of this story is turbulent, but relatively innocent. However, there are some scenes which hint at/depict domestic violence.
Disclaimer: Though I write stories based on the novels and characters of Jane Austen, this work belongs to ME and no one else. Unless given express permission, no one besides myself has the right to distribute or profit from my intellectual property. All rights reserved.
Setting: Regency
PSA: I hope that you and yours are safe and healthy during the COVID-19 crisis. Take precautions for yourself and others and please don't hoard any goods that your family doesn't need; we're all in this together, even while we remain physically apart.

Summary: It had never occurred to Fitzwilliam Darcy that, once he had chosen a bride, her father might dare to refuse his consent. However, a woman worthy of being pleased is also worth fighting for. DE, Regency, clean romance.

"He is the kind of man, indeed, to whom I should never dare refuse anything which he condescended to ask."

Mr Bennet, Pride and Prejudice Volume III, Chapter 17

Chapter Thirty-Five

Monday
November 18, 1811

After nearly three days together of Mr Bennet hiding himself away in his library, he had suddenly emerged only to go out some unspecified errand and Fanny was growing frustrated by his transparent attempts to avoid them all. She did not particularly wish to see her husband as her anger at him remained unabated after recent events, but it was just like him to hole up in his book room when there when difficulties were afoot. Like some lord in a castle with the drawbridge up! And then to reappear without any fanfare at all only to go off to the village on his own. It was most cowardly of Mr Bennet, or so Fanny thought.

Well, he would have to face them all sometime and put things to rights. Lizzy – the poor, brave dear – still insisted that Mr Darcy would return eventually, but a little persuasion from Mr Bennet would not go amiss. It was the least he could do to travel to London, present himself at Mr Darcy's townhouse – which was, Fanny must assume, very fine, indeed – and grant the consent he had been denying all these weeks. If he would only put his supposedly brilliant mind to the task of making amends, or at least grant his wife an audience, Fanny would set him right to it. Vexing man!

In the meantime, the female Bennets were all ensconced at home and available to no one save Mrs Philips, who had visited Saturday when the planned war council had not convened on Friday as expected. One look at Lizzy's face had told the tale and Sister Philips had been as horrified as anyone that Mr Collins had proven himself to be a loutish brute. Fanny had recounted the whole for her sister, not without tears, and it had been agreed amongst the gathered ladies that it was best to imply to the neighborhood that all the Bennets were tucked up in bed with the same cold which had beset Jane.

Mr Collins had somehow inveigled himself an invitation to stay at Lucas Lodge rather than the inn, but there was little anyone could do about that or whatever vile rumors he was spreading about his sudden exile from Longbourn – an event which had caused much speculation about the area. Well, at least his pretensions toward a match with Lizzy were completely at an end, removing one obstacle. No matter what venom he spewed about his relatives, Mr Collins could hardly be considered betrothed to Lizzy – or any of the girls – when so clearly out of favor with the Bennets. On this point, Mrs Philips had assured them at another visit on Sunday, the parson had remained unusually silent. He was full of complaints of ill-use, of course, but would not specify more than that.

Mr Collins' lack of explanation for being banished from Longbourn gave Fanny and Mrs Philips the opportunity to turn the tide of speculation in their favor. They would not reveal Mr Collins' actual crime – to do so would be humiliating to Lizzy and would only spark further conjecture about the relationship between herself and the gentleman – but it was enough to imply that he had done something unchristian and unforgivable. Let the gossipmongers imagine what they would from there.

Fanny set down her embroidery, unable to continue the delicate work while her hands were shaking so. Indeed, they had hardly stopped shaking since she had caught Mr Collins in the act of abusing Lizzy, such had been the state of her nerves. They were improved, but thinking about what that...that man had done always inflamed her condition.

As Fanny stared at her hands, knotted into fists atop her abandoned project, another swept into her line of vision and settled upon the one to her right. Fanny followed the length of the arm attached to this steadier hand and found Lizzy smiling at her in that soft, comforting way she had employed these last few days. One side of her face was mottled with varying shades of blue, purple and yellowish-green, reminding Fanny further of what her child had suffered. The contusion, contained to only the crest of one cheek and part of her eye, was fading but still undeniable to anyone who looked upon her. It was why they had stayed home from church and pretended a household illness. "Are you well, Mama?"

