A/N: Wow, Wow, Wow!

I thank you all for the tremendous response. I believe I've had the best first-day response of any of my stories by a substantial margin, so maybe I hit a nerve. This 'chapter' is just an excessively long rambling A/N, so if you want to get back to the ducklings, just click onto the next chapter. I thought I'll take a chance to answer some of the questions from reviews and PMs.

The POV

I was admittedly nervous about the shifting POVs, but in the end I really like them and everyone who has written about them seems to as well, so perhaps we can call it a successful experiment.

Some of you have pointed out some incorrect pronouns here and there, which prompts me to mention how they got there. I wrote the first about seven chapters in omniscient POV, and then rewrote them in the shifting first person POV. I like it enough that I think I will continue it; although my next story has yet another experiment, so maybe the story after.

At any rate, glad you're enjoying it and I think it's something I'll use again.

The Entail

There were a couple of people wondering about the mechanics of the entail, and whether Lizzy's plan is sound. For example, if Collins inherits, would Elizabeth just take over if he died, etc. There are a couple of answers. The first is that I am not an expert on the subject, and I could well have gotten something terribly wrong, so don't discount that possibility. Happens all the time. If all else fails, I will fall back on my favorite whipping boy – the characters do the wrong thing just like people do the wrong thing all the time in real life.

Entails always lasted a certain amount of time (usually 3 generations), and had to be periodically renewed. If that didn't happen, you could end up with a block of land at the end of time that nobody owned. Entails were intended to keep estates together and in the family. They started in the 16th century, mostly to prevent dilution of the power of the upper classes.

Everything in the property owner's world was geared towards acquiring power and status for your family, and that was always tied to the land you owned. Pemberley is one of the greatest estates in England. Split it in one generation between five heirs, and you have five Longbourns. Only three generations of splitting it in half between only two heirs would make it even smaller (1/8 the size). The math is pretty easy if you look at it that way. Big Good! Small Bad! Allowing any split of the estate inevitably would end up with an estate that was smaller and less powerful with each generation, so the idea of handing it complete to the closest proven family member generally made sense.

So all of that meant you wanted to pass it whole (as you will see in several JA novels), and since men had all the power, it was common to pass it to the eldest son. They made entails just to make sure nothing bad happened… you know, like having a woman own it. Women were considered inferior in all the bu**shi* ways we all know about, but worse yet, they were taught to knit purses, and not to manage estates, so estates in the hands of women were uncommon – not unheard of mind you, but not common. Not every estate was entailed. For example, Lady Catherine can own Rosings because it is not entailed, and Pemberley does not seem to be either. However, if Darcy never married, he could entail Pemberley on Georgiana's oldest son, and it would pass through her line. Also, should Lady Catherine marry (OK, quit shuddering now), all of her power would go to her husband. It's no wonder she stayed single (spoiler – Lady Catherine's role in this story is not finished).

Mr. Bennet is a life tenant, which severely constrained what he could do during his lifetime. He could not sell any part of the estate; take a mortgage, allow tenancies to go vacant, be too abusive in his neglect, or various other things, even if he wasn't lazy. JA implied he made few changes during his lifetime which would be consistent with his character.

JA never says how long the entail actually lasted in that particular case so there is some speculation, but it probably was set for 3 generations so depending on who set it up, it might end with Collins, or with Collins' son. Had Mr. B. fathered a son, they could have worked together to break the entail when his son came of age no matter how it was originally set up using a legal fiction called Common Recovery. The Wikipedia entries for "Fee Entail" and "Common Recovery" seem pretty good. Or, in the likely case that the Bennet son was the third generation, it would just end with no effort.

So for the purposes of this story, at least before Darcy does his research, I assumed both Lizzy and her father might not have all the correct information. Lizzy certainly does not, and it's an open question how diligent her father was in searching it out, but there is in fact an entail that will end with either Collins or his son; or Wickham or his son. Note that there is no guarantee that Wickham is the same generation as Collins, so the endpoint can move. I made the entail end with Wickham or Collins because it makes the story work, and it's pretty likely the case anyway.

So why exactly is Lizzy doing all this crazy s***?

Because she has no idea who will die first, her father or Collins. If her father goes first, as I am implying is a distinct possibility (his symptoms are for acute heart disease – not auspicious), Collins would inherit, and she may or may not be able to run the estate. Married women had virtually no legal power, as they did not even exist as a legal entity. They were treated almost as property of their husbands, so with a live but non‑functioning husband she would be in a bit of limbo (as she already is). I am not sure what would happen, but I bet one of you does and can enlighten me (and tell me what they called a chicken coop while you're at it).

Let's just assume for the sake of the story that she might be all right or she might not. She has no way to know. It's not the sort of thing you want to count on, although she and her sisters have been living on the edge since birth already, but the problem has become acute and immediate. If she has a son on the other hand, she can easily be named his trustee, and act on his behalf. She might be able to do the same thing for Collins, as she is acting on his behalf right now in the story, but that would only last until he dies.

