A/N: Thank you for your favoring and reviews. I am glad that I shocked several of you who were gracious enough to admit that in the reviews. Collean S, thank you for your lovely compliment on the short prologue. With about half of the 153 words taken directly from Ms. Austen herself, the prologue ought to be good, haha!

I had left out four important words that tell the location of Lizzy's audacious proposal in the prologue. It is kind of important that you go back to read them if you do not know what I am talking about.

I also added the copyright statement before the prologue as it had been accidentally left out.

As promised, I will be posting two chapters together every week.

~.~

Three weeks prior

Elizabeth Bennet was deep in thought while walking slowly back to the Hunsford parsonage where she was a guest of Mr. Collins, her cousin and her father's heir presumptive, and Mrs. Charlotte Collins, nee Lucas, her best friend since she was five. Her mind had been in a tumultuous state since the evening before when Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberley, Derbyshire, proposed marriage in the most offensive manner imaginable. She angrily refused his offer with the harshest, most hurtful words she could mutter not only because she thought his proposal was insulting, but also because she felt that being loved by a man so repugnant somehow degraded her.

Toward morning, after hours of thinking the episode over and over from all different angles, she kept coming back to this seemingly unsolvable puzzle: how was it that a haughty, disdainful but unquestionably exalted gentleman from among the first circles of society should bestow his ardent love on a girl with no formal education, no exquisite beauty, no dowry, and with connections in trade? Did he mistake her impertinence for flirtation? But to flirtation he must have been immune as he had said himself that he despised all arts employed by ladies for the sake of captivation. By then she was so exhausted that she was feeling faint. She decided to go to bed. A good night's sleep would cure all ills. However, her traitorous body woke up only an hour after her usual waking hour. She sighed and dragged herself out of bed. A walk in Rosings Park was the only thing left that could restore her mental faculties.

And then who should be waiting for her in the grove but the instigator of all the turmoil? Seeing Mr. Darcy discomfited her anew. But then it dawned on her - even in her confused state - that all her previous 'accidental' encounters with the gentleman during her walks were in fact deliberate meetings on Mr. Darcy's part. She was more than obtuse. She was a simpleton!

She took the letter handed to her by the gentleman without any thoughts, including any consideration on its impropriety. As soon as the gentleman was out of sight, she eagerly opened it as her curiosity about its contents trumped any distaste over its author.

Her wrath from the evening before returned with a vengeance as she read along. How dare he persist in spewing such lies! However, by the third reading, she had completely reversed her opinion and conceded that the authenticity of the accounts in the letter could not be denied. No one, Mr. Darcy in particular, would have made up so scandalous a circumstance about his own sister unless it was true. At the end of the fifth reading, she started to question her own conduct, and then wondered whether her words of rejection might have been too harsh, regardless of the haughty and uncivil way with which Mr. Darcy delivered the proposal. What kind of person was she if she acted unladylike just because he was ungentlemanly? Besides, she owned some culpability: she had judged a fundamentally honorable man to be base and a thoroughly rotten scoundrel to be admirable.

Elizabeth prided herself on being just, and that was why she had felt so deeply about the injustice Mr. Wickham purportedly suffered under Mr. Darcy. There was no question that she should apologize to the gentleman for abusing him so abominably with her harsh words when declining his offer of marriage. However, she needed to be delicate in her delivery lest the gentleman get the erroneous impression that her regrets extended to the rejection of the proposal itself.

But how could she see Mr. Darcy if the parsonage did not receive an invitation to Rosings that day?

Her thoughts were still all jumbled when she returned to the parsonage. Charlotte came up to her and inquired with some anxiety of her whereabouts that morning as Mr. Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam had come by to take their leave before riding to London immediately after.

Elizabeth looked up sharply and asked, "Oh, Mr. Darcy has already left? I thought he was not to leave until tomorrow."

Charlotte looked at Elizabeth quizzically, "Mr. Darcy did not say much. He appeared preoccupied. Colonel Fitzwilliam explained that they had changed their travel plans and would be leaving as soon as you returned from your walk, but Mr. Darcy abruptly stood up and said his farewell. The two gentlemen left even though the Colonel looked chagrined for missing you. He asked me to convey to you his gratitude for your friendship. I was just going to send a maid to fetch you, but Mr. Darcy insisted that they could not tarry, and he expressed his regrets as well."

Elizabeth frowned, and said softly, "I see."

She could not understand it herself, but a sudden devastating feeling of disappointment descended upon her – she would never be able to deliver her apology. She became agitated and grabbed Charlotte's hand, "Charlotte, I have been a fool! How could I ever have thought myself particularly discerning in sketching the human character!"

Charlotte was alarmed. One minute ago, Eliza was her usual calm and cool self, the same one she had known for fifteen years. In the blink of an eye, she turned uncharacteristically distressed, seemingly completely overcome with regrets.

"Eliza, let us go sit down by the window, and then you will tell me what has made the proud Miss Eliza Bennet so distraught on hearing that the gentlemen had left without waiting to take their leave."

