AN: Bonus chapter tonight to celebrate having completed one of the more difficult later chapters. Whee! (giving myself a pat on the back).

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When she had first seen Mr. Darcy enter the room, Lizzy had thought it likely he considered himself as much above the company as Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst clearly did. She had to revise that opinion after overhearing the conversation between him and Mr. Bingley. Mr. Darcy might not be an overly sociable man, but much of his attitude could be explained by the headache and the situation.

She suspected he was not comfortable in crowds, and who could blame him? If the rumors of his wealth were even half true, that was a large and very obvious target painted on his forehead. The kind of attention she and Jane would receive if the full extent of their dowries was known paled in comparison to the plots and schemes he must constantly be subjected to when he was out in society.

After seeing his silent courtesy to Abigail Long, she had to revise her estimate of him yet again. Bill Lucas and Tom Boxwood had taunted the poor girl cruelly over her failure to gain a single dance partner during this assembly or the one prior. Their observations may have been true, but there was no need to point it out or be so very unpleasant about it. If she were a man, Lizzy would have thrashed them both. Of course, Mr. Darcy would have made Abby even more uncomfortable if he had tried to find out what was wrong. Instead, his silent offer of the handkerchief and immediate departure was exactly the kindest move he could have made once Abby knew he had seen her in such a state.

Lizzy found herself feeling rather sorry she could not afford the pleasure of talking with him any more that evening now that he was feeling better. Mrs. Bennet was going to be furious about Sir William's dilatory introduction and Jane's dance with Mr. Bingley as it was. Lizzy had heard her talking a few times in passing, and none of what she had to say was good. If, after refusing to dance with Lydia, Mr. Darcy were seen deep in conversation with Lizzy, there might be murder afoot.

Perhaps one day Lizzy might meet him at an event in London. He was too far above her touch as a potential match, of course. However, assuming Mrs. Bennet did not do anything too outrageous during the course of his visit, he might be willing to talk with Lizzy for a while and she could see if he continued to be as pleasant a man as he seemed. For now, though, she needed to stay well away from him.

As she moved around the room trying to avoid Mrs. Bennet, Sir William, Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy, Lizzy kept an eye on the dance floor. She had seen Lydia attempting to flirt with Mr. Bingley during the second dance of his set with Mary. It was clear he was fully aware of her intent, and was toying with her. From the looks he exchanged with his dance partner, it was also clear Mary was in on whatever he meant to do. That was interesting, although not entirely unexpected. Mary had hidden depths. Lizzy was glad Mr. Bingley had asked her to dance, as her chances to do so had become more rare since Kitty and Lydia came out.

The remainder of the assembly passed without incident. Mr. Bingley danced each of the remaining sets, but none of them with Lydia. Lizzy heard he had been looking for Jane between sets, but her sister managed to avoid giving him the opportunity to ask for another dance. Mr. Bingley's dance with Mary reminded some of the local men that she was a safe and undemanding partner. She had invitations to dance two more sets before the end. For an event in Meryton, Lizzy considered it quite a success.

The carriage ride home was less so. They had barely gotten on the road headed for home when Mrs. Bennet began to complain.

"Elizabeth, I thought I was very clear that you were to use your influence with Sir William to provide us with an early introduction to Mr. Bingley and his party."

"He may profess to like me, Mrs. Bennet, but I have absolutely no influence over Sir William. If I did, he would have made you the first stop on his round of introductions." Elizabeth tried to speak evenly, but some of her own frustration with the Master of Ceremonies must have come out in her tone.

"None of your impertinence with me, Missy. I know your disobedient ways." She turned to Jane. "Yours as well, Jane. How dare you dance with Mr. Bingley instead of finding a way to get him to ask Lydia?"

"I assure you, I tried, Mrs. Bennet," Jane said very quietly. "He and Sir William cornered me in such a way as to prevent me from courteously refusing the dance. I assumed you would not want me to insult Mr. Bingley and turn him against the family, so I had to dance."

"Mr. Bingley did not want to dance with Lydia, Mama," Mary said. "He told me he preferred dancing with young women who knew how to behave with propriety."

"Do not you start as well," Mrs. Bennet snapped. "No man will marry a meek little church-mouse like you when there is someone with Lydia's charms about."

