You guys are so cool! I'm glad you liked it. Sometimes I just walk around and an idea springs into my mind, but you never know how everyone will take it. I'm so glad you liked this. Here's chapter 2!

ENJOY!

"Did you see her dress, Louisa, " a mystified Caroline Bingley exclaimed. "It was so simple. So plain. Hardly the dress of a duchess. I could scarce believe it when I heard that she was the widow of the late Duke everyone had been talking about!" Caroline sat down in the setting room, which was occupied by her sister, Louisa, and Mr. Hurst, along with Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy.

"Quite so, my dear," Louisa replied.

"What do you think Mr. Darcy? Louisa and I were saying we'd barely know her."

Mr. Darcy looked up from his letter from his sister, "And since you do not know her, that statement is accurate." He had been annoyed with Caroline all week. Couldn't she give him a moments peace?

"Mr. Darcy, you jest! Everyone knows her. She is the widow of Devonshire! She's hardly the beauty she's been reported to be. She's so tan, and so tall. And hardly has a comely figure. And her mother! Oh!" Caroline exclaimed as if it were a good joke. "and her sisters."

"Jane dear is quite a lovely person, though my dear."

"Yes Jane is a dear sweet girl." she looks at her brother. "Louisa and I were in agreement to take her in under our care. Surely we can find her a good match, but she's so pale."

"My G-d, Caroline! you were just thrashing the Duchess for being too tan. Now her sister is too pale."

"Quite so," grumbled Hurst.

Caroline had busied herself, looking over Mr. Darcy's shoulder. He was writing a letter to his sister.

"You write uncommonly fast, Mr. Darcy."

"You are mistaken. I write rather slowly."

"Tell me, how is Dear Georgiana? I was quite in raptures over her drawings last May." When Darcy remained silent, she proceeded again. "Please. Do tell her I long to see her."

"I have already told her once, by your desire."

"Dear Georgiana. Now there is a lady of great accomplishment. Why her efforts at the piano forte are truly astounding."

"I would hardly call my sister a lady Miss Bingley. She is not yet seventeen."

Caroline did not hear him, for she was walking across the room. "I hardly can believe that Miss Bennet, is still wearing black! The Duke passed over a year ago. Surely six months is long enough to mourn a husband."

"Maybe she was in love with him."

"Miss Bingley, I do believe she is no longer a Miss Bennet, and deserves the title that she actually possesses. That is the Duchess of Devonshire," Mr. Darcy, turned from his letter. "And at that she is surely higher titled than any of us in this room. " But Caroline ignored him.

"Surely you jest Charles. Surely her prospects were slim. What would possess a Duke to marry a little country nobody? Maybe her physical attributes had-"

"CAROLINE! ENOUGH!" Charles rarely yelled, but his sister needed to stop. "Surely you can see how miniscule your arguments sound, all because a Duke didn't choose you. I see nothing wrong with the Duchess, nor nothing to blemish her reputation. From what I hear, she is a kind, and loving woman, who has been dealt a bad hand at cards."

"Why is it so impossible that she did marry for love, Miss Bingley? The Duchess hardly seems like she's influenced by his money. You said it best. Look at how she dressed tonight." Mr. Darcy, though he didn't know Elizabeth, he knew of the Duke of Devonshire, and he knew of his will, for it caused great scandal in the gossip rags.

The late Duke left his title to his small son, along with the money and homes he was entitled to. He did the same for his daughter, and mother. There were dowries set up for each of his sisters-in-law. To Elizabeth he left everything else. The homes, the jewelry, and most of the money.

So if Elizabeth had all this money, what was she doing in Hertfordshire? He came to the conclusion that it was her family, and that money was not her focus.

"Has anyone seen the children?" Mrs. Hurst too had been scandalized by the will, though for entirely different reasons. Rarely was the Duchess seen in town, without her children, so to not see them last night she was completely astonished. Though she was sure, the Duchess was smart enough, not to bring them to a rowdy country assembly. She had heard they were beautiful, but had never seen them. Her new acquaintance with the Duchess, left her desperate for answers. Answers the Duchess herself would not answer. What was she going to tell all the ladies back in London?

"Jane told me the children are at Longbourn, and thriving," replied Bingley. "She said the boy doesn't talk much, and the girl won't stop talking."

"Much like her grandmother, I'd assume," smirked Caroline, and Bingley sighed. Why couldn't she just be easy? Just once?

Mr. Darcy went back to writing his letter.

Dearest Georgiana,

You were correct in assuming the fresh air of Hertfordshire, is refreshing, and calms my mind considerably. Though the society in London is nothing to it, the country sides are quite breathtaking, and calm. Bingley has decided to rent out Netherfield Park, to see if this could be a place he could call his home. He has asked me to stay, and I've agreed.

Mr. Bingley's neighbors are quite charming, though they have their flaws. The closest is the Bennet family. They have five daughters, most around your age. One is one and twenty and one is nineteen. You may know of one. The late Duke's wife, Elizabeth. She is as charming as her sisters, though when you speak to her, it's as if she looks right through you. She appears lost at most times, and when I asked her to dance with me at the assembly tonight, she started to cry. Granted I felt awful, but still... She is beautiful.

I do so miss you Georgie. Pay no attention to what Lady Catherine suggests. You are yourself a proper young woman, and Lady Catherine just likes to dote. You remind her of our mother.

I hope though, Richard removes you from Kent to London soon, or I may go mad with worry!

And Caroline Bingley sends her regards. Again.

Your Loving Brother,

Fitzwilliam Darcy

He sealed the letter, to be marked by the post in the morning.

Now. To find out more about this intriguing woman.