As promised, the story is now back in full. - Love Nic

Prologue

With a truth so universally acknowledged as that a young man with a large fortune must be in want of a wife, the arrival of the unmarried and very eligible Mr Bingley with a fortune of five thousand Pounds per annum, was no trifle for the likes of Mrs Bennet, whose business, ever since her eldest daughter had come out into society, had been to see her five daughters married, and married well at that. The tumult that had erupted after she had first heard the news might not have been unprecedented in the Bennet household, nor was the reaction of her husband to be wondered at, for he was a man of caprice and sarcastic humour as well as quick wit and consequently, when he had declared that certainly there was no need to call on their new neighbour, Mrs Bennet's indignant outcry that surely he must go for it was the custom had rung through Longbourn House all the remainder of the day and well into the next morning. Her complaints had been manifold and ceaseless only to fade away in an instant as soon as she found that her husband had been trifling with her all along and had, as he did with every new neighbour, paid Mr Bingley his respects early the very next morning after receiving the news of his arrival. However, the ladies enthusiasm for the topic of their new neighbour was slightly dampened by the fact that whatever arts and allurements they tried to apply, their father would not let any information about the man slip. Eventually it was their neighbour, Lady Lucas, who had to be applied to, to get any news and descriptions at all. It was then, that they first heard that he intended to come to the next ball at the Assembly Hall in Meryton, the small market town in whose close vicinity they all lived, and that he was to bring a large party of friends with him. This was good news indeed, for dancing was a certain step towards falling in love and lively hopes of Mr Bingley's heart were soon entertained. Still, the number of ladies he was to bring, sounded somewhat alarming, and yet, when the day of the ball finally arrived, the young ladies of Longbourn House – Jane, the eldest, Elizabeth, Mary, Catherine and Lydia – found that all their woes had been for naught as Mr Bingley's party consisted of only five people altogether: his two sisters, the husband of the elder a Mr Hurst and another young man.

Mr Bingley was lively and unreserved, his sisters at least polite, though more pleased with themselves than with what they saw while Mr Hurst merely looked the gentleman but was too busy drinking and eating to make any other impression than that he was an indolent man with little brain and an enormous stomach. Mr Darcy, the fifth of the party was another matter altogether. He was tall and handsome, incredibly rich and he for some time he was greatly admired by the ladies and gentlemen alike until it was discovered that all Mr Hurst's faults by comparison, seemed insignificant, for he was discovered to be proud. All evening long he had been wandering about, not dancing at all, not even with the ladies of his own party, hardly ever opening his lips and on top of that he refused to be introduced to anybody, until: