The True Gentleman of Pemberley

Colonel Fitzwilliam returns from the Continent on crutches and accompanies his cousin to Hertfordshire, determined that Fitzwilliam Darcy will not brood in a corner while a room of charming strangers goes unmet.

Unable to dance, he talks instead, and that easy warmth draws from the proud master of Pemberley a truth Elizabeth Bennet recognises at once: Darcy’s silence at a crowded assembly is not contempt, but a nervous affliction her own father shares.

One honest conversation undoes the insult that ought to have divided them, and with the colonel at Darcy’s elbow, Wickham’s lies collapse before they can take root,

an officious clergyman is steered toward Charlotte Lucas—who actually wants him—and a scheming sister’s letter is exposed before it can part Jane from Bingley.

What Fitzwilliam cannot do is win Elizabeth in his cousin’s place.

A man long used to commanding a room by silence must learn whether his conduct can earn the heart he wants.