Lizzy only just managed to hold in her derisive snort and she was glad it was dark enough in the carriage that her expression could not be seen. She tried to think of the ornamental pond covered in ice, as Jane said she did to help keep her expression serene, but the technique had never really worked for Lizzy. Her thoughts tended to jump around like frogs in the same pond during the summer. Sometimes the surface of the water stayed calm and smooth but then a frog landed with a splash and expanding rings of disturbance. The thought of Lydia charming any respectable and reasonably sober man into marriage was definitely one of those frogs – a big one.

The scoldings continued for the remainder of the short trip back to Longbourn. Even Lydia came in for a share for not managing to secure a dance with Mr. Bingley. She annoyed her mother even more by laughing the scolding off before passing on the gossip that the militia unit that was settling into town the following week had several officers who had come from good families, making them proper marriage material. She giggled with Kitty over how much fun it would be to marry an officer and go to dances and parties with him wearing his fancy red coat. Lizzy knew there was little point telling them that most of those officers would be younger sons who could not afford a poor wife.

It was not until they were finally settled into their own room behind a locked door that Lizzy and Jane were able to finally speak freely about the evening. As they helped each other out of their gowns, Lizzy asked, "How was your dance with Mr. Bingley?"

"Pleasant enough. He is certainly a very amiable gentleman, although there were moments when he reminded me of an excitable spaniel puppy."

"I thought as much of him when he left during your dance to try to persuade Mr. Darcy to allow you to introduce him to me for the purpose of asking me for a dance."

"When he returned, he said Mr. Darcy became quite upset about something."

"Justifiably, I think. Mr. Bingley was worrying away at his friend like the puppy had gotten hold of a nice slipper to chew on and had no intention of letting go. I am surprised Mr. Darcy remained polite as long as he did. The poor man had a terrible headache and wanted nothing more than to just go home and sleep."

"I wonder why he came, then?"

"It sounded like Mr. Bingley somehow tricked him into it. I suspect Mr. Bingley may not always be as amiable as he seemed during your dance. Did you notice the great pleasure he took in teasing Lydia after Mrs. Bennet set her to flirt with him?"

"I thought he was just politely rebuffing her improper advances," Jane said with a hint of confusion in her voice.

"Oh, no! He was definitely teasing her... and enjoying the process. I think Mary may have let him know what Lydia and Mrs. Bennet were up to. She seemed to be enjoying his responses to Lydia as well."

"I am so very glad he asked Mary to dance. That was kind and amiable, anyway."

"Yes, it was. And even more so because she was able to dance two more sets afterwards, which you know would probably not have happened otherwise. I think you are going to be hard pressed to avoid Mr. Bingley at future events, however. I heard he was hoping for a second dance with you this evening. He said something about you being a lovely angel."

They both giggled softly. This was not the first time either had heard Jane described in that way by some man temporarily infatuated by her good looks.

"Well, fortunately the next event is a soiree at the Lucas home next Monday. No dancing, and I can probably manage to avoid him in a group as large Lady Lucas' usual invitation list."

"Has Mrs. Bennet already received an invitation?" Lizzy asked with concern.

"Yes, it was conditional on your arrival from town, but it was an invitation."

"Good. I am not thrilled about going to Lucas Lodge, but you know she would blame us if the invitation had not come. I was so frustrated by Sir William's attitude at the start of the evening that I finally told Charlotte straight out how her father's little games disrupt our lives. She said she may have been to blame this time because she told her father she missed my company, but I think he made the latest demand just because he could."

"Lizzy! You are too suspicious."

"And you are not suspicious enough," Lizzy replied with a soft laugh. It was an old joke between them. "No, Jane. I have stopped giving him the benefit of the doubt. You can see it in his eyes. He knows exactly what he is doing and the trouble he causes. Because he is so well-liked and is a leader in the neighborhood, he has power and he enjoys using it. He tells people he is acting for our benefit and they believe it, even though all their censure only makes Mrs. Bennet dislike us more. And now, he knows she is desperate, so he turns the screws a little tighter every time. You watch him at Lucas Lodge – from the moment we arrive he will be doing what he can to humiliate her and others will follow his lead. He will also keep trying to push us into doing things we do not wish to, just as he pushed you to dance with Mr. Bingley tonight."

