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They noticed that the estate was far larger than the portions that were available for lease, but the agent was tight-lipped about the owner and only stated that Netherfield Park was owned by a marquess who preferred to remain anonymous.

‘ It must be the family of a duke or one of his secondary estates. The society looks savage, far below what I am used to. ’ Darcy thought to himself, ruminating on all he had seen as Bingley sat with the agent to sign the one-year lease.

Since Ramsgate, he had withdrawn into himself and had regressed terribly.

Even before the near disaster, Darcy had become very judgemental, believing that his opinion was more fact than conjecture.

Darcy was not a bad person; he had put up a defensive wall to protect himself from being hunted.

He had escaped no less than three attempts to entrap him, and those along with the constant hunting of his person, had coloured his outlook on society.

He only truly felt relaxed at Pemberley with his dear and beloved mother, Lady Anne, and his sister, his ward, of whom he shared guardianship duties with his cousin and brother in feeling, Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam.

Fitzwilliam Darcy, or William as his family and close friends called him, had been a very pleasant boy and had remained thus until his dear father passed some five years before, leaving him to inherit Pemberley, three secondary estates, and a vast fortune.

He had been considered prime marriage material by the Ton even before he became master, but now he felt like the fox that was being hunted from all sides.

He adopted his disdainful mask, became taciturn and stoic, and would never dance the first or more than one dance with any young lady, if he deigned to dance at all.

Darcy’s disdainful mask and stoic countenance was further reinforced by the dreadful act, committed against his sweet sister, Georgiana.

His mother, Lady Anne Darcy, had told both he and Richard that something did not feel right about Mrs. Younge, who they hired as a companion for the fifteen-year-old girl.

Darcy was used to being in charge and did not consider her opinion important enough to sway his thought, so he followed his own judgement and hired the woman.

Until the extremely near debacle at Ramsgate, his mother would spend most of her time at Pemberley, but now she was in residence wherever his sister was.

While Darcy was with Bingley in Hertfordshire, his mother and Georgie’s new companion, Mrs. Helen Annesley, were with his younger sister trying to help her recover from her near elopement.

Mrs. Annesley’s every character had been checked and rechecked.

She was approved by Lady Anne, he and Richard as Georgiana’s guardians, and Lady Matlock.

His sweet, little sister had been lied to and manipulated by the profligate wastrel, George Wickham, and assisted in his scheme by his current paramour, Mrs. Younge.

His cousin Richard had wanted to hunt down Wickham and end the blackguard, but Darcy, in his infinite wisdom, had decided against that avenue; he did not want his private business becoming public knowledge, his and Georgie’s names being fodder for the prolific gossips of the Ton was to be avoided at all costs.

Both his mother and his cousin had pointed out that his inaction would put others in jeopardy, and in his arrogance, he had asked “why that should affect me?” He only cared that Georgie was safe, and scandal had been avoided.

On his arrival at Netherfield, Darcy was met by Bingley and his younger sister, who was to be his hostess and mistress of the estate.

If the Netherfield servants had known that the pleasant lady that was mistress had not always been so, there would have been in disbelief as they found Miss Bingley to be a very pleasant and fair mistress .

Darcy had first been led to his room to wash and change. After Carstens, his manservant, had helped him with his ablutions, he joined the two Bingley’s and the Hursts, who had joined their brother in the drawing room before dinner.

“How was your trip to Hertfordshire, Darce?” Bingley asked affably.

“It was good, thank you, Bingley. Pity that the society here is somewhat savage.” he added, his disdainful remark catching all in the room by surprise.

“Far be it from me to disagree with you, Mr. Darcy, but there are a number of people of quality here.” Miss Bingley offered demurely.

“I do not believe so, Miss Bingley, but I have been here a short time. To whom do you refer?” he asked, already deciding that she could not be correct.

“There are the Bennet’s of Longbourn, they…” she smiled, taken aback when he rudely cut her off.

“I know of the Bennet’s of Longbourn. Their small estate is entailed to the male line and will be inherited by a distant cousin who happens to be my aunt, Lady Catherine’s vicar.

People of quality? They are a poor family with many daughters and no prospects,” he pronounced, sure that he had the right of it.

“I am sorry, Mr. Darcy but you…” Miss Bingley did not finish what she tried to say.

“Darcy will see for himself at the Assembly on the morrow Caroline. A number of the Bennet’s will be there, and he will be able to judge for himself,” Bingley interjected with a smile as if he was hiding a great secret that Darcy could not discern.

As they walked into dinner, Caroline Bingley held her brother back. “You must warn him how far he is from the truth, Charles. If he angers Lady Elizabeth, it could be unbelievably bad for us. You know how he can get when he has formed an opinion.” Miss Bingley reminded softly.

‘If I had followed Mama’s dictates,’ Miss Bingley thought to herself, ‘ I would have not listened to anyone, I would have been my own worst enemy! Instead, Lady Anne took the time to mentor me, a tradesman’s daughter.

Only Louisa knows that I maintain a correspondence with her for when I need to ask her questions or request advice, and in her grace, she answers me as honestly as she did when we had ‘our chat’ that first time at Pemberley. ’

Caroline Bingley recognised that rather than be accepted as a friend to some in the Ton as she was now, that had she followed the path that her mother had set her on; she could have well ruined herself and her family in the eyes of society enough were in the circles to which they would never be admitted.

It was Maude who put the idea into her daughter’s head that if there was an opportunity for such a match that she should do anything and everything to secure him, regardless of his desires.

Even after Maude and Charles Senior died in the tragic accident, Caroline behaved as her mother had taught her and kept the delusional dream alive, right up until that afternoon with Lady Anne Darcy.

“You will see Caroline; all will be well.” Bingley took his sister’s hand and patted it to calm her snapping her out of her reverie of the past. “Darcy is a gentleman after all, and he knows how to behave.” Little did he know that what he had just uttered, would soon be disproved.