Lost Souls

In this Pride & Prejudice variation, the story begins in 1808 when Mr. Darcy does not arrive at Ramsgate until two days after Georgiana's elopement with George Wickham. The servants sell their story to the newspapers, the couple vanish, and when the gossip columns run rampant with the news, Darcy's relatives demand that Darcy disown his sister. When Wickham learns he cannot gain his wife's dowry until she is thirty years, he deserts Georgiana and Darcy takes her back into their London home. With society turned against them, Darcy takes his sister to Pemberley but she dies during the winter. In the spring (1809), Darcy returns to London but he is unrecognizable with a full beard and long hair. The ever-faithful Charles Bingley, invites Darcy to use his new appearance as a disguise to hide and grieve in Hertfordshire. To the surprise of everyone in Meryton, Charles returns from London with a new secretary, one 'Malcom McDuff', a wild looking Scots with a full beard, long hair, and an eye patch over one eye. While there, McDuff meets Miss Elizabeth Bennet and they share many interesting conversations. But as the day for the wedding of Jane Bennet and Charles Bingley approaches, McDuff vanishes. There is scandal enough in Hertfordshire that summer when Lydia Bennet elopes with George Wickham from Brighton and the Bennet family is shocked by Lydia's resolution to her problem. The next summer (1810), Elizabeth travels to Hunsford to aid Mrs. Collins with the impending birth of her first child. Upon arrival she is introduced to Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy from Derbyshire who is on business in Kent.There is something familiar about this Mr. Darcy, and Elizabeth Bennet sets her mind to discovering his secret.