A/N: Thanks for your patience. My work deadline is still there, but the end is in sight. I should be able to post more from now on. I have shortened the whole story to 51 chapters from 54, plus an epilogue, and so the end of this story is also in sight. Read and review!

Chapter 41: The Earl's House Party

Mr. Darcy arrived at the Wentworth-Woodhouse estate just after luncheon on the fourth day of his journey. Since he was treated as an integral part of his uncle's family, he went looking for his Uncle William after he had quickly cleaned up in his rooms. He found his uncle and his ally in the House of Lords, Earl Grosvenor, in the sitting room outside of his uncle's private study.

He greeted the two earls with a deep bow, "Good afternoon, Lord Fitzwilliam, Lord Grosvenor."

"Ah, Darcy, my boy, no need to stand on ceremony. You do know Grosvenor here well. How was your ride here from Town?" asked his uncle jovially.

Mr. Darcy smiled and replied pleasantly, "I had an enjoyable trip, Uncle. Thank you."

"Darcy, I just arrived here not two hours ago myself. The roads were quite miserable. What had made your trip pleasant? Did you encounter one of the ladies your uncle had chosen for you and had already made your choice of a bride?"

Mr. Darcy could not help feeling his cheeks warming up, for Lord Grosvenor had almost hit the truth right on. Lord Fitzwilliam watched with mirthful eyes and said, "Darcy, is that colour on your cheeks? Did you meet a lady during your journey?"

Mr. Darcy was tongue-tied for a few moments for he did not plan to tell his uncle his engagement in front of an audience.

Lord Grosvenor saw the embarrassment on Darcy's demeanour and rose, "I shall let Darcy tell you his story alone, for I am certain there is a story here. Darcy, you are fortunate that you are able to choose whom to marry. You know that is not the norm among our set. I have heard rumours that there have been quite a few families with eligible daughters who are sorely disappointed that they missed the cut to be included in the guest list just because of a few blemishes on their reputations here and there. They all blamed me for wasting a valuable slot when my Amelia is only six years old!"

Mr. Darcy immediately answered, "Sir, please do not let me interfere with your conversation with my Uncle. I can wait until you are finished with your present discussions."

"Oh, no matter. I was only telling Fitz here about my plans to finally develop the land by the Thames. I recently saw a few handsome townhouses right by the Queen's House that were built with this new-fangled technology called interchangeable parts that we in Parliament have been funding to build all kinds of weaponry and even warships. I had thought that houses built this way would be excessively dull. The truth is in fact quite the opposite. The exteriors of these houses are very handsome and the interiors, from what I have seen, are not at all the same and are quite elegant, each in its own way. Alright, I meant to leave the two of you to catch up and I went on and on about houses that you do not know or care anything about. I shall see you again at teatime."

Once Lord Grosvenor had left, Darcy asked Lord Fitzwilliam, "Uncle, were those townhouses built by Mr. Edward Gardiner?"

"Why, they were indeed. Do not tell me that you are also interested in getting one. From what Grosvenor told me, they have all been spoken for. He said that the land belongs to one of the distant members of the Arlington Bennets. Arlington, as you may not know, owned the now-torn-down Arlington House that used to stand on the grounds of the present-day Buckingham House the Queen favours. That adjacent plot of land somehow escaped Grosvenor's ownership. Grosvenor's family will one day be greater than mine, owning so much land in the best parts of London. Well, do not think you can distract me. What makes you blush so just now?" Lord Fitzwilliam asked mischievously.

"Uncle, I did not blush!" Darcy exclaimed. Just then, they both heard a loud, strident voice that could not be missed or mistaken.

"Where is my nephew? Was it not his voice I just heard?" Then there is some indistinct rumbling, and the loud exclamation again, "Not you, Milton. It is Darcy I am looking for!" At that both uncle and nephew stood up and hastily retreated to Lord Fitzwilliam's study and closed the door.

"Well, you know your aunt thinks Wentworth-Woodhouse is her inheritance instead of mine. The only place where she still bestows a token of respect to me is this study. She will not breach the door to my sanctuary."

Darcy replied with a chuckle, "I know. I think Lady Catherine thinks she owns Pemberley as well."

"Well, in her own mind, you are as good as being her son-in-law. It is just a matter of formality to make it reality." Lord Fitzwilliam chuckled some more. Just then they heard some scratching at the door, and both looked apprehensive. When the noise died down, they breathed a simultaneous sigh of relief, and Lord Fitzwilliam said, "Enough dawdling! So, what made the steadiest young man in all Christendom so flustered?"

Darcy replied, "I was going to wait till after dinner to speak to you about this to give myself some time to broach the subject. Since the topic has come up, I may as well confess everything now. I have indeed become engaged to a young lady on the way from town to here…"

Lord Fitzwilliam started and his eyebrows were raised almost to his hairline, which for the most unflappable lord in Parliament, who was well known to be always calm and implacably serene, was a rare occasion indeed.

