Chapter 1
"Come, Darcy, you must dance." Charles Bingley said to his friend. "I hate to see you standing about in this stupid manner."
"Charles, you know the only reason I am here is to avoid being alone in your sister's company." Fitzwilliam Darcy replied bluntly. "If you had told me about this assembly tonight, I would have postponed my journey for another day and waited to arrive until tomorrow. It would do well for you to remind your sister that I will never offer for her - regardless of her many attempts. Now, return to your partner and enjoy her smiles. I have a terrible headache and do not intend to dance tonight."
Unnoticed by both men, a young lady slightly behind the men smiled slightly at the conversation. She had seen the predatory and proprietary lady that had grabbed at the taller gentleman's arm the moment they walked in and had seen him extricate himself from her - much to the unknown lady's displeasure and to her own amusement. Some unknown impulse had made her recognize that he was in pain even before he had said so to his friend. Surprised by this realization, since she had only briefly encountered the gentleman earlier, she wondered if there was anything she could do to help alleviate his pain.
Walking into the kitchen attached to the assembly room, she prepared a glass of willow bark tea and carefully returned to her spot by Mr. Darcy.
Careful to keep herself hidden from the rest of the room, she quietly spoke to the gentleman. "Sir, I apologize but I overheard you speaking to Mr. Bingley about a headache. I have prepared you some tea with willow bark, which my family often uses to help with pain. It does taste horrible, but it should help your head, if you would like to try it."
He startled and then turned slightly to look at her. She appeared vaguely familiar, but the pain in his head had kept him from paying much attention to the introductions. "I also must apologize as I do not remember your name, Miss. While I do appreciate your effort on my behalf, I am not accustomed to accepting drinks from unfamiliar females. In my position, it is unwise."
"I had not considered that, sir, but having watched the way Miss Bingley seems to be pursuing you, that does seem to be a wise position. I do assure you, I have not added anything unseemly to your drink, but I also realize you have little reason to trust a stranger. My name is Miss Elizabeth Bennet, by the way. We were introduced earlier, but if your head hurts as much as it appears, I dare say it makes it hard to remember so many introductions," she replied, keeping her voice low and attempting to avoid notice. "I will leave the beverage here, if you decide to drink it, and then I will leave you, so my mother does not observe me talking to you. She is one to watch out for, I must confess, although she is my mother."
He barked a laugh and quickly covered it with a cough. "I do appreciate your help, Miss Bennet, and I believe I will take a chance and trust that it is as you say. It was a pleasure to meet you."
She dipped a shallow curtsy and made one final comment before slipping away. "My sister is Miss Bennet, sir, I am Miss Elizabeth, and I do hope the tea will alleviate your headache."
Darcy watched her as she left and laughed inwardly at her pertness. She was unlike most women he knew, and he realized it was refreshing to meet a woman who did not immediately defer to him and who seemed to exhibit genuine kindness. She had brought him tea to relieve his headache and did not attempt to curry his favor or to press her advantage. Remembering their conversation, he thought incredulously that she even warned him about her mother's matchmaking schemes.
He recognized a desire to get to know this woman better; however, he wondered if there was any point. In this small market town, it was unlikely that she had a fortune or any great connections, and since he was an infant, his duty to marry for fortune and connections had been drilled into him, first by his parents and since their deaths by his uncle, the earl. Could he truly throw those expectations to the side? Shaking his head, he wondered what had come over him and how a short conversation, one that she had been careful to ensure no one had observed, could have caused him to begin pondering marriage to a woman he had just met. Perhaps it was simply the fact that she had not attempted to attract attention to their conversation and the genuine kindness in her actions.
Across the assembly hall, Caroline Bingley watched Mr. Darcy and had noted him talking to someone, although she could not see who. She noted him drinking a cup of tea and wondered where it had come from and if whoever he had been speaking to was a servant. She knew he had not wanted to come to the assembly, but her brother's prodding had made him feel he must.
This visit with her brother was her chance to secure him, she was certain of it. If not offered willingly, she had plans in place to trap him and had made the necessary arrangements to ensure that would happen before he had even arrived. Her brother, while not openly supporting her plans, was aware of them and would do little to circumvent them, counting on Darcy's honor to do what was right. Before they left this country town, she would be betrothed to her brother's best friend. In this, she was determined.
Bingley was nearly desperate at this point to marry his sister off to anyone - her constant overspending was draining his own funds and, honestly, she was a shrew. Darcy and Bingley had known each since Cambridge, but in the last year it two, Bingley had made the concerted effort to latch onto Darcy's coattails to raise his own standing. Darcy reluctantly allowed this, as he did like Bingley well enough, but he despised his unmarried sister. The agreement to stay at Bingley's leased estate for a fortnight had come after repeated requests from him and after the assurance that Caroline would not be in attendance. Between that fact, and the assembly that night, Darcy had almost determined to return directly to town, but had agreed to an abbreviated stay to help him get started.
Caroline's sister, Louisa Hurst, was likewise aware of this plan for a compromise, having been informed of it by her sister, and had told her husband all its particulars. Gilbert Hurst intended to be on guard and would apprise Mr. Darcy when it the plot was ready to be acted upon. Both genuinely appreciated Darcy's company and did not to run the risk of injuring the relationship.
