Jane Austen Twitter Project

Mr. and Mrs. Darcy, with their two children, are spending the season at their London house. Mr. Darcy has befriended Captain Wentworth through a charity of which he is a patron that aids disabled naval veterans. The Wentworths are invited to one of the Darcys’ soirées, which are well known for their eclectic mixture of guests. Accompanying the Wentworths is Mrs. Smith, who although still possessed of a delicate constitution, has been restored to health through the friendship of the Wentworths as well as an improvement in her finances. Mrs. Smith and Col. Fitzwilliam are immediately drawn to one another. Elizabeth Elliot, who knows the Darcys through Lady Dalrymple, has fixed on Col. Fitzwilliam as a matrimonial prospect and is most unhappy that her relatives have become part of what she considers her own social milieu, while another friend of the Darcys, John Meredith, a widower, also shows an interest in Mrs. Smith…Mrs.Darcy, meanwhile, receives a letter from a Mrs. Knightley. The Wickhams, in one of their frequent moves, have relocated to the vicinity of Donwell Abbey. Mrs. Knightley has come to the aid of Lydia Wickham, the mother of several young children, as Mr. Wickham is gravely ill and the likelihood of his recovery is unknown.