A/N: In the time that I have been lingering with this story, many crucial events have kept me from being able to complete it. I saw my mother diagnosed with leukemia, and I was a little preoccupied with her treatment. I saw a dear cousin go missing, and neither she nor her unborn child have ever been found in two years. I saw my mother defeat the cancer that ravaged her body, and she is as healthy as a horse! I met, fell in love with, and married my very own Mr. Darcy. A lot has happened, and here you all have stayed. I thank you for your devotion and I am extensively honored by your choice to hang in there. Now, for you, I present the completion of Duty and Honor.

"Mama, honestly," Elizabeth sighed, lifting a basket of ribbons into the open hands of her sister Lydia. "Everything will work out. We have been provided a place at Lucas Lodge, and I am quite sure we will find a suitable place to rent as soon as Sir William finds one for us."

"Oh hush! You cannot know these things! We are doomed to be indentured to the Lucases until I am cold in my grave! Oh, your father never would have stood for this!" The older woman sobbed into her handkerchief as Lizzie sighed and turned to Jane for another basket of belongings. She offered her older sister a slight, knowing smile. "At least you are safe, Jane, from this life our mother describes."

Jane blushed a soft pink, averting her eyes. "Only when Mr. Bingley makes good upon his promises."

"That's the last of it, Ma'am," the family's manservant spoke as he placed the final trunk atop the carriage. He climbed down and tipped his hat to the girls. "It has been a pleasure to serve you, Miss Bennet. The whole lot of you." Turning, he cleared his throat. "Mrs. Bennet…" He bowed to the Matriarch as well, but she dismissed him with a shake of her handkerchief.

"Go, go. We are now to live as paupers. Go work for a much richer family!"

"Sister!" Mrs. Phillips approached the gloomy few, carrying a basket of her goods from Meryton. She waved to Mrs. Bennet. "Sister, be relieved!"

The attention of each of the girls was piqued, as well as Mrs. Bennet's. Had Mrs. Phillips come up with a solution to leaving the home the girls had known since infancy?

"Relieved! What could relieve us from our state of absolute poverty?" Mrs. Bennet cried.

Mrs. Phillips paused, but then she gave an impish smile. "Well, I cannot relieve you from that particular burden. However, you should know that you and your daughters are no longer the talk of Meryton! A scandal has arisen that has taken much of the town by surprise!"

"Heavens be praised," the sarcasm in Mrs. Bennet's voice was evident. Lizzie was impressed. She was not sure she had ever seen such attitude from her mother. Turning to Mary, Lydia and Kitty, the second Bennet daughter dismissed them into the house to collect their personal things for the travel to Lucas Lodge.

"Do you recall a Miss Mary King, to whom I introduced you at Lucas Lodge?" Mrs. Phillips helped her sister sit upon a wrought-iron bench near the garden.

Mrs. Bennet nodded and touched her dry cheeks with her handkerchief. "Of course, of course."

"It is said that she has been absolutely taken in by a scoundrel in the regiment! A Mr. Wickham! Apparently, when Mr. Wickham discovered Miss King's extensive inheritance, he whisked her away to Gretna Green!"

Elizabeth was not quite sure whether this news disappointed Mrs. Phillips, as it pertained to a young woman of her acquaintance, or if it excited her to share it.

Mrs. Bennet shook her head and sighed, "Oh now a tale of a fortune hunter is hardly news compared to an entire family being put out of their home. I am sure the news will fade away when the town hears of Mr. Collins coming in his carriage!"

"Now Sister, you have not heard the lot of it! Be still while I tell you!" Mrs. Phillips seemed to puff out her chest before telling the very best part of the story, "I heard from the butcher that this Mr. Wickham was once a potential suitor to Miss Darcy of Derbyshire. The very one engaged to Mr. Bingley of Netherfield Park."

Jane looked up at Mrs. Phillips, her folding of linens slowing considerably. Elizabeth's eyes instinctively turned to her older sister.

"As he cut a haunch of pork for the house, he told me that in order to keep Miss Darcy safe, Mr. Bingley feigned the engagement. Because he is such very good friends with Mr. Darcy, you know." She nodded, satisfied with her telling.

A long moment passed before Mrs. Bennet spoke, "Are you telling me, Sister, that Mr. Bingley's engagement is false?"

"Yes! Mr. Bingley and Miss Darcy are NOT engaged! Mr. Bingley's cook told the butcher so this very morning!"

Ravenous dogs had never had such a look as Mrs. Bennet at that moment. She turned to her eldest daughter. "Jane. Have you heard this?!"

Jane swallowed hard and nodded. "I, I have heard, Mama."

"Oh thank Heavens! We are saved! We are saved, Jane!" The mother of the Bennet family threw her hands into the air, running towards he eldest daughter.

"You must write to Miss Bingley this very instant and ask to see her! That way, you can make Mr. Bingley fall in love with you once again!"

Elizabeth, although she knew the situation better than Mrs. Phillips had described, laughed at her mother. "Oh Mama, you know it does not work like that!"

"Why should it not? Jane is the handsomest of all of the girls in Hertfordshire! He is bound to fall in love with her once again. Jane, make haste!"

The gravel drive was disturbed in that moment by another visitor, but this one did not seem so friendly as Elizabeth's aunt. A haughty-looking solicitor pulled back on the reigns of his horse and dismounted, bringing a roll of parchment to Mrs. Bennet. He cleared his throat.

"Mrs. Bennet, I presume?"

Mrs. Bennet's hand flew to her sister's, which she gripped tightly. She swallowed hard and nodded, looking as she was shaking far too violently to be able to stand.

