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On the afternoon of Christmas Eve, the three elder Bennet sisters, two Bennet brothers, and their cousins Franny and Graham Phillips, were welcomed at Netherfield by Mr. and Miss Bingley.

By now the Netherfield ladies were on familiar terms with all the Bennet daughters and with Franny Phillips.

Miss Bingley, as the hostess, received the arriving party in the drawing room.

As soon as the Fitzwilliam brothers saw their betrotheds, they sat down next to their respective lady and were soon deep in conversation.

Both couples were most excited with less than three weeks before their wedding.

It did not take long for Bingley to find his way to the now eighteen-year-old Miss Phillips, who was officially out in society.

Graham Phillips took a seat next to the settee where Miss Bingley and Lady Elizabeth had settled, next to the end where the object of his affection was seated.

Elizabeth did not miss the becoming blush that her friend displayed as he sat, nor the look of joy that both wore at the proximity to one to another.

Louisa Hurst sat down next to Elizabeth, and her husband and the Bennet brothers took themselves to the billiards room.

“Have you heard from Lady Anne yet, Caroline? Did they arrive at Snowhaven safely?” Elizabeth smiled as she was sure that her friend’s thoughts were elsewhere and did not hear her.

“Please accept my apologies, Elizabeth. Did you say something to me?” Caroline asked in embarrassment as her attention had been very pleasantly engaged by another.

Elizabeth smiled, wondering how long it would take the two unofficially courting couples to come to the point and who would act first. She repeated her question and added that no apology was required.

“Yes, I received a letter from Lady Anne two days ago. They all had arrived two days prior to her sending me the missive. Mr. Darcy was to join them the day that she wrote to me, and she expressed her and Georgiana’s joy at soon seeing him again,” Caroline reported.

“It gives me pleasure to hear that. I have grown to like both Lady Anne and Georgie very well. I almost think of Lady Anne as another aunt now,” Lady Elizabeth said with a smile that reached her fine eyes.

Talking about the Darcy matriarch caused her to think about the time that they had spent together.

Lady Elizabeth Bennet had grown awfully close to both Darcy women while they and their family were at Longbourn.

She and her sisters had helped Georgiana recover and regain her self-confidence.

As soon as the young girl saw that what her brother had told her, that none of the Bennets judged her, she had started to emerge from her shell.

Lady Anne, Elizabeth, and Georgie had braved the cold with almost daily walks and rides.

When they rode, they were always joined by Mary and Kitty, as well as either Tom or James.

Her betrothed sisters and their fiancés chose to spend time in the warmth with one another and demurred often when asked to join a riding party.

Anne de Bourgh, who could not countenance the cold, did not venture outside for either walks or rides unless she was bundled up with a good number of heating bricks in one of Longbourn’s phaetons.

The younger Bennet twins had become best friends with Miss Darcy, and it had not taken above one day before all the young women in residence, Anne de Bourgh included, were calling each other by their familiar names.

Elizabeth truly liked Anne as well. She had a very sharp and dry wit and was a keen observer of all.

Before Lady Anne departed, Elizabeth had asked her if she should call off the hounds yet to which the lady had reiterated her stance that she had expressed the first time that Lady Elizabeth had made the same offer.

Elizabeth was snapped out of her reverie when her friend squeezed her arm, “What was your excuse for wool-gathering, Elizabeth,” Caroline teased.

“Sorry, Caroline. I was ruminating about Lady Anne and Georgiana and how close I am with them now. The family were all known to us except for the Darcy ladies,” she paused as she thought about it for a moment.

“Is it not strange? A little above a month past I thought that the name Darcy was synonymous with arrogance and pride, and then I met the ladies of the family. It has been a valuable lesson to me not to judge too quickly and that there may be circumstances and facts that I am unaware of that effect one’s behaviour. ”

“Do you regret being so severe on Mr. Darcy,” Louisa Hurst asked.

