Jump to new as of January 28, 2003
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Chapter One

Posted On: Saturday, 26 October 2002, at 11:39 a.m.

Elizabeth Bennet sat down on the floor in front of the fireplace and opened the first box which lay beside her. It was one of the 12 boxes she received last week from Cardiff. They have been forwarded to her by her grandmother's attorney, Mr. Godfrey Brown, a man of 62 who has been the executor of her grandmother Gardner will. Shirley Gardner was Elizabeth's maternal grandmother and for most of her life, Elizabeth did not know her at all. Elizabeth's mother was not a person who kept good relations with most of her family. In her adult life, the first time Elizabeth had met with Shirley was during Elizabeth's Ph.D. studies of archaeology at Durham. Elizabeth specialised in British archaeology with focus on druid monuments. On a field trip in 1997, her group was spending a night in Cardiff and Elizabeth thought she might go and meet her grandmother. She and Shirley liked each other at once and stayed in contact until Shirley's death four moths ago. It was a hard blow to Elizabeth. She got used to Shirley's telephones at strange hours and her cheerful personality. After the funeral ceremony, Elizabeth has been approached by Mr. Brown and asked to come to the will opening. Shirley left her house to her only son and Elizabeth's uncle, Edward Gardner while all the jewelry, porcelain, furniture and paintings were left to Elizabeth. Elizabeth has also been charged with "keeping the ancestral tidings" as the will said. She was soon to learn that this meant that she would have to look through all the documents that Shirley left. Due to the fact that at the time of Shirley's death, Elizabeth has been excavating ruins of a B.C. village in the far north of England she asked Mr. Brown to have all documents packed and sent to her house in the Cotswalds.

Since she could remember, Cotswalds was a place where Elizabeth wanted to live. On her 30th birthday, Elizabeth took a mortgage and bought an old little cottage in a Cotswalds village. Her birthday fell shortly before Shirley's death, so all the things she's inherited, Elizabeth placed in her new house. Now, having finished the project in the north (in fact having run out of money her latest grant has provided) she finally had the time to spend some time in her house and read through Shirley's papers. She made herself a cup of tea, stirred the fire and was ready to start working. Before she was able to start, a telephone rang.

"Hi, Lizzy! How are you?" Elizabeth heard in the receiver, instantly recognising the voice of her older sister Jane. Jane has been married to her university sweetheart, if such a notion exists at all, Charles Bingley and lived in London. Charles was a solicitor with good prospects to become a partner in his just-outside-the-London-Magic-Circle-law-firm. They were married the previous year and Jane was in her 20th week of pregnancy now.

"Very well, Jane. I can finally enjoy the fact that I have my own home. How are you and the little baby Charles?"

"Oh, Lizzy, stop teasing. We don't know if it's going to be a boy or girl. I have a visit at the doctors scheduled for next week but we are still not sure if we want to know the baby's sex. Otherwise we are well. Charles has been working terrible hours lately. I hardly see him."

"You knew what you were doing, marrying a promising solicitor working in the just-outside-the-London-Magic-Circle-law-firm."

"You are teasing again, Liz! I shall take revenge on you. I will keep inviting you to parties with no one but Charles's colleagues from work and I'll make sure, you'll fall for one of them and then I won't be alone and you'll have no chance to tease me."

"I doubt it ever happening, I mean my marrying a lawyer. But if you insist on me coming to your parties, you must promise me that there will be no other but top-notch lawyers."

"Why is that so?"

"Because they'll never take interest in a head-strong girl with a Ph.D. in archaeology."

"You'd be surprised."

"I doubt it. Anyway, I've just started going through Grandma's Shirley's papers. It's going to be a long time before, I'll finish it."

"Is there that many?"

"I have twelve boxes standing in the middle of my sitting room." Cried Lizzy.

"Good luck then. I have to go Lizzy, I've just seen Charles parking the car. Take care."

"You, too. Call me and tell me how it went at the doctors."

"I will. Bye"

Elizabeth hung up the phone and sat down to read what she pulled out of the first box.

William Darcy searched his pockets for his mobile. It was 8 p.m. now and he's just finished his work - his first day in a new firm, and had nothing to do this evening. At the age of 36, he's just been nominated a partner in a just-outside-the-London-Magic-Circle-law-firm with a nice yearly income which for a boy from a middle class was more then he could imagine spending. He was previously a senior finance lawyer in a respectable law firm. At the point when he realised he had no chance to develop any further there, he was headhunted and here he was, standing in the cold November London street, having finished his first day at work. In fact, it was his second day but yesterday he had just meetings, lunch and dinner with different people from the firm. Today, he had his first chance to meet the people he was to work with and they all seemed fairly normal, if you could call any lawyer normal.

Finally, he got hold of his mobile and dialed his sister's number. Jenny Darcy-Parker and her husband Matt Parker lived just outside London. Jenny was William's junior by four years and she was married since previous Christmas. Matt was an architect and they've known each other since childhood as Matt's parents lived next door to the Darcys. However, the feelings between Jenny and Matt developed much later when they met in a supermarket. It turned out that Matt lived five minutes away from Jenny's place and within one and a half year they were married. Matt worked for Jones Lang LaSalle and Jenny worked as a Spanish interpreter in the Foreign Office.

"Hi Jenny, it's William."

"Hi, big brother! I thought you'd never call, having become a big fish of the legal world."

"Stop teasing! Would you find something in your fridge, I could have for dinner?'

"If you're quick, you can get something. Matt's just called to say, he'll be late today, so the food is still untouched. You'll have dinner with us, and I will open a bottle of wine to toast your success. I have also something to show you."

"Thanks, Jenny. I'll be there within an hour."

He sped through the streets as quickly as the traffic allowed it and parked his car in front of Parkers' house almost at the same moment Matt did. Jenny opened the door and welcomed them both. The smell of dinner in the house reminded William how hungry he was. They ate and laughed. Jenny opened the bottle she promised and made her toast:

"To my beloved brother, a new partner of the Shelly, Mardock & Fitzwilliam, may he finance the biggest ventures, may he earn every single bonus there is to win and may he - she paused - marry and make me an Aunt!"

They've all laughed.

"I'm afraid, Jenny, it will take quite a long time as I don't go to supermarkets often."

Jenny burst out laughing.

"Well, maybe you find some little, intelligent trainee who will turn your head around. Have you noticed any interesting, pretty faces in your team?" asked Matt, winking at Jenny.

"I never mix my private and professional lives..."

"That's probably why you are not married and I can't remember seeing you going steady with any woman since you have graduated." Replied Jenny.

"If you are trying to set me up with someone, it won't do. I'm not interested."

"I'm not trying to set you up. In fact, I want to show you something that is completely unconnected to what we've been talking here. Some time ago, Matt and I went to visit Aunt Helene Stewart and she gave me lots of information about our family. She said, "the young generation should know more about its ancestry" and she gave me everything she's written down about the Darcy's. I have it all put on the computer and I am now doing research on the family. Wait a sec and I'll bring something."

Jenny went the study and returned with a large piece of paper.

"This is our genealogy, our family tree. We are here." She pointed to their names. "I am currently working on the Darcys only but I will try to gather some info on mom's side too. Here you have Dad, George Darcy born in 1926, son of Richard Darcy and Shellyann Martella. Here is Aunt Helene Stewart, Dad's sister. Grandfather Richard was born in 1900 to yet another Richard Darcy and Julia Barrett. Great-grandfather was born in 1876 to William Darcy and Helena Tretner and had two brothers Fenton and George. Richard was the youngest. William Darcy was a son of William Darcy and Elizabeth Bingley and had two sisters both of them died as children. William Darcy was a son of Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberley Derbyshire, who married Elizabeth Bennet. William had a sister by a name of Jane who married Benjamin Morton. Fitzwilliam Darcy was born in 1782 as the only son of George Darcy and Lady Anne Fitzwilliam. I wanted to show you that you may be related to your firm. Lady Anne had a brother by a name of James Fitzwilliam. Maybe his descendants were the founders of your firm. The world is a small place."

"Jenny, you've done a great job, but I doubt these are the same Fitzwilliams. How did you learn so much?" exclaimed Will.

"That's just what I've learnt from Aunt Helene. But I want to go to the LDS centre to find out more."

"LDS centre?"

"It's a Mormon organisation which has microfilms from different parishes all over the world. Maybe I'll be able to find out more. Anyway, you may take this copy with you. There is plenty more information contained there."

William placed the paper, his sister gave him in his briefcase and asked:

"When do you find time for all of it?"

"I don't have to work 12 hours a day and I have a husband who can support me financially. Therefore I can by of utility to the humankind." She squeezed Matt's hand and blew a kiss in his direction.

"Well you certainly treat your mission very seriously." Mocked Will.

"You wait and see, when you find something that is of real interest to you." Replied Jenny.

It was 2 in the morning when Elizabeth finished looking through the first box. She's never expected she would find so many fascinating information about her mother's family. Grandma Shirley certainly left her things sorted. The pictures were signed and some of them had little cards attached describing the people on the picture, who they were, what they did.

Elizabeth pulled out some paper and started sketching the family tree. Grandma Shirley's maiden name was Burney. She was a daughter of Walter Burney and Anne Weychan and had three brothers: Mark, Henry and Walter. Anne Weychan was born in 1895 in Lambton as a daughter of John Weychan and Margaret Latimaire. She had a brother by a name of John. Anne's grandfather was named Frank and was born in 1799 and was married to Anne Sanders. Their only son was born in 1834. Frank's father was also called Frank and his mother Mary Wharton.

Elizabeth closed the first box and walked to her desk. She turned the computer on and waited until it connected to the Internet. She typed "ancestors" into Google and before she knew she had 113,679 pages including this word. The first one was www.ancestry.com. She clicked for it and in the search tool of the website typed in Weychan. There were no results. She typed in Lambton. Four queries included the name of Lambton. All of them were placed on the Derbyshire board but none of them included names she was interested in. She clicked on the Post a New Message and wrote:

Hi,

My name is Elizabeth and I'm looking for people with a surname of Weychan. My great-grandmother's maiden name was Weychan. She was born Anne Weychan in 1895 in Lambton. She was a daughter of John Weychan b. 1834 and Margaret Latimaire. Anne had a brother by a name of John. Anne's grandfather was Frank Weychan and was born in 1799 and married to Anne Sanders. Frank's father was also called Frank and his mother Mary Wharton. Can anyone make a connection?

Elizabeth

The clock struck three. It was high time to go to bed. She had plenty of time to sort to browse the Internet for information on the family.

Will Darcy had never expected that being a partner meant going to meetings, eating lunches and dinners and from time to time checking on what his team members were doing. He often found that he had little to do in his rather spacious office and if there were no meeting or lunch scheduled, he could read the papers or browse the Internet. This did not mean that he had little to do or that he was bored. He just had to get used to a new way of living.

It has been three months now since he's joined ShMaF as Shelly, Mardock & Fitzwilliam were nicked and it was just one of those afternoon when he had little to do but could not go home as there was a meeting scheduled for 4.30 pm. He was looking through the papers in his briefcase when he noticed the family tree, Jenny gave him. He took it out and started reading. There were many names but he was most interested in the oldest inscriptions. His few-times-great-grandmother Lady Anne Darcy born Fitzwilliam had a brother and a sister. The sister Catherine married Sir Lewis DeBourgh and had one daughter Anne who married someone named William Collins and had a boy Lewis with him. Anne Darcy's brother, James had two sons James and Richard. Richard was married to a Laura Weychan.

Darcy typed a name Weychan into Google on his computer. The first link was to Ancestry.com service. He clicked on it and read:

Hi,

My name is Elizabeth and I'm looking for people with a surname of Weychan. My great-grandmother's maiden name was Weychan. She was born Anne Weychan in 1895 in Lambton. She was a daughter of John Weychan b. 1834 and Margaret Latimaire. Anne had a brother by a name of John. Anne's grandfather was Frank Weychan and was born in 1799 and married to Anne Sanders. Frank's father was also called Frank and his mother Mary Wharton. Can anyone make a connection?

Elizabeth

Chapter Two

Posted On: Sunday, 27 October 2002, at 7:05 a.m.

A telephone woke Elizabeth Bennet up. She opened her eyes only to see that it was almost eleven. She ran into a habit of sleeping late. She spent her evenings going through Grandma Shirley's papers and browsing the Internet in quest for information on the names she found in the documents.

The telephone rang again and Lizzy was forced to pick it up.

"Hi, Lizzy. It's Jane. What took you so long to pick up? I hope it was a gorgeous man between your thighs." Laughed Jane.

"You've been watching Bridget Jones again."

"No, I just always wanted to use this quote with you as an object. What would you say to lunch?"