"He did seem to gloat over that," Jane admitted.

Lizzy nodded. "Well, there is little we can do about it and we need to get up early if we want to get any of our special work done. I think we should turn in now."

They did rise early, making use of one of their saved candle ends to light the room after, as usual, hanging their thickest blanket from clips along the top of the door frame and slightly beyond each side. They had to prevent the light from showing through any cracks into the hall and giving away their activity should anyone be up earlier than usual.

Jane liked to do the long seams of the shifts in the quiet of the early morning. They were harder to hide under the guise of mending. Taking one of the bundles and her small stash of tools from her trunk, she sat back on the bed with a blanket pulled over her legs for warmth and began the process of pinning the side seams of the newest shift in preparation for the sewing.

While Jane got her work out, Lizzy lifted a corner floor board and pulled a metal box from the cavity the board covered. From it she took out a wooden frame that held a lace-making pillow formed by a round cushion about six inches in diameter and fourteen inches long. It was set to rotate in the frame like a wheel, with a wooden cog on the side and a spike to stop the rotation and hold it in place while she worked. The rotation gave her a good surface on which to work continuously without the constant need to reposition the setup as she would need to do on a flat pillow. A strip of lace in progress was already pinned onto the cushion and about four feet of the three-inch wide ribbon already completed was wound on a reel attached to the back of the frame. Lizzy carried the frame to the bed, and settled in next to Jane, covering her legs as well before setting the frame on her lap. She sorted out the bobbins hanging from the sets of threads pinned into place, and then set to work on her familiar pattern.

The two worked in companionable silence, trying to get as much done as possible in the time they had. Their diligence allowed them both to make good progress before the sounds of the household waking up put an end to their working time. Lizzy packed away her lace work, replacing the box under the floor board. Jane set aside the portion of the shift she would be able to work on in the sitting room and locked everything else back in the trunk. Together, they took down the blanket, used it to make the bed, and then set about getting dressed and ready for the day.

The day was like most days at Longbourn without an event to prepare for. After breaking their fast, the six women took care of any tasks appropriate to their station that needed doing around the house. Jane and Lizzy both looked in on their father briefly. He was, as usual, deep in a book, so he waved them off telling them he was well enough to survive another day.

As the day progressed, Jane, Lizzy and Mary went together to make a tenant visit. These were always done by at least two of the women together, since they traveled on foot without the protection of a servant. The visits alternated among all the tenants, with intervals between each visit. While they were out, Mrs. Bennet would either work on her household accounts or take the carriage and go visit with those women in the village who would still receive her. Kitty and Lydia either went with her or stayed at home to laze about, look at fashion magazines or remake their bonnets yet again.

During their walk, Jane and Lizzy discussed the assembly with Mary. In particular, they asked her opinion of Mr. Bingley and the dance they had shared.

"Honestly, that was one of the most amusing assemblies I have ever attended, at least once my dance with Mr. Bingley started. Even if Mama did not constantly lecture, I know how important it is to marry as soon as possible. For once, though, it was nice to simply share a dance with a man who was completely out of my touch. I mean, even though he spent most of the first dance asking about Jane, that is just normal. He is unlikely to marry any of us because we have so little to bring to the marriage. So I was able to enjoy his company rather than worrying about impressing him."

"And, what did you think?" Lizzy asked.

"I thought he was good company. He treated me politely. Do you know how few of the local men bother? I even heard him tell Mr. Darcy that I was pleasant company, at least for the length of a dance. I consider that a high compliment. And watching him tease Lydia was a positive joy." An unaccustomed grin lit her face.

"Well, he showed good taste, considering you to be pleasant company," Jane said.

"Setting aside the matter of how likely it is, if he were to ask for your hand, would you accept?" Lizzy asked teasingly.

Mary snorted slightly and looked at Lizzy as if she had suddenly grown a second head. "You have been away in London a little too long," she said."I would marry any man who could give me a roof over my head and was unlikely to beat me...and even the latter is negotiable." She sobered slightly and continued, "All matters of finance and likelihood aside, I would, at the very least, welcome a courtship to learn more about him. Do not tease me about falling in love just yet, though. Just because I think he is an amiable man does not mean my heart is engaged or likely to become so."