Fanny clasped Lizzy's hand, tears welling up in her eyes, and nodded fervently. She must be strong; Mr Collins was gone, Lizzy was not mortally injured and Mr Darcy would return for her. The rest of her girls were scattered about the house seeing to their own activities. Fanny could hear Mary plunking at the pianoforte in the music room down the hall, Kitty and Lydia had taken a fashion magazine up to their room and sweet Jane was writing a letter in the corner, glancing up every so often to engage with either herself or Lizzy. Currently, Jane's attention was focused on where her younger sister was placating Fanny's nerves, likely waiting to see if her assistance was likewise required for the task.

"I am well, my loves. It has merely been a trying time – oh, but I need not remind you of that, Lizzy."

Lizzy's smile was chagrined and her eyes sparkled with a bit of impishness. "No, I quite recall. However, it is done now and we shall move forward. When William returns – which I imagine must be soon – I am certain that Papa can be convinced to grant his consent and so we should begin considering wedding plans. Have you any thoughts on that subject, Mama?"

Fanny knew that Lizzy was teasing her as it was well known amongst their circle that she had been plotting marriages for all her girls since before Jane was out, but she dove into the subject with gusto. It was exactly what she needed to distract her from their troubles.

After an hour spent in pleasant conversation about lace, whom to invite to the ceremony, dishes to serve at the accompanying breakfast and what Lizzy would need for her trousseau, Hill let herself into the room and dipped into a deep curtsy. Fanny was a little startled at this formality, but her confusion at it was cleared up as soon as the housekeeper announced, "Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Mr Collins."

Hill stepped to the side and revealed two persons behind her, the familiar and odious form of their banished cousin and an older lady dressed in grand, if outdated, fashion. One face was smug, the other coldly indignant. Fanny felt her hands resume their shaking.

Before any of the Bennet ladies could do more than stand and offer perfunctory curtsies, Lady Catherine stepped forward and launched immediately into the reason for her visit. "Which of these ladies is Miss Elizabeth Bennet?"

Collins scurried forth, rubbing his hands together as if anticipating a great treat, and indicated Lizzy. "This one, my lady."

As Lady Catherine scanned her eyes up and down Lizzy's form, her lip curled in a sneer. Lizzy, to Fanny's great pride, stood erect and proud against this impertinent perusal without the slightest sign of intimidation. "I would almost understand if it were the other," Lady Catherine said, each word coated in disdain as she nodded slightly in Jane's direction, "but what can my nephew be thinking? Why, she is nothing but tolerably pretty! Certainly nothing to the grace and poise of my Anne."

Fanny wanted to scoff at this insult, considering the source. If Anne de Bourgh favored her mother in the slightest, then the girl was absolutely nothing to her Lizzy! Lady Catherine was a tall, large woman with strongly-marked features which might once have been handsome, though Fanny suspected the sharpness of her nose and chin greatly diminished the probability of this. And if she were prone to wearing such an expression of disgust, one which implied that she smelled something rancid, her beauty would have been further marred. No, the most attractive aspect of Lady Catherine was the fineness of her dress and even that was wildly out of date, even if the material was some of the finest silk she had personally ever seen and the lace delicately woven.

But Lady Catherine and her daughter had a champion regardless of all the failings in the grand dame's appearance. "No, nothing at all, your ladyship," agreed the sycophantic Mr Collins. Hmph! Such had not been his tune when he had been so intent upon marrying Lizzy himself, the toad.

While Fanny stiffened in indignation at the further insults her daughter was suffering at the hands of Mr Collins and his disagreeable patroness, the lady addressed Elizabeth directly. "Miss Elizabeth Bennet, there seemed to be a prettyish kind of little wilderness on one side of your lawn. I should be glad to take a turn in it, if you will favor me with your company."

Seeing by Lizzy's expression that she meant to acquiesce to Lady Catherine's request, Fanny reached out and gripped her second daughter by the arm. Panic welled up within her at the very thought of Lizzy being under the power of Mr Collins again and, from Lady Catherine's hostile beginnings, Fanny was no more at ease with the notion of her being at the mercy of his patroness, either. Lizzy turned to Fanny, seemed to read some of this apprehension in her eyes and her own face relaxed into a soft smile.

