A Favorable Impression: A Pride and Prejudice Variation

What if Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy had met at Pemberley?

Coming home to Pemberley, the last thing Mr. Darcy expected was to find strangers taking a tour! Upon learning that the Gardiners and their nieces have mutual friends among his house party guests, Darcy invites them to stay. Over the course of the week, Miss Elizabeth Bennet's wit and vivacity make a favorable impression on Darcy, and she is equally impressed with his kindness and generosity.

Mr. Darcy expects that the rest of the Bennet family will be as well-mannered and genteel. But he soon learns they are quite the opposite: loud, vulgar, and rude. To make matters worse, the youngest sister has eloped with Mr. Darcy's nemesis!

But Darcy is convinced that if he can swallow his pride and ask Elizabeth to marry him, she will certainly accept. He did not count on her also having a sense of pride...

Elizabeth knows her family is imperfect, but being told that she is loved in spite of her reprehensible family is an insult that can not be borne. Such a degrading proposal ruins Elizabeth's good opinion of Mr. Darcy and convinces her that she was sorely mistaken about his character.

How can Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet find their way back to one another after such favorable impressions have been utterly dashed?