Once they sat down, Elizabeth said, "Forgive me Charlotte, I do not know what just came over me. It must have been because I did not sleep much last night. I stayed up almost all night thinking about…"

Then the whole proceedings poured out of her starting from Colonel Fitzwilliam's disclosure of Mr. Darcy's part in separating Mr. Bingley from Jane, to Mr. Darcy's proposal and, finally, the contents of the letter except for the part about Miss Georgiana Darcy's narrowly avoiding the scandal of eloping with Mr. Wickham. Even in her overwrought state, she knew that it was not a secret she could spill to Charlotte despite her friend being the epitome of discretion.

Charlotte listened with calm attention as only Charlotte could. At the end of Eliza's breathless exposition, Charlotte asked, very sensibly, "When did all this happen? Did you meet with Mr. Darcy this morning? Was that why Mr. Darcy appeared so bothered when he came with the Colonel earlier?"

Elizabeth, having had a few moments to calm herself during the recount of the incidents, answered without looking at Charlotte in the eye as she knew she had to fib a little in order to conceal the presence of the letter, "No, it was last evening when I stayed here alone after you had gone to tea at Rosings. Mr. Darcy came by, and we had a big row over how he treated my family so abominably, his willful separation of Mr. Bingley and dear Jane; and of course, his seemingly despicable treatment of Mr. Wickham."

Charlotte asked, "During this big argument, Mr. Darcy also proposed? He must love you most ardently!"

Elizabeth looked up and said exasperatedly, "You see it too, and I did not! I thought he treated me with disdain the same way he looked down on everybody. I had thought that he had stared at me constantly to find fault, but now….and having thought over things since last night, I had to agree that his motive for separating Mr. Bingley and Jane was as a friend concerned about the wellbeing of his best friend, and not necessarily of a malicious intent, just like my ill-qualified but well-meaning counsel to you against accepting Mr. Collins. His account about the dastardly acts of Mr. Wickham was irrefutable as Colonel Fitzwilliam could bear witness to his side of the story. I must say that no matter how ill I had thought of Mr. Darcy before yesterday, I have never considered him dishonest…. when I am not flustered."

Charlotte asked gently, "Do you regret refusing Mr. Darcy? He is for certain among the most eligible young men you could hope to marry, and so handsome too, as a young man should be if he could help it. Now that the misunderstanding of his character has been cleared, perhaps you could rectify the mistake and accept his offer? If he loves you the way you have described, he may be very pleased that you have changed your mind after finding out the truth."

Elizabeth looked resolute and said, "No, Charlotte. No gentleman would stoop so low to ask a lady, a stupid girl, mind you, a second time after having been so vehemently and …. cruelly refused. He must be congratulating himself on his narrow escape from being tied to one like me for the rest of his life. Besides, I have not made up my mind about him. He is still the too proud man who disapproves of my family and my connections to trade. I feel indebted to him for opening my eyes to the insufficiency of my character and feel very strongly that I must apologize for the harsh and unjust words I said to him. I told him that he was the last man to whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry!"

Charlotte was startled on hearing this, and said, "Those are indeed strong words. In any case, Mr. Darcy is now unavailable for your apology. You may as well spend the next two weeks here thinking things over and strategizing on how you could convey your apology. It is not as if you could write him a letter!"

Elizabeth nodded weakly and replied, "You are right of course. I doubt that I shall have the opportunity to see Mr. Darcy again after leaving here. However, something must be done about Mr. Wickham. I spread the falsehood of Mr. Darcy's purported mistreatment of Mr. Wickham, making him out to be a victim with whom we must sympathize; and Mr. Wickham has been known to leave debts wherever he goes. I wonder how many shops in Meryton have extended credit to him that they may never be able to collect."

Charlotte thought for a moment, and said, "Maria had heard through her friends, in fact, it was Kitty and Lydia, that Mr. Wickham has been courting Miss King. She just came into an inheritance of ten thousand pounds. An engagement is imminent. I did not tell you, and in fact, Kitty and Lydia also asked Maria not to tell you, because we all assumed that you would be injured by such news. You realize that you have shown your partiality toward Mr. Wickham quite openly. Perhaps we should warn Miss King's family about Mr. Wickham's profligate tendencies."

"Oh!" exclaimed Elizabeth softly. "My Aunt Gardiner has instilled some sense in me – she reminded me that a lieutenant's pay could not possibly support a wife. Charlotte, I do have a practical side. Now that I have had time to reflect upon it, my 'open partiality' toward him was nothing but my feeling being vindicated that the one who insulted me in public was, as expected, a despicable man – just look at his ill-treatment of Mr. Wickham, who deserves compassion for being so unjustly impoverished!"

Elizabeth paused and became thoughtful before continuing, "Perhaps we could warn Miss King about the danger she faces by going through the same channel from whence the news came. If Maria tells Kitty and Lydia about the misdeeds of Mr. Wickham, they will surely tell the rest of the village within a few hours. It will be up to Miss King's family to do what they must to rescue her from an unfortunate match. Miss King is a very good sort of girl. I do not wish her to be trapped in a marriage with a scoundrel."

Charlotte clasped Elizabeth's hands and said fondly, "I am glad to see the return of the sensible Eliza. Let us summon Maria and tell her about the treachery of Mr. Wickham."

As expected, Maria was excited and immediately wrote a letter, proud to be the first to share a piece of gossip. She was especially pleased to expose Mr. Wickham because, handsome though he was, the disgraced man had never given her a second glance. For this reason alone, he deserved the most severe rebuke.