Turning back to Lady Catherine, Lizzy adopted a cool hauteur and proposed an alternative. "The weather has been indifferent as of late and I am not inclined to be outdoors. Instead, let us sit and enjoy refreshments. Hill," Lizzy glanced at the housekeeper, who was still hovering in the doorway, "please send word down to the kitchen for a tea tray. And let my father know that we have guests."

"He...He is still out, Miss Lizzy." Hill's eyes were darting around the room nervously as if each person within it were inclined to attack her at any moment. Fanny empathized wholeheartedly with her housekeeper's nerves, feeling them quite strongly herself, but would certainly be having a word with Hill once their "visitors" had left; her master had indicated in no uncertain terms that Mr Collins was never to be admitted to Longbourn again whilst he yet lived. Of course, considering Lady Catherine's commanding presence, perhaps Fanny would not reprimand too harshly on this occasion.

Lizzy nodded. "Very well, inform him as soon as he returns. Send for him if he has not arrived shortly."

Why should Mr Bennet…? Of course! Lizzy was so level-headed – Mr Bennet would chase these fiends away, just as he had evicted Mr Collins on Friday. Clever, clever girl to call in reinforcements. Now, if only her husband would return from Meryton on whatever "errand" he was performing. Fanny's gaze darted to the nearest window, though this room did not face the drive from any aspect, and silently prayed that Mr Bennet would be quick about something for once in his life.

Hill was gone from the room before Lady Catherine protested, "I do not wish for tea! I have come here to speak with you privately."

Lizzy lowered herself back down into a chair, gently assisting Fanny back into hers as she descended, and replied, "I am afraid that I am not at liberty to indulge you at the present moment, Madam. Do make yourself comfortable here."

Lady Catherine's face scrunched up into an expression of such sourness that she appeared to have swallowed an entire lemon. However, after a moment of silent debate with herself, she, too, sat down and launched into another speech. "Very well. If you prefer to have an audience, so be it. You can be at no loss, Miss Bennet, to understand the reason of my journey hither. Your own heart, your own conscience, must tell you why I come."

Lizzy looked upon her inquisitor with affected tranquility. "Indeed, you are mistaken, Madam. I have not been at all able to account for the honor of seeing you here – unless, of course, my cousin," here Lizzy glared coldly at Mr Collins, who remained disgustingly smug, "has invited you."

"Miss Bennet," replied her ladyship, in an angry tone, "you ought to know by my reputation that I am not to be trifled with. But however insincere you may choose to be, you shall not find me so. My character has ever been celebrated for its sincerity and frankness, and in a cause of such moment as this, I shall certainly not depart from it. A report of a most alarming nature reached me two days ago from Mr Collins. I was told, that not only has your father thrown his own cousin and heir from the household, but that you, that Miss Elizabeth Bennet, would now be free to resume your attempted seduction of my own nephew, Mr Darcy, regardless of his obligations elsewhere. Upon this information, I instantly resolved on setting off for this place, that I might make my sentiments known to you."

So Mr Collins, that snake, had brought even more trouble down upon them! Fanny could not count herself surprised that he had gone running to his patroness the minute Mr Bennet had cast him out, but to think that this grand lady would drive fifty miles just to insult them all; one would think that it would be beneath Lady Catherine's dignity to pay such a visit to those she must consider beneath her.

"Forgive me, your ladyship," Fanny burst out, finding her voice; all eyes within the room turned to her at her sudden exclamation, "but this is a family matter and, therefore, none of your concern."

Lady Catherine straightened in her seat and she puffed up like an angry hen. The sharp, beaky quality of her nose added to this image in Fanny's mind. "Mrs Bennet, do you know who I am? I have not been accustomed to language such as this. I am almost the nearest relation my nephew has in the world and am entitled to know all his dearest concerns."

"But you are not entitled to know ours, nor will such behavior as this ever induce us to be explicit." Fanny's counter was accompanied by a glare and flared nostrils.

"Let me be rightly understood," said Lady Catherine, her own expression full of ire. Hot color was rising above the collar of her gown, a stark contrast to the snowy white lace which edged it. "This match, to which your daughter has the presumption to aspire, can never take place. No, never. Mr Darcy is engaged to my daughter. Now what have you to say?"

"Only this!" cried Fanny. "That if he is so, he would not have made an offer to my Lizzy."

