You'll never guess what has happened in the last week!

I must say that the news of your wedding has given me a sense of relief, and your letter has lifted my spirits and given me a renewed strength. I have used this new courage to prevail upon my mother relentlessly this past week to allow me to attend your wedding. I did not let up until she realized how happy I am for Darcy and you and that I am not in the least bit heart-broken.

The resulting storms have been severe, but no more so than the rampages that I've endured my entire life. I persevered in these endeavours until she finally reversed her opinion (!) and I expect she will be writing to you herself.

But the final credit for my mother's change of heart cannot go to me. It was the news from Mrs. Collins that finally turned around my mother's views. Charlotte (she and I have become close friends) told mother that you had refused my cousin's first proposal last April. Upon hearing this, mother buried herself in her room and hibernated there for several days.

I'd rather not detail the circumstance which forced poor Charlotte to betray this confidence. For that knowledge you will have to ask Charlotte herself. However, the intelligence eventually had a most profound effect. My mother finally emerged from her deliberations with a completely new outlook on you and my cousin.

Mother has told me she will write to you to appeal for another invitation to your wedding. Please excuse the tone of her letter for she is not accustomed to making apologies, and please try to understand how difficult it has been for her to accept such an upheaval in her longheld views and plans. I do believe that Charlotte's news provided the means whereby my mother could make amends to you without losing face.

In any case, I am packing in the hope of a trip to Hertfordshire. Please write to tell me if we may still come. Mother is writing to Darcy to secure an invitation to at Netherfield. I am so looking forward to meeting your sister Jane and Darcy's friend Mr. Bingley and to be reunited with Georgiana. And I do hope that you will grant me permission to call you Elizabeth instead of Miss Bennet.

This is wonderful news indeed! Please be assured that you and your mother are most welcome to attend our wedding. Rooms are being prepared for you at Netherfield even as I write.

Unfortunately I cannot grant you permission to call me Elizabeth. You must instead call me Lizzy, as do all my family and friends. And my elder sister, who is very anxious to meet you, insists upon being called Jane.

Georgiana is already here and I took the liberty of letting her read your letter. You can have no doubt that she is beside herself with joy and cannot wait to have you here.

Please do not be alarmed lest this letter renew those sentiments which I most ungraciously conveyed to you when we last met, and which were expressed in my previous letter to you upon my learning of your engagement to my nephew. I wish at present only to explain my new views on the subject and to request that you allow my daughter and myself to attend your wedding.

My daughter Anne informs me, much to my surprise, that she has never had any desire to marry her cousin. You must realize how unexpected this revelation was to me, and it has forced me to rethink my position on the matter of your engagement.

In addition, during the course of one of our afternoon teas, Mrs. Collins informed me of your refusal of my nephew's first proposal of marriage to you last April. I must say that I found this to be most singular and I have therefore decided to alter my opinion of your character and motives.

Anne's health is much improved over the last several weeks and she insists upon travelling to Hertfordshire for your wedding. I therefore rescind my previous refusal to attend your wedding and ask that you accommodate both my daughter and me. I will write separately to my nephew to request lodgings at Netherfield Hall.

I trust that you and Mr. Collins are well. I sincerely hope that you are busily preparing for your journey back to Hertfordshire for I need you here most urgently. Jane is no longer a useful confidante since she is continuously in the company of Mr. Bingley. In fact, she now spends literally twenty-four hours of the day at Netherfield Hall (chaperoned by mother of course).

I have heard recently from Anne de Bourgh (your new best friend?) that you were coerced into revealing to Lady Catherine the essential details of Mr. Darcy's first proposal to me and his subsequent disappointment. Be assured that I am not at all unhappy with this. In fact, your disclosure may have precipitated a reconciliation between Lady Catherine and myself, for which I am ever grateful.

However, Anne hints at some chicanery in the circumstance under which you were forced to make your revelation.

This has made me curious. Please write to tell me anything that I might find amusing or scandalous.