"Great idea. Where?"

"Why don't you come to my place?" asked Jane

"Okay, I can be there within two hours. How did the visit at the doctors go?"

"Fine." Replied Jane and Lizzy thought she was hiding something from her.

"You'll tell me everything during lunch." Said Lizzy.

"Sure. I'm already waiting. And please bring that family tree you've been working on. I'd love to see who we really are."

"I will. See you in no time."

"See you."

The house of Jane and Charles Bingley was in a manor style in what not so long ago was a village outside London but has been included into the borders of the big city. Jane welcomed Lizzy at the door. The pregnancy was well showing and Jane looked very well.

"Good afternoon, little sister." Greeted her Jane.

"You will never let me forget that I am two years your junior." They kissed and went inside. The interior of the house was furnished rustically with white and wood colours which well reflected the lady of the house taste and character.

"What did the doctor say?" asked Elizabeth when they set to eat.

Jane smiled and said: "That's the surprise. Soon, there will be four of us."

"What?"

Jane was silent and looked expectantly at Lizzy.

"You mean that you are going to have twins?"

"Yes. I don't know how it happened that they haven't noticed it earlier but apparently it's normal that the other twin is sometimes hidden."

"Congratulations, Jane. What did Charles say?"

"He was ecstatic."

"I don't doubt. I hope he won't be working more to support the three of you."

"Don't jest Lizzy. He is working hard enough and I am trying to convince to slow the pace. At least I am happy that he was nominated a partner."

"You haven't said a word about it." Exclaimed Lizzy

"It will be official as of next month so we are keeping it low profile in case something didn't work out. This month there was a new partner from outside nominated a partner in asset finance department and Charles is in project finance."

"So if I call on the second and congratulate him will I be on the safe side?"

"Call me first."

"Jane, you are always on the safe side!"

"Safe side or not but I am already planning to throw a party for Charlie to celebrate his success. You are the first to be invited."

"And I will be the only guest with no degree in law."

"No, there will be wives..."

"Okay, Jane, I catch your drift. But don't worry I will be amiable and won't tease Charlie's important guests. If you would like to do something for me, at the table, place me next to someone single and sexy, if you have such people on offer."

"I'll do my best. But the party will be held in December because we can't squeeze in anything earlier."

Darcy typed a name Weychan into Google on his computer. The first link was to Ancestry.com service. He clicked on it and read.

Hi,

My name is Elizabeth and I'm looking for people with a surname of Weychan. My great-grandmother's maiden name was Weychan. She was born Anne Weychan in 1895 in Lambton. She was a daughter of John Weychan b. 1834 and Margaret Latimaire. Anne had a brother by a name of John. Anne's grandfather was Frank Weychan and was born in 1799 and married to Anne Sanders. Frank's father was also called Frank and his mother Mary Wharton. Can anyone make a connection?

Elizabeth

Darcy clicked on the Post a Reply box and wrote:

Hi,

My name is Will. My sister has been researching our family history and about three months ago she gave me a draft of our family tree. I was reading it today and found a Weychan in it. It is an "ancient history" because it dates back to the beginning of the 1820s. A Richard Fitzwilliam married Laura Weychan in 1819 and they had two children Adrian and Elizabeth. Can you make any connection?

Regards,
Will

P.S. Where is Lambton?

He reread what he has written and pressed SEND.

It has been the beginning of December and Lizzy was quite well organised in her research for family roots. She's been a frequent visitor to the nearby LDS centre and has been able to trace the history of the family quite well. She traced the descendants of Shirley's brothers and even went to meet them. They lived on a farm in Kent. She drove there one day, left the car outside the gates and went inside. On the yard she met a man. She smiled and went to him.

"Good afternoon. My name is Elizabeth Bennet and if I am correct my grandmother and your father were brother and sister."

"What was you grandmother's name?" he asked

"Shirley Burney"

"Good afternoon to you, Cousin." He shook Elizabeth's hand jovially. "My name is Phillip Burney. My father was Mark Burney."

"He together with Shirley, Henry and Water were children of Walter Burney and Anne Weychan-Burney."

"There was also Mathew but he died when he was an infant. Come inside."

He led Elizabeth inside the house.

"This is my wife, Sophie and these are our children Mark, Jack and Jane. We have also another son, Max but he lives in Aylesbury with his wife Matilde. Matilde is Dutch. Everybody, this is Elizabeth Bennet, a granddaughter of Shirley Burney, grandpa's Mark sister. "

Mark looked oldest but later it turned out that Max was eldest, then came Jack, Mark and finally after almost a 10 year break, Jane who was born in 1977.

Sophie and Jane organised tea and cookies to be served and the whole group listened to Elizabeth telling them about the family. They've supplied her with additional information such as that Mark Burney married Sophie Barnes and three children with her: Simon born in 1940, Phillip and Cecily born in 1946. Cecily was now living in Canada with her Canadian husband Steven Ham and two children Maggie born 1975 and Steven Jr. born in 1977. Simon was divorced and lived in Liverpool. He didn't have any children. They had pictures of Walter Burney, Shirley's father, as a young boy in 1900s in Bath where he was born and lived as a child. Walter's father was James Burney but they had no information on him other that he was a clergyman in Bath. James wife's name was Joanne.

Elizabeth spent a lovely afternoon with them and promised to stay in touch.

About a week before the party scheduled at Jane and Charlie's, Elizabeth returned home from the LDS centre only to find an information in her electronic mail box that someone replied to her query on the Derbyshire board. She clicked on the link and read:

Hi,

My name is Will. My sister has been researching our family history and about three months ago she gave me a draft of our family tree. I was reading it today and found a Weychan in it. It is an "ancient history" because it dates back to the beginning of the 1820s. A Richard Fitzwilliam married Laura Weychan in 1819 and they had two children Adrian and Elizabeth. Can you make any connection?

Regards,
Will

P.S. Where is Lambton?

Laura Weychan that didn't ring a bell but who knows. She clicked Post Reply and wrote:

Hi Will,

The names you give don't ring the bell but I will check in my notes and in LDS. Lambton is Derbyshire, quite frankly in the middle of nowhere. Do you know where your Richard and Laura were married? Or where they came from. That could be of great help.
Take care and good luck with your search,
Elizabeth

She pressed SEND and went to look through her notes. She couldn't find any Laura. Judging by the dates, Laura would have to be a sister or a cousin to Frank Weychan Junior who was born in 1799 in Lambton. Strangely enough Frank seemed to be an only child. She had to check it.

Darcy was checking the board on which he posted his missive every ten minutes and it wasn't until the next morning that he found an answer. It didn't look very promising but he opened his family tree again and started looking for names of towns.

Having examined the information contained in it he write back:

Hi Elizabeth,

Thanx for your prompt reply. I looked up in what I have and found the Richard Fitzwilliam was born in 1780 in Matlock and died in 1840 in Pemberley. That sounds Derbyshire to me. What do you say?"

Will

He added his e-mail address.

It was so nice to be able to exchange information on her research with another human being, even if it were a man. Most of the "researchers" were women and Elizabeth wondered if the guy was completely all there but then he said, it was his sister who did the research.

She was reviewing a 1818-1823 microfilm for marriages in Lambton but there was no mention of a marriage between Laura Weychan and Richard Fitzwilliam. She tried for Pemberley and Matlock but there were no inscriptions with this respect either.

On returning home, she's sent an e-mail to Will saying:

Will,

I've checked and found no information on a marriage between Laura Weychan and Richard Fitzwilliam, either in Lambton records or in Pemberley or in Matlock. Did you know that Pemberley was a grand estate quite near Lambton but the house was burnt in a great fire in 1840. Maybe your Richard died in that fire?

Have to run now because I have to make it to a party.

Elizabeth

Just as Will Darcy was getting ready to go the party thrown by Charlie Bingley and his wife a telephone rang.

"Hi Will!" said a female voice.

"Hi Jenny!"

"How are you doing?'

"Okay, I'm getting ready for a party at Charles Bingley."

"Who is Charles Bingley?" asked his sister.

"He was also nominated a partner in ShMaF shortly after me. He is in project finance."

"I see. Enjoy then."

"How is your research going?" asked he.

"Great, I'll send you an updated file via e-mail."

"I was..." he stopped, it was stupid to admit to his sister that he was researching too.

"What?" asked Jenny.

"Nothing. How is Matt?"

"Good, we are going skiing just after Christmas. Want to join?"

"I'll think about it. I have to run now. Love you."

"Love you too. Take care."

"Bye."

"Bye"

William finished putting on his tie and having turned off the light went out.

Chapter Three

Posted On: Monday, 28 October 2002, at 1:38 a.m.

As soon as Jenny hung up the phone after talking to her brother, she realised that why Bingley name sounded so familiar to her. She turned on her computer and clicked on Ancestry Family Tree software she used for building her electronic family tree. She checked the list of names and... "Bingo!" she called. In 1836 William Darcy, son of Elizabeth Bennet-Darcy and Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberley, Derbyshire, married a Miss Elizabeth Bingley daughter of Charles Bingley and Jane Bennet-Bingley. Mothers of the bride and the groom were sisters and the fathers best friends claimed Aunt Helene. Furthermore, both fathers died in a great fire of Pemberley in 1840, together with Darcy's cousin, Richard Fitzwilliam. The three widows moved to London together as their children were grown up and lived in one house mourning their loss.

Elizabeth Bingley was the only child. She had a brother by a name of Simon but he died at the age of fifteen. Her father, Charles Bingley had three sisters. The eldest Caroline married Sir Michael Ashcroft in 1812. He was 17 years older than she and they had no children of their own, however Caroline was a step-mother to three of his children from the first marriage. The second sister was Louisa Hurst, wife of Rupert Hurst. This couple did not have any children either. Charles Bingley's youngest sister, Marie married Fenton Sullivan and had three daughters and a son with him. William Darcy and Elizabeth Bingley had two accounted for children: William Junior born in 1840 and Jane born in 1838. Jane Darcy married Andrew Morton and had two boys by him, while William Darcy Junior married Helena Trettner, a half English, half German girl and had two daughters and a son by her. Both girls died as children, and the son, Richard Darcy was Jenny's great-great-grandfather.

William looked at his watch. He knew he was late for the party. He hoped he would not be the last to come. He liked his host, Charlie, from the first moment he saw him and that was during his tour of the office on his first day at work. Charlie was of the same age as Darcy. He qualified in project finance at ShMaF in 1993 and he was making a fast career since. Nonetheless, he retained his inviting manner and never forgot that his team members were human beings and had lives which revolved around other things than just work. When they had to seat late hours in the office, about eleven he would have everyone leave the office. He used to say: "Everybody home, because if you spend another fifteen minutes here, you will not be able to work constructively tomorrow morning." Or when his team members asked for permission to leave the office 15 minutes earlier, he would say: "Fly and be free!" Himself, he came to the office earlier and since becoming a partner left almost always at 17.30, especially now that he had a pregnant wife. Fortunately, after they have closed a two-hundred-million-pound worth deal in mid-November, there were no new major deals and his team members managed the smaller ones. He would go to meetings with clients and dinners with his lovely wife. Soon after closing the transaction he was visited by Will Darcy, a new partner in asset finance who asked if he would care for a lunch. Having no fixed plans, Charles agreed and since then they would go out to lunch every time they could. Will was also the first work colleague, Charles asked to come to the party held at his house in mid-December.

At first Charles was reluctant to the idea of the party. Not because he didn't like parties but because Jane was in her 8th month of pregnancy and Charlie would never forgive himself if something happened to her or the babies. They decided with Jane that they wanted to be surprised by the babies' sex so he kept referring to them simply as babies. Jane insisted that the party be held and Charlie gave in after Jane promised that the party would be fully catered for and that she will be more of a guest to it than the one preparing it, furthermore Charlie asked Elizabeth to help Jane. Knowing that Elizabeth would not let Jane overexert herself, most of his worries disappeared.

It was 8.35 pm when Darcy arrived at the party. As he entered he noticed that most of the guests must have already arrived but he was not the last one. He was greeted by Charlie and Jane and soon found himself acknowledging various people in the room. They were either colleagues from ShMaF or lawyers he met during his practice. He began a polite small talk with Roger Shone, a senior lawyer at Clifford Chance and before he noticed, Charlie invited everyone to dinner.

Elizabeth had a busy day. She promised Charlie, she would help out Jane. Jane's belly was huge and she had problems walking as the two lives inside seemed to be very active. Finally at 6.30 pm both women went upstairs to change and at 8, they were ready to welcome the guests. Elizabeth decided to let Jane and Charlie greet their guests and disappeared in the study. She returned when the living room was already filled with people.