Lady Catherine hesitated for a moment, and then replied, "The engagement between them is of a peculiar kind. From their infancy, they have been intended for each other. It was the favorite wish of his mother, as well as of hers. While in their cradles, we planned the union, and now, at the moment when the wishes of both sisters would be accomplished, in their marriage, to be prevented by a young woman of inferior birth, of no importance in the world, and wholly unallied to the family! Do you, none of you, pay no regard to the wishes of his friends? To his tacit engagement with Miss de Bourgh? Are all of you lost to every feeling of propriety and delicacy? Have you not heard me say, that from his earliest hours he was destined for his cousin?"

"Yes, and I had heard it before," replied Fanny with more ease than she felt. Her nerves rattled within her and her hands vibrated against her knees, but she would not be cowed by some harridan who would slander all her family. She had not stood for such reprehensible behavior from Sam Goulding and she would not stand for it now. "But what is that to me? To Lizzy? If there is no other objection to marrying your nephew, Lizzy certainly shall not be kept from it by knowing that his mother and aunt wished him to marry Miss de Bourgh. You both did as much as you could – and, as a mother of five daughters myself, I can sympathize in a way many cannot that it all went off – in planning the marriage. Its completion depended on others. If Mr Darcy is neither by honor nor inclination confined to his cousin, why is not he to make another choice? And if my Lizzy is that choice, why may she not accept him?"

Lady Catherine, by contrast, was beginning to lose control of herself. When she responded, red in the face, it was at a shrieking octave. "Because honor, decorum, prudence, nay, interest, forbid it. Yes, Mrs Bennet, interest; for do not expect your scheming, grasping daughter to be noticed by his family or friends, if she willfully acts against the inclinations of all. She will be rightly censured, slighted and despised, by everyone connected with him. Their alliance will be a disgrace; her name will never even be mentioned by any of us. If she were sensible of her own good, and that of her family, she would not wish to quit the sphere in which she has been brought up. She is as much bound to her cousin as my nephew is to his – let her marry Mr Collins as is her duty and place!"

Mr Collins, standing just behind Lady Catherine's chair, looked at each of his relations in turn with that same air of self-satisfaction he had inflicted upon them during his stay. It was perhaps intensified by the presence of his patroness and turned Fanny's stomach, particularly when his gaze landed upon where Lizzy sat beside her.

"Let her marry the sort of man who would – " Fanny broke off her own sentence as her throat clotted with distress. She pressed her handkerchief to her mouth just in time to cover the sob which broke free.

Fanny felt Lizzy's steadying hand upon her arm again, a silent gesture to desist from her second daughter. Lizzy then stood, stepped forward and addressed their unwanted guests with no measure of conciliation in her tone. "As I have already informed Mr Collins myself, a marriage between us is impossible. Even were I not engaged to your nephew," – Lizzy's voice rose slightly in volume to speak over the angry noise of objection from Lady Catherine – "I would never be so inclined. As it is, I am engaged to Mr Darcy; he offered me his hand and I gladly accepted it some weeks ago. Neither duty, nor honor, nor any other such irrelevant argument will sway me from it. I am sorry you have made such a long trip for nothing, but such is my final word on the subject."

"Miss Bennet, I am shocked and astonished. I had expected to find a more reasonable young woman, but considering your shocking behavior up to this point perhaps it is really not so surprising. That you are capable of using your arts and allurements to draw in unsuspecting gentlemen has been well established, but to abandon all sense of delicacy and decorum in the face of all reasonable objections is absolutely deplorable! Obstinate, headstrong girl! I am ashamed of you! Well, do not deceive yourself into a belief that I will ever recede. I shall not go away till you have given me the assurance I require."

Lizzy took Lady Catherine's abuses without comment until the older woman had finished her tirade. "And I certainly never shall give it," finally replied Lizzy with some heat. "I am not to be intimidated into anything so wholly unreasonable. Your ladyship wants Mr Darcy to marry your daughter, but would my breaking off our engagement make their marriage at all more probable? He is attached to me, as I am to him, and we have these many months together endured much to bring about our union. Allow me to say, Lady Catherine, that the arguments with which you have supported this extraordinary application have been as frivolous as the application was ill judged. You have widely mistaken my character, and his, if you think we could be enticed to abandon our understanding by persuasions such as these. How far your nephew might approve your interference in his affairs, I cannot tell – although I can make a guess – but you certainly have no right to concern yourself in mine. Nor does my cousin," Lizzy shot another glare at Mr Collins, who was now aghast at the insult to his patroness occurring right before his eyes, "who is, after all, not my intended and has no right to direct my behavior. I must beg, therefore, to be importuned no farther on the subject."

