A/N: We've had a couple of snow days and I was able to edit a few chapters. So the posting schedule will be somewhat flexible : two to three times a week. Here is an earlier than scheduled one. Thanks for reading and reviewing!

Chapter 8: Mr. Darcy's Comeuppance

Supper was drawing to a close. Most at the table had removed themselves for the upcoming set. Mr. Darcy's group, a group of matrons and some older gentlemen further down the table were the only people left in the supper room. The matrons were amiably chatting, no doubt gossiping. They were not particularly loud, but were talking quite without restraint as it often was among friends who had been acquainted for a large part of their lives, and did not care who could hear them; or perhaps, Mr. Darcy was particularly adept at eavesdropping, an ability acquired through years of seldom actively participating in any conversations in a large gathering in the country or in town.

"Mrs. Bennet, your Jane seems to have caught Mr. Bingley's fancy. He has danced with her twice," said one of the matrons, a Lady Lucas.

"Lady Lucas, Jane is not just beautiful, if I may be so immodest to boast, but also so kind-hearted and sweet-natured. She would have caught any number of eligible young men's eyes here and in town in the last three years if not for the untimely passing of her grandparents," lamented the matron who was obviously Mrs. Bennet. Her voice was particularly clear and carried quite a distance even though she was talking in just a conversational manner.

Another matron jumped in and asked, "Is Miss Bennet not of age? It was indeed bad luck that Mr. Bennet had to keep his daughters at home until they may appear to be on the shelf, especially when Longbourn is entailed away from the female line, I have heard."

Mrs. Bennet, who was extremely protective of her daughters and would not allow any negative comments on them, immediately retorted, "Oh, Mrs. Hamilton, you have been away too long. Your sister, Mrs. Long here, could have told you that Longbourn's entail was broken long ago by Mr. Bennet and his father. My girls have nothing to fear. Besides, you might have confused my Jane with… oh, never mind. Jane is just one-and-twenty. "

Lady Lucas chimed in, "Mrs. Hamilton, around these parts, we have all known Mr. Bennet's rule that his daughters cannot marry before they are one-and-twenty, or they do not get their portions. My Charlotte told me that when Miss Bennet was just fifteen and not even out, she received some verses from a young man in town. And Miss Eliza, the clever one, Mrs. Hamilton, she was just a babe when you last saw her, found out that those verses were copied from some poet and not written by this young man as he claimed, and Miss Bennet refused to have anything to do with any more young men until she was out. I know because my Charlotte is their particular friend." Lady Lucas continued, "Even then, virtually every young man from around here and the neighbouring counties had knocked at Longbourn to see Miss Bennet for the last months after the family had come out of mourning. Now that Miss Eliza has just turned twenty, the path to Longbourn will be all worn out by even more young men every day, I reckon."

"Mrs. Bennet, do your girls have large portions?" asked Mrs. Hamilton quite unabashedly.

"Mr. Bennet would not say," demurred Mrs. Bennet.

Again Lady Lucas, always mindful that the Bennet daughters could make the most desirable matches for her two older sons, supplied the asked-for information, "You do realize, Mrs. Hamilton, that each girl will have at least a fifth of Longbourn and Mrs. Bennet's set-aside portion when both of them have passed on, and that is no small portion for these parts."

"They are all heiresses then! My two girls will be at a disadvantage being left here with their aunt. I was hoping that they would find husbands here while I go back to sea with their father."

"Mrs. Hamilton, you need not fear. My daughters will not be forced to marry where there is no true affection. Since my Jane has not found the one to touch her heart, and my Lizzy is too clever by half and will most likely intimidate many young men hereabouts, I should say that the young ladies in the neighbourhood have not had their chances diminished because of my girls."

Mrs. Hamilton sighed softly," Perhaps you are right, Mrs. Bennet. However, your Jane seems to have captured Mr. Bingley's attention already. My girls, and for that matter, all the girls in the neighbourhood, will definitely not have a chance with Mr. Bingley's friend. He is said to be worth ten thousand a year! He behaves as if he were above his company. My sister Mrs. Long said that he sat next to her for half an hour without saying a word to her. He just stalked around the room refusing any introductions." Mrs. Long nodded her head in agreement with this pronouncement.

Hearing his behaviour described thus, Mr. Darcy immediately schooled his face as if he had not just eavesdropped on these ladies. Mrs. Bennet looked over at Mr. Bingley, who was on Mr. Darcy's other side and was completely immersed in conversation with Miss Bennet, and said, "Mr. Bingley seems an amiable young man. Since Jane has allowed him two dances, I should look at him more closely. As for his friend, he is a handsome young man indeed. With such a fortune, I suppose he is allowed to guard himself against fortune-hunters and be aloof. However, he has no cause to be rude as you said he had been as no one here is swarming him for favours, or pushing their unmarried daughters on him. If he ever became disagreeable toward any of my girls, he would not be welcomed at Longbourn. What is he? Nothing but a gentleman, and my girls are a gentleman's daughters. In that they are equal. Now despise them if he dares."

Mr. Darcy was stunned. Under his breath he murmured involuntarily to himself, "Indeed I do not dare." Has his behaviour been so deserving of reproof? He honestly could not remember any occasion in which a matron in society threatened to bar him from her home for any reason, let alone for perceived unbecoming behaviour. He was always right and always welcomed everywhere. He subconsciously sat up straighter and resolved to make an effort after supper to get to know the populace a little, at least the gentlemen, lest this sharp-witted matron should slay him with her just reproach; for indeed no one had thus far imposed themselves on him, unlike the many occasions in town. When the assembly was talked about afterwards in all the neighbourhood homes, as it inevitably was, Mr. Darcy was described as a proud and unpleasant sort of man by most of the ladies, but their fathers, brothers and husbands disagreed and thought him an intelligent but reserved man full of condescension for his showing interest in a number of local affairs.

