First P&P fanfic! Pride and Prejudice was probably my favourite novel growing up and has a special place in my heart, so I decided to put my own spin on it. The title is a reference to a line from the book. I hope you like it :)

- 1 -

"That is Mr. Darcy. Ten thousand a year, twice as much as Bingley, if you can believe it! But he's married, so he's a lost cause. His wife isn't here. I heard she's the daughter of some grand lady. French name. Kitty, what was that name again?" Lydia asked, turning to her elder sister.

Kitty shrugged, stealing glances at the single gentleman who was talking animatedly to Mr. Darcy.

"How should I know?"

"Well, you're good for nothing!" Lydia retorted.

"Girls, there's no need for that. Why should we bother about the name of his wife when we haven't even made his acquaintance?" Elizabeth chided, exchanging a look with her eldest sister, Jane.

"No point making his acquaintance, seeing as he's taken," Lydia opined.

"Now, that may very well be, but his friend is single and should Mr. Darcy recommend either one of you to him, it would be to your great benefit. Therefore, smile and be charming, all of you," Mrs. Bennet corralled. As the mother of five unmarried girls she was quite determined that at least one of them should find a match by the end of the year. The Meryton Assembly was their only chance for larger society and therefore, it was crucial that the girls be introduced.

Jane was introduced first to Mr. Bingley when he and Darcy made the rounds about the room with Sir William Lucas.

Mr. Bingley was so taken with her at first glance that he asked her to dance, which gratified Mrs. Bennet greatly.

Mr. Darcy was left alone with the ladies, but he was so taciturn that Sir William and Mrs. Bennet had to do all the talking. The gentleman seemed to be measuring everyone around him with a very critical eye. Most of all, he looked bored.

Elizabeth noticed quickly that he wanted to be anywhere else.

Kitty and Lydia were standing at her side, barely stifling their giggling. Elizabeth whispered to them that they could go dance. The girls did not wait to be told twice.

Unfortunately, their mother started on a story about how Jane had been courted at fifteen by a gentleman who wrote her "some very pretty verses".

"So it's no wonder, really," Mrs. Bennet added, "that my Jane is so admired."

Elizabeth coloured with mortification.

"I'm sure we have detained Mr. Darcy by our side long enough, Mamma. He must be wanted by his own party," she intervened before her mother said more.

There was indeed a small group made up of two ladies and one gentleman that were waiting by the doors. They also looked quite bored and miserable to be there.

"We thank you for your company, Sir," Elizabeth curtsied, making it quite obvious he could leave.

Darcy looked almost relieved to be spared. He bowed courteously and walked away.

"Capital, capital," Sir William ejaculated, following on his footsteps diligently.

"Oh, Lizzy! How cross you've made me! How could you drive poor Mr. Darcy away like that?" her mother cried, visibly upset to have been deprived of an audience.

"Mr. Darcy clearly wanted nothing to do with us, Mamma. It was for the best," Elizabeth told her.

"How opinionated you are, Lizzy! But you see his friend is dancing with my Jane! Maybe he wanted to hear more about her character. Now, he'll go to his own party and have nothing to tell them about Jane!"

Elizabeth chuckled. "Good. I'd rather he said nothing about her to them."

"Pshaw! You are headstrong like your father. No wonder you're his favourite! But I'll find another chance to speak with Mr. Darcy! And then you'll see how much good that can do!"

With that, her mother turned away and walked towards Mrs. Phillips, who usually lent a more agreeable ear than her second eldest daughter.

Elizabeth, meanwhile, watched Jane and Bingley dance. The young man was not very handsome and he was rather stout, but he was well-built and had a very pleasing laugh that lit his entire face. He talked incessantly, while Jane listened enraptured. She seemed taken with him too.

Her good friend, Charlotte Lucas, presently came to her side.

"Do you know? The whole room is speaking about how you turned Mr. Darcy away!"

Elizabeth raised both eyebrows in surprise.

"What can you mean by that, Charlotte?"

"Well, it seems several people heard you refuse to stand with Mr. Darcy."

Elizabeth reddened with embarrassment.

"Oh, Charlotte! What kind of nonsense is that? I only told him he may leave so that Mamma wouldn't run off with her stories!"

"Of course I believe you, Lizzy. But that's not what everyone is saying. Maria King and her friends all claim Mr. Darcy asked you to dance. And you rebuked him by saying he was needed by his own party."

Elizabeth grew impatient. "Yes, I did tell him that, but I was doing him a favour! And there was no invitation to dance! Your father was a witness. You should ask him."

"Oh, you know how these rumours take flight. I'm sure my father will set it straight. You shouldn't mind it, Lizzy."