Mr. Darcy and I are really most delighted to have you and Anne at our wedding, and please be assured that you both are most welcome. Mr. Darcy is preparing rooms for you at Netherfield, as I am sure he has already told you.

We are on our way to Hertfordshire this very afternoon!

I am hurrying mother along so that we may leave before nightfall. She seems always to be busy fussing about some detail or other, but I'm sure all of her last-minute arrangements will be settled within the hour and we'll be at Netherfield Hall on Friday, after a two-night stopover in London.

After much discussion with Mrs. Jenkinson, I was able to gently persuade her to remain behind. This will leave me with one fewer encumbrance during my stay so that I may see Meryton with Georgiana and Kitty. (May I call her Kitty?) And I do hope that Hertfordshire boasts many pleasant long walks and similar extended diversions to keep my mother occupied.

One last thing. I was wondering if Colonel Fitzwilliam is staying at Netherfield as well. If so, could he please be placed in a room near my own, as I have some important family business that I need to discuss with him in private. I believe that my mother would prefer to be placed some distance away from the Colonel, as she is worried that he may walk in his sleep and thereby disrupt her slumber. There is no need to bother my mother about these plans, though.

I hope you do not receive this express, for I expect you to be on the road to Hertfordshire by now.

But in case you are still in Derbyshire, then I must tell you that your cousin Anne seems somewhat eager to have you at Netherfield when she arrives. Why she should be so anxious I can only imagine, but in case you haven't left Matlock yet, perhaps you should ride ahead on horseback so as to spend a day or two extra with her.

Quite frankly, Lizzy, I was hoping that my divulgence of the proposal would never come to light. I am quite embarrassed by this whole episode. But if you insist upon reading the remainder of this letter then you must write immediately afterwards to tell me if you forgive me or if you desire to terminate our friendship. (I'm just kidding of course.)

One afternoon at Rosings, Lady Catherine was railing against her nephew and his atrocious choice of a wife (her words), when Colonel Fitzwilliam let slip that, in April, Mr. Darcy had spent an afternoon alone with you at Hunsford and that Mr. Darcy had therefore missed tea that afternoon. I'd rather not detail the circumstance which led to his slip. For that knowledge you will have to speak to the Colonel himself.

Lady Catherine then speculated upon the reason that her nephew would be visiting a lady (you) without a chaperone (me). Her wild ramblings went so far as to suggest that Mr. Darcy had compromised you in some manner and that that could be the only reason for your subsequent engagement.

At this point I felt that I had to interrupt Lady Catherine and relate to her what had actually happened that day, as described in detail to me by my trusty maid Gwen who has been trained (by me) to keep me abreast of all goings-on within Hunsford. (Sorry)

One final thing. Anne is only my second best friend, but a close second nonetheless. When you get to know her better I'm sure you'll fall in love with her as I have.

And oh yes, in case you were wondering, the Colonel was indeed a frequent visitor to Rosings several weeks ago. He seemed to stare at Anne in the same manner that Mr. Darcy stared at you in April.

Please inform my nephew that Mrs. Jenkinson will be unavailable to travel to Hertfordshire with us due to a sudden ailment. My daughter and I will therefore require only two rooms for the duration of our visit. A pair of adjoining rooms would be ideal.

We are leaving Kent this afternoon and expect to arrive at Netherfield in two days time.

I hope this express finds you safe and sound in London on your stopover.

Regarding your rooms, Mr. Bingley has had to engage a carpenter for a few minor renovations to some doors in Netherfield. The best accommodation that he is now able to offer is a room directly opposite that of the Colonel. These rooms are at the far end of the hall so that the Colonel's sleepwalking is unlikely to disturb anyone. Your mother will be safely housed in Mr. Bingley's most spacious suite on the upper level. I hope this arrangement meets your needs.

Safe journey!

You had better not receive this letter until after my marriage, sir, for if you have not yet left Matlock then I will have you reduced to a Sergeant, or perhaps Chief Potato-Peeler and Bottle-Washer.

