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Darcy met the coach as it pulled into the drive, handed the ladies down, and gave Georgiana a hug and bows to everyone else.

“Welcome to Netherfield,” Bingley said with something just short of his usual conviviality. “May I introduce my aunt, Mrs Ashford.”

“A pleasure, madam,” Darcy said with a courteous bow.

They spent a few more minutes with the usual niceties, then entered the hall.

Though not the host, Darcy said, “I have taken the liberty of requesting luncheon at the usual times, and Mrs Nicols tells me your guest rooms are ready. By your leave, I might suggest you wash off the road dust and meet in an hour for luncheon.”

Georgiana looked like she would rather drag him into a room to talk about Elizabeth, so he relented slightly. “Shall I see you in a half-hour, sister?”

She nodded enthusiastically, and everyone save Bingley followed the housekeeper to their rooms. Bingley hung back a minute, and Darcy gestured to the study with a questioning look, which was agreed.

Once inside the room with the door closed and brandy in hand, Darcy began. “Is it done?”

“It is done!” Bingley said with a finality that sounded both assertive and sad to Darcy’s ear. “I proceeded as planned, and it went as expected. I doubt you can imagine the amount of caterwauling I endured… but I prevailed in the end.”

“Care to talk it through?”

“Not now. I would prefer to discuss it with Miss Bennet. Have I any hope?”

Darcy sighed, no more sanguine about being in the middle between the two than Elizabeth was, and finally answered, “I broached the subject with Elizabeth. She suggests tomorrow might be a suitable time to visit. If there was no hope at all, she would have suggested next week.”

Bingley looked momentarily disappointed but resigned.

Darcy thought to throw him a bone. “As I mentioned in my letter, I made a grand gesture, and it worked out for me. I cannot say it would for you, but it is worth keeping in mind.”

“I will take it under advisement. An apology is certainly due, so let us hope the Bennet sisters did not exhaust their stores of forgiveness.”

“I believe the supply is extensive, but we shall see. You are your own man, the offence was different, and Miss Bennet is not Miss Elizabeth. Your path will be different from mine.”

“I believe it will be. Can you tell me what you have learnt about Miss Bennet?”

Darcy once again felt wrong footed, but he gamely spent a quarter hour telling Bingley what he had learnt in his interactions with the Bennet sisters.

He finally ended with. “I believe their departure from Netherfield was a sort of catalyst. I suspect half of what I just said would not have been true before Elizabeth overheard us.”

“Better or worse?”

“All for the better, I assure you,” Darcy said with slightly more confidence than he felt.

Bingley nodded.

“Are you still planning a ball?”

“Yes, much of the preparations were underway under Caroline’s direction. I cut the budget in half and my aunt will manage the affair. It will be on the twenty-sixth.”

“That is less than a week. I suppose it will be sufficient.”

Bingley shrugged. “I could have delayed, but some rather expensive arrangements for musicians, flowers and the like were already underway.”

“It will be fine.”

With a quick motion, Bingley finished his brandy and left to clean up.

~~~~~

Georgiana entered the parlour nearly at a run, bursting with excitement. “Tell me about Miss Elizabeth, Brother!” she said without preamble.

He laughed, “All in good time, Georgie. I do not wish to endlessly repeat myself nor exclude your other guardian, so we shall discuss the Bennets over luncheon. For the moment, I shall tell you that she and two of her sisters are the kindest and gentlest people you will ever meet. There is not an unkind bone between them, though all three have spines of steel when it comes to protecting their siblings.”

“That sounds wonderful. Are you courting her?”

“Yes, I am publicly calling on her. There is a funny story about that, which I will relay with luncheon.”

“I thought she was one of five sisters?”

“She is. I mentioned the three eldest. The two youngest are possibly the silliest girls I know, but mostly harmless, I think. You will find them exhausting, but you will endure it and may even come to like them.”

“I so long to meet them.”

“Not long now,” he whispered, then deliberately moved the conversation to what Georgiana had been doing in London, and how enthusiastic Mrs Annesley felt about her holiday.

~~~~~

Lunch was a more spirited affair than usual, and Bingley noted the difference.