To his surprise Darcy found out that he was seated next to a woman he didn't know. She curtsied him as she sat down and when the waiters served the starters, Darcy decided to attract her attention. She was pretty in a strange way. It wasn't a classical beauty. She was more of a jolie laide type. She had dark curly hair and a tanned complexion. It looked as if she spent a lot of time outdoors. She chatted easily with the man sitting next her. Darcy knew, it was Aidan Colridge from Real Estate of ShMaF. Colridge was suddenly asked something by Mark Boxner from across the table when the starters were served to him and Darcy said:

"I believe we don't know each other. My name is Will Darcy."

"A pleasure to meet you Will. I'm Elizabeth Bennet."

"The pleasure is all mine. I must say that I was not expecting to meet anyone I didn't know here."

"Life is full of surprises." She replied.

He smiled back at her. "Are you a lawyer?"

"No, heaven forbid!" she laughed.

"Do you find lawyers that terrible?"

"Not that I've met many but they are a popular object of jokes, aren't they?"

"I suppose we are but did you know that lawyers are the authors of those jokes?"

"Really? How come?"

"Promise you won't tell anybody."

"I cross my heart." She mimicked being serious.

"Well, we invent them because..."

Before he managed to finish, he was interrupted by Mark Boxner. That man certainly didn't have the sense of a moment:

"Ey, Will, do you remember what the name of that fat lawyer we worked with on the OilCorp?'

"John Miller?" offered Darcy and Mark returned to his conversation with Aidan.

"Where were we?" asked Darcy turning to Elizabeth.

"You were telling me in secrecy why lawyers invented jokes about themselves."

"Because it's the best way to chat up a girl."

"I must tell I know better ways to be chatted up. But then maybe I am not normal or maybe the girls who read law can be chatted up this way. Either way, I can't give any firm opinion on the subject?"

"What have you read?"

"Lately or at the university?"

"Okay, I guess I've deserved it. That talk about lawyer jokes was cheap."

"I did not say that."

He smiled.

"Will you then tell me what you have majored in since we've established that it wasn't law?" asked Darcy.

"Archaeology."

"That's..." he seemed to be at a loss for words.

"...strange, unwise, not very useful?" supplied Elizabeth.

"No, it's very refreshing after you spend much of your life with lawyers. My sister had her degree in Spanish."

"And what does your sister do now?"

"She works at the Foreign Office as an interpreter. And you?"

"Currently I have a break but most of the time I dig out ruins whenever someone is willing to pay for it."

"Are there many willing to pay?"

"Quite a few."

"And where do you dig?" he made a quotation mark before saying "dig".

"Here. I mean in England. I specialise in druid monuments."

"Like Stonehenge?"

"Yes. I'm surprised you made the connection most people don't."

"I watch Discovery channel from time to time."

She smiled. The waiters served the main course.

"And you? Do you live together with your sister?" asked she.

"No, Jenny is married. She lives with her husband Matt not far from here. And you?"

"Am I married?"

"That too but I was referring to where you live?"

"I live in a little village in the Cotswolds."

He made no reply.

"...and I'm not married." Continued she with a smile. She was beginning to like that handsome tall man who definitely was no artist in picking up girls. She noticed him when he entered the room. First of all he was alone, which meant he was either gay or single. She hoped it was the second and that there was no businesswoman girlfriend who was on a business trip to New York. Secondly, he looked intelligent.

She might have been teasing Jane about lawyers but she envied her sister, her relationship and marriage with Charles. Charlie wasn't the man of Lizzy's dreams so she wasn't jealous about Charlie himself but about the notion that there was someone at home in the evenings with whom happiness and troubles could be shared. She hoped she would meet someone she could love and share her life with. She was thirty and so far she has not come across someone with who she could feel stupid with.

"I'm not married either." Replied he.

"Why?"

"I'll be very ordinary, I have not met my true significant other."

Their conversation was broken by Jane and Charlie inviting everyone for coffee, tea and sweets to the living room.

"Would you like something?" asked he.

"No, thank you."

"Me neither. Care for a walk? It's hot in here" asked he.

"Why not?" said she and he maneuvered her towards the door. He went into the room opposite the living room to get their coats. When he returned with her coat, she asked:

"How did you know it was mine?"

"I thought it matched your eyes." He said smiling.

She smiled back acknowledging the compliment. He was proving to be most interesting.

Chapter Four

Posted On: Sunday, 3 November 2002, at 7:23 p.m.

Jenny Parker's best evenings were when she could seat behind her computer while Matt sat at his drawing table. She could then calmly research her family roots, knowing at the same time that at her side was the man she considered closest to her, well... let's face it, Matt had one rival only and that was Jenny's brother William but due to the different roles both men played in her life, they could safely say, there was no jealousy between them.

Just now, Jenny was going through the data, she had received from the archives today. Richard Darcy, the son of William Darcy Junior and Helena Trettner was born on 13th November 1876 in London as their youngest child. When he was just 6 years old, his older sister Mary had died of tuberculosis at the age of 10. Two years later, in 1885, his mother Helena was claimed by the same illness. Richard was now left alone with his father. When he was just twenty two years old, he met a young lady by a name of Julia Barrett who was almost two years his senior. According to the diary William Junior has left, Richard was infatuated with Julia. Her mother saw great possibilities in such a marriage for her eldest daughter who was almost 24 then. Despite his father's disapproval, Richard married Julia. Richard left no diary, and his father had died in the same year as the marriage took place, so Jenny was unable to discover whether the marriage was happy. Anyhow, they had three sons: Fenton born in 1900, George born in 1902 and Richard Junior born in 1904. Of George, there was little know except that he had died at the age of 18 during a car accident. Fenton was also a misery to Jenny. Judging by the dates, he got a girl pregnant, a Mary Hankinson whom he married in November 1924 and who gave birth to their daughter Margaret on 26 January 1925. At that time they have lived in Greenwich but after 1925 they have disappeared from all the registers. Jenny suspected they have moved out in an unknown direction. The only other information about Fenton and his family was a note in her grandfather's letter to his wife that Fenton had died in 1942 in London during a German bombarding. There was no information about Mary or Margaret. Jenny's grandfather was Richard, the youngest son of Richard and Julia. At the age of 21, he married Shellyann Martella, a girl who was his age and who came to England from America to make her debut. They had two children. Jenny and William's father - George born in 1926 and Helene, born in 1928. Helene had married Mark Stewart and had three children with him: Mark, Phillip and Leticia. Jenny remembered both her grandparents, especially Shellyann who had died in 1986, outliving her husband by nearly 10 years. Her son and Jenny's father did not have the chance to enjoy life much longer. He died of lung cancer in 1999 leaving his wife and two children unconsoled. At least, so it seemed at first, for Anne Baker-Darcy soon decided to go on with her life and married George Wickham who neither of her children liked. As William always put it: "We should be grateful that he doesn't beat her, the rest is no one's but her problem."

The night was starry and cold, when William and Elizabeth left Bingley house. Despite the obvious pleasure, Will's attentions gave Lizzy, she was beginning to feel slightly uneasy. He seemed pretty straightforward in what he was getting at but at the same time it seemed he was slightly insecure... which made his picture in her mind blurry.

"What made you so pensive?" asked he as they walked in silence for a longer period of time.

"Nothing really. I was just thinking that I should start preparing for the classes that I start giving after the Christmas break."

"Classes?"

"I give lectures in various high schools in London between January and April each year."

"On druids?"

"Also, but chiefly about archaeology in general."

They walked for a moment in silence again. It was easy to flirt with her at dinner but now when we are alone I feel awkward - thought Darcy. Think about something interesting to say, man. - he told himself.

Before he opened his mouth, Elizabeth said:

"I always try to remember details." - she said, "Like these street lamps here. They are delicate and curved and you can see that someone has put a lot of work to have them done this way."

"Do you know that in China, lamps are the symbol of fertility?" asked Darcy.

"Fertility?" she asked curious.

"Yes. In the Yunnan province lamps were placed under the marriage bed. It was called "the lamp of children and grandchildren". Apart from it, two other lamps placed, one for the bride and one for the groom. They were called "the lamps that give light throughout the night". If their flames died out at the same moment it was a good omen that the marriage will be long-lasting."

"Have you learnt about it on the Discovery Channel?" asked she.

"Let's say, I did." Answered he, inside slightly hurt that she was laughing at him.

"I didn't mean to offend you. Tell me how do you know it?"

"I read things."

"You read things... " stated she. "Okay, Mr. Darcy, so you do."

They continued in silence.

"In fact, I lived in China for almost two years." Said he after a while.

"You lived in China?"

"Yes. Some years ago, I though I had enough of law and I've decided to go back to the university. I chose SOAS and spent a year learning Chinese. I got my MA in Chinese studies and went to China. There, I've discovered that although I can read pretty well, most people didn't understand what I was saying. I took 6 months of total language immersion and learnt the language."

"So you speak Mandarin or Cantonese?"

"Mandarin but I have some basics in Cantonese."

"Say something in Chinese."

"What would you like me to say?"

"Tell me what you name is."

"Wo xing Wei Da Ri."

"And where was William Darcy?"

"Wei Da Ri- it's my Chinese name."

"Wei is for Will and Da Ri for Darcy?"

"Hmm... yes."

"Why hmm?"

"Because you can never say for sure."

"Why?"

"China is a complex country. No matter how long you've lived there, how good you've learnt Chinese and how good you think you know the people, China will always surprise you" answered he.

"Can you explain?"

"I'll try. Do you drink tea?"

"Yes."

"What sort of tea do you drink?" they've turned to make a circle around the Bingley house.

"Black."

"Do you know that it's red?"

"Red? No!"

"Yes. In Chinese what we call black tea is actually called red tea. It is considered one of the worst teas."

"Why?"

"Because Chinese prefer other teas such as green tea for instance. Red tea was exported for pure silver. So the Chinese were doing a great business. They got big money for something they've considered of low quality. And the white people were loosing their face. To have a face is important in China. Once lost it's hard to be recovered. It's more than just honour, its..."

"Face?" supplied she and they've both laughed.

"Yes, face." Said he.

"What does fengshui mean?" asked she.

"fengshui translates into knowledge of wind and water and has been one of the most important notions in China. Liji - A Book of Rituals says: Make sure that peace exists inside, and Heaven and Earth will be in the right place and all thing will be good. It's a free translation so forgive its imperfections. That's why all houses, villages and towns were built after a fengshui-man" was consulted."

"Why were pagodas built near the rivers then? I thought rivers where thought not good."

"On purpose. They were build where the fengshui was "poor". If there was no mountain or gable to stop the flood, a pagoda was built to imitate it and serve its purpose."

"Wasn't it cheating?" asked she just as they were approaching the Bingley home.

"No, at most it would be considered cunning. Even now, in some provinces the old characters are forbidden and people are to use characters introduced by Mao, however the old characters bring luck, so people put the old characters and then cover them with new characters written on paper. This way both the gods and the authorities are happy."

They found themselves before Bingley's door. Most of the cars of the guests was gone.

"That was fascinating. Thank you for a wonderful evening." Said Elizabeth.

"Xiexie" replied he.

"That was Chinese I suppose."

"Yes, it was. It meant thank you."

"Let's get inside." Said she.

"I think I must be going. Say bye to Bingley and his wife for me."

"Are you sure, you don't want to do it yourself?"

"Sure. By the way, how do you know Charlie?" asked he.

"I'm his wife's sister."

"Oh. I didn't know."

"We look so much unlike each other that we are rarely taken for sisters." Answered she.

His mobile rang.

"Hi." Said he. He listened for a moment and then said: "I'm enjoying a walk with a beautiful brunette." He winked at Elizabeth. "I'll see you tomorrow. Bye."

"Goodnight then, Mr. Darcy." Replied she with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Good night, Elizabeth." He came closer to her and she thought he was going to kiss her. He hesitated for a split of a second and then touched the corner of her lips with his in such a way that she wasn't sure if it was a kiss on the lips or a friendly peck on the cheek.

"Good night, Elizabeth." He repeated and walked off to his car, while Elizabeth slowly opened the door of the house. She turned to look at him but he was already speeding off the street.

Chapter Five

Posted On: Wednesday, 6 November 2002, at 6:33 p.m.

It was so good to nestle into the warmness the bed and remember the events of today. A small smile played on her lips as she pictured Will Darcy in front of her eyes. She was feeling his lips brushing hers. What a pity he could not decide if he wanted to kiss me really! she thought. He was gorgeous. And it was so nice to feel stupid with him. I could continue in that manner. All there is now is to wait until he calls. She touched the corner of her lips he kissed, with her palm and smiled inwardly again. She shivered at the thought of how it would feel to have his arms encircle her and ... fell asleep.

