Luck is Not Always a Lady

 A week later, on the morning of the day of the Netherfield Ball, Darcy rose from his bed. It seemed pointless to continue to try to sleep when all he had was restless dreams involving the entrancing Elizabeth Bennet. Confused and jumbled dreams where there had been moments of him married to her and happy as well as married to her and scorned and ridiculed, mixed with images of her hair down blowing in the wind. surrounding them, enmeshing them, as he kissed her, leaving him frustrated and miserably entangled in his sheets when he awoke. All his attempts to put her from his mind seemed doomed to failure. Not even reflecting on the unsuitability of her family connections did more than make him reflect on her own personal virtues. No, he would soon need to either flee or surrender, and flight seemed like abject cowardice and surrender seemed... In actuality he could not determine if surrender would be more pleasurable or painful.

 Once past the receiving line at Netherfield, Elizabeth looked around for Charlotte Lucas, whom she had not seen for a week. That she also might be looking to see Mr. Darcy, who was tall enough that it should have been easy enough to spot him, as well, she would most firmly deny. As it was, the familiar company meant her progress through the room was slow as she was greeted by many of her neighbors, among the first being Jonathan Martin who asked her for the first dance as his sister was engaged with her betrothed. She had to repress a smile at his method of asking, but she was pleased to find a partner for the first dance so quickly. After a few more encounters and another dance invitation, Elizabeth spotted Charlotte and was surprised to see her talking with Mary who somehow had maneuvered through the crowd ahead of her. She was equally surprised not to see Mr. Collins by her side, as it had seemed as if he planned to be glued to her side for the

 Courting a Good Opinion George Wickham lay low for nearly two weeks until all his obvious bruises healed, though he had spoken with Mrs. Younge soon after he arrived in town. She had assured him that Maria Montcraven was still free and looking for a handsome young husband. She even assured him that she could procure him an invitation to a ball that Mrs. Montcraven intended to attend in three weeks time. Happily, he had enough funds (probably because he had been too busy hiding to gamble it away) to procure a truly fine suit of clothes for the evening as his preferred tailor would no longer extend him credit. However, he knew that he needed to make a good impression and as he could not cut a dash in a red uniform, he would be assured that what he did wear would be well-tailored and striking. The night of the ball he went over all the information Mrs. Younge had given him on the widow, her likes and dislikes, her appearance, how

 Answering the Question Elizabeth had been almost relieved to return home the next day, as after a restless night, she found herself rather discomposed around Darcy. Everything about him seemed so much sharper in contrast. Even the smallest smile seemed to make her want to blush. She wanted just a little distance to be able to regain some equanimity in her dealings with him. However, while when she was with him she found it hard to think rationally, when she was away from him it seemed almost impossible to think about anything other than him. Of course, coming home to more of her mother's flutterings about Mary's wedding, did nothing to turn her thoughts away from Mr. Darcy and his proposal, and as she considered her answer, she was struck with a sudden concern about how Mary might be affected by another of her sisters getting engaged so close to her own wedding. Mary had been too often overlooked by her family, and right now wi

Luck is Sometimes Even Less of a Lady Fitzwilliam Darcy, husband for a mere two weeks, reluctantly left his currently quite delightfully disheveled wife in order to let her begin her preparations for the ball they would be attending that evening, the first social engagement where they would appear as man and wife. While he hardly wished to emerge from the blissful haven of their home as yet, he did unfortunately recognize that he could no longer ignore the outside world, especially Lord and Lady Gordon who had been close friends to his own parents and who had made such a point of inviting him and Elizabeth to their ball. Of course he realized that he and Elizabeth were currently of high interest because of either the perceived disparity of the match or the fact that while the ton were familiar enough with the Darcys of Pemberley, they had never heard of the Bennets of Longbourn, thus making the former Elizabeth Bennet very much an unknown quality.