Now to settle the fates of our characters.

After some few adventures Mr. Wickham enrolled himself in a regiment of the regulars. As a result he was present at the great battle of Waterloo. Unfortunately for Lieutenant Wickham, his seduction of a major's wife had been discovered less than a fortnight before.

The evening before the battle Wickham was approached by the officer, "It looks to be a very serious battle on the morrow."

"Yes, sir." Wickham replied nervously.

"A lot of people die during battles of this sort. Occasionally accidents even happen you know. People sometimes get shot by their own side." The major leaned his head closer to that of the wide-eyed Wickham, and added in a conspiratorial voice, "I have even heard of men who take the opportunity of a battle to settle scores. To off someone they dislike."

Wickham gulped.

"I don't believe in that sort of behavior, not at all. It's the same as how I don't believe in duels. Deprive his majesty of a brave soldier when he is most needed? No indeed. I would never act so. You understand?"

Wickham nodded vigorously, not at all relieved.

The major displayed a feral grin, "A coward though, to shoot a coward who fails to give his all for God and country, that would be right. Don't you agree Wickham?"

Wickham stared aghast at his commanding officer, the major grabbed Wickham by the shoulders and jerked him so their faces were inches apart, "Wicky, listen carefully: if you are not the goddamn model of a modern British officer tomorrow, if I see you in the slightest hesitate to do your duty, or attempt to save yourself when you ought to fight, by Gad I swear I'll shoot you."

So inspired by this short speech, and more terrified by far of Major Thorpe than the French, Wickham fought bravely the next day. So impressive were his exploits they were published in newspaper accounts of the day, along with the announcement of his posthumous award for valor. Upon reading those accounts Darcy was surprised: perhaps he had thought rather worse of his childhood companion than he deserved; at least Wickham died well. His father would have been pleased to know.

Anne de Bourgh, who has not been mentioned in this text at all, was so charmed by the excellent flattery of her mother's steward that she chose to run off to Gretna Green with him. Then, much to the surprise of everyone who knew her, the man's continued flattery affected over a period of some months such a change in Lady Catherine's attitude that eventually she became reconciled to the match, and was as fond as ever of her former steward. As Elizabeth was far less skilled in flattery Lady Catherine never did become fully reconciled to her nephew's marriage.

Jane and Bingley lived very happily together, had many children, and eventually Bingley purchased an estate close to Pemberley. The companionship between the two families remained close as long as they lived.

Caroline Bingley settled upon a middle aged man with more fortune than fashion, and as a result quite forgot her dislike of connections to trade.

Lydia Bennet married a smart young Colonel — in fact Darcy's cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam. Richard Fitzwilliam had been left at loose ends following the final end of the conflict, and found himself greatly attracted to the liveliness of Mrs. Darcy's young, and somewhat improper, sister. She however led him on a merry chase that took the better part of a year before they were finally, and happily married.

The marriages of Mrs. Bingley and Mrs. Darcy gave Mrs. Bennet such extravagant expectations for her children that she hardly considered Colonel Fitzwilliam, though the third son of an Earl, rich. Mrs. Bennet was therefore disappointed that Elizabeth failed to throw her sisters in the way of other rich men. However, Elizabeth was greatly pleased when through their friendship Charlotte Lucas was thrown in the way of a wealthy man. Charlotte met, during her frequent visits to Pemberley, a recently widowed gentleman in his late thirties who owned an estate which bordered Pemberley.

Mr. Mayhew was impressed by Charlotte Lucas's sensibility and desired to acquire a new mother for his children, the youngest of whom was but four. He proposed. Charlotte accepted, as she liked everything she had seen of the gentleman, and felt certain from his kind treatment of his children, and his reputation in the neighborhood, that he would be safe as a husband. While neither had hoped or planned to find love, within six months of their marriage the two were deliriously happy with each other.

Added to that joy was the happiness both ladies received from Charlotte's near proximity to Elizabeth. Once again the women, now happily married, could easily walk to see each other — which they did near daily.

Lydia and Georgiana remained the closest of friends, and this closeness only increased when Georgiana married a fine young officer who was a protégé of Colonel Fitzwilliam's. Darcy, despite the man's lack of fortune and connections — he was the fourth son of a clergyman — was pleased by the quality of his brother-in-law's character.

Kitty did not achieve her ambition of marrying an officer, however she found no cause to repine as she married a very handsome, though not particularly sensible, clergyman. This clergyman was a near copy in manners and appearance of his cousin, a Mr. Elton of Highbury. None of her sisters liked him, but they were all relieved, as Kitty could have done much worse. She had three daughters, all of whom ran away with smart young army officers of no fortune, whose careers were then supported by the preference provided by their uncle, General Fitzwilliam. One sadly died in Crimea during the charge of the light brigade. It had not been his to question why, but to do and to die.

Mary never married, but instead established a school to train young girls along lines laid out by Mary Wollstonecraft in her essays. The school was surprisingly successful, and Mary had a lifelong close and intimate friendship with one of her senior teachers. When her sisters or mother worried about her unmarried state, she would insist she was completely happy and wished nothing else.

Mrs. Bennet lived long enough to have many grandchildren, and to annoy more than a few granddaughters with the lamentation that, "My goodness you are already twenty. Why that is practically an old maid. We must find you someone to marry you immediately!" She rarely visited Pemberley, as relations between her and Elizabeth never were happy. She never visited Lydia as her youngest daughter explicitly told her not to. Jane and Bingley accepted her visits, though they were usually pleased when they ended. Mrs. Bennet spent most of her time, often three or four months in a year, with Catherine, who was the only daughter who really welcomed her.

As for Darcy and Elizabeth, they lived happily together to a shockingly old age. Their lives were always filled with laughter and happiness. Following the peace England entered a prolonged depression during which rents did sharply fall, and Darcy and Elizabeth expanded their holdings substantially by purchasing land from indebted gentlemen. Rents slowly increased again in the decades following and the Darcys turned a very good profit on this. As a result of this, and many other good decisions they made over the course of their long lives, the Darcy family went from being merely very rich, to very, very rich.

Elizabeth never lost the habits of economy she developed as Mistress of Longbourn. Thus the expenses of the family did not increase with their growing income, and as a result to this very day all of the many female descendants of Mrs. Bennet have trust funds such that they need never work a day in their lives if they so chuse.

In summary, everyone who ought to have been happy, was quite as happy as they deserved, and most who did not deserve to be happy, were still happy. Except for Mr. Wickham, who was not able to enjoy, or ruin, his excellent posthumous reputation, being dead.

AN: Everyone thank you very much for reading, I am very glad I had the opportunity to entertain you. For those of you who use Kobo (Canadians?) Mr. Darcy and Mr. Collins's Widow is live there. Link again in my profile.

Also, as a reminder, I will write more JAFF, so if you want to know when my next story starts posting click follow author.

I look forward to entertaining you all with my next story.