"Now, you tell me everything, Lizzy!" exclaimed Jane as her younger sister entered the kitchen the next morning. Charlie was already on his way to work.

"Tell you what?"

"You sly thing, don't even try to fool me. I saw you sneaking out of the party with William Darcy and then not coming back for a good two and a half hours! We were falling asleep with Charlie when we heard you coming in."

"Yeah, we had a nice chat with Will." Replied Elizabeth.

"Nice? Just nice?"

"Okay, he was gorgeous. Why haven't I met him earlier! After dinner, he asked me to take a stroll outside. We walked and talked and... did you know that he speaks Chinese and lived in China for some time? Anyway, I completely lost the track of time and all I could think of was how incredible he was and how interesting... and do you remember my always saying that I like to feel stupid with a man... I felt such a lack of information and he knew so much... And... we snogged..."

"Snogged?" asked Jane.

"Okay, it wasn't really snogging but he kissed me... and here starts the problem..."

"The problem? What problem?" asked Jane bewildered that her sister could fall so hard for a guy she'd just met.

"The problem! He kissed me but I don't know what it was supposed to mean!"

"Mean? I mean what do you think kisses usually mean?"

"You don't see! I don't know how the kiss was intended because it was neither a cheek nor a..."

"Lizzy, did you expect he would just attack you with a ferocious kiss!"

"Well,... no but..."

"Lizzy, take it easy. You watch too many movies. If a guy likes you, he will be just as insecure as you are about it."

"You think so?"

"Of course! Lizzy, you know that I love you, you are my dearest sister but I've been meaning to tell you this for a long time: I think that you have a problem about men. Why are you so afraid of having a relationship?"

"I'm not afraid of relationships! I just never met a really right guy!"

"And do you ever give them a chance to be "right"?" asked Jane.

"How can they be right if they are boring or stupid or badly read or..."

"You are doing it again, Lizzy. You are making your life difficult. Don't stick labels to people because you may be giving up on great people."

"Jane, was I ever wrong about anyone? I look at them and I know who they are!"

"I admit you are normally right about people but nobody is perfect. A slightest fault in a person makes that person unworthy in your eyes. Why?"

"Jane, I can give people credit and I do even though I know who they are but don't expect me to share my life with someone I think ..."

"Beneath you?"

"No! Not beneath me! Someone who doesn't sex me up!"

"And just how many men in the last 15 years have turned you on."

"Well..."

"Exactly, I think I can count them and believe me I won't exceed five." Replied Jane. "I'm really glad I hear you saying that you have met someone who you think gorgeous. I must congratulate him!"

'Very funny!" said Elizabeth getting up. "I need to be going."

"Lizzy, Lizzy... you are a troublemaker."

"Me? Nope."

They both laughed. Just as Lizzy was about to close the door she stopped and turned to Jane:

"Do you think he will call?"

Jane shook her head: "Of course, he is going to call!"

"But he doesn't have my number."

"But Charles and I have."

Her e-mail box was full. Mostly with messages concerning her genealogical research. At once she's noticed Will's e-mail. It stood out because the owners account was called Will and did not include his surname. Anyway, she didn't even know his surname as the login did not indicate it. She opened the e-mail and read:

Hi Elizabeth,

I'll ask my sister, maybe she's already gathered more information about the Weychan/Fitzwilliam marriage.

Good luck with your research,

Will

She clicked on another e-mail. It came from a woman named Samantha and said:

Hi,

I'm not sure how far you are with your research on the Bennets. I saw your message on ancestry.com re: Bennets. You are talking about late 19th century but I wondered how far you got because I have a Bennet couple-of-times-great-grandmother whose name is Penelope Bennet b. 1723 in Bath. In 1755 she married Edward Collins-Bennet born in 1718 in Aylesbury. I don't know if they were somehow related but Edwards's parents were Emily and Mathew Collins. In the baptism certificate Edward is a Collins but it seems he was adopted by some Bennets.

Anyhow, Edward and Penelope had three sons: Edward Bennet b. 1856 in Longbourn, Foster Collins b. 1759 in Longbourn and Maurice Collins b. 1762 in Longbourn. Edward inherited Longbourn and married Francine Gardiner with whom he had 5 daughters: Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Katherine and Lydia. Maurice had died in 1790 in the Colonies. I am a descendant of Foster Collins. In 1788, he married Mary Dumblore with whom he had just one surviving son William Collins b. 1790. William was a clergyman just as his father. In 1809 William married Charlotte Lucas who died in 1816 at birth giving. She left him with one son Andrew Collins then aged 5 who later took the name of Collins-Bennet. In 1819, William Collins remarried. He wedded a rich heiress Anne De Bough (apparently it was a scandal). They had two children William b. 1819 and Marie-anne b. 1821. William Junior married Kathrine Glocke and had a son George (b. 1850) with her who in 1890 married Sabine Foster. They had a son by a name of Francis (b. 1891) who married Frieda Spencer in 1920. My father Spencer Collins was born in 1924 and I was born in 1950, 5 years after he married my mom, Mary Smith.

If you can make a connection... I'm desperate for new information.

Yours,
Samantha

Lizzy couldn't remember seeing any of those names. She clicked the REPLY button and wrote:

Dear Samantha,

Thank you for your e-mail. I can't make a connection at the moment but I'll have a look into my papers and write you back. Anyhow, can you write something about your William Collins and Anne De Bough, it looks like an interesting story. Hope you don't mind my preying into your family history.

Regards,
Elizabeth

She hit the SEND button and went on reading her other e-mails.

It was now exactly 24 hours since their walk and he still hasn't called. Was it a bad sign? she wondered. How she wished she had been more easy-going with men before. She would now know what to think and how to react. But then can you ever know for sure.

It was now 48 hours since their meeting and the phone hasn't rung. She checked 6 times if it was hang up properly. Was she behaving like Bridget Jones? and then it hit her WILLIAM DARCY, MARK DARCY and FITZWILLIAM DARCY - her life was a book and a film... But then there 2598 message on the Darcy board on ancestry.com and many different Darcy families.

How she wished he had called.

Chapter Six

Please note that some language in Chapter Seven must be regarded as PG 13.

"Is that you, Lizzy? You sound funny." asked a female voice in the receiver.

"Yes, it's me Charlotte. I was just running to pick up the telephone."

"You never ran to pick up a telephone from me. Should I know about something?"

"No, I was having a shower." lied Lizzy.

"So now that you have showered you are ready to go out."

"Go out?"

"Yes, there is a party in the club tonight."

"You know I'm not much into clubbing, Charlotte." said Lizzy.

"It has nothing to do with clubbing just a few people going out to dance and have a drink or two. I'll be at your place in half an hour so get ready. Bye."

Before Elizabeth was able to protest, Charlotte hung up and there was no choice but to go and get dressed. In fact Elizabeth was planning to have a quiet evening home, with a glass of white wine and a good book. Will Darcy did not call and it seemed he wasn't going to. It was now a week since the party and he gave no sign he was interested. She has already started her evening by going through her e-mails. One of the first was another e-mail form the Samantha who wrote about her family a few days ago.

Dear Elizabeth,

Bennet is such a common name that the chance that we are related was slim from the start. I'll be happy to share with you the story of William Collins and Anne De Bourgh. First of all, I've double-checked and found two mistakes in my last e-mail to you. First of all Edward Bennet was born in 1756 and not in 1856, secondly William Collins was born in 1785 and not in 1790 as I have stated before.

Anyway, back to Anne and William. All I know comes from the diary of my great-grandmother Sabine Foster-Collins who apparently decided to write down the history she heard from her father-in-law. William was a clergyman dependent from Anne's family. Anne's father Sir Lewis De Bourgh died when Anne was an infant. Anne was his only child and she lived with her mother Lady Catherine De Bourgh. Lady Catherine was supposed to be a very difficult person to live with. She commended everything and everyone. She held her daughter confined to her rooms and claimed that Anne was fragile and always in poor disposition. Anne became a spinster she was over thirty when her mother began to suffer from some disease (I think it was cancer). Lady Catherine had died in December 1816 soon after Mrs. Charlotte Collins, the pastor's wife. Anne was left alone in the world and presumably feeling unhappy. She commanded Mr. Collins to give his son Andrew into her charge. Anne looked after the house and the boy and slowly became more confident as I surmise because she made some innovations to Rosings, her estate's main house. It must have also been then that she grew closer with Mr. Collins. Sabine writes that Anne loved him but William Collins Jr. apparently claimed that his father was so overwhelmed by Anne that he did not dare to say a word in her presence and spent much of his time in the library reading sermons.

I suppose Anne must have known that if she wanted to live independently, she had to have a husband. She was too old to make a debut in London and then she didn't want a fortune hunter or anyone who would take away the managing of Rosings from her. William Collins seemed a natural choice. He was a son of a clergyman who came from a gentleman's family. She knew him and knew how easy it was to manoeuvre him. She probably saw the way her mother had done it. Sabine claims that the parishioners gossiped that Anne ordered Collins to marry her. Furthermore, she suggests though not explicitly that Anne was not Lady Catherine's biological daughter. She was supposed to be a natural daughter of Sir Lewis. As Lady Catherine could not have children of her own, they've removed to Bath and after a couple of months Lady Catherine came back to Rosings with a baby girl.

The marriage between Anne and William was considered a scandal in the society. They were married in February 1819 and in the late November William junior was born. That added more spice to the gossips. Sabine writes that people thought William was conceived before the marriage took place.

After some time the gossips stopped and the marriage continued. Anne was the dominating party however. She had lived to be 87 and died 30 years after her husband in 1872.

That's all I know but I tell you I would like to meet her.

If you find anything that might prove that there is a connection between your Bennets and mine, please write.

Samantha

It was a quarter to nine when Charlotte Davis came to pick Lizzy up. Charlotte was her college friend. She was of the same age and was the most natural and easy-mannered girl Elizabeth had ever met. She had long, straight, brown hair and brown eyes. Her easy disposition made her very popular with all the men and although she was no beauty, she was never in want of a partner. The guys clustered around her and she treated them with distance but cheerfully letting them buy her drinks and dance her till the dawn.

"Hi, Lizzy!" she yelled putting out her head out of her car. "C'mon."

Lizzy was closing the door.

"Hi, Charlotte." she said as she sat into the car.

"I'm listening now. Tell me everything about that guy."

"What guy?"

"The one that made you run to the phone. You won't fool me. I don't give a s*#t about the phone when I'm taking a shower and I'm not expecting a phone call. So who is it?"

"No one because he never called."

"Bl*#$y ba#$&*d! How dare he? Who is he?"

"A lawyer"

"A lawyer? Where did you get him from?"

"Jane and Charlie's party."

"I forgot your brother-in-law is a lawyer. So?"

"I met him last week. After the party we went for a walk. We had great time, he kissed me and disappeared."

"Kissed you!? And disappeared?! How did he kiss you?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"He brushed my lips and kissed the cheek."

"Oh no! Another of those insecure ones! To kiss or not to kiss! It's the drama of the time - they are too Hamleteseque! Are we to become Ophelias?" called Charlotte. "And then he never called. What a jerk! We are going to drink today, so that you'll stop thinking about him and we'll find you a good guy to dance you till the end of time."

"And how is your latest prey? Jerry was his name?" asked Lizzy to change the subject.

"John."

"Who is he?"

"A fantastic lover."

"And apart from that?"

"Cute, intelligent and I think I will marry him."

'Marry him! You Charlotte? The free spirit. The core of the feminist movement?"

"Yes."

"Does he know about it?'

"Not yet. I've decided about it last Thursday so there is no rush."

"What made you decide about marrying him?"

"I thought he'll be a good father one day."

They pulled in front of the club - THE PAMELAS.

Will Darcy was feeling he was being dragged to some place he just didn't like to be in. John, his colleague from Chatman & Richmodes insisted that they go out together on Friday night. He claimed he found a nice little club in the countryside and that it was a good place to relax, have a few drinks and a nice chat with people.

Darcy decided that after a hard week he deserved some relaxation. John said there was an inn in the neighbourhood so they could always stay for the night and come back the next morning if the party was good. John seemed to be well acquainted with the neighbourhood.

"Do you come here often?" asked Will.

"Quite."

"How come?"

"I like countryside."

"Countryside, you say, that's a new side of you to me, I must say." mocked Darcy.

They pulled in front of the club - THE PAMELAS.

Chapter Seven

"Do you know that I came across a Matthew Davies in my research?" asked Lizzy.

"Are you still into it?"

"Very much so. Can you think of anyone with that name among your ancestors? That Matthew was born in 1880. That guy, who is looking for information on him, wants to find descendants of Matthew's brother's and sisters. Apparently there were 10 of them altogether."

