It is a truth universally acknowledged that a woman in possession of no fortune is in want of a husband. This had Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy come to realise already in his early years, when all the young mothers of Lambton most politely always greeted little Fitzwilliam whenever he was visiting the village with one or both of his parents. This, however, did not bother him. He was too little to understand why all the girls of Lambton always happened to be out when he was there and why his presence always was welcomed with a pretty smile.
But time passed and young Fitzwilliam grew up to be a handsome young man. He was sent to Oxford to get the education that was necessary for a man in his position, or in the position he would eventually gain.
Darcy was sad to leave his home and parents, not to mention his sweet little sister Georgiana. He was still a boy and had always been rather shy. It was not easy for him to start a new life in a strange town with only a few people he knew. He had to overcome his shyness and learn to know new people. This, even if hard at first, was good for Mr. Darcy and he never came to regret the time he spent in Oxford. Those years were peaceful time in Fitzwilliam's life and it was there where he formed many lifelong friendships with fellow students, one of them being a Mr. Charles Bingley.
Eventually both Mr. Bingley and Darcy finished their studies in Oxford and were ready to take some of the responsibilities they had been brought up for. After spending some time together in London, the two went their separate ways. Fitzwilliam rode back to Pemberley, the estate where he was born and where he had spent all his childhood, the estate that would one day be his, while Bingley stayed in London where his father had a townhouse.
This was the end of the protected life Darcy had lead so far. He was now a grown up man and free for all the fortune hunters that lived within a comfortable distance from Pemberley. There was no end to the families that came to welcome the young Mr. Darcy back to the neighbourhood and always they brought their more or less beautiful daughters with them, or if they did not have any own daughter's, they spoke very warmly of their young nieces.
As much as Fitzwilliam loved his home and family, this was too much for him to take. Many times he wished he could be back in Oxford, miles away from the young ladies that now were introduced to him. He missed his friend Bingley and would probably have gone to London to meet him had it not been likely to find even more unmarried girls waiting for him there.
Fitzwilliam started to spend more and more time by himself. He walked around the family estate or rode across the county, soon knowing all the roads better than anyone else in the neighbourhood. He took part in social events only when he had to and usually, when his parents went out for a ball, he stayed back to keep company to his beloved sister Georgiana.
For some time Darcy was happy as he was, but then his life took a dreadful turn when his mother took seriously ill. He had to watch her fade away before his very eyes and it wounded him deeply. Fitzwilliam had always been very sensitive and his mother had been very dear to him, always supporting him when he had felt bad. But now that he felt worse than ever she wasn't there anymore to comfort him.
As if this alone was not bad enough for young Darcy, he also had to see his father losing his strength. The old Mr. Darcy never recovered from losing his wife and so he followed her only a year after, leaving his two children all alone in the world.
Fitzwilliam was heartbroken and he hardly knew what to do. Suddenly he was a master of a grand estate, in a possession of a very large fortune and a guardian of a little sister he loved and wanted to protect from all the harms in the world.