"We know that very well, Mary," Jane said. "We three are too smart to declare ourselves violently in love with any man we have just met, unlike Kitty or Lydia."

"What about you, Jane?" Mary asked. "You danced with him as well. What did you think of him?"

"Like you, I think he is an amiable man." Jane said.

"Jane and I already discussed how he is sometimes like an overactive spaniel puppy," Lizzy put in.

"That was it!" Mary said triumphantly. "That was what his teasing of Lydia reminded me of. A puppy with a new toy." All three women laughed.

"I wonder if he will keep teasing her during the gathering at Lucas Lodge?" Lizzy asked.

"Mama will keep thrusting Lydia at him, so I suspect he will have to," Mary said. "I think I look forward to it."

They all laughed again.

Once they returned from the tenant visit, all three women had some time to themselves before they would have to gather in the sitting room before dinner as Mrs. Bennet insisted they do. As usual, Mary went to practice on the pianoforte in the formal drawing room, which was also considered the music room. Jane went off to do some "mending" and Lizzy announced she was taking a walk.

In actuality, she was going for a walk, but not very far, certainly not as far as everyone thought she walked. The path from Longbourn heading in the direction of Netherfield passed a large stand of trees. The undergrowth was very thick on the Longbourn side, but much less so on the other side, where the composition of the trees changed from walnut and hazel to a section where several large spruce trees grew. Lizzy left the path and picked her way through to one whose upper reaches were well-screened from observation by anyone on the path. Going around to the back side of it, she unlatched a hinged panel of bark that matched the natural bark of the tree, flipping it open to reveal a length of cord held in a figure-eight on short wooden pins attached to the tree. The cord disappeared under another bark covering affixed over the trunk to hide it. She carefully released the cord, and as she did, a rope and stave ladder lowered from above her.

Lizzy climbed the roughly fifteen feet of ladder, ascending in what was almost a tunnel opening among the branches that began about ten feet up, because she regularly cleared any new growth along the way that might interfere with her short ascent. At the top of the ladder, she stepped off onto a wide branch. Traveling in another cleared tunnel-like area, she worked her way around the large branches that grew in a complete spiral just like a staircase heading higher up into the tree. On a set of closely spaced branches right near the trunk she had built a tiny room when she was young and had more freedom to do the work. It had lasted, with minor repairs and a few updates, for nearly a decade. She regularly cleared a few branches above it of enough new growth that plenty of light slipped in despite the thickness of the branches that hid her hut from casual view. Over time, she had added a row of tiny, glassed in windows along the upper wall facing the opening to allow as much light as possible inside.

As a child, she had built the hut as an escape from Mrs. Bennet. Once she started working on projects to sell, she adapted the tiny space to give her a relatively safe place to do so. Too many near misses when she tried to work in her room during the day had convinced her that this was the best place to work during daylight hours until the weather became too cold. At that point she would transfer her tools to a tiny, hidden room in Longbourn's attics, although it was harder to come up with a good excuse to explain her disappearances there than when she took a "walk" across the estate.

When she opened the door, the only furniture that fit in the room was a bench seat that nearly filled it. Concealed under the hinged wooden seat of the bench was a metal box just like the one she kept under the floor boards in her bedroom. It also contained a lace-making pillow in a frame and work already in progress. The metal served to keep out bugs and small animals that might find her working materials tasty or good bedding.

She closed the door to keep in whatever warmth the room had. The space was cramped enough that her own breathing served to warm it on cooler days. Settling on her bench seat, Lizzy continued work on the length of lace in progress, checking her small pendant watch regularly to ensure she did not overstay her time.

When she had to leave, Lizzy placed everything back carefully in the metal box, placed it inside the bench, and backed out of the hut, closing and latching the door behind her. Long practice meant it was only a few minutes before she was back down the "stair" and ladder. Reopening the hinged hatch, she pulled the cord, rewinding it as she did, and the ladder was soon hidden among the branches again to await her next visit.

Picking her way back among the trees, she reached the path for a quick return to Longbourn. The rest of the afternoon would be spent tackling the real mending projects in Jane's basket so her sister could continue work on the sewing projects that would add to their safety fund.