Darcy agreed it was so, but he was uncertain if the change was the lack of Bingley’s sisters, the addition of Fitzwilliam, or the fact that he had built up a tolerance at the Bennet table.

Everyone wanted to know everything about Elizabeth, the Bennets, the neighbourhood… and they wanted it now!

Darcy lived through the mortification of explaining exactly what his offence had been.

The look of horror on Georgiana’s face told him a lot about how far he had strayed from the gentleman’s path, and he could see her imagining being in the receiving end of such stupidity.

It was a valid concern, since the ton was like navigating snake-infested waters (which he dearly hoped Elizabeth could help mitigate), so she had the double dose of his own shame and added fear about her upcoming experience.

He described his apology to stunned silence, and then the elder Bennet ladies work to repair his reputation to everyone’s amazement.

There as almost no limit to the questions about the events of the previous Sunday, with each surprise being different than the rest. All in all, it was quite a rousing story.

Darcy omitted certain details about who was present for which conversation, and certainly did not disclose that he had already proposed (in front of Miss Mary no less).

He readily discussed Elizabeth’s request to remain silent for a few days, only to be caught out by Lady Catherine’s parson. That story met howls of laughter from Fitzwilliam, who could not help himself.

The colonel laughed himself silly then stopped abruptly. “Do you suppose he wrote to our aunt?”

Darcy groaned in dismay, not having given the matter much thought (mainly because his thinking was not exactly top-notch around Elizabeth). He said he could ask, but if the parson had done so, the deed was done, and they could expect a visit any day, so he was not going to worry about it.

Georgiana asked how they were going to meet, and he said the best thing was to plunge right in. They would leave in a few hours to spend the afternoon with the Bennet family and remain to dine.

~~~~~

Elizabeth met the group from Netherfield in the parlour with some slight nervousness.

She was well past any fear of Mr Darcy, but every meeting, every discussion, every glance, every kiss, pushed her farther down a road at breakneck speed.

Every new relative met was one more link to a man she had despised a week earlier (if she could remember that far back).

Darcy looked around curiously at the small gathering and raised an eyebrow.

She smiled. “My apologies. You will only meet the three of us this morning. I accidentally implied to my mother that you would not be here until dinnertime, thus allowing her to visit my aunt in Meryton with my two youngest sisters.”

Darcy laughed appreciatively and then made the proper introductions.

Colonel Fitzwilliam was about thirty, not handsome, but in person and address most truly the gentleman. Elizabeth found his gregarious and amiable manner slightly unnerving, somehow thinking that she may as well have let Darcy bring Mr Bingley since he brought his twin anyway.

Miss Darcy was genteel in her manners and as well-dressed as you would expect for a girl of her station not yet out, but the observation of a very few minutes convinced Elizabeth that she was exceedingly shy.

She found it difficult to obtain even a word from her beyond a monosyllable.

As they all sat down to converse, Elizabeth could see Mr Darcy showing something akin to nervousness about the meeting between Elizabeth and Georgiana, presumably because he put so much importance on their potential relationship.

The colonel seemed ready to dive into any conversational difficulty to smooth things over, which had the advantage of reducing Miss Darcy’s obvious nervousness, but the disadvantage of saving her the trouble of speaking overmuch.

Jane and Mary did their part to make the young lady feel welcome, while Elizabeth gave her potential additional sister the lion’s share of her attention. Things continued in that fashion for a quarter hour until Elizabeth made a critical decision.

“Gentlemen, we appreciate you bringing Miss Darcy to our attention. Now go away.”

Both gentlemen startled and Darcy momentarily scrunched his face until he belatedly worked out that he was experiencing the teasing he had seen but never been subject to.

He answered with a laugh. “Where shall we go?”

“Anywhere that is not here. Go outside and have a chest pounding contest or a race; go play chess and drink port with my father; go back to Netherfield and play billiards; whatever it is men do while ladies are on lady’s business.”

The colonel asked, “When should we return.”

“Two hours. It will be time to dress for dinner by then.”

Darcy and the colonel retreated towards the door, and Elizabeth whispered, “I warned my father to expect you.”

He nodded, and though he appeared to want to kiss her right then and there, he wisely refrained.