"My great-grandfather was Henry and he had a number of siblings but I have no idea what their names were." Said Charlotte

"Do you mind if I write him an e-mail and write about you?"

"Not at all."

"Your dad's name is Thomas and your grandfather's?"

"Mark."

"O.K. I'll send him the info. When was your great-grandfather born?"

"Can't remember. Grandpa was born in 1910. That's all I know. Lizzy, look it's John. John!" Charlotte waved and before Elizabeth could turn around to see the famous John, in front of her stood Will Darcy.

"Hi Charl." Said John, showing up for behind of Will and gave her a kiss. "This is Will Darcy, my competitor during daytime and good friend after work."

"Hi Will." Said Charlotte. "This is my best friend Liz Bennet."

"Hi." Said John sitting himself on a bench next to Charlotte. The only place left free was next to Elizabeth.

To her utter surprise, Will behaved as if they were best pals.

"Liz and I know each other." He stated.

"Fancy a drink?" asked Will when he took his place next to Lizzy, looking at her empty glass.

"Yeah, why not?"

"What can I get you?"

"White wine."

He got up to fetch the drink. "John, Lotta, what would you like?" Darcy asked.

"I'll have a double Orgasm." Replied Charlotte, winking at Lizzy.

"Those you'll get from me only! Get her a vodka on strawberry and banana smoothies." Corrected her John.

"You ain't gonna boss me around, Johnny Boy. Will, get me that Orgasm, and another one for John, so that he eases up!" called Charlotte.

Will laughed and walked off. By the time he returned, there was only Lizzy at the table.

"Where is the rest?" asked he.

"I guess they went to have a chat." Replied Lizzy.

"Just the kind of thing I like best. She says: We have to talk and he begins to see his whole life before him."

"You seem to be the greatest foe of all relationships."

"Relationships?! By no means! But would you call a relationship a situation where one party wants to have her way."

"By saying "her", are you implying that women want to have their way?" asked Lizzy.

"Not at all. The Chinese have a saying: When a beautiful woman speaks to you, smile."

"But they also say: The more a woman loves a man, the more she fights his faults."

"A weasel paying a New Year's visit to a hen, has no good intentions."

"You are very severe on women. I don't know what they have done to you, but no general judgement fits all circumstances." Said Lizzy and seeing a waitress passing by called: "Can I have another white wine please?"

"Sure."

Darcy looked a Lizzy and smiled.

"You sure know what you want." He said.

"If truth be told, no."

"How come?"

"I never know what I really wanted until it's too late." Said she.

"I always know what I want."

"Lucky you." Replied she.

He sipped his vodka with amaretto and apple juice."

"I can believe it however." Continued she.

"How so?"

"You seem to be a confident type."

"Confident you say?"

"Yeah." She could feel the wine invigorate her senses. She felt its influence on her limbs and her mind. It was now easy to talk to Darcy. For a split of a second, she thought how it would be to feel his big, warm hands touching her body.

"I'm not. I am terribly shy."

"Shy!? I don't believe!" called she.

"But I am. I am terribly shy." Repeated he.

"Why?" asked she.

"Don't know. I just am."

There was silence between the two of them and before any of them spoke up, Charlotte and John turned up looking as if they have made up. He was holding her tightly and there was a gleam in his eyes that said it all. Lizzy thought there was a smell of sex in the air when they've turned up.

"Where you missing us?" asked John as he swallowed his double Orgasm shot.

"We were coping." Replied Lizzy. Darcy sat silent.

Elizabeth checked her watch. It was quarter past one. She wanted to go home.

"I guess I'll be off." She said.

"So early?"

"By the time I get there, it will be well past two. I'll get myself a taxi."

"I'll walk you outside." Offered Darcy.

She nodded in agreement. Charlotte blew her a kiss and Lizzy smiled back at her. She envied Charlotte that ease.

When they found themselves outside, Darcy asked her:

"When will you be in the city?"

"Don't know."

"That's my card. Call me when you'll be there." Said he handing her his business card.

"Okay."

He opened the taxi door for her and said:

"Good night."

"Good night." He bent to kiss her... cheek.

"Take care." He closed the door behind her. She told the taxi driver the address and turned back to see Darcy. He was walking back to the club.

She looked at his card. It stated his office phone and his mobile. She smiled at it. She had to admit it, he was turning her on. The song on the radio was "Voulez vous coucher avec moi?" She sure wouldn't mind going to bed with him.

Later at night, when she was already in bed and slowly falling asleep, she chuckled at her thought. How would he react to fact that he would be her first man?

Chapter Eight

No matter how hard she was trying not to think about Will Darcy, she could not. He was all nice to her yesterday. Their conversation again interesting. Maybe he would call her.

She opened her e-mail and began writing.

Hi James,

I came across your messages about the Davis family. I have a friend Charlotte Davis. I spoke to her yesterday and she told me that her great-grandfather was Henry Davis, but she doesn't know when he was born. He had a son, Charlotte's grandfather - Mark, who was born in 1910. Mark had a son - Thomas who is Charlotte's father.

Maybe this Henry was a relative of your Matthew?

Elizabeth

She pressed SEND.

A telephone rang.

"Hi, Lizzy, it's Charles. I just wanted you to know that Jane's gone into labour. We're in St Mary's Clinic."

"Oh gosh, I'm coming."

"Thanks. I'll be waiting. She is having a caesarean."

"Don't worry. It'll be fine. I'm on my way."

She ran to her car.

By the time Elizabeth arrived at the clinic, Jane was already being taken to her room. She was conscious and claimed she was in no pain. The tranquillisers were still working.

"We have two beautiful girls." Announced Charlie to Lizzy.

"Congratulations." Exclaimed Elizabeth and kissed first Charles then Jane. "How does it feel to be parents?" she joked looking and the new mom.

"Great." Replied Jane but one could see that most of all she was tired and in need of sleep.

"Charles, I think your dear wife needs some rest. Why don't you and I go to get some coffee and once Jane wakes up, you'll present me with your..." She looked at Jane but her sister was already sound asleep. Lizzy motioned at Charlie and they've left the room. On the way to the buffet, Charlie stopped at the doctor's office.

"Hi, Doctor Ashcroft." Doctor James Ashcroft was a man of 35. He had a successful practice in London. He brought so many children to the world that he was beginning to think nothing could make him unsure about what to do when a child was "on its way". It was so until "he and his wife, Janine, got pregnant with their first child". He never thought that he would be so worried and apprehensive. It is therefore that he completely understood young fathers, such as Mr. Bingley. For a split of a second, James wondered if he should ask Mr. Bingley about his surname but then thought, it was neither time nor place. He remembered Mrs. Bingley said she knew nothing about her husbands ancestors, so Mr. Bingley would hardly know either.

"Hello Mr. Bingley. You are a happy father now. Congratulations again."

"Thank you. I am. I just wanted to ask if everything went fine."

"No problems. Your wife is a strong woman. In three days she will be in good shape again."

"Thank you." Replied Charlie, "Good day, Doctor Ashcroft." He turned to Lizzy beaming with joy. "I'm so glad it's all over now. I was worried. I mean I was happy when I learnt that we were going to have twins but at the same time, I was scared something could happen to Jane and I would not be able..."

Meanwhile Doctor Ashcroft finally found some time to read his e-mails. He opened the last e-mail on the list in his inbox. It was from Elizabeth and read:

Hi James,

I came across your messages about the Davis. I have a friend Charlotte Davis. I spoke to her yesterday and she told me that her great-grandfather...

"It's all over now. You are a happy father of two and your Jane is resting, safe and sound." Replied Elizabeth hearing Charlie's emotional statement.

"Yeah. I must now convince Jane to take someone to help her with all the children stuff. I'd love to do it myself but I have a demanding work and then someone has to earn our living."

"I can talk to Jane if you want me."

"Thanks. I will need some help while convincing her. She can be very stubborn. I almost forgot. I haven't called my and your parents. They'll hate me." He pulled out his mobile and while Elizabeth ordered coffee, made the phone calls.

"How are the grandparents?" asked she Charles when he returned.

"Happy. They said, they'll come tomorrow."

"This way you'll have some privacy with Jane and the girls, speaking of them, have you finally decided what you are going to name your girls?"

"We have if it were two boys, their names would be Jonathan and Jeremy. If a boy and a girl: Keith and Katherine but two girls will be Margaret and Madeline, Maggie and Maddie for short."

"Why Keith and Katherine and not the other chosen names?" asked Lizzy.

"Jane believes that every child should have his or her own name. That's why."

"Fair enough. When did she go into labour?"

"This morning at about 7 am. Doctor Ashcroft said that he'd prefer a caesarean because the babies would be in better shape and Jane would not be so tired."

"No a bad idea. How is your friend... what's his name... Will Darcy?"

"He's good. He's got some project he's been working on. Someone made a fuck-up and Darcy had to come in and mend the thing and the relationship with the client. I guess they've closed two days ago or something but I haven't seen his since. Why do you ask?"

"No particular reason. We had an interesting conversation at your party. Did you know he spoke fluent Mandrin?"

"Yeah. He's good with languages."

They've sipped coffee in companionable silence.

At the same time, two floors above them, Doctor Ashcroft was responding to his e-mails:

Elizabeth,

Thanks for your e-mail. I have a good news. I think your friend and I are related. My great-grandfather and her great-grandfather were brothers. Henry was born in 1877 and Matthew in 1880. Matthew married Mariah Toffenhof and they had three children: Denise, Matthew Junior and Gerard. Denise is my grandmother. She married Michael Ashcroft in 1934 and had a son with him, Richard. He is my father, born in 1935. I am his child from the second marriage with Mary Potter.

I've traced the Davises quite well into the past. Matthew and Henry had 8 other siblings: Martha, Agnes, Emily, George, Sophia, Dorian and Walter. Apparently, their grandmother had aristocratic roots. She was Marianne Collins before she married Aldous Davis. Her mother was Anne De Bourgh and her grandmother - Lady Catherine De Bourgh. I've only learnt about it yesterday as I've received Anne's death certificate from the archives.

I'd love to meet your friend Charlotte. After all we are cousins. Could you ask her if that's okay with her?

Thanks a lot,
James

It wasn't everyday that one found his relatives - thought James Ashcroft and picked up the phone to tell his wife everything. This has been a fruitful week in his research. Before he managed to dial his home number, a nurse came in to say that the last stage of his patient's labour began. Children come first - he thought and followed the nurse.

It has been six hours before Jane woke up. She was still tired but very impatient to see her girls.

"Did Charles tell you how we are going to name them?" asked she Elizabeth when Charlie went out to ask the nurse to bring the babies.

"He did."

"I thought, we might call the older one Maggie and the younger one Maddie."

"Did you tell it the nurse, so that the names were correctly inscribed?" asked Lizzy.

"I told doctor Ashcroft on my last visit, that is yesterday and he said he'd look to this."

"Here they are." Called Charles letting the nurses into the room. "Lizzy, meet Maggie and Maddie Bingley." Maddie was in the arms of her father and Maggie was held by Jane.

"The pleasure is all mine." Said Lizzy. "Do you think I could hold them for a moment?" asked she.

"Of course, Lizzy." Said Jane and placed Maggie in her sister's arms.

Later in the evening, Lizzy still felt little Maggie in her arms. The girl was so small and fragile that Lizzy feared she might damage the baby in some way. Nothing like this happened however. Elizabeth knew that she was going to remember that experience for the rest of her life. When the girls were taken away, Lizzy decided it was time to go, too.

Already at home she opened her computer. There was a message from James Ashcroft in reply to her e-mail about the Davises.

James,

I am amazed. The world is now a village. I am about to call Charlotte but I have to write you about something else. Not so long ago, I got a message from Samantha Collins which I enclose hereto. Samantha is also a descendant of Anne De Bourgh Collins! You might share some information.

BTW. Are you by any chance Doctor James Ashcroft who works at St Mary's Clinic?"

Elizabeth

Chapter Nine

A cigarette that bears a lipstick's traces
An airline ticket to romantic places
And still my heart has wings...
These foolish things remind me of you

The song was on the radio again. One just felt the smooth touch of music and Rod Stewart tickled your skin with his husky, blues voice. Lizzy turned up the radio. Rod's voice that has long and legendarily conveyed pain, yearning and wisdom like few others, had a soothing effect on her

A tinkling piano in the next apartment
Those stumbling words that told you what my heart meant
A fairground's painted swings...
These foolish things remind me of you

These foolish things remind you that you are alive - Jane told her when they listened to that song for the first time together.

You came, you saw
And you conquered me
When you did that to me
I knew somehow this had to be you.

Veni, vidi, vici; it's two thousand of history of mankind and each girl dreams of her own Caesar to conquer her - thought Elizabeth putting on a shirt. She was to go to visit Jane at the clinic.

