The scream was cut off after only a few seconds, but the young lady recognized it instantly. There are screams, and then there are screams. This was definitely one of the latter - the good kind. Whoever made the noise was clearly experiencing some type of strong emotion. It was early morning, with the sun just barely above the horizon, casting a beautiful light over the open harbor of Ramsgate.

Not one to overly analyze any situation, the young lady hiked up her skirts and ran like a house afire towards the sound. The scream had not been overly loud, so she could conclude that whoever made it was reasonably close, and that it was unlikely anybody else had heard the noise. She had never seen anyone else, other than her own family and friends, in this area at this time of day in the several weeks she had been enjoying her morning constitutionals in the area. It seemed like it would be her task to deal with whatever this particular situation entailed. She ran like mad across the patch of grass that ran for around fifty yards from the seawall to a stand of trees, hearing the waves crashing in the rocks below the steep cliff, and eventually got close enough to hear another scream start, that once again was strangled off right in the middle.

The lady finally managed to achieve her goal, when she crashed around a short hedgerow directly into contact with the mysterious screamer.

What she found was quite obviously the most badly executed abduction in history. A gentleman was clearly absconding with a young lady, but he was making abominably poor progress, since all he was doing was grabbing her around the waist and spinning her in circles while her short scream turned into heartfelt laughter. The lady was making a very poor showing of her escape, since her hands were grabbing the gentleman's shoulders with equal force. Then the entire operation got even less efficient, when the lady decided to fight back. Her methods bordered on violence, but since ladies were not taught to fight properly with fists, she apparently selected the tactic of wrapping her arms around the gentleman's neck and trying to smother him with a kiss.

The young lady decided an intervention was obviously required.

"Lady Elinor Fitzwilliam, what in the world are you doing with my brother?"

She stamped her foot to emphasize her point and carried on relentlessly.

"Bennet Cornelius Darcy, what is the meaning of this display?"

Attacker and rescuer looked at her, and all three burst out laughing.

The gentleman said, "Hello, Mimi. As you can see, I have just proposed to Lady Elinor, and she has accepted."

"About time!"

The three were just laughing a bit more, when another voice entered the small copse.

"About time, indeed. I was just about to stage a compromise."

Mimi, or more properly, Mary Caroline Darcy, curtsied with the same bow she had used on her curtsy to the Queen a half‑year earlier, and said, "Well met, My Lady. You are just in time."

"Do not start on me. You are worse than your mother."

Lady Caroline Fitzwilliam, smiled at her god-niece Mimi and her daughter Elinor, and said, "No more of those curtsies, you rascal."

She then turned to the erstwhile couple and said, "So, you managed to bring the lunkhead to the point, finally. Well done, Elinor."

Not to be outdone, Bennet Darcy replied, "You mean I finally wore down her implacable resistance, Lady Lina?"

Everyone in the group laughed. The pair had been essentially a couple since they both came out at seventeen two years previously. They had been nearly inseparable most of their lives, alternating between being best childhood friends and worst childhood enemies as relationships were wont to do. Adolescence had increased the swings the point where they vacillated between ecstasy and Armageddon. The rougher patches had been worn away long ago, but both had taken their parent's advice that there was a long time to be married, and a short time to be single, so there was no particular hurry. With the long‑awaited betrothal, they would be married at twenty, which seemed about right to everyone.

The Fitzwilliam's had lived near the Darcys for all their children's lives. For the first decade, it was simply retired Colonel Fitzwilliam and his wife Caroline on a small estate near Kypmton, purchased with the Colonel's savings and Caroline's dowry. There, the four Darcy and five Fitzwilliam children spent their childhoods learning accomplishments and responsibilities, whilst thoroughly enjoying each other's company most of the time. The eldest were the first to be betrothed, and the only ones expected between the families, but everyone always knew how it would be.

Five years earlier, the relationship had changed somewhat when Mrs. Caroline Fitzwilliam became Lady Caroline Fitzwilliam, Countess of Matlock. Her husband, Richard Fitzwilliam, the new Earl of Matlock grumbled about the change, (or whinged if you asked Liza Darcy), but knuckled down to do his duty. During the first decade after Waterloo, while he had lived quite contentedly as a husband and landowner thoroughly in love with his wife, his brother had done his best to bankrupt the Earldom, and his best had been quite good. It had taken everything the new Earl could get from his estate, and some rather large loans from the Darcy and Bingley families to keep it afloat. The only thing that had saved the estate in one piece was an entail enacted by the current Earl's grandfather. The new Earl, as his brother before him, was only a life tenant like Mr. Bennet, so while his brother had managed to deplete all the ready cash, the estate itself and all its lands had been protected. The new Earl of Matlock and his smarter than average wife took their business seriously, and after a decade of hard work between them and their three sons, the estate had turned around. They had paid off all the debts, and it was nearly as prosperous as ever.

