Hello Everyone, this is my very first story. Please be kind enough to be constructive in your criticism. Thanks for taking the time to read. I appreciate you.

It helps to have a familiarity with cannon. I don't mean to copy large sections of the original.

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"She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me; I am in no humor at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men."

Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Mr. Darcy, skulking about, unconsciously determined to hear more from a certain impertinent miss, happened to be meditating on a pair of very fine eyes, when Charlotte Lucas' voice broke through his thoughts with some very odd notions indeed.

"Oh Lizzy, don't allow a slight to your vanity to cause you to offend a man of Mr. Darcy's consequence," Charlotte advised, after hearing that she had declined to dance with him.

How infuriating! To have the neighborhood think her feminine sensibilities were affected by not being found handsome enough to tempt him. As if she'd want his attentions. A woman would have to be entirely senseless, or wholly mercenary, to endure a dance with that man, thought Elizabeth.

For Darcy's part, his arrogance did him the disservice of misleading him to believe Charlotte Lucus was the one who misunderstood. Surely, Miss Elizabeth didn't mean to slight Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberley.

"Charlotte, pray, please don't insult me by insinuating that it's merely a slight to my vanity that causes me to wish to be no further acquainted with such a man. Allow me to share my understanding of his insult to all women. Indeed, he himself, publicly and proudly proclaimed, loudly, and in the hearing of many others, what in essentials, declares that a woman's only value is in how well she appeals to his baser instincts upon first acquaintance. That conceited man, had the nerve to continue his arrogant effusions, implying he gives a woman consequence in a community where she has grown up, has the good opinion of the neighborhood, and has invested her time into seeing to the tenants and to the poor."

Mr. Darcy's face drained pale in shock. No women of his acquaintance had ever dared disparage him. Was she mad? He was one of the most eligible bachelors on the marriage mart.

Elizabeth took a deep breath of vexation and spouted, "Only a debauched libertine, puffed up with pride and arrogance, would espouse such nonsense. The nerve of the man! To declare such things, at a public assembly, so that all and sundry can hear him, lacking even the sense to be ashamed of himself. The fortune hunters can have him; he is of no consequence to me."

Mr. Darcy's ashen complexion was swiftly replaced by the brightest red of embarrassment. She had thought him a libertine? He held himself to the highest moral standards, as was only befitting what he owed to his family name. This woman must suffer from a derangement of the acutest kind. His reasoning was at once interrupted, to again take notice of her fine eyes, suddenly made all the finer by the flame of anger now alight within them.

Charlotte Lucus took a deep breath. She was far more practical than her friend, with little beauty (and even less dowry), prudence was a natural consequence of her good sense. She, therefore, determined that her friend was in want of a more sensible perspective.

"Is it possible that you've misinterpreted Mr. Darcy's comments? After all Lizzy, it seems you were tolerable enough to tempt him to dance tonight."

Indeed. He had condescended to dance with her, though he had no desire to raise the expectations of a country miss, or with anyone in the county for that matter. She should acknowledge the compliment to herself, Darcy thought.

"Charlotte, it doesn't signify, for who would dance with such a man?" replied Elizabeth, still rather irritated.

"Anyone with sense Lizzy! He does have some reason to be proud. He is a gentleman of some consequence you know. One cannot wonder that so very fine a young man, with family, fortune, everything in his favor, should think highly of himself. If I may so express it, he has some right to be proud."

Pride is indeed warranted in regards to my situation, so long as my superiority of mind keeps it under good regulation, Darcy reflected, further absolving himself of the matter, little noticing that he had concurred to his right to pride, with no effort spared to afford a counterargument.

"Lord Charlotte, no one has the right to be that proud. I couldn't endure it, even for the length of a dance. Insufferable man! Though I do accept, that most of society, is too self-interested not to allow a great deal of discrepancy between the way a gentleman ought to act and the standards of behavior society will actually hold him to. The word gentleman is used far too liberally in my opinion, some standards must be upheld. For it seems the greater focus, far too often, is in the wealth of the man, with little enough attention paid to the behavior of a man who claims to be a gentleman. The term gentleman itself will be synonymous with wealthy reprobate if left to the likes of Mr. Darcy, and his sort, to set their own standards."

Darcy had argued similar notions, far too often, feeling pride in his own behavior, not to see the sense in her words. Except, of course, in regards to how said words were applied to his person.

To the misfortune of both Darcy and Elizabeth, Lady Lucus had heard both the insult and the interpretation. If any person, in all of Hertfordshire, could boost a better ability than Mrs. Bennet to keep the neighborhood well informed, it was indeed Lady Lucus. Though like all Christian ladies, she decried the work of the gossips, she delighted in ensuring the neighborhood was well informed. The two occupations were quite separate, by her own understanding, and so she proceeded to tell the tale.