Darcy hurriedly continued, "Uncle, I really did not mean to startle you, but I can assure you that I love my betrothed most ardently, and she is well on her way to reciprocate my love. I am certain that ours will be a most felicitous union."

Lord Fitzwilliam returned to its usual amiable self, and said, "If that is the case, I must congratulate you. As Grosvenor implied, happiness in marriage among our set is rare indeed. That begs the next question, is my future niece from among our set? I find it most extraordinary that you should form an alliance so suddenly while on your way to a house party where young ladies from the most prestigious and I may add, quite virtuous families from the kingdom gather to compete to be the next mistress of Pemberley."

Darcy then recounted his acquaintance with the Bennet family and then his sojourn in Meryton and Longbourn, ending with the dispatch of Wickham whom Lord Fitzwilliam had openly despised, which was rare for this amiable earl. "Remarkable indeed! A country girl has captured your heart in a few weeks when the ladies of the ton have tried for years for nothing. Your Miss Elizabeth Bennet must be perfection herself."

Darcy said without hesitating, "Uncle, she is not just perfect, she is sublime!"

Lord Fitzwilliam could not help laughing out loud, "Darcy, I am heartened to see you so smitten. These past few years since you have assumed the mantle as master of the Darcy estate, you have been very serious…no, I should say grave and aloof in public, as if you felt that you had to assume a tremendous gravitas to convince the world that you were worthy of the position as the master of Pemberley. I felt a little concerned about you and therefore wanted to coax you into marrying. I had thought that a wife and children would soften you. I, of course, understand the incredible importance of having a compatible life-mate who will fill your life with joy and children. Look at your cousin Milton! I made sure that he married for love, and in just three years, I have three granddaughters, and a fourth one, a boy, I wager, will be here any day now. I do not have to worry about his slacking off on his duty to produce at least one heir." Lord Fitzwilliam smiled knowingly at Darcy, who was slightly awkward in returning the smile. "So, tell me, who is Mr. Bennet of Longbourn? Is he related to the Arlington Bennets we were just talking about?"

Darcy was glad that his uncle brought up this topic on the lineage of the Bennets, and said, "Indeed, though most distantly, but not so distant that his grandfather was not able to persuade the Arlington branch to sell that piece of land to him in order to build a church for the Methodist movement. The church building never came about, and now my betrothed's uncle, Edward Gardiner, has built on this property the three townhouses that Lord Grosvenor so admires. Mr. Bennet and Mr. Gardiner live in two, and the third will be inherited by Mr. Bennet's brother in America. Mr. Gardiner's other sister, a Mrs. Phillips and her husband, have the use of it during their lifetime."

"Very interesting indeed. You have been here only this past half hour and most of the things we had talked about before are somehow related to the story of your sudden engagement. Your betrothed obviously is a gentlewoman, and her family appears to be of old lineage. What else can you tell me about her? How about her age and accomplishments? What else is to know about her connection with Edward Gardiner? What makes her stand out above all these other ladies who have tried so hard to catch you?"

Darcy thought for a moment, and said, "First of all, Elizabeth never tried to catch me. It was I who became hopelessly in love and tried to make myself worthy of her." Darcy went on to recount all the uncommonly superb attributes of her twenty-year-old future wife including her ability to persuade one of the most egregious and superficial women in his acquaintance to mend her ways.

"Well, you most grievously left out one important attribute: is she pretty?"

Darcy looked at his uncle with raised eyebrows as if he could not believe what he just heard, "Pretty? I suppose, at first glance, she may be considered pretty. However, pretty does not describe her in the least. She is …as I said before, she is sublime. Her beauty is uncommon, in the most flattering way. She is of a strong constitution as she climbs a hill in her neighborhood almost every day, rain or shine. If you recall what I had told you about how Wickham was dispatched, she is also an excellent shot with a pistol. As for her family, since her great-grandfather and grandfather married ladies from the Continent, she does not have many relations on her father's side unless you count the Arlington Bennets and the Tankerville Bennets from many generations back. The Bennet family is a little non-conforming in that regard. The great-grandfather especially was quite a zealot for the Methodist movement. Mr. Bennet is a scholar of the first rank. He reluctantly gave up his fellowship at Oxford to return to Longbourn to be master at the urging of both his grandfather and father because they wanted to devote their time to studying the many rare books, manuscripts and art that Mr. Bennet's father inherited from family on the Continent instead of running the estate. Uncle, even you would not think little of the collection at Longbourn. Mr. Peter Bennet, the second son, went to America and married the only daughter of one of the former colonies' foremost industrialists. Mr. Gardiner, who was Mr. Bennet's protégé at Oxford in addition to being his brother-in-law, attributed his success in trade to Mr. Bennet and shared with him the enterprises he has formed. GB Enterprise in fact stands for Gardiner-Bennet Enterprise."

