Chapter 1. Amusing Musings and Notorious Nightmares

Authors' note: We start this story a few days before the Lucas's dinner party. The Meryton ball happened a few months ago. Mr Bingley, Miss Bingley and the Hursts have already taken residence of Netherfield, but Mr Darcy is not with them. Mr Bingley is subtly courting Jane without the hinderance of Darcy to dissuade him.

Thank you to all who reviewed, it really makes me feel like my writing is appreciated. And also thanks to my two wonderful betas who help so much :)

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"Mr Bennet! Mr Bennet! Oh, did you hear? Did you hear the news!?" Mrs Bennet stumbled into Mr Bennet's library, shoving open the thick wooden doors and almost slipping on a ribbon that had been carelessly dropped to the floor.

While Mrs Bennet steadied herself and caught her breath, Mr Bennet turned in his chair, lowered the book and looked over his spectacles as a single brow rose, "And what, my dear, is the news that you find important enough to disturb my solitude, at this time of the day?"

"Hmm, Yes well," Mrs Bennet cleared her throat, "I have just received a visit from Mrs Long. Do you recall when Mr Bingley first came into the neighbourhood and there was all that terrible fuss about going to visit him, a new rich man belonging to the neighbourhood and all that nerve-wracking business, that you said - "

"Yes my dear, please get to the point." Mr Bennet interrupted, putting his book down and beginning to wipe his spectacles with a small white cloth.

Mrs Bennet glared at her husband, "You take great delight in vexing me. I can't imagine how I've put up with it all these years. But as I was saying, you insisted you wouldn't visit him, even though you had already done so - and in secret too! - and you set my nerves all a-flutter and you said - "

"Yes my dear," Mr Bennet sighed, wanting her to move along quicker and get to the point, "I said a lot of things that day. I remember asking you how a rich man could affect our daughters, whereupon you said you wanted him to marry our daughters, or," he paused with a slight smile at his fuming wife, "daughter, as we have discovered he is not a polygamist."

"Yes, yes - carry on, and then...?" Mrs Bennet was getting quite impatient with how long this was taking, although originally she had thought that finally she'd be the one to hold her spouse in suspense.

"Well yes, hurrumph, then you insisted I go see him, I suggested sending a letter to him and then you all found out that I'd met the - "

"Before that!" Mrs Bennet cried, "You said something in particular, about other gentlemen."

"I did?" Mr Bennet feigned confusion, followed by enlightenment, "Oh, yes, I suppose I do recall saying, at the time of telling you that I had no wish to further visit Mr Bingley and his party," Mrs Bennet tried to interrupt again, but Mr Bennet continued, "- something to do with visiting other possible suiters. And actually, I suppose my exact words were 'When there are fifty such men, then I shall visit them all!'" Mr Bennet chuckled at the look on his wife's countenance.

"You did say so!" Mrs Bennet exclaimed triumphantly, "And I have news that will encourage you to live up to your words!"

"Indeed?" Mr Bennet turned an inquisitive eye on his spouse, "Pray tell me, fifty rich new gentlemen have not moved suddenly into the neighbourhood?"

"Well," Mrs Bennet gasped, "Certainly not fifty, but surely enough to induce the same outcome!"

At this precise moment there was a loud pandemonium of noises, for Mr Bennet's two youngest daughters had arrived, bursting into the room with Miss Lydia exclaiming, "Mama, have you seen my pale gold ribbon? It looked so very good on me and I think Kitty has stolen it - but she insists she does not have it!"

"I do not!" Kitty insisted, shoving her sister, "Lydia always blames me for everything! She has probably dropped it - "

"Oh hush Kitty, I have found it now." Lydia said happily as she stooped to pick it up from the floor, being the very ribbon Mrs Bennet had almost slipped on earlier. Forgetting her earlier accusations of thievery, she promptly grinned at her mother and dashed out of the room as suddenly as she'd appeared.

Kitty sighed, pouting. "It's not fair Mama! I always get blamed for her carelessness. She had better take better care of her things, for if she does not, I really shall take something of hers and then she shall be sorry!"

Mrs Bennet glared at her second youngest daughter, "You shall do no such thing, kitty! You shall forgive your sister and that shall be that!"

Kitty cried out in frustration and then flounced out of the room after her sister exclaiming, "It's not fair and mama always agrees with Lydia!"

When they were finally quite alone again, for Mr Bennet had observed the scene with silent amusement, he remarked wryly to his wife, "Yes, Kitty should forgive her sister, a girl who is both friend and enemy, because nothing will vex Lydia more than being told by Kitty that she been forgiven."

Mrs Bennet didn't find much amusement in Mr Bennet's wit, so she huffed and changed the subject, "Yes, my dear, you're probably quite right, but... I'm sure you'd like to know my news now."

