In this Pride & Prejudice short story, Elizabeth Bennet is injured immediately after overhearing Fitzwilliam Darcy insult her at the Meryton Assembly. She loses all memory of the incident. Without her feelings of offense, their relationship starts off on a better foot, which leads them to love far sooner than would happen otherwise. This in turn leads Elizabeth to react differently to those … those who would try to derail their happiness. Mr. Collins, Mr. Wickham, Lady Catherine, and even Miss Bingley will soon find themselves in places they never imagined they would be. This story contains a non-graphic attempted sexual assault scene.
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You can’t hold a grudge if you don’t remember the insult.
Trigger warning: There is an attack on a female that is explicit in its intent; however, there was no violation, just man-handled and roughed up.
This was a short-short story with a twist. At eight chapters, that means action, climax, and denouement happened quickly.
Our opening chapter was at the Meryton Assembly with Darcy making his insulting remark. Elizabeth overheard and smiled as she rose to go to her friend to discuss his remark. It was at this point that Burton switched from canon and took a creative detour that puts ODC on a completely different journey. Enter a new character who, while in her cups, was jostled about by the dancers and bumped into Elizabeth, thus, knocking her down right in front of Mr. Darcy. Elizabeth hit her head and was semi-conscious. Jane rushed to her sister and Mr. Darcy offered his assistance and carried Elizabeth to a settee in an adjacent room for privacy. Mr. Bennet arrived and they took Elizabeth home with Mr. Darcy asking permission to call the next day to check on her.
Mr. Darcy was prompt in his call the following day. Due to Mrs. Bennet and the younger girls being out, it allowed him a delightful visit with Elizabeth, Jane, and Mr. Bennet. The two gentlemen established a friendship and Mr. Darcy was invited to play chess with Mr. Bennet in the future. So set the preferred company of sensible people with taste, intelligence, conversation, and wit. He was also glad that Elizabeth did not remember his insulting remark. I liked that Darcy could see the essence of the Bennet family without the clamorous antics of Mrs. Bennet and the younger girls. He eventually had to deal with them, but he was already too deep in his feelings for Elizabeth for it to matter.
Mr. Collins arrived and insisted on Elizabeth being the companion of his future life. He refused to believe her or the family when they tried to tell him she was not available for him to marry. He thought they were trying to keep her from him and continued to rant like a child being denied a toy. Such a toad.
We had Caroline’s evil remarks regarding the Bennet connections and Elizabeth especially. Let’s just say, she didn’t get the response from Mr. Darcy that she expected.
Halfway through the story, we had the introduction of Mr. Wickham when he joined the shire-militia. We watched his behavior when he learned his former childhood friend was in the area and had a relationship with Miss Elizabeth. Wickham’s plans were and had always been, to destroy all his nemesis held dear. Any way that he could get revenge on his former friend was an opportunity he would not pass up. He continued to spread his lies about Meryton of Darcy’s treatment and injustice to him and kept a watchful eye on Elizabeth. He was not best pleased that she didn’t seem to believe his lies or submit to his charms. This man was evil.
Burton went into more detail regarding Wickham’s upbringing and school years than we usually see in JAFF. This extra detail was important as it laid the foundation for his feelings, resentment, and consequence. Poor Darcy senior did him no favors by showing him attention and bestowing a gentlemen’s education on him. In fact, what Darcy senior meant as a gift, nearly destroyed his daughter and son and actually became Wickham’s downfall.
The rest of the story involved a threat we rarely see; however, it has been written before. It was hard to realize men of that ilk existed and Wickham’s true colors were soon revealed. It was resolved quickly and only because the author chose to do so. In reality, I wonder if it would have played out that way.
The last chapter covers a lot and we come full circle with the original lady in her cups again. Yeah, Burton has a snarky side and the comedic relief was a hoot. I didn’t see it coming and should have paid attention to the clues Burton laid out. OMG!!! What a scream.
What I didn’t like: This read like a WIP and felt rushed. We were only able to touch the surface of the story. The basic elements were there, it was a great plot and storyline. I would have liked to have explored it more. By making things move so quickly, we missed important points to the story and especially the relationship between ODC. Each chapter handled a different element of the story. It almost read like an outline.
Propriety, comportment, manners, gentlemanly behavior toward a lady, were glazed over at a hit or miss proposition. Mr. Darcy’s set-down and harsh comments to a lady were pushing the limits to how a gentleman would act, or what he could or would say to a lady. At best, propriety and comportment were at the discretion of the author. She used them when she wanted to and ignored them when she didn’t. I still liked the story.