"Mrs. Bennet is taking her girls to town this winter and has graciously agreed to take my Charlotte along to accompany the two eldest, is it not true, Mrs. Bennet?" asked Lady Lucas helpfully as all the other matrons raised their fans to hide their snickers, thinking that Mrs. Bennet forgot herself when she proclaimed herself equal to such a grand gentleman.

"Yes, Miss Lucas is very welcomed to come with us although the plans have not yet been set, Lady Lucas," Mrs. Bennet replied. She was not well pleased that so much of her family business was bandied about in such a public place. "You know Mr. Bennet as the head of the family makes all decisions like this and he does not share his plans until they are finalized."

Lady Lucas turned to Mrs. Hamilton and said, "You know that Mrs. Bennet's brother lives in town…."

At this point, Mrs. Bennet interrupted and exclaimed, "Speaking of town, look at the Bingley ladies' dresses- so fine! They must be at the height of fashion in town."

From thence the matrons' conversation turned to lace and ribbons, turbans and feathers, and so on. Mr. Darcy allowed his attention to be drawn back to his own party. On one side Mr. Bingley was still talking softly with Miss Bennet who, being his supper set partner, was sitting with his party. He took care not to sit next to Miss Bingley, who was sitting between Miss Bennet and Mrs. Hurst. Instead, he sat next to Mr. Hurst, who seldom had anything to say when there were food and drinks in front of him. In such a way, he was able to contemplate on what he had heard from the matrons without much interruption. Miss Elizabeth being clever was indisputable, but she was also kind, charitable even. She did not respond to his meanness with meanness, but rather with equanimity, self-deprecation, and an analysis of his behaviour which was quite a revelation to himself. She also possessed the kind of beauty that was alive and somehow fluid. The fact that her features were not entirely symmetrical like her older sister's, somehow added to her charm and gave her face an uncommon allure. All of a sudden it hit him that it was her deep blue-coloured eyes, luminous and full of spirits that were more enchanting than anything else he had seen. In combination with her eyelashes, so remarkably fine, the expressions of her eyes could not be captured by even the most capable artist. Being a man, even an honorable one, he could not help noticing that her figure was light and pleasing.

He was indulging himself with these pleasant thoughts so much that when the whole party rose to move away from the dining table, he let his guard down momentarily and could not avoid Miss Bingley's grasping hand on his arm. She immediately started on how insufferable the whole assembly was, how there was no one outside of her own party with any sense of fashion or propriety, how the musicians were third rate, the food was coarse and tasteless and on and on. Mr. Darcy, in the meantime, did not hear one word out of ten, and continued to stalk around the perimeter of the room. He did not even try to shake loose the iron grip that Miss Bingley had on his person. He simply was not paying her any attention until some gentleman came by and asked her for the next set. Miss Bingley was not going to give up her time with Mr. Darcy, but Mr. Darcy gently released her hold on him and excused himself. Miss Bingley had no choice but to accept the hand of the young man who did not appear to be older than seventeen.

None of them realized that Mr. Samuel Lucas, the young man, was sent on the rescue mission of Mr. Darcy by Miss Elizabeth who saw that Mr. Darcy needed rescuing, and young Lucas would do anything she asked as she taught him how to climb trees, shoot pheasants with a pistol and many other tricks. As to why Miss Elizabeth wanted to rescue Mr. Darcy, she could hardly tell. The reason she told herself was that as a native to the county, it was her Christian duty to help a visitor feel comfortable in the new environs among strangers. Of course, that was also the same reason she encouraged young Samuel to ask Miss Bingley to dance as gentlemen were scarce.

Mr. Darcy considered looking for an opportunity to be introduced to this unusually intriguing lady, if nothing else, to apologize for his rude insult on the occasion of her debut, but decided against it almost immediately. After all, nothing could really come of it as he knew that even then, his uncle had put together a list of eligible young ladies with impressive dowries and connections for him to consider for his impending matrimony at the end of the coming season. A near disaster that could have ruined the family's reputation this past summer put him in a foul mood all these ensuing months and made him realize that he had to marry to give his sister a female family member to guide her into society. His uncle, Earl Fitzwilliam, who had inherited a princely fortune and was an influential member of the House of Lords, had voluntarily taken on the responsibility of identifying young ladies for this important post because everyone short of the royal princesses would be eager to be connected to the Earl through his nephew if the considerable Darcy fortune, second only to the Earl's own and the group of most preeminent peers, had not been enticing enough.

In the carriage back to Netherfield after the assembly, Mr. Darcy continued in this pensive mood and heard not a word of Miss Bingley's abuse on the manners of her neighbours.

Chapter notes:

1) The grandparents both died at age 75, one year apart. That was a ripe old age for that period.

2) Mrs. Bennet was quite mild in her rebuke of Mr. Darcy's perceived rudeness since she did not know of his slight toward Lizzy. If she had, as in canon, she might have said something very similar to what is in the original version calling him '…a most disagreeable, horrid man, not at all worth pleasing. So high and so conceited that there was no enduring him….' So, in some ways, this Mrs. Bennet was not too different from canon: she had never been completely blinded by his wealth as far as his treatment toward her daughters was concerned.

3) The historical fourth Earl Fitzwilliam was highly respected and well-regarded among the peers. He was generous and kind to his tenants and his politics and personality were enlightened. He also inherited an immense fortune which included Wentworth-Woodhouse, the largest private home in the country then. His income around the time of this story was estimated to be £60,000 a year which grew to £115,000 in net income by 1825! Mr. Darcy was fortunate to have him as his uncle, and revered him for all his goodness.