Elizabeth stepped forward. "My Mama is not well, sir. I am Elizabeth Bennet, Mrs. Bennet's daughter."

The man turned and nodded to her, handing over the parchment. "Miss Bennet. I am from the offices of Snead and Blakely, London. I've come with papers for your mother to sign."

"If you want me to sign over anything, you are to be sorely disappointed, sir! I have lost my home, and there is nothing else I am prepared to lose!" The strong voice was surprising, coming from the trembling woman.

His jaw dropping slightly for a moment, the solicitor looked from Mrs. Bennet back to Elizabeth. "I…I only need someone to sign…"

Elizabeth took the parchment and unrolled it, reading carefully. She glanced up at the man, then back to the papers. "There has to be a mistake, sir."

"No mistake, Miss Bennet," he nodded to the paper. "Deal was closed just yesterday in London, and they've sent it on to be signed."

Jane stepped up alongside her sister, glancing down at the document. "Lizzie, what is it?"

"Yes, girl, tell us!" Mrs. Bennet cried.

"This is the deed to the house. The estate. It…it has been purchased for us," Elizabeth blanched and her words became whispers as she spoke the last sentence. Looking up at Jane, the older girl blinked. "Mr. Bingley?"

Jane's jaw dropped. She shook her head. "It cannot be. He wrote me yesterday, and…"

The proverbial cat was suddenly out of its bag.

"Wrote to you? You have been writing Mr. Bingley? How long have you…?" Mrs. Bennet stood.

The poor, tired solicitor looked at the group of women before him. "Will someone sign, please? I've got to ride back to Bromley, yet."

Elizabeth thrust the parchment at her mother. "Please sign it, Mama."

Mrs. Bennet hurried into the house for a writing instrument, Mrs. Phillips on her tail.

"Mr. Bingley would have told me, Lizzie. He would have said something. We were planning details of the wedding, but he said nothing about buying the house. He would have said something!" Jane was distressed. She patted her apron pocket for her letter to prove her case.

"He must have! Perhaps he wanted it to be a surprise for you, Jane?"

"It weren't a Mr. Bingley, ma'am, who bought the estate," the solicitor spoke, rocking on his heels a bit. He shoved his hand into his pocket. "A Mr. Davey? No, Darcy. Mr. Darcy of Derbyshire. Relation of yours?"

"Of all of the high-handed, presumptuous, deceitful…" Mrs. Bennet stomped into the drawing room, placing down a basket of sewing. She threw her hands into the air. "What kind of a man does this?!"

"Mama, please! We are in a great debt to Mr. Darcy!" Jane sighed and lit a couple of candles in the dim room.

"He could not have sent the attorney days ago, when we still had servants? When we had not packed every single thing we owned!?"

The howlings of her mother were muffled as Elizabeth Bennet walked outside to the front garden. She held a letter in her hands, one she was almost afraid to send. In her haste after learning of the sale of their property to Mr. Darcy, she had scrawled the letter of appreciation. But now, what did it all mean? Why was he so entirely self-kept about his feelings for her?

Thinking about Mr. Darcy infuriated her. Lizzie kicked at the stones in the walkway, shaking her head. Why could he not simply tell her that he loved her? Why did he have to keep it all hidden away like some great secret? Had he not gotten past his contempt for her lower status in life? Surely, the elevation of her sister after her marriage to Mr. Bingley would eliminate some of the ill feelings. He had been so kind to her before, but now this – no notice of the purchase!

Moving around to the back garden, she watched moonlight dance into the sky, pushing the sun to its evening resting-place. The night cooled her angst-warmed skin, and she closed her eyes, sitting upon a bench in her favorite place. How things had changed for Elizabeth. Her entire life had been thrown into a whirling abyss of confusion since her father's death. Even through the escapades with Mr. Collins, a romantic moment of being whisked away by a horsed savior, and a daring charade in which she played the invalid for the sake of avoiding an undesirable marriage…Elizabeth found herself alone.

"I hope I am not disturbing your reverie," a deep voice spoke from before her. Elizabeth's eyes snapped open. The moonlight silhouetted the figure in front of her, but the voice and shape were unmistakable. She watched him for a moment, just breathing.

"Why?"

"You looked so peaceful," he said.

"No. Why did you purchase the estate? How…how did you do it? Mr. Collins…"

He sat next to Lizzie, turning to face her. Now, his handsome features came into view. "I had a talk with my aunt. I explained to her the certain evils of having association with the family, and please do not be insulted," he watched her closely as he spoke, "with the family of the woman who had jilted Mr. Collins."

Taking into stock his request to avoid insult, Elizabeth nodded for him to continue.

"Naturally, any advice which comes down from Lady Catherine will most certainly be taken by Mr. Collins. He hastily issued an eviction notice and sold the property to the highest bidder." He gestured to himself.

"Why?" She asked quietly again, looking up into his eyes.

He paused and watched her. Raising a hand, he tentatively pushed one of her dark brown curls away from her face. "I wanted him out of your life. So…so I may take his place."

Elizabeth's heartbeat pounded inside her chest. Taking in a deep breath, she whispered in return. "Do you, Mr. Darcy, have designs on taking his place? Being my landlord?"

He smirked and shook his head, laughing softly. "No, Elizabeth," he spoke her Christian name with such elegant beauty. "I have designs on becoming your fiancé. And I hope I may have more luck in becoming your husband."

Her lips were dry. She took a moment to wet them. "I have no other horsemen waiting in the wings to rescue me."

He nodded and smirked again, leaning in a little more closely, whispering in return, "Good. Very good." Leaning in, his lips connected once again with hers. This time, Elizabeth wrapped her arms around his neck and returned his kiss, with no intention of ever letting go.