Elizabeth smiled, shaking her head. "I suppose I shouldn't. The neighbourhood is so deprived of gossip they will invent anything."

"But tell me, would you have accepted if he had asked?" Charlotte inquired.

Elizabeth laughed. "Oh, no! He's too rich and handsome to tempt me!"

Soon, the two friends found comfort and diversion in each other's conversation and forgot about the entire nuisance. But as the evening progressed, Elizabeth couldn't help noticing she was asked to dance only twice while her friend seven. Usually, the two women had equal share of partners, but tonight, Elizabeth was surprised to find the young men were avoiding her. Some of them cast her long glances when she passed by. Other older gentlemen who usually liked to stand up with her out of courtesy did not even approach her.

Later in the evening, Charlotte, panting from too much dancing, sat down next to her friend to impart the latest news.

"Oh, Lizzy. You must suspect why you have not been very successful tonight."

"I am beginning to," she replied rather sourly. "Are they still talking about my refusing Mr. Darcy?"

"Worse. Now they are saying you did not find him handsome enough to dance with."

Elizabeth could not believe her ears.

"That is quite preposterous. I made no remark upon that gentleman's appearance!"

"I think someone heard us speak earlier, when you said he's too rich and handsome to tempt you. Oh, what a mess indeed!"

"Oh, Charlotte, this is perfectly ridiculous. The man is married and has obviously only come here out of some duty to his friend. I hope he does not hear these dreadful rumours!"

Charlotte tried to cheer up her friend, but Elizabeth was too vexed to enjoy the Assembly anymore. Everywhere she looked, she found people staring at her strangely. The matrons were giving her disapproving looks, whereas the fathers turned their young daughters away from her.

And all because she had been sensible enough to tell a gentleman to leave!

But he knows the truth, Elizabeth thought, comforted by the idea that Mr. Darcy surely understood it had all been a silly misunderstanding.

Fitzwilliam was in a rather churlish mood. The rumour had been passed on to him by Charles' sister, Caroline Bingley. She looked quite pleased with herself to be the messenger.

"This Elizabeth Bennet claims you asked her to dance and she refused you! Is that true, Darcy?"

"Why would I forward such an absurd invitation to a mere country girl?" he protested, feeling quite appalled, but Caroline Bingley went on, too much amused by the whole prospect.

"The whole room is talking about it! They say she turned you away. They say she told you, you ought to return to your own party. What beastly manners, indeed! But I must know it from you, Sir, did it happen so?"

Darcy gritted his teeth. "Miss Bennet said something alike, but it was not meant as a rebuke, for I had not made any offer."

"Oh, Darcy, you know how these people gossip! They must have put words into your mouth."

He was too vexed to reply, but as he looked around the room he found that more people were staring at him than usual, and to his great contempt and surprise, some held a sympathetic look in their eye.

"I wonder at Miss Bennet inventing such schemes," Miss Bingley continued, smirking. She was enjoying Darcy's discomfort. She knew very well the rumours were all lies, but Darcy had been cold to her the entire week and now she was exacting her revenge.

"She must be a very proud and conceited creature to make up these fables," he decreed with obvious disgust. "I am averse to such vulgar manners."

Darcy wondered whether she had given him permission to leave just so she could create false accounts at his expense.

He grew angry with himself for having come to the Assembly. He should have known that such society would not do him well. He should not have come to Hertfordshire, at all. He was better off at home. His wife was waiting for him at Pemberley. She may have been quite sick and peevish, but at least she was not ill-bred or vain, like these people. It was such a pity she could never join him in society. She had given him leave to go, and he sometimes wondered if he had joined Bingley out of a sense of duty for his friend, or simply because he wanted to be away from Pemberley for a while. These thoughts usually made him anxious with remorse, but after tonight's appalling farce, he found comfort knowing he could depart for home at any moment's notice and leave all this behind.

He did his best to stay in his corner of the room and avoid speaking or looking at anyone who was not from his party.

The night's folly was not over, however.

He was soon accosted by Caroline Bingley again. This time, she was accompanied by Mrs. Hurst.

"Another grave injury has been cast upon your character, Mr. Darcy!" Miss Bingley exclaimed in a state of agitation.

"Your apparel, rather than your character," Mrs. Hurst added mischievously. "For you see, Mr. Darcy, the word is out that Eliza Bennet refused you because you were not handsome enough to tempt her."

"Can you believe it, Darcy?" Caroline asked, slyly. "A young woman dares to find you unattractive."

The two ladies exchanged amused looks, but upon noticing that Darcy had gone white all of a sudden, they quickly put on their best scowls and began to accuse Elizabeth Bennet and the entire neighbourhood of being a crowd of insolent and ill-natured individuals.

"I knew, of course, it was a mistake coming here, but Charles wouldn't listen."