The winds of March that made my heart a dance
A telephone that rings and who's to answer?
Oh, how the ghost of you clings!
These foolish things remind me of you.

The problem is that the telephone does not ring. And although I'm there to answer it, it is silent - chuckled Elizabeth shaking her head.

The scent of smoldering leaves, the wail of steamers
Two lovers on the street who walk like dreamers
Oh, how the ghost of you clings!
These foolish things remind me of you.

But what foolish things remind me of you, Will Darcy? - was her question.

How strange, how sweet
To find you still
These things are dear to me
They seem to bring you so near to me...

The walk at night, a pagoda on the Discovery Channel, a book on Chinese paintings, the smile...

The sigh of midnight trains in empty stations,
Silk stockings thrown aside, dance invitations.
Oh, how the ghost of you clings!
These foolish things remind me of you.

There are no more steamers, and silk stockings are as rare, and is a telephone from your friend saying: You're going to a club - a dance invitation? Or can you find a man who'll ask you to dance in the rhythm of techno, when you don't even like techno...

These foolish things remind me of you, Will Darcy.

She spoke to Charlotte last night. You wouldn't say Charlotte was thrilled about James Ashcroft being her cousin but sure her dad was. He said, he'd love to meet his cousin and learn more about common ancestors. It turned out Charlotte's father did some research on his own and gathered a lot of information from the documents his father had left. He informed Elizabeth that Marianne Collins-Davis was a novelist and although she was currently not very well known to public, there are six specialists on the entire planet who research her writings and life exclusively and that by joint effort of British National Library and DeMaine University in USA, her complete works will be published in November 2003. Apart from that, Thomas Davis had all books and articles about Marianne Collins-Davis, that have ever been published. He asked Elizabeth to contact Mr. Ashcroft and Samantha and give them his telephone and e-mail.

Having done so in the morning, she dressed and decided to visit Jane at the clinic. Having listened to Rod's song, she left the house. Just as she was searching her bag for her car keys, she pulled out Will Darcy's card: Call me when you'll be in the city. he said. And here she was going to be in the city. She placed the card on the front seat and pulled out. All the way to London she was wondering whether she should call. If he were interested in her, he should have called himself. However, there was a chance the man was busy, and her call would encourage him to think more of her. Yeah, that was good thinking. She wasn't stalking him with phone calls. He was always friendly towards her and it looked like he was chatting her up. And then he gave her his card and said that she should call. Why would he do that if he didn't want her to call? Maybe, he didn't want her to call him but gave her that card because of something she said but in fact didn't want her to call... And then what if once she called, he said, they couldn't meet. Why couldn't they meet? Would it be due to his work or because he had a girlfriend... Yeah that would make sense, he had a girlfriend and she was just a sport for him, a triffle... and he wouldn't tell her that he had a girlfriend or even lied that he did not have one. Maybe he was just toying with her. Maybe he found her naive and a good sport... No! This is mad! What does Dad always say: Take life as it is! So that's what I will do. I will call him and be friendly and tell him that I'm in town and that we can pop out for lunch or dinner, no dinner it too far, a drink. She picked her cell phone and dialed Darcy's number. It took her another three red lights to push the CONNECT button. She waited:

"William Darcy."

"Hi Will, It's Elizabeth... Elizabeth Ben..."

"Hi, Liz. How are you?"

"I'm good. And you?"

"Busy as always. You know lawyer stuff."

"Maybe I'm distracting you?"

"It's okay. I am not that busy. Congratulations on becoming an Aunt."

"An Aunt? Oh yes, Jane's had her twins. I'm on my way to visit them."

"Say hi from me to them. What're their names?"

"Maggie and Maddie."

There was a moment of silence between them and Elizabeth said:

"I thought that since I'm in London today we could pop out for lunch or a drink."

"Drink is great. How about Luna?" he said.

"Luna?"

"Yeah in Old Brampton Road. Almost opposite of National History Museum."

"Okay, I'll find it. What time?" she said.

"How about 6 pm?"

"Sounds good to me."

"See you then. I need to go to a meeting."

"Okay, I'll see you then." She hung up - "See that wasn't so difficult, Lizzy." She arrived at the clinic and still smiling walked inside.

Her mother and father were already with Jane. Their mother was Francine Bennet born Gardner. She was 52 years old but she looked a good five years younger. She was a high school teacher all her life. She was still teaching but no longer kids. She taught English to foreigners. Francine was a mixture of mother hen and a 'killer' teacher. She constantly watched what her five offsprings were up to. She had them back at home before dark and checked if they had their homework done. Ever since Elizabeth could remember she was a strong advocate of reasonable discipline. As long as you did not lie, had good grades and were nice to people, she was happy with you. If you had problems with this or other subject, she'd have you sent to one of her fellow teachers at school for private tuition and you would have to go there for as long as need was. She was terribly afraid that one of her girls would get pregnant, so whenever they went without parent supervision, she would always say: You know what I want to tell you. Just be wise. At the same time she would make Elizabeth go out more often. She was the only mother Elizabeth had ever known who actually forced her children to go out to parties and meeting with other young people. Yet, there was never immediate closeness between Elizabeth and her mother. They would talk but Elizabeth knew she would never be able to confide in her mother. It was this irrational fear that her mother would tell her off for doing something she did not approve of. This inability of being close with some, probably made Francine's relations with her family difficult, especially her relationship with her mother was a fiasco. And yet another fiasco would be that meeting if they start again - thought Elizabeth.

When Elizabeth walked into Jane's room, Francine was holding one of the babies while the proud grandfather was dotting on the one sitting in Jane's arms.

"Good morning everyone."

"Hi, Lizzy. Aren't they beautiful?" called her Dad hugging her.

"They are. How are you Mom?" Francine kissed her in the cheeks: "Look Lizzy, look at those little fingers. Yours were just as small. It's a miracle you've lived. I was in labour for 24 hours and when they managed to get you out to the world, you were too tired to cry. And you had just 5.5 pounds. But soon enough you were getting better and now just look at yourself, you could lose a stone. You are getting too fat."

"Yeah, Mom. We've discussed that before. And I know what you will tell me in no time."

"I am just telling you the truth. You are too fat. Have you seen your back in the mirror? You are thirty girl. When I was your age. Not only did I have two children but I weighed 110 pounds. You don't have any children. How will you look in ten years?"

"Mom, I thought that we can at least be nice to each other today."

"We are just telling you this for your own good." Said her father.

"I've heard that before. It must be a very specific idea of "good" because my self-esteem is just being shuttered." Replied Elizabeth.

"Why? I really don't understand you, Lizzy. We are trying to make your life easier." Said her Dad.

"Okay, I give up. We are here to be happy about Jane becoming a mother. We have another 364 days to discuss how fat and disgusting I am."

"Don't be offended at once. And no one said you were disgusting. If you just lost a stone..."

"Fine, mom. Whatever."

"It's not whatever. It is important..."

"I've heard it all. The pretty and thin have a better life."

"Mom, Dad..." tried to cut in Jane.

"Jane stay out of it. Lizzy, if you've heard it all, why won't you do it?" asked Dad.

"Okay. It was good to see you all. Jane I'll come by tomorrow. Excuse me."

"Lizzy, you will not walk out like this. What do you think you are doing? We are a family and we must be together. Especially on such an occasion as this."

"Dad then tell me why just for this one single occasion, can't you cut out this talk about me being fat."

"Because you don't listen to us. And we mean good."

"Okay, we've had this before. You mean good. I'm the black sheep of the family, and I'm a fat, black Bennet family sheep. And when will you learn that I will not listen to you forever."

"Don't talk to your father like that." Admonished her mother.

"And there she starts again, black sheep, you - a black sheep." mocked her father. "I can't anymore."

"Good, can we change the subject because in five minutes these two children will decide that they were born in the most deranged family in the whole of England."

Before anyone could reply, Jane shouted:

"Enough! Enough all of you! It's either that you'll be nice to each other or I'm going to have you removed from this room. Understood?"

"Jane, calm yourself." Said Francine. "Lizzy, you should not have started all this."

Lizzy shook her head but decided not to continue the topic.

Chapter Ten

Why must it always end like this, thought Elizabeth as she left the clinic at four. No matter how hard she tried to please them, it never worked. "My mother can smoothly sail from a harmless topic to telling me how imperfect I am, as if she didn't know how imperfect I feel already. Can't she just once in a life time take a break and tell me that I am her daughter and she loves me just the way I am. That way she'd have me on a diet in no time. But instead, I hear the same old tune."

Lizzy sat in her car and turned on the radio. "Even my father can be bad at times. I sometimes think I could tell him he could give me good example and lose a stone too!... I can't listen about traffic on M25!" She put on her favourite CD.

You go to my head and you linger like a
haunting refrain
And I find you spinning 'round in my brain
Like the bubbles in a glass of champagne
You go to my head like a sip of sparkling
Burgundy brew
And I find the very mention of you
Like the kicker in a julep or two.

"Oh yes, Mr. Darcy, you go to my head like the bubbles in a glass of champagne. I want you to take me into your arms and dance me till the morning. I want you to whisper into my ear how wonderful and special I am. I want you never to let me forget how important I am to you and how much I mean to you... But if truth be told, Will, you could rethink the length of his sideburns."

The thrill of the thought that you might give
a thought to my plea
Cast a spell over me
Still I say to myself, "Get a hold of yourself,
Can't you see that it never can be?"

"Yes, Lizzy. Stop dreaming. We are all grow-up and let's be frank, guys like Will Darcy won't consider dating a girl like me. I'm not what you'd call beautiful, pretty wouldn't even be a good one. Jolie laide at best! "

You go to my head with a smile that makes
my temperature rise
Like a summer with a thousand Julys
You intoxicate my soul with your eyes
Though I'm certain that this heart of mine
Hasn't a ghost of a chance in this crazy romance
You go to my head.

She remembered when she was that little girl who went for a trip to Italy with her father so many years ago. Last year, she opened the album with her Italian pictures. She was so different there. There was a sparkle in her eyes that twinkled from every picture. She was playful and content, smiling and cheerful. She has been looking for that little girl ever since. She knew that girl was still inside her and she knew that only after she had found her, she could be happy again.

When she approached Luna, she could see Will Darcy standing in front of it. He smiled as he saw her approaching.

"Hi." He said.

"Hi."

"Shall we go inside?" he asked. She nodded in agreement. The pub was still fairly empty. Most of the employees from the nearby offices was still in the offices and they would pour out within the next half an hour. Will guided her to a table in the corner of the room. He helped her with her coat. The table seemed to be for four as there were two chairs and a sofa for two. Lizzy chose to sit on the sofa. She hoped Darcy would sit next to her but he sat on the chair to her left.

"What would you like to drink?" he asked

"White wine with water, please." He got up to fetch it and quickly returned with the wine and a pint of beer for himself.

"So how have you been?" he asked

"Okay. Nothing much was going on since Jane had her girls."

"So you went to visit them today?" he continued in a casual manner.

"Yes. My parents came too."

There was silence for a moment.

"Charles told me you had quite a lot of work lately." She ventured.

"Yeah, sort of. I had to close a project and we had to make a huge write off because one of the lawyers screwed up and we were close to being sued for negligence. I managed to convince the CEO of the bank that we'll do it all for free and that it's not worth going to court."

"Sound serious. What does write off mean? I mean I understand the word but how does it work?"

"Every lawyer has a timesheet where the billable hours are put in every day. We charge the client on the hourly basis. However in the case of most projects we quote a price for which we will work and we can't exceed it. If we do, it has to be written off because the client won't pay for it."

"So write offs are bad."

"Yes and no. You are expected to bill 80% of your target time..."

"Target time?"

"Yes, 1400 hours per year. Let's say, you work 1600 hours per year, automatically you can bill less, so the write offs don't matter so much. However, if you are under your target, you need to bill more than 80% of your time."

"Okay." Said Lizzy not really convinced about the whole thing.

"I'll give you an example. Let's say you work on a project. Your target time is 117 hours per month. 80% of that time you should bill. 80% is 93 hours. Lets say you've worked 200 hours. You still need to bill only 93 hours. The other 107 hours is sort of spare time. If the client pays for 93 hours you are happy. All the rest can be written off with no damage to your rating. The situation where you have billed less than 80 % of your target time and you need to write off is worse because you are not working up to your standards."

"I guess I know why I decided against studying law." Remarked Elizabeth.

"It's not that bad and then I like what I'm doing. You get to meet interesting people. Every case is new..."

"And you eat lunches in posh restaurants and pay with your company's credit card because it's all about business."

"You are harsh on lawyers." He said.

"No, just teasing."

"And how is your archaeology?"

