Compromised at the Meryton Ball

At the Meryton ball, Fitzwilliam Darcy has no wish to dance with strangers, and a cousin's urging toward a dark-haired lady draws only a disdainful reply that Elizabeth Bennet overhears.

She is already committed to an older, wealthy gentleman she does not love, a painful match meant to keep her family secure after her father's death, though she cannot tell why an unknown man pressed Mr. Bennet for her hand.

Her indignation strikes against Darcy's pride while Mr. Wickham risks a lucrative scheme to pay for his spendthrift habits.

Elizabeth and Darcy are drawn into the same effort to stop him, even as Darcy's growing attachment strains against his duty to his family and the Darcy name.

A very public compromise then redirects both of their lives, with Wickham's reckoning still unresolved.