The Earl entered the grove next, accompanied by his cousin Fitzwilliam Darcy, having previously arranged to meet their wives there. Almost nobody in the family had any idea why the family had a tradition of walking this particular path by the seawall, but they had been doing so for many years. Everyone loved the view of the ocean, and the path was peaceful and usually practically empty, so nobody had any need to dispute the selection. Mrs. Georgiana Dashwood and her sister in law Elizabeth Darcy had started the tradition not long after Mrs. Darcy returned from the wars, and they always walked alone at least once and usually twice per week with every visit. Nobody knew why, nor did they feel any need to ask.

Mrs. Dashwood was a close confidant of her elder sister in law Elizabeth. She had lived with her brother and his wife for another year after coming out at nineteen, right about the time her brother had married his bride in a farmhouse near Brussels. Fate eventually threw her into the path of a Captain Dashwood, a Navy Captain of some repute. It seemed inevitable that they should be destined for each other, and she always thought that since her brother had displaced one Dashwood with a Darcy, it was only fitting that she should redress the world's balance by replacing one Darcy with a Dashwood. All was right in the world once again.

Whether by fate or coincidence, Mrs. Darcy and Mrs. Dashwood entered the small glade just a moment later, and both said, "About time."

Everyone was in the middle of laughing, when Earl and the Sea Captain joined the circle, along with their good friends the Bingleys and the Hursts. The eldest of the next generation was both a Bingley and a Hurst. Mrs. Elizabeth Hurst was still affectionately known as Little Lizzy by her closest family and she had never disputed the name, since it showed affection for her favorite Aunt… and the fact that she had never even approached five feet of height, let alone surpassed it. Her husband, Robert Hurst was the eldest of a distant cousin of her mother's sister, Mrs. Hurst. They lived around a half‑day's journey from the family estate of Netherfield where she had grown up, and they had been married for three years with one child to show for it.

With many glad tidings, someone finally asked if celebrating a betrothal with only a half‑dozen of the large extended families on a cliffside out of doors was the best way to go about it.

The Earl of Matlock startled, and said, "Betrothal, am I going daft. Is it actually a betrothal if the gentleman has not asked the perspective bride's father for permission?"

Everyone laughed again, since not a single person could remember a single thing Elinore Fitzwilliam had ever really wanted that had not been granted. The lady had been very young, and somewhat naughty when her favorite Aunt Elizabeth spoke to her one day.

"Elinore, have you ever noticed that you are a person who can wear down the resistance of anybody, and wheedle your way to anything you want."

The young Elinore had beamed with pride at the presumed compliment.

Her mother had continued, "Well, Child. You should understand this. The ability to get people to do what you want is a power. With great power comes great responsibility. You can do great good or great harm, young lady. Please insure you use it wisely."

For some reason, despite her young age, those words had stuck with Elinore Fitzwilliam for the rest of her life. She did not always use her power wisely, but eventually, as she grew beyond the bounds of childhood, she came to regret the times she did not do so and enjoy the times she did. Eventually, there were more of the latter and less of the former.

As the group prepared to return to their lodgings, Elinore and Bennet looked at each other and nodded. They walked over to the group with smiles on their faces.

There in the grove, looking out to sea, Bennet Darcy bowed to the Earl of Matlock, and began the heartfelt speech he had prepared for the occasion. Long experience had taught him that big groups were best. They were not traditional, but they did cut down on the Colonel's merciless teasing considerably. It was not that the Colonel was less inclined to teasing, but that he could be easily distracted so others might take some of the brunt. Bennet had not gotten the first two words out before the Earl started.

"Of course, you have my blessing, Son."

Bennet, foiled, just laughed and leaned over to kiss his betrothed on the cheek.

That young lady smiled, turned to her future mother in law, and asked, "Aunt Liza, do you remember what you told me when I was ten?"

"Of course, Elinore. I cannot pretend to have invented the words though. They are what I try to live my life by, and I got them from my mother."

"I remember, and I believe I can safely assert that I followed them. I have chosen wisely."

~~ Finis ~~

A/N: There you have it gang, story 20 in the can. At 90k words it's about double the size I originally envisioned, which is about usual for me. My estimates of story lengths are notoriously bad.

This story has been by far my most read and most commented in-progress work, so it seems to have touched a nerve. I am eternally grateful for all the kind comments, and thankful for the useful constructive criticism. I read and enjoy every one, thought I cannot respond to very many.

The whole Lina storyline was not a part of the original concept. The original idea was almost all E&D, and that one just sprang out of nowhere. Most of the rest of it is exactly to the original plan, and the resolution is exactly what I originally envisioned. It was important for this to be both protagonists solving the core problem independently. I wanted it to be collaborative, not one‑sided as in canon.

I think modern readers cannot possibly imagine the emotional difficulties a situation like this would wreak on a Regency woman, so I don't pretend to. In fact, almost nobody who has not experienced something like this can really understand even for a modern person, but I try my best. Lizzy was obviously suffering from PTSD, as you would expect. Not everything she did was efficient or sensible, but I do like to think it would have been consistent. The ladies of Elizabeth's station would have been quite sheltered, so the whole experience would have been much more of a shock than it might be for someone of the other classes. I tried to get it as close as I reasonably could, and I hope you enjoyed it.

Wade