Lady Catherine leaped to her feet, her chest heaving and her face blotchy with the crimson evidence of her rage. She tapped her cane forcefully against the floor, leaving a dent behind, as she all but bellowed, "Not so hasty, if you please. I have by no means done. To all the objections I have already urged – "

"I think you have done, Madam."

Fanny startled and pivoted her head toward the doorway where she found her husband standing just inside the room, his hands clasped low on his back and his expression set in stony recrimination. There was not a single trace of joviality on his features and Fanny was glad to not to be the object of the scowl he was affixing upon Lady Catherine and Mr Collins.

"Mr Bennet, I presume?" said Lady Catherine, slightly calmer but still brightly red.

"You presume rightly, Madam." Mr Bennet bowed, but it was shallow and perfunctory. "And you must be Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Your reputation precedes you in this house." The last was followed by a shift in Mr Bennet's gaze to focus more solely on Mr Collins. The parson gulped and stepped further behind his patroness, practically hiding within the folds of her skirt like a child.

Lady Catherine straightened her posture and sneered at Mr Bennet with a cold disdain which was undermined by the heated flush in her cheeks. "Then you must know that I have not been used to submit to any person's whims nor brooking disappointment."

"That will make your ladyship's situation at present more pitiable," replied Mr Bennet with no small amount of sarcasm, "but it will have no effect on anyone here. Lizzy is, as she has already informed you herself, engaged to Mr Darcy and he to her. Whatever claims my cousin may have once had have now been entirely dissolved after his atrocious behavior Friday last. Therefore, I must ask you both to leave and return to Kent, or London or wherever it is you choose to go. I care not your ultimate destination, but you are not welcomed here at Longbourn."

Lady Catherine again rapped her cane against the floor in a flash of temper. "We had a deal, Bennet! You were supposed to deny your consent and force your scheming daughter into marrying Mr Collins – do not tell me that teaching her a well deserved lesson in obedience has turned you from our objectives."

Mr Bennet, in the face of these accusations, swelled up and his countenance became somehow more thunderous. "You are mistaken, Madam, if you think for a moment that I had any sort of deal with you! I am not proud of what I have done to further an engagement between my worthless cousin and Lizzy, but I have never performed a single action which was meant to oblige you. My motives were misguided and selfish, but they were mine alone and I only ever had the intention to provide for my family. If Collins has told you differently, then he is either a liar or a fool. I know he is the latter, but it would not surprise me in the slightest if he were also the former."

Mr Collins slunk even deeper into Lady Catherine's shadow, glancing at her nervously, but she paid no heed to him. "Regardless of whom your actions were intended to benefit, you cannot change your mind at this late date! You cannot sanctify a match which the groom's relations object to!"

"Oh, but that is where you are wrong, your ladyship," said Mr Bennet, a slow, crafty grin spreading across his face. "For my authority in this instance is absolute and I may accept, or reject, any suitor at will. Since my cousin Collins has proven himself to be no better than a savage ape, I have dissolved that betrothal and approved another in its place. Mr Darcy has my permission to marry Lizzy the moment he returns to Hertfordshire. He is, no doubt, on his way now."

Fanny, in spite of the ongoing strife around her and the presence of their odious intruders, felt joy rise within her at Mr Bennet's proclamation. She bounced a little in her seat and exclaimed, "Oh, Mr Bennet!"

A look in Lizzy's direction confirmed that she, too, was overwhelmed by Mr Bennet's newest edict. Her lower lip, formerly jutted out in defiance, now quivered. "Papa..."

But Lady Catherine would not leave them to their happy moment. "And this is your real opinion! This is your final resolve! Very well. I shall now know how to act. Do not, any of you, imagine that your ambition will ever be gratified. I came to try you. I hoped to find at least you" – here Lady Catherine directed her glare at Mr Bennet – "reasonable, but depend upon it I will carry my point."

Mr Bennet scoffed openly at her ladyship and then guffawed at the shock which transformed her features. "I wish you much luck in driving them apart! I have been at it steadily for the past four months and have made not a bit of headway. They are both stubborn and resolute about having their own way – not even God could put them asunder, I imagine."