"I too told Mr. Hurst I would rather go to Brighton, but no one listens to me."

Darcy turned away from them and clenched his fists behind his back, trying to regain his calm disposition once more.

It was in vain.

He chanced to look about the room and caught Elizabeth Bennet looking in his direction.

Oh, she must find this terribly amusing! he thought, giving her the most contemptuous glare he could muster.

He saw her eyes widen with surprise and he drew some satisfaction from having injured her sensibilities in some way. He kept staring at her with the same scornful look until the lady dropped her gaze and left the room in a troubled state.

Elizabeth could not understand Mr. Darcy's smouldering looks. She had not sought to insult him in any way. She had honestly believed he had appreciated her gesture, but now she was doubtful.

Can he truly believe those rumours? He was there! How could he believe anything else?

But every time she happened to look his way, he seemed just as cross and angry.

She had half a mind to go speak with him, but she decided it would only draw attention and confirm everyone's suspicions. She avoided him for the rest of the evening.

The night continued to test them both as Elizabeth was shunned by her peers and potential dance partners and Darcy was left to stew in the aftermath of the latest gossip.

They both felt humiliated, but to varying degrees. Darcy, though he could hardly admit it, would have found it less damning if Miss Bennet had only claimed to have rejected him. But she had added insult to injury by casting such an unsavoury opinion on his looks. And Elizabeth, though she could hardly admit it too, was a little resentful that Mr. Darcy and the rest of the Assembly doubted her character when she believed herself to be most sensible person there.

The only happy pair who had ignored the gossip was Jane and Bingley. They had been so involved with each other that they were very much surprised, upon returning each to their party, to hear that there was already a scandal brewing between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy.

The scandal would grow much bigger than it really was because Hertfordshire was comprised of a small, hungry neighbourhood whose only amusement was spreading and embellishing such stories.

Jane was baffled when Mrs. Bennet started wailing in the carriage on the way home. Even Kitty and Lydia were demure. Mary, the third eldest sister, was trying to soothe their mother by reciting psalms, but it would not do. Lizzy sat by the window and fumed quietly.

"Oh, Jane, how will Mr. Bingley look at you now? He will refuse to stand up with you when he hears how your sister insulted his friend! Oh, and then none of you shall have prospects to marry and we shall be cast out on the street when your father dies!"

"Mamma, you must remember I did not insult, Mr. Darcy," Elizabeth protested hotly. "It was only a vicious rumour which was spread by busybodies."

"Oh, it doesn't matter now! It doesn't matter what you said, Lizzy! All the families think you wronged him! Oh, I am sure even Sir William thinks so!"

Elizabeth sighed, feeling all of a sudden fed up with the entire ordeal. The night had grown almost grotesquely absurd and she waited for it to end so she could retire with Jane to their room. Her sister squeezed her hand in comfort as they drove back to Longbourn.

As for Jane, she still hoped, despite their current predicament, to see Mr. Bingley again.

Bingley was similarly shocked to find his sisters talk vehemently against the family of his dance partner.

"Oh, you should have heard how Miss Bennet spoke of poor Darcy!" Caroline exclaimed.

As for his friend, Bingley noticed he looked even more aggravated than usual and would not say a word about the matter.

He, too, waited for the night to end so he could finally be alone.

"We must leave this dreadful place immediately, Charles. We cannot be the subject of such salacious gossip! Imagine having to bear with these people!"

"But everyone has been so cordial and polite! I find it terribly hard to believe that such amiable and gentle young ladies could spread lies! Miss Elizabeth Bennet appeared to me just as charming and good-natured as her elder sister," Bingley protested.

"Oh, Jane Bingley indeed is innocent for she was dancing with you all night and we cannot blame her for having such an ill-bred family, indeed," Caroline conceded. "Did you see the mother, Louisa? No wonder the daughters speak out of hand."

Bingley was unconvinced and wanted confirmation from his friend. But Darcy only said he would not indulge in the night's nonsense any longer and that the subject did not even deserve mention.

The matter was to be settled the following day, but Bingley was quite fixed on keeping Netherfield Park for at least another month. He still hoped to see Miss Jane Bingley again.

A/N: Whenever I read or watched the scene where Mr. Darcy tells Bingley Lizzy is not handsome enough to tempt him, I always thought how much more different it would be if the parties were reversed. Even if it was only distorted gossip, I wanted to show how quickly a young woman would fall out of grace for "rejecting" a young man, no matter how harmless her gesture. The man would be allowed to grade a woman's beauty out loud to his friends and make all sorts of claims about her, but if the woman did the same, she would be a complete outcast. Anyway, sorry for ranting, just wanted to point that out :) Thank you for reading!