Lord Fitzwilliam whistled at that, which surprised Darcy because his uncle was kind and amiable, but was never known to be too casual in manners. Lord Fitzwilliam said, "Well, your Miss Elizabeth is an heiress then, even though she is one of five daughters. If Milton did not get a son or two, my granddaughters would still each inherit a handsome fortune."

Darcy replied, "My Elizabeth is in fact the designated heir. Mr. Bennet does not wish his collection to be divided among the five sisters and Elizabeth will inherit all of Longbourn which includes an appreciable amount of land close to town in Middlesex, and at least half of the liquid assets, which comprise virtually entirely of shares of GB Enterprise."

"And those are good assets. I shall ask my man of business to look into investing in GBE, as it is known among those of us who are solvent and have extra funds to invest. It is about time that I took my first foray into the inevitable industrial future of England. I recommend that you do the same although I imagine you may have already done so since you have been attracted by investments in trade after taking over Pemberley."

Darcy nodded, "Indeed I have. You remember Bingley? His man in business alerted us to this opportunity several months ago. I was going to look over all the findings we have received in the new year. For now, I am planning on leaving Elizabeth's dowry in GBE. I most likely will invest further funds although Elizabeth has a rather impressive acumen for new technologies and inventions, and I may follow her leads as well."

"My, my! Is there anything your Elizabeth cannot do?" Lord Fitzwilliam marveled.

"I have asked that question myself and I must say that I have not found anything yet, and may never," answered Darcy with a not-so-subtle sense of pride.

After a short moment of thinking, Lord Fitzwilliam rose and patted Darcy's shoulder and said, "I do not think any of the young ladies gathered here can compare with your Elizabeth. In breeding of course there are more elevated ladies. However, the world we live in is changing, quite rapidly in fact. Even when I inherited, the sure way to gain wealth and prestige was through connections made through judiciously designed marriages. Not even forty years later, the Bennet and Gardiner families have accumulated in less than a generation wealth that few in the kingdom, the peerage included, can compare, and through noble, visionary endeavours and not the more plebian commercial dealings. As you recall, I did consider inviting Gardiner and his daughters to this party, but they turned out to be too young. By marrying his niece, Miss Elizabeth, you will make a connection that will prepare the Darcy and Fitzwilliam families for this dawning century of technologies and inventions. I am proud of you, Darcy!"

Mr. Darcy was quite astounded. He had been more nervous than he deigned to admit to himself about telling his uncle his decision to marry outside of his circles. But here he was, being congratulated by the same uncle for making a brilliant match for not only himself but his uncle's family as well. The world must have been changing more than he had cared to discover!

"Thank you, Uncle," Darcy replied feelingly. "You are of course always magnanimous and value people as they are. It still means a great deal to me that you not only do not mind having a trade connection in the family, but actually celebrate it."

"Ah Darcy, you have given me too much credit. If you had chosen a governess or even a daughter of a factory owner or a storekeeper, I would not have been so welcoming. But then if the lady had all the attributes as you described, I would still look at her and make my judgement then. Ultimately it is you I trust."

Darcy, moved beyond words by this, clasped his uncle's hand with both of his. "Thank you, Uncle. I am honoured."

To infuse some levity to the moment, Lord Fitzwilliam said, "It is doubtful that your Aunt Catherine would feel the same. I am quite certain that she is lurking - excuse my indelicacy - outside in the sitting room waiting impatiently for us to emerge. What say you? Into the breach we march?"

Darcy did not answer but stretch out his arm to let his uncle move past. His uncle smirked and said, "Throwing me at the cheetah, eh?"

Chapter notes:

1. Earl Grosvenor owned huge portions of Mayfair when his forefather married a widow who inherited the land from her deceased husband. The part of the land he talked about in this chapter would in the 1820's be developed into present-day Belgravia. This Lord Grosvenor later became the 1st Marquess of Westminster. His daughter, Amelia mentioned here, unfortunately did not live to adulthood. He was the ancestor of the Dukes of Westminster. The current one, the 7th Duke, still owns all the land and buildings in the most expensive parts of London.

2. Jane Austen chose the Earl Fitzwilliam as Mr. Darcy's uncle. The real-life fourth Earl Fitzwilliam was in fact very enlightened for his time. He was also generous and kind to everyone, from his tenants to his colleagues. It is based on these characteristics that Mr. Darcy's uncle in this story responded to Mr. Darcy's news of betrothal.

3. The Arlington Square in this story was not the same as the present-day one in London, but rather around where Victoria Square is today. Since Queen Victoria came much later than the time of this story, Victoria Square must have been called by another name. Arlington Square, perhaps?

4. The fourth Earl Fitzwilliam had only one child, the heir, Charles Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, who did have three daughters at the time of the story. The fourth child, who was to be born in January the following year turned out to be a son who predeceased his father. The sixth child, the next son, would become the sixth Earl. The fifth Earl had a total of 13 children, most of them lived to adulthood. Colonel Fitzwilliam exists only in Pride and Prejudice and its numerous variations.