For the first time since Mr Bennet's arrival, Mr Collins spoke up. "Lady Catherine will succeed where you have failed, Cousin! And when she does, you will not be able to marry Miss Elizabeth off to any gentleman at all, for I will not have her and she will be used goods to the rest. She will be ruined and I will take great pleasure in throwing her from Longbourn the day I inherit!"

When Mr Bennet threw another scathing glower at Mr Collins, the toad forgot his momentary courage and slunk back. "Regardless, such is no longer your concern, Collins, and I will take this opportunity to remind you that you are banned from this estate until that day. Now, as I am not dead yet, I will ask the both of you once more to remove yourselves from my property before I am forced to have you escorted from it. Do not expect an invitation to the wedding."

"Very well," said Lady Catherine, her nose jutted into the air. She pivoted on her heel and marched toward the door, stopping next to Mr Bennet for one last parting remark. "I take no leave of you or anyone else in your horrid family. I am most seriously displeased, Bennet." Lady Catherine then stepped around him and exited through the open door, Mr Collins scurrying after her so closely that he very nearly trod on her skirts. The sound of her cane tapping on the floor could be heard for a minute longer until the front door was opened and slammed closed. Then, as suddenly as she had come, Lady Catherine de Bourgh was gone.

It was silent in the parlor throughout this procession as the congregated Bennets stared at one another. Jane, who had said nothing during the entire visit, sat at the writing desk looking pale and distressed. Lizzy remained standing where she was, gazing steadily at her father as if she did not recognize him. Mr Bennet looked primarily at his shoes but with quick glances at each of them, though his eyes found Lizzy more frequently than the rest. As for Fanny, she looked to each of them individually, processing all that had occurred during Lady Catherine's and Mr Collins' impromptu and unwelcome visit.

Lizzy had been magnificent, standing up for herself like that against the man who had beaten her and that imposing harridan. It had always seemed to Fanny that her Lizzy's courage always rose with every attempt to intimidate her; she could never be cowed by bullies, which was perhaps how she had persevered all this time against the objections to her engagement with Mr Darcy. Fanny was immeasurably proud of her.

And Mr Bennet, too, had been surprisingly dashing as he had stood firmly against Lady Catherine and refused to bow to her demands. Perhaps that was where Lizzy had inherited her bravery. Mr Bennet might be an indolent, selfish man at times, but he had never lacked for firmness whenever he felt himself to be right (occasionally to their detriment). It was one of the things which Fanny had once admired about him when they were both younger. Every woman liked a strong man who would protect her against all outside forces. Come to think of it, in spite of his little bald patch, Mr Bennet was still quite a fine looking man when he was not being unfairly obstinate…

Fanny stood, drawing attention to herself from all quarters, and crossed the floor until she was immediately next to her husband. Reaching up on the arch of her tiptoes, she placed a kiss to his cheek and giggled a little when he blushed. "You did well, Thomas."

Author's Note: Lady Catherine better watch her blood pressure ;) And, regardless of Collins bunking at Lucas Lodge, I SWEAR that he's not going to marry Charlotte. When I determined that he was going to hit Lizzy at the climax, I decided that he could have NONE of the Hertfordshire ladies. Charlotte will get her own HEA in the epilogue and Collins will be managed differently. Gotta save some of the specifics for a surprise, but don't worry about Charlotte.

Darcy returns to Hertfordshire next chapter! Gee, think he'll have something to say about all the stuff he's missed?

Regarding the ongoing "to forgive or not to forgive" debate in the reviews, I'm going to let Jane Austen cover this one for me. Appropriately voiced through Mr Collins and Mr Bennet in the original text:

"I must not, however, neglect the duties of my station, or refrain from declaring my amazement, at hearing that you received [Lydia and Mr Wickham] into your house as soon as they were married. It was an encouragement of vice; and had I been the rector of Longbourn, I should very strenuously have opposed it. You ought certainly to forgive them as a christian, but never to admit them in your sight, or allow their names to be mentioned in your hearing."

"That is his notion of christian forgiveness!"

– Pride and Prejudice, Vol III, Chapter 15

Just an FYI, I'm officially going to start deleting nasty reviews. Not negative reviews, just the ones which cross the line from "helpful and/or polite" to "insulting." So keep your tongue civil.

Next Update: July 17, 2020 (FRIDAY)
Expected Completion: July 31, 2020

– MrsMarySmythe