His Best Hope

This story is about how Jane Austen’s book, Pride and Prejudice, might have turned out if Fitzwilliam Darcy had lost Mr. Bingley’s friendship after he returned from Rosings after his Easter visit. It was in town when he told his friend that he had been involved in separating him from Miss Jane Bennet, Elizabeth’s sister.

Darcy did not know what Charles Bingley’s reaction would be once he confessed his involvement in the affair, but it could not be helped. During his visit he had proposed to Miss Elizabeth Bennet and she had refused him. She had been at Hunsford to visit with her friend Charlotte, who had recently married Mr. Collins. That man was the parson for Darcy’s Aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh.

Darcy had expected that Elizabeth would accept him, but she did not. The proposal was poorly done and to the extent that she said he was not a gentleman and was the last person in the world she would consent to marry. He stayed up all that night writing a letter to her that addressed her many concerns when she refused him. Her major concern was that Darcy had been responsible for separating Bingley from Jane because he did not believe that Jane was in love. Darcy met Elizabeth in the grove that next morning and delivered his letter and walked away a broken man, but he was still as much in love as ever.

Would Darcy’s letter help his cause? I sincerely hope you will enjoy my little story.