Therefore, the two kept a wary eye on their sister and Mr. Darcy and were ready to act when it became necessary. They did not inform the man himself, but Hurst's valet and Darcy's both were and kept each other apprised of any developments. When this first had been discussed, Hurst had been very amused to learn that the man always slept in Darcy's dressing room and took extra efforts to protect Mr. Darcy whenever he was in the same house as Caroline, at that gentleman's request. The valet was very familiar with his master's insistence that he would never marry Miss Bingley regardless of the circumstances, which was also fairly well known, at least by the staff.
With all this in mind, both Hursts kept an eye on both and Hurst, from his location sitting near Darcy, had observed the exchange, and had noted Darcy's pleasure in it. "This will be interesting to watch," Hurst observed silently. The couple would speak on what they had seen in great detail that night when they returned.
The rest of the dance proceeded as one would expect. Bingley danced every dance, two with the eldest Miss Bennet, which was observed with mixed emotions by those in attendance. Darcy, whose headache had largely abated by the end of the evening, did not dance, but did speak again briefly to Miss Elizabeth to thank her for her assistance, although he found he, once again, thoroughly enjoyed her conversation, which had ranged well beyond a simple thank you into their shared love of books and nature. In fact, they had spoken for the entirety of one dance, giving them a full half hour in each other's company.
When the Netherfield party departed, Caroline spent the ride complaining bitterly about the assembly and the lack of breeding displayed by the entire company. Only Miss Bennet was spared from the general disdain and was given scant praise. So determined was she, she never noticed that no one else spoke the entire way to express neither agreement nor disagreement with her words.
In the Bennet carriage, the conversation centered on the charming Mr. Bingley and his charming sisters, although the other gentlemen of the party did not receive such praise. Mrs. Bennet had observed Mr. Darcy speaking to Elizabeth toward the end of the evening and was unhappy about that development. Mrs. Bennet knew that the possibility of Elizabeth marrying well could potentially harm the rest of her family, which was a well-kept family secret only she and her husband was aware of. As a result, Mrs. Bennet glared at her and disparaged the "unpleasant Mr. Darcy" any opportunity she had.
Mrs. Bennet spoke to Mr. Bennet once all the girls were in bed that night. Few in the neighborhood remembered that Elizabeth was not a Bennet, although she had gone by that name most of her life. In reality, Elizabeth was their niece, the daughter of Bennet's younger sister and her husband, the heir of a large landholder from the north in Staffordshire. Her father had died in a horse-riding accident shortly after his wife learned she was pregnant with their first child. Bennet's sister returned to her brother's estate for a time after her husband's death and ended up giving birth in Hertfordshire. Shortly after Elizabeth's first birthday, she also passed away, leaving Elizabeth an orphan.
This was when the deception started. Elizabeth's grandparents were aware of the child but had not felt they were prepared to raise her themselves, as they were rather elderly and had little extended family. The Bennets had been prevailed upon to take the charge of the child and were given a stipend from her grandfather each quarter for doing so. Since Bennet's sister had not left the house very often, and Mrs. Bennet had miscarried around the time Elizabeth had been born, no one in Meryton seemed to realize that Elizabeth was not, in fact, a Bennet. Once or twice, she did visit her grandparents at their estate, but those visits occurred before her fifth birthday and only vague memories still existed. If she spoke of those memories to Mrs. Bennet, she was reprimanded for being fanciful and daydreaming, and if she spoke to Mr. Bennet, he laughed them off as memories of stories she had heard and not real memories.
When Elizabeth's grandfather had passed away when she was just six, just a month or two after her grandmother, she had been left in the custody of Mr. Bennet, but her inheritance was left to the trusteeship of two gentleman who were responsible for overseeing both her fortune and her estate until she marriage or came of age. Mr. Bennet continued to receive a generous stipend for Elizabeth's care from the estate, which was used by Mr. and Mrs. Bennet to provide for the family, and not necessarily for Elizabeth's care.
At first, they had worried that one of the trustees would attempt to account for the money sent for Elizabeth's care, but no one ever did, and by this time, little of the stipend was actually spent on Elizabeth. Most was spent on dressing Mrs. Bennet well, along with Jane and Lydia, and on ensuring that Mr. Bennet's library was well stocked.
Elizabeth, of course, was aware of none of this. As far as she had ever known, she was the second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, although she had often wondered why she looked so unlike the rest of her siblings. Jane and Lydia took after her mother, while Mary and Kitty were blends of mother and father. Elizabeth looked like neither, having taken after her father's side of the family, and her dark hair and green eyes made her stand out from the rest of her family. She bore a slight enough resemblance to Mr. Bennet that no one remarked on it much, but it had always bothered her.
This past summer, Elizabeth had turned twenty years old, and Mr. and Mrs. Bennet began to worry what would happen when Elizabeth became of age. They were not certain if the trustees would inform Elizabeth of her inheritance and what would happen to the stipend they had become to rely upon. Without that stipend, they would have to seriously cut back on their spending, leaving them with little for the extravagances they had come to believe were necessary.
Most importantly, they wanted to ensure Elizabeth did not marry before she became of age, believing that if she still lived with them when that happened, she could continue to ensure they received the stipend. In their general selfishness, neither party ever considered that Elizabeth would be anything but grateful when she finally learned the truth.