If Mr. Collins dies first, then things become very bad. Wickham inherits straightaway, and all the evil that is George Wickham comes to pass. Keep in mind that Collins is the Heir Presumptive. If he has the bad sense to be dead when Bennet dies, he is no longer the heir, and his wife is no longer entitled to anything at all, not even a pension from Hunsford. She would literally be thrown out into the hedgerows; or more likely her uncle's house in Cheapside, but she would hate to impose on them.

So with two potential scenarios, one definitely bad and the other probably bad, she makes the best choice she can. Her original rant about her chances of success was actually pessimistic and not exactly accurate because she was angry and not very amenable to arithmetic. If she has time for two pregnancies her odds of success are between 50-75%, so it's a not unreasonable chance to take, considering the disparity in outcomes between the two paths. I'm supposing some kind of lingering disease in Collins, so he might die tomorrow or might live a decade. Not exact science even today.

You can assume that she came to a better understanding with all of Darcy's notes, but her given path still seems like the least bad option for her. She has forced her father to liberate some funds, which she can combine with whatever she saves from the living, and she might not be too badly off.

You can presume that she has done some investigation into the cost of living, since she has been staring at losing the living for several months. I did the math back in The Cliffs of Hertfordshire, (see Talk to the Frog) and with £2000 from her father, the bulk of her mother's allowance for a year, and whatever she liberated from the living, she probably would not be badly off. She would have to work; but of course you can see that she's not opposed to that these days. You can easily imagine the Gardiners helping set her up like I discussed in Letters from Cheapside, so her choice is more rational than it sounds.

How are they spending so much time together? Where is Mrs. Hewes all this time? Etc.

It's not as obvious as you might think, but only 6 days have elapsed. Darcy appeared on Friday, and it's now Thursday. The two have met a grand total of 5 times, including both the supper and the original eavesdropping. They have spent maybe 3-4 hours together total. Mrs. Hewes just wasn't around the first 3 times by chance (2 have been with her poultry). For the supper, let's just presume she did not want to join that and made other arrangements (she does have other entertainments available to her – oops, spoiler).

Propriety is out the window?

Let's just say they're a bit off the rails but not as far as you might think. We're used to Elizabeth being a maiden, but she is a respectable married woman, in her own home with her husband in attendance. Their topics of discussion are wildly out of the usual, but things like compromise and the like just don't apply; and nobody will ever know what they talk about. I suspect Darcy could probably move into the parsonage for a month without technically breaking propriety. It's even safer than his stay at Netherfield, which was with a man and his unmarried sister; so technically, there is nothing wrong with his visit. It would be completely aboveboard and unremarkable if he was visiting Collins.

Also, remember it was a man's world. Darcy could take three mistresses and have them all live in the parsonage and most of society wouldn't think much of it. The Regency society, particularly at his level let a lot of things pass for men, so Darcy's fine.

I presume Elizabeth's reputation might take a hit from being seen with him, but it would depend on rumors spreading of them being in compromising positions or suspicions of infidelity. Those might materially affect her sisters, or Georgiana, but it's hard to say. Elizabeth beat that subject to death a couple chapters ago.

Marriage seemed to be the secret sauce that absolved all sins, and Elizabeth is a respectable married woman. From that standpoint, from a propriety perspective, her sisters are probably better off with her in the parsonage with Darcy hanging about all day than they were in Netherfield, hosted by two single gentlemen and one married and one unmarried sister.

Keep in mind that there is nobody in Hunsford willing to tell what actually happened to her. Like most abuse victims, she keeps the abuse a closely guarded secret because the shame would mostly fall on her. That's just the way it was (and still is in much of the world today). The servants are mostly loyal in the first place because Lizzy treated them well, and also silenced by implicit and assumed threats, presumably backed up by Lady Catherine. Lizzy has kept her secret even from Lady Catherine, so the number of people that can spill is small.

This whole thing has been kind of mad and whirlwind anyway, so maybe they haven't thought all the way through it, but I don't think they're as far off the rails as you might think.

Why not get help? The Gardiners are reasonably rich and powerful in the tradesman's world, etc.

I don't think I can overstate how far abuse victims will go to hide the abuse. The psychology of abuse is frankly beyond me, and I can't really study it because it makes me want to kill people, but it IS well established fact. It is very unlikely she would put her troubles on another soul, no matter how dependable and amiable. There are no conditions under which she would tell any of her sisters, and her aunt and uncle would only be slightly more likely. She would always worry about her troubles spilling out on others. That's the reason she shut out her sisters, and Aunt Gardiner. Her parents… need I say more. Her clergyman… need I say more. She would absolutely bottle it up until there was no chance to do anything else. I am sure of it, because it happens all the time, even today.

The fire irons response is unfortunately the exception, not the rule. I used it in this story because I'm a male writer and that's the sort of thing we like to see. The branding of Collins' ass with a red-hot iron is just a nice touch.

OK, enough aimless rambling. Back to the story!