P&P The Untold Stories: Darcy at the Meryton Assembly

Mr. Darcy and the Insult

October 16, 1811

The haute ton, it was not.

Fitzwilliam Darcy was accustomed to being noticed, but not openly stared at. He sipped idly of his drink whenever some bold local appeared set to approach him, and gazed apathetically out at the uncivilized melee when he was left alone. One of the burdens of modern society—a man such as he was expected to make himself agreeable to everyone, no matter what his own wishes on the subject may be.

Bingley had scarcely entered the r...