My good friend Charlotte Collins tells me that at some time earlier this month you revealed to your aunt (you know which aunt I'm talking about) that Mr. Darcy had been alone with me at Hunsford Parsonage in April when she had instead been expecting him to tea.

Actually, this slip has resulted in a reconciliation between Lady Catherine and the two of us. I am eternally grateful to you for this, of course, but I cannot stand by and ignore your inexcusable lack of delicacy. Your real commanding officer must be alerted of your wagging tongue at once so that you may be removed from all clandestine activity in the service of His Majesty.

By the way, I hope your rooms at Netherfield were to your liking.

P.S. That was the very first time that I have signed my name in that manner. By the time you read this it will be true! So please allow me a bit of indulgence in the pleasurable feeling of writing my new name:

Mrs. Elizabeth Darcy

Mrs. Elizabeth Darcy

Mrs. Elizabeth Darcy

Mrs. Elizabeth Darcy

Mrs. Elizabeth Darcy

Mrs. Elizabeth Darcy

No, your eyes do not deceive you. I have indeed received your second letter much earlier than you expected, for I am in fact still at Matlock House tending to some important military matters. I am not at liberty to divulge to meddlesome young ladies the nature of these duties other than to say that they involve the extensive evaluation of spirituous quaffments (military jargon) and not the peeling of potatoes.

Regarding my threatened demotion to Sergeant, I must remind you that I hold in my hand the evidence of your adoption of the Darcy name before your nuptuals. This is a capital offence in Derbyshire, punishable by the loss of either one limb or four fingers, your choice.

Regarding my 'slip', I only mentioned the infamous rendezvous to my aunt after her own daughter remarked that there had been precisely one afternoon in April when both you and Darcy were unaccountably and simultaneously absent from Rosings. I'd rather not detail the circumstance which forced Anne to inadvertenly divulge this information. For that knowledge you will have to ask Anne herself.

But you must not hesitate to lay the entire blame for this debacle at the feet of my cousin Miss Anne de Bourgh.

And regarding my rooms at Netherfield, is there any particular reason why they would not have been to my liking? Now that I have been forewarned, I will make sure to examine every corner of the room for booby-traps and explosives before settling in. Perhaps I will foil your plot by using the room across the hall instead.

Regarding our accommodation at Netherfield, I must add that if no adjoining rooms are available, then my daughter and I will fit quite comfortably in any spacious room that is available.

I would tell my nephew but he seems to be too distracted these days to respond to any of my letters.

I hope you are enjoying the second night of your stopover in London.

However, I have received an alarming report from none other than Colonel Fitzwilliam, who informs me that you yourself initiated the incident in which Mr. Darcy's unfortunate first proposal was brought to your mother's attention.

After giving this matter some thought, I feel that I have no choice but to withdraw my previous authorization and demand that you revert to calling me Miss Bennet for the first five minutes of your visit in Hertfordshire. However, I may show some leniency if you can offer an acceptable explanation for your slip.

In all seriousness, though, and if at all possible, please see if you can arrange for you and your mother to remain in London for one more night. Mr. Bingley needs additional time to effect a few more emergency repairs on the upper level at Netherfield.

One day about a fortnight ago my mother was pontificating upon Darcy and his horrendous choice of a wife (her words) when she remarked that Darcy and you had been at Rosings for tea every single afternoon during his stay at Rosings.

In my newfound spirit of independence and impertinence (and pointing out mother's mistakes whenever possible) I thereupon interjected that there had been one afternoon when the both of you were absent from Rosings.

If this means that I can take full credit for my mother's change of heart, then I am delighted. And in honour of my great achievement I demand to be called "Anne the Glorious", at least for the first ten minutes after my arrival in Hertfordshire.

And oh yes, my mother and I are indeed staying in London for another night. I insisted that I needed to visit the British Museum to inspect the suits of armour used by our soldiers many centuries ago. I'm sure that Colonel Fitzwilliam will be most interested to hear of my discoveries.