a particular disagreeable gentleman
it's a bit weird that author made a point of the colonel softening the blow of the infamous insult by telling elizabeth that darcy was a dickhead and a liar for saying it, but also by explaining his manners, and yet still elizabeth reacts in the way she always does? she wouldn't be as vehement in her dislike as in canon because the colonel has at least halved the blow to her vanity. it makes no sense to keep her disliking him to this degree – bear in mind that elizabeth acknowledges him to be handsome but isn't actually attracted to him yet, so this shouldn't be a factor – so what's left? i'm being given no reason to believe she'd still dislike him so heartily.