“I did, Louisa, but after consulting Lady Anne, and with her advice we decided that he needs to feel the weight of his behaviours. As soon as I see him in Town, I will offer my full and unreserved forgiveness. I have already asked my aunts to let it be known that he is no longer to be excluded from society when they return to London after twelfth night.” Elizabeth explained to the sisters and her cousin Graham.

“Lady Anne informed me that she had asked you to wait to let him off the hook, but until you spoke about it now, Elizabeth, I did not feel it was my place to converse about it,” Miss Bingley told the lady sitting next to her.

Graham Phillips, who had been looking at Miss Bingley longingly while the ladies were conversing, excused himself to go join the men at billiards.

In fact, he wanted to talk to Bingley to request a private interview with Miss Bingley.

The more time that he spent with the lady, the more he was sure that she was the one for him.

She was no fresh debutante as she was already approaching the age of two and twenty, and he was sure that if she accepted a courtship that it would not be a whim or to say that she was in one to get a leg up on her friends.

He knew that the lady was thoughtful and selfless.

She was certainly not lacking in intelligence and had a wit that could be pointed at times, but it was not a negative for him.

She was a pretty woman, and her bearing was always that of a confident lady who knew what she wanted from life.

She always dressed appropriately, not like some who would dress to try and display their wealth.

He knew that she had a dowry of twenty thousand, but not from her.

Miss Bingley was not one to make vulgar pronouncements.

They both had roots in trade but had not allowed their roots to define who they were.

Her brother was on the path to become a landed gentleman, her sister had married a pleasant gentleman, and one day soon he too would be a gentleman when he became a fully licenced and practicing barrister.

He had not even told his parents yet, but Sir Randolph was so impressed with young Phillips’s work ethic and the results of his work that the great man had offered him a position with Norman and James.

Phillips found Bingley, who had just gone to see if his guests needed anything, with the rest of the men in the billiards room.

Lord Birchington was playing against Mr. Hurst while Lord Netherfield and Bingley chatted.

He caught Bingley’s attention and indicated that he would like to talk to him, so Bingley joined him in the hall.

“Bingley, I am requesting your permission for a private interview with Miss Bingley.” He held his breath so he would not immediately react in case he was about to be denied.

“As I hope that we will be brothers one day anyway, I will not deny your request. What is it that you are asking of my sister Phillips?” Bingley arched a brow, but his smile was not as hidden as he intended.

“I will be requesting a courtship. I know that Caro…Miss Bingley is careful in all that she does, so I do not want to rush her if she is not ready to accept more.” Then Graham realized what Bingley had said, and he suddenly saw all the time that the man spent talking to Franny in a new light, “Brothers? Franny?”

“My hope is to request a courtship with your sister soon. I take it that as you are asking my sister for a courtship, and we will be brothers if things go as you would like, that you do not object to my courting Miss Phillips?” Bingley teased.

“There would be no objection from me. Aside of the fact that I like and respect you, I am no hypocrite. Be warned, my father will not be opposed, but he will tell you that he wants Franny to have at least part of a season before you declare yourself.” Seeing the downcast eyes of his hopefully future brother, he gave him some advice, “Talk to my father at Longbourn on the morrow. It may only be a matter of three months to wait, so no long faces. It is Christmas Eve after all.” The two men headed back to the drawing room.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

George Wickham and Karen Younge had just celebrated the eve of the Son of God’s birth in their own unique way, with copulation. Wickham felt little pain now, and the scars from the flogging, although still red and raised, were no longer scabbed.

“I love you, George. Why can we not forget the revenge and make a life together and be happy?” his paramour asked him as she kissed his cheek. She had aimed for his lips, but he had turned his head.

“If you love me, Karen, you will not ask that of me. It is not only about revenge, but we also need money. We deserve to live in style, and with such a sum that we will have, even after that blood sucker the Spaniard is paid, we will still have more than double than we would have gained from the mouse’s dowry,” he felt a chill run down his spine as he thought about what would be done to him if he did not pay his debt.

“This is one debt that I cannot run out on; that man is relentless. He will keep on looking for me no matter how long it takes.”

“Will you not be in danger when you go see him after Christmas?” asked his worried lover.