title: The Darcys Give a Ball: A gentle joke, Jane Austen style
author:  Elizabeth Newark 
description: This light and airy bow to the Darcys after their marriage offers an acceptably Austenian setting. With their children and those of their neighbors and friends coming into their own, it behooves Elizabeth and Darcy to give a ball; they're mostly offscreen while several <i>Pride and Prejudice</i> plot lines are resolved neatly. Mr. Collins finally receives his feverishly anticipated inheritance of Longbourn; he dreams of leaving the clergy and joining the landed gentry. (Charlotte Collins, his wife, must be ambiguous about his goals, in deference to her friendship for Elizabeth Darcy.) Miss Anne De Bourgh, daughter of the late redoubtable Lady Catherine De Bourgh, is found happily married to a husband with great musical enthusiasm, if not talent, producing one of the gentle humorous moments in the work. Charlotte Collins experiences quite a change of life as well, as much due to Mr. Collins's late-developing affection for her as from his unusual reaction to the final chapter of <i>The Olde Curiosity Shop</i>. Missing is any real dealing with the passing of Elizabeth's father, Mr. Bennet, or Elizabeth's reaction to it, but the addition of the Collins's daughter, Eliza, is a welcome one. This mildly charming addition keeps the Austen mill churning. <i>(Mar.)</i> <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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  Engaging Mr. Darcy
  
  
  An Austen Inspired Romantic Comedy
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Rachel John
  
  
  
  
  
  Copyright © 2018 Rachel John
  
  
  Cover Design by Victorine E. Lieske
  
  
  All rights reserved.
  
  
  No part of this work may be resold, copied, or reproduced without written
  permission from the author, except for brief quotations used in reviews or
  articles.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
    
  Contents
  
  
  [Chapter 1 ♥ Good Looks and Bad
  Tempers](part0000_split_002.html#_Toc513623054)
  
  
  [Chapter 2 ♥ Debt and Other Unpleasant
  Things](part0000_split_003.html#_Toc513623055)
  
  
  [Chapter 3 ♥ Clean Up](part0000_split_004.html#_Toc513623056)
  
  
  [Chapter 4 ♥ Pay Up, Money Bags](part0000_split_005.html#_Toc513623057)
  
  
  [Chapter 5 ♥ Sob Story](part0000_split_006.html#_Toc513623058)
  
  
  [Chapter 6 ♥ Nobody is Nobody](part0000_split_007.html#_Toc513623059)
  
  
  [Chapter 7 ♥ Mosquitos and Women](part0000_split_008.html#_Toc513623060)
  
  
  [Chapter 8 ♥ Blue Eyes and Limbo](part0000_split_009.html#_Toc513623061)
  
  
  [Chapter 9 ♥ Shuf