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From his position at the window of his bedchamber, Mr Darcy could hear the guests being greeted by his cousin and his aunt and deduced that the parson and his wife had been invited to dine with his aunt which must mean that Miss Elizabeth was indeed among the party that evening. This information caused Mr Darcy to feel very grateful to his cousin for giving his excuses to their aunt, for he could not have born being in Miss Elizabeth's presence so soon after he was rejected by her without a second thought.

As he gazed at the gardens, Mr Darcy could hear some of the conversation being conducted by his aunt, if it could be called a conversation for it consisted of Lady Catherine making demands of the Collins'. He could not hear if either the parson or his wife were able to respond to these demands, however his thoughts once again drifted to Miss Elizabeth, causing him to curse his mind for he did not wish to be reminded of one of his greatest failures, chief among these being his inability to remove Wickham from Pemberley before he could develop feelings for his sister.

Mr Darcy silently wondered why he could not remove the thoughts of Elizabeth's rejection from his mind. His mind gave him the answer however it could not be more unexpected, Because you loveher and nothing will stop this feeling. This thought shocked Mr Darcy, however he could not deny the truth in what his mind was telling him. He did indeed love Miss Elizabeth, which succeeded in making the current situation seem more hopeless than it already was. As soon as he had reached this conclusion, Mr Darcy realised that some of the accusations that he had levelled at Miss Elizabeth were quite hypocritical for his aunt behaved in a manner similar to that of Mrs Bennet- only interested in lace, gossip and other frivolous pursuits, with a voice as loud and demanding as the latter.

Mr Darcy felt remorse for attacking the Bennet's in the manner in which he had, however what he had declared he believed was complete truth. In his honesty and frustration with both himself for not being able to articulate his feelings and with Miss Elizabeth for being incapable of understanding his true meaning, he had said facts that were perhaps better left unsaid even though he wished Miss Elizabeth had come to realise that his love for her was genuine and that he did not care about anything that stood in the way of them being together.

Darcy you fool! Mr Darcy berated himself for being an imbecile in saying what he had. Despite what had passed between them, he wished for Elizabeth to understand the depth of his sorrow for speaking in such a manner and to make amends for what he had said, as well as offer the prospect of a civil relationship when they were in company together. However he may have wished to, Mr Darcy reminded himself that another proposal would be entirely unwelcome despite his feelings to the young woman from Hertfordshire.

Mr Darcy sat at his desk and began to write the following letter to Miss Elizabeth.

Dear Miss Elizabeth,

Please be assured that there will be no renewal of the addresses that I expressed today. I wish merely to let you know that I am sincerely in regret of what I said about your family, as I realise that my own is somewhat the same. This is no excuse for my behaviour which was ungentlemanly, as you said.

It is my hope that in the future we may meet with some civility and attempt to become friends.

Your friend,

Fitzwilliam Darcy

Reading the letter over, Mr Darcy was satisfied that the contents would not offend the recipient. Mr Darcy realised that the letter could not be sent without raising some suspicion from the servants and likely Richard and his aunt if they were to learn of it being sent from the house. He wished to see Miss Elizabeth once more, thus deciding that he would deliver the letter personally, paying no heed to social convention in his haste to leave his bedchamber.

At some point in the evening, Mr Darcy had come to the conclusion that Miss Elizabeth had stayed at the parsonage, thus leading to his eagerness to deliver his letter directly to the parsonage at such a late hour.

Once he was safely out of the house, Mr Darcy hurried to the stables and ordered for his horse to be readied as quickly as possible.

Elizabeth was plagued by the events of that afternoon and her thoughts regarding said events. She could not help but wonder what could have possessed Mr Darcy, who in her opinion was the most proud man in all of England to propose to her especially since he had made it quite clear that he viewed Elizabeth beneath his station.

As she sat upon her bed, Elizabeth tried to pinpoint the element of Mr Darcy's proposal that had caused her to completely and utterly refuse him. It was then that she remembered what Mr Darcy had said in connection to her family, that it would be a degradation for him to be aligned with the likes of her mother and father through his marriage to Elizabeth.

Unable to remain seated, Elizabeth sought an occupation and settled on pacing the room, her agitation dissipating as she paced. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of hoofbeats on gravel rapidly approaching the parsonage, followed by a brief silence as the rider dismounted. A knock at the door signalled that the rider wished to gain admittance, causing Elizabeth to wonder who it could be at such an hour.

After a brief conversation with the rider, a servant entered her bedchamber, apologising before telling her, "There is a man to see you. Pardon the intrusion, miss."

Elizabeth was shocked as she replied, "Thank you. I will be down in a few moments."

The servant nodded and left the room.

Elizabeth hurriedly made herself presentable for company when a thought suddenly struck her as to the identity of her visitor, it could be Mr Darcy. Shaking her head, Elizabeth made her way down the stairs and entered the drawing room to find a man resting against the fireplace mantle, facing away from Elizabeth as he stared into the flames.

Taking a reassuring breath to steady her voice and emotions, Elizabeth walked towards the man.