"I have classes with kids at school. It fun to see how interested they get. We even went for a field trip. We chose a meadow and the kids learnt how to dig properly so that the artifacts would not get damaged."

"And how about the grant you have mentioned?"

"I don't know if I get it for sure. I hope so."

Again, there seemed they've run out of topics. Darcy looked around and so did Elizabeth. She was desperately thinking up a topic that would break that uncompanionable silence.

"You come here often?" she finally asked.

"Sometimes."

This wasn't going to be easy - thought Elizabeth.

"So what's up apart from work?" she ventured again

"Okay."

"Not every talkative tonight, are you?"

"Why? I just prefer to the point questions. I'm not good in responding generally."

That was proving really difficult. Why did he agree to go for a drink with me, if he behaves like this! - thought Lizzy.

"I'll try to remember." She laughed. After the years of practice she was really good in putting up a face, even if things were going in the direction exactly opposite to what she was hoping for.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. Look... ahm... I have two tickets for the new Hair musical. Would you like to go with me?" he asked

"Yes, I'd like to." She replied, totally surprised by his offer. Maybe things were turning out just the way she wanted them to turn out. Yet why was it so difficult talking to him.

"Great. It's for Thursday next week." He said.

"Where?"

"Near Leicester Square. How about if we meet on Piccadilly Circus? We can walk from there." He said.

"At what time?"

"I need to check. If you give me your phone number I'll call you."

"Sure. It's..."

"Hold on." He said and pulled out his mobile. He typed in, what seemed to be her name. He nodded that he was ready to write it down."

"It's 370 842 897."

"I'll give you a call." He said.

Again they fell silent.

"I guess we should be going." They suddenly said in unison and laughed.

Darcy helped her with her coat and they went out. He walked her to her car.

"Sure, you'll be okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I just had one glass of wine with water."

"If the police catches you drinking and driving, you know your lawyer's number?" he winked at her.

"I guess I can manage remembering it despite the drinking."

"Good. Take care." He went to the car door and opened it for her. She sat in. He closed the door behind her and waved to her. Then with a smile on his face, he walked to the pavement and as she drove away, in the rear view mirror she could see walking off.

Chapter Eleven

All the way home Elizabeth was trying to figure out whether Will was trying to pick her up or get rid of her. None of her hopes came true. He was a mixture of friendliness and standoffishness today. It looked more like he was trying to get rid of her than anything else, yet he invited her to the theatre. This wasn't normal behaviour. There was something wrong with the man and she couldn't figure it out. And they had a communication problem!

On her arrival home, Elizabeth went straight to her computer. What a day it was; first her mother being herself again then the strange drink with Will. Why couldn't she have a normal life? Like everybody else. A nice job, a nice house, a nice significant other... Okay, she wasn't in for having a nice everything but at least it could be... She laughed out loud. "Let's be honest, my dear" - she said, "you may dream about having a family for instance but would you swap places with any of your girlfriends whose weddings you've attended? No, you wouldn't because you'd sooner or later choke with such a life. You wouldn't stand any of their husbands being your husband. Maybe that's why they were their husbands and not yours! Lizzy just don't become desperate. You know there is time for everything and if you are patient enough, your life will work out just fine."

She downloaded her e-mails to the browser. There was an answer from James Ashcroft:

Elizabeth,

Thank you for your e-mail. I got an e-mail from Mr. Davis who was thrilled to discover a cousin. I've also e-mailed Samantha. She promised to send me a copy of everything she has on Anne De Bourgh and we will probably meet some time soon.

I am James Ashcroft who works in St Mary's Clinic. Where you my patient ? I am lousy with names and faces so please don't be offended that I don't remember you.

James

Elizabeth pressed REPLY button and wrote:

James,

I am not your patient. My sister Jane gave birth to twin girls a couple of days ago and you delivered them. I was with Jane's husband Charles Bingley when he went to ask you about the twins. Then, I received your e-mail and wondered if you were the same person.

EB

Before Elizabeth finished replying to her other e-mails, James Ashcroft's replay arrived:

Elizabeth,

Congratulations on becoming an Aunt. Maggie and Maddie are two little darlings, much awaited by their parents, it seems.

I would like to ask you something. You are in genealogy so you might know. Do know anything about your brother's in law family. I am asking because I have found in my research that the second wife of my 5xgreat grandfather, Sir Michael, was Caroline Bingley. I am looking for some information on the Bingleys because I know everything about the Ashcrofts. I am not related to her because, Sir Michael did not have any children by her but I would like to find out something about the descendants of the Bingley family. I have learnt about Caroline a lot. She was rather old when Sir Michael married her, she was 34 then. Caroline was the eldest child of Francis Bingley and Jasmine Wyman. She had two sisters and a brother: Louisa born 1780, Marie born 1882 and Charles born 1887. Louisa married Rupert Hurst in 1803, Marie married Fenton Sullivan in 1802 and had three daughters and a son with him. As for Charles, I don't know. He wasn't married in London, and so far I was unable to trace him anywhere. Caroline's parents came from families of trade. Caroline's grandfather was a well-known carriage maker who made a fortune out of it. His only son inherited it and further expanded the carriage business until he died in a carriage accident. His widow sold the whole business and moved to London with her children. She died in 1806. I have recently found a diary of some society figure dating back to 1812. The authoress describes her life, acquaintances etc., among others Miss Bingley. She is described as "...looking older than she really is. One who has such complexion should never wear orange with green feathers as this makes the face look something between grey and red. Truly without taste. Miss B. was again present at Lady Metcalf's soiree yesterday, much to the chagrin of everyone except Sir Michael. The old Ashcroft who had a good glass of port or two already at his arrival declared in company of the gentlemen after dinner that Miss B. was "a fair mare who should be tamed by a good rider". Luckily for Ashcroft, Charles Bingley was not present as we would have a duel today. Mrs. Campbell told me that she had on good authority that Miss B. had an affair with some parson in Kent. I don't believe it. Miss B. is so worried about her class and connections that she would not condescend to have an affair with someone below her station in life even if the man had some hidden charms. As I was leaving the house that evening, I've noticed that Ashcroft was directing his men to take him to Grosvenor 23. I was quite sure it was the house of the Hursts where Miss B. was staying. I told my coachman to follow him. Just as I thought, he stopped in front of the Hurts residence. He was met by a maid. I've only heard him telling the maid: "Take me to my little orange duckling." Later in the diary there is another passage about Caroline "...I have read in the paper today that Miss Bingley is to be married to Sir Michael Ashcroft. I must say I could not stop laughing after reading it. The "little orange duckling" of a "fair mare" has been tamed by no other than Ashcroft. Missy" [that's a maid of the authoress] "told me that Ashcroft is reputed to be very virile. I believe she described him as "going after anything that's walking and has a pulse". Judging by what I have seen a few months ago, Miss B. must have liked it. I wonder what made him marry her, if he already had all. You don't have to buy a winery to have a glass of wine after all. And she can be such a shrew. I wonder why she is not called Kate."

As you can see Caroline and my 5xgreatgrandfather must have been a couple. If you know anything that might link her and your brother-in-law (I mean family link, not behaviour), I'd be grateful for information.

James

Elizabeth laughed at the story. She had no information on the Bingley family but she thought it would be interesting to learn more, now that two little Bingleys came to the world.

It was about noon next day when Lizzy's mobile rang.

"Hello."

"Hi, it's Will. I'm calling about the theatre."

"Yeah."

"The play starts at 7. How about if we meet at half past six in front of the theatre?" asked he.

"Sure. Which one?"

"Magenta Theatre. You know where that is?"

"I know." Replied she.

"Great... So... see you then."

"See you." Replied she.

"Another strange conversation with Willy Darcy." Said she aloud after hearing a signal in the receiver.

Elizabeth left school soon after three. She still had enough time to go home, change and drive to London. She carefully chose her outfit. Nothing too special, something elegant and comfortable, that was her style. She put on a little bit of make up and looked at herself in the mirror. "Yes, I got too fat these past few months. Must be the home life instead of field activities." She thought.

The drive to London was an easy one but parking was pure nightmare and cost a fortune.

"Hi Liz!" called Darcy as he saw her emerge from behind a corner.

"Hi! How are you?"

"I'm well. Ready for the show?"

"Sure. Sorry for being late. I had problems with finding a parking place."

"I guess you are the only person who drives to London and does not take a train."

"There is no fun in returning by train in the evening." Replied she.

"C'mon. We have seats in the front row." He changed the subject.

"Wow! How did you get it?"

"My aunt is the producer. This is a pre-opening performance."

"I should have guessed, it was something like this."

"So you think me a snob!"

"A snob! No. It's just that I'm not used to having aunts who are producers, giving me tickets to pre-opening shows."

He laughed and led her inside. The seats were not only in the front row but in the very middle of it. They sat down just moments before the lights went off. "Hair" is one of those musicals where you can't come up with much of new things in a performance but the music is always good. The artist must be good however. Those definitely were very good. Elizabeth enjoyed every moment of the play. During the break Darcy went to buy them something to drink. He returned rather quickly and they sat sipping their cocktails. The communication problem was there again.

"You have seen the musical before?" ventured Elizabeth.

"Hair? Yes."

"I haven't. I've just seen the movie."

"It was good."

Silence fell again.

"Funny that it is always as powerful as it ever was. Times and people have changed but Hair is still as popular as it ever was." Said she.

"It's the music. When I was in China, we used to watch Hair in an underground cinema."

"Underground cinema?"

"Yeah. You can't watch American movies officially but on campus, there were always underground cinemas for foreign students."

"Did you get new movies or old."

"Both, always in illegal copies."

"Oh yes, lawyers."

"Copying for private use is not illegal."

"Okay." She laughed. The bell told them the show was beginning again. All lights went down. They could hear the curtain go up. Onto the stage, the actors began to walk in. They all carried candles and ... were stark naked. She watched with eyes wide open. That was something she did not expect. Neither did Darcy as she could feel him stiffen on the chair next to her.

After the show as Darcy walked her to the car, she said:

"I must say I was surprised by the opening of the second half of the show."

"Yeah. That was somewhat unexpected." He said.

"I guess, this show is going to make it to the front pages."

"Seems so."

As they reached the car, Darcy opened the door for her and quickly kissed her on the cheek.

"Thank you for a great evening." She said.

"I thank you. Bye." He said. He was staring intensely at her

"Bye." She smiled.

The "Hair" performance is a real one that was put on stage in Gdynia Musical Theater, Poland.

Chapter Twelve

"And there it happened again! He asks me to go the theatre with him, then he says nothing and we end up exactly where we've started. This time, he kissed my cheek at least but he sure could have been more forward." - thought Elizabeth on her way home. "It would be nice if he at least asked me out again but no. But now that he has my number he can call. Yes, he will call. These naked people on stage probably stressed him. That must be it! He was too stressed to be forward and he thought we'd better say good bye at once." Having resolved so, she chose to content with the evening. "He would call me tomorrow and ask me out." - She thought

But he didn't. Days went by and Will Darcy didn't call Lizzy. She was mad at him, then she was feeling sorry for herself and it wasn't until the end of the month that she was really furious.

She was driving to Jane's house. Jane returned home from the hospital and Charles with Lizzy's help convinced her that a nanny would be of help. That way Jane would be able to rest and have a bit of her own life. Elizabeth was still a good six miles from where the Bingleys lived when she noticed a car standing on the side of the road. There was a man standing next to it. That car seemed familiar... Hey that was Will Darcy's car... That man was Will Darcy. She pulled down and went in his direction.

"Hi Will." She said

"Oh Liz, hi! What are you doing here?"

"I'm on my way to Jane's. Are you okay? I mean the car and all."

"No, something is wrong. I called the mechanics. They'll come any minute to pick it up."

"I see. You need a ride?" asked she.

"Yeah, thanks." At the very moment an AA car pulled down. Having listened to Darcy for a while and after checking the car briefly, he stated that they would need to take the car to garage to change the fuel pump. With Darcy's help, they've maneuvered the car onto the help car platform and the mechanic drove away asking Elizabeth to follow his car.

Darcy sat on the passenger seat. He was far too big for her small car and she was wondering whether she shouldn't let him drive but decided against it. After all it was her car and not his. They sat in silence.

"That's a really bad luck about your car.' She said.

"Yeah, shit happens."

Silence fell again. They've turned into the road leading to the garage.

"Will, don't you think we have a problem with communication." She said rather nervously. "I mean we seem to have a problem finding a topic."

"Well, I'm not very talkative." Replied he rather angrily. His voice betrayed he was nervous.

"We could... I don't know... try to... you know..."

"I'm no good with taking." They've pulled before the garage. "Thanks for the ride. I really appreciate it." He got off. "Bye" he waved.

She did not manage to reply. "What a touchy bas#$%d!" she called as she drove off. "I'm trying to solve the problem and he's acting like he was a princess. I don't care about you Will Darcy if you don't want to associate with me! Just why am I so infatuated by you then?" She stopped in front of Jane's house.

"Hi Lizzy!" called Jane standing on the threshold of the house.

"Hi!" she called rather angrily.

"What's the matter, Lizzy?"

"I'm so mad! I'm so mad at myself for being stupid and naïve and..."

"Good God, what happened?" cried Jane.

"Why did I have to meet Will Darcy?"

"Will Darcy?"

"Yeah, he was all nice and easy at the party. Then we've run into each other in a club, we had a drink and he asked me to the theatre and then nothing. It must be me. It must be my face or my behaviour or my something..."

"Lizzy stop!"

"I really liked him and he turned me one and I liked to hear his voice and... well, I liked him altogether. I was falling in love with him. He is just my type."

"Lizzy, tell me everything from the start. What happened?"

She proceeded with the details, still shaken and nervous. "I think I have already fallen for him. I don't know him. But he fascinates me. I want to be with him. I want to learn about him. I want to go to bed with him. But I must have screwed something up!"

"Lizzy, no self blaming because I will go mad and so will you. I am sure you have done nothing wrong. From what you tell me, he seemed interested. Maybe he is having a tough time at work or some family problems."

"Jane, why does it never work for me? What's so terrible about me that no man can ever fall in love with me or even date me?"

"Lizzy, you are not a stupid flower and many men..."

"Jane, that's a bad argument. You are not a stupid flower either and you and Charles just hit it off."

"But it doesn't matter that..."

"No, Jane. You were and are beautiful and I am not. I'm at best what you call jolie laide or interesting. You wouldn't call me cute or sweet. I'd much rather call me strange."

"Lizzy, what are you talking about? You strange? You must be joking. You are wonderful. Any sane man would want to be with you."

"If so, there are no sane men in England. I sometimes wish I were normal, average. That I went to become a secretary rather than an archaeologist. I'd prefer not to speak French or Gaelic or Celtic. I'd prefer..."

"Lizzy, listen to yourself. You wouldn't want to be any of these. You are the most extraordinary person I know and everyone will admit it."

"Men don't like extraordinary women unless they are extraordinarily pretty."

"Stop it, Lizzy! Stop it right now. I will not stand listening to this things you are saying." Called Jane.

Lizzy sat with a sad face but said nothing.

"Lizzy, how about if I drag something out of Charles... about Will?"

"I don't want the whole ShMaF to know that I'm having a crush on William Darcy and least of all, I want William Darcy to know that I have a severe crush on him."

"Lizzy, no one will know. I have my tricks on my husband. I'll tell you when I'll know something."

That night, Elizabeth couldn't sleep. She could think of no one and nothing else but Will Darcy. He was foremost in her mind. She wanted him so badly.

Days went by. She felt empty and unhappy.

The ancestral research was going nowhere and it gave her no more pleasure. She resolved it was better to hate Will Darcy then anything else.

The first good thing that happened to her was a letter from her professor at Durham who was organizing an expedition to Ireland to investigate stone circles in the South. She readily accepted. It was time to move on with her life.

The day before her departure Jane called.

"Lizzy, I wanted to tell you something before you go." She said.

"What is it?"

"I made Charles talk about Will Darcy and he told me something interesting. Apparently Charles have met Darcy's colleague from law school. His name is George Wickham. Wickham is now a senior lawyer in Duponts London and he knew Charles worked with Will. The story is that Darcy had a long-standing girlfriend Caroline Charton. He was madly in love with her. They were together for six years. One fine day, Caroline dumped Will claiming that she was fed up with him being childish and hit it off with Darcy's best friend. Will and that friend had a fight over her and somehow made peace."

"What are you trying to tell me Jane?"

"Maybe Will is just scared to be in a relationship. You know it fits the story. He loved that Caroline. She betrayed him with his best friend. Wouldn't you have problems trusting other people, especially those you begin to like?"

"What does it have to do with me?" asked Lizzy.

"Lizzy, think about it while you'll be digging in Ireland. Do it for you sister if not for yourself." Replied Jane.

Chapter Thirteen

Posted On: Tuesday, 18 February 2003, at 3:54 p.m.

It has been more than an exciting stay in Ireland. To Elizabeth's surprise the expedition was led by no one other but Frederick Wentworth, M.Litt, Ph.D Assistant Professor at Durham University specialising in X and IX century A.D. archaeology. The youngest researcher ever to become an Assistant Professor at Durham, he was the bright star of what was called "Youthful League" in Oxford, Cambridge and Durham. He graduated from Oxford in Literature at the age of 21. He completed his doctor thesis at 24 at Durham and spent two years in the field to be nominated an Assistant Professor at the age of 27.

At 32, he was said to be the successor of the old professor who was to retire next year. He was about 5'9'' with dark hair and brown eyes. One would never call him handsome by common standards. He was slightly too fat but it suited him good. He seemed a rather serious man at first sight but after 5 minutes in his company one had no doubts that he was cheerful and witty. Women always surrounded him but he kept a distance. He told Elizabeth one evening that he was very much in love with a Canadian girl, Anne Elliot, who left him just before the wedding. Despite that he was always friendly and co-operative and he made one feel at ease. His behaviour could at times shock an unprepared spectator because he would out of a sudden ask you a question, which would distract you so much that you would blush and burst out laughing. Pushing Will Darcy out of her mind was easy in Frederick's company.

Elizabeth knew Wentworth mainly by reputation before going to Ireland. When she was completing her Ph.D., she took two of his courses, however having principal interest in druid artifacts, she did not get to know Frederick well as he has been renown for his studies of the Middle Ages. During the two months on the site however, they befriended each other. Frederick was a great lover of yachting. His massive posture definitely fitted Elizabeth's idea of how a yachtsman looked. He would take her and the other team members out for a Sunday cruise in a rented boat and they would spend the morning fishing and the afternoon grilling the caught fish. As soon as he's learnt that Elizabeth was fluent in Gaelic, he enlisted for classes with her in the evenings but soon those classes turned into prolonged conversations in English on various subjects. They've quarrelled about politics, literature and film. He was a worthy opponent and a great sparing partner. They never agreed about politics, they usually enjoyed the same books and varied in opinions on films. They agreed that the best film line came from Shogun when Blackthorne replies to Toranaga's statement that there are no mitigating circumstances when a nation rebels against its rightful ruler: "There is one mitigating circumstance and that is when you win." Replies Blackthorne.

The fieldwork provided a number of findings and they would still be busy on returning to Durham. The artifacts had to be worked on, catalogued and prepared for display at the museum. During the last week on site, they've divided work between themselves. Elizabeth was charged with the organisation of the post-cataloguing publication of the results. She now had three months of paid job before she would actually need to work on the publication. On the flight back, Frederick asked her:

"I will be organising an expedition next spring to Poland. They have found some very interesting XI century artifacts. This period is completely undiscovered because they've always assumed that all was discovered and no artifacts remained. Would you like to join?"

"I sure would. It's good that you are saying in now, so that I have time to read something about the period. "

"It would be good if you spoke some Polish because there will be a large group of Polish archaeologists. I can get you a grant for language classes somewhere near where you live."

"University of London would be good." Replied Lizzy.

"I'll phone you next week with the information. Maybe we'll get you inscribed in some sort of a postgraduate thing so that you can profit from it."

It was good to be home again. She has been away for two months, two busy and fascinating months but it was good to be back. She picked up the phone to tell Jane that she has safely arrived home.

"Hi Charles, it's Lizzy."

"Lizzy! Where are you?"

"I'm home. Just calling to tell you guys that I'm back safe and sound."

"Great. Jane is with the girls now. Why don't you come for dinner tomorrow. Jane has missed you a lot."

"I missed her too, Charlie. How are the girls?"

"Oh, they're growing with every passing day. You'll see for yourself when you'll come."

"Tell Jane I called and I'll be tomorrow for dinner. At 7 right?"

"7 as always. Till then. Sleep well."

"You, too. Bye."

She hung up and took her mail from the table. There was a whole pile of envelops, mostly bills but something caught her attention. It was a large, brown envelop. She opened it and read:

Dear Ms Bennet,

My name is Victoria Bennet. I have found your posts on Ancestry.com and I was thrilled to discover that we are related. Before I go to that I must explain how I got you home address. Having discovered that we are related I went to the white pages and searched for all English 'Elizabeth Bennets'. There are exactly 35 listed in England, so I called all the numbers and talked to all Elizabeth Bennets but you as there was always an answering machine on. I thought I was looking for you. I couldn't talk to you and I thought it was too complicated for an e-mail, therefore I decided to write you.

Our great-grandfathers were brothers. Your great-grandfather's name was George and mine Matthew. But let's start with me. I'm an only child of Mark and Helen (nee Quin) Bennet. My father has a twin brother, Keith. My grandfather was Michael Bennet son of Matthew Bennet. Matthew and George Bennet were sons of Edward Bennet and Sophie Fitzwilliam (I'll come back to Sophie in a moment). Edward was born in 1872 and Sophie was his second wife. The first one, Mary, died at childbirth, leaving Edward with two children: Anne and Catherine. Edward was a son of Henry Bennet (born 1844) and Samantha Barcley (born 1845). I haven't found anything more on Henry but Samantha was a daughter of Henry Barcley (born 1818) and Julia Thornton (born 1820). Julia's parents were John Thornton (born 1790) and Georgiana Darcy (born 1795). Georgiana came from a very rich family of the Darcys who had a large estate in Derbyshire called Pemberley. She had a brother by a name of Fitzwilliam Darcy. Georgian'a mother was Lady Anne Fitzwilliam who had a brother by a name of James. James had a son, Richard Fitzwilliam born 1780. In 1819, Richard wed Laura Weychan and they had two children Adrian and Elizabeth. Adrian (born 1820) married Georgette Beaconsfield in 1848. They had only one child, Richard, born in 1850. In 1880 Richard married Jane Knightley with whom he had a daughter by a name of Sophie. Sophie married Edward Bennet. As you can see Edward and Sophie were distant relatives but I don't know if they knew it.

Elizabeth was speechless. Not only were Sophie and Edward related. It also meant that she and Will were somehow related and maybe, just maybe, she'd be able to fit her own Anne Weychan into the puzzle. She opened her computer and looked for Will's old e-mails. One of the said:

Hi,

My name is Will. My sister has been researching our family history and about three months ago she gave me a draft of our family tree. I was reading it today and found a Weychan in it. It is an "ancient history" because it dates back to the beginning of the 1820s. A Richard Fitzwilliam married Laura Weychan in 1819 and they had two children Adrian and Elizabeth. Can you make any connection?

Regards,
Will

P.S. Where is Lambton?

Another one said:

Hi Elizabeth,

Thanx for your prompt reply. I looked up in what I have and found the Richard Fitzwilliam was born in 1780 in Matlock and died in 1840 in Pemberley. That sounds Derbyshire to me. What do you say?"

Will

She pressed the REPLY button and wrote.

Hi Will,

It's been a long time but I have found something interesting. I think you and I are related through that Laura Weychan-Fitzwilliam. In 1819, Richard Fitzwilliam wed Laura Weychan and they had two children Adrian and Elizabeth. Adrian (born 1820) married Georgette Beaconsfield in 1848. They had only one child: Richard born in 1850. In 1880 Richard married Jane Knightley with whom he had a daughter by a name of Sophie. Sophie married Edward Bennet. Edward Bennet is my great-grandfather. Isn't that amazing? I haven't figured out yet what's the relation between us, it seems very far, something like 6th cousins 2 times removed but I have to draw it.

I hope you are well.

Elizabeth

She pressed the send button and returned to Victoria's letter.

If you could add something to what I have written I would be much obliged. My e-mail address is: victoria.bennet@iue.co.uk

I'll be looking forward to hearing from you.

Victoria.

Elizabeth opened a new message template and wrote:

Dear Victoria,

I can't believe it. We are related. I'll send you all the information I have via snail mail but I must ask something. Do you have anything on the Weychan family? You may not believe it but I am related to the Weychans also on my maternal side. My great-grandmother was Anne Weychan-Burney born in 1895 in Lambton. I know her parents were John Weychan and Margaret Latimaire. Anne had a brother by a name of John. Anne's grandfather was Frank Weychan and was born in 1799 and married to Anne Sanders. Frank's father was also called Frank and his mother Mary Wharton.

That's all I have. Can you check your information on Laura Fitzwilliam to see if anything fits?

Take care,
Elizabeth

P.S. I may have found another relative by a name of Will with whom I was corresponding. He is related to Laura Weychan but I don't know how. E.B.