Mr Bennet nodded, absently glancing out his window and getting distracted as he saw his second eldest daughter, Lizzy, looking back at him with an eyebrow quirked. She had just returned from her morning walk and heard a bit of the earlier commotion. His lips twitched, but he was brought back to awareness of what his wife was saying when she suddenly announced, "And so, my dear husband, you will have to call on them and introduce them to us when we go to the Lucas's dinner party!" Fanny Bennet was smiling widely at him, very expectantly.

Mr Bennet blinked, "I'm very sorry my dear, I fear my thoughts quite took me away, pray tell me whom I should be visiting and why is it necessary?"

"Oh Mr Bennet! The least you could have done is listen, but now I have to repeat myself - which I take no pleasure in, but I will tell you again. Since Blytherton was left by the Mason's family last week, it has been empty; until now! And they only thought to let the neighbourhood know who would be taking it yesterday; Mrs Mason told Mrs Goulding, who told Mrs Long, who then came to tell me, and oh! It is such a fantastic thing!" Mrs Bennet cried joyfully, "You would never guess, Mr Bennet, who has taken it!"

Mr Bennet had decided silence had been the best option, as interrupting would have merely stalled her and she would have talked even more before getting to the point, so now he nodded in agreement, "You're probably right, my dear, I have no idea who could have taken it."

Mrs Bennet beamed, "Our girls will surely all be married, if only you will call on them! Can you imagine, Mr Bennet, three rich, young, eligible gentlemen, all under the same roof, as well as Mr Bingley at Netherfield, who I'm convinced will surely be engaged to Jane before long, and my daughters will meet them all and ooh!" Mrs Bennet was keening and sighing by turns at her daughters' good fortune, while Mr Bennet watched on with barely concealed amusement at the state of his wife, "I'm convinced Lydia will surely capture one of the gentlemen, and Kitty too, if she is lucky. Lizzy may even have a chance - if she will but put effort into her looks and stop her forays into the wild!"

"Walking about the land on our estate is hardly 'foraying into the wild'. But besides that, my dear, you have not yet imparted to me who they are."

"Oh yes, and this is the best part! One of the gentlemen is apparently Mr Bingley's good friend from Derbyshire - he is quite rich, with ten thousand pounds a year, far more than Bingley, and the other two gentlemen are sons of an earl!" Here Mrs Bennet was so very excited that Mr Bennet was afraid she would collapse on his floor at any moment. He gestured to a discreet servant to fetch Mrs Bennet's smelling salts.

Mrs Bennet continued, her voice rising in volume to painful volumes, like an incessant crescendo, "The first and second sons! Viscount! He will be an earl one day and if one of my girls caught him, she would be a countess!" She started flapping her hands around her face, before adding, "The second son isn't much of a catch; he's a colonel with almost nothing to his name, without even the chance of a title! Well... unless, his brother died, but that is rather unlikely..."

"Mrs Bennet, you are not considering unspeakable acts for the sake of marrying your daughters off, are you? If so, you should know that I should sleep very ill indeed, knowing that a woman capable of such things lay in the room opposite mine."

Mrs Bennet didn't appreciate Mr Bennet's humour at all as she said indignantly, "Mr Bennet, if I were capable of such things, a viscount would not be the first, I assure you!"

Mr Bennet raised an amused eyebrow as he stood up, "Well my dear, thank you for that comforting thought. It shall let me rest easier tonight. If something unexpected should happen to the viscount, then I shall be wary. In the meantime, though I have no idea why you should assume any of them would be interested in any of our daughters - least of all Lydia - I will indeed contact them, or at least ask Mr Long for an introduction. And you - well you shall promise never to enter my study without prior permission." His tone was quite uncharacteristically firm.

Mrs Bennet gaped. "But I - !"

"I have always despised the word 'but', Mrs Bennet. I have now wasted the better part of a half-hour, learning of something that could have been told in full in less than ten minutes; so next time, if you please, tell the girls and let them convey it to me. I should save a lot more time if this had been the case in the beginning." Mr Bennet walked to the study door, leaving his wife quite shocked in his wake. He had wanted to continue reading and had no real reason to leave his study, but as he doubted Mrs Bennet planned on leaving him if he remained, and he was not the type of man to use violence or physical force to carry out his endeavors, he decided to head to the kitchen. He fancied himself a little peckish after the tiring information and equally tiring wife he had just endured. "Mrs Bennet, I should like to have dinner a little later tonight. Convey this to Hill, would you dear?" he asked over his shoulder, and walked on to the kitchens. A nice roll sounded just right to soothe his troubled mind.

New men in the neighbourhood, just after the militia had encamped in Meryton, set him very ill at ease. Too many men in the neighbourhood were bound to cause trouble.

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Elizabeth Bennet stared down at her sister. Jane was looking up at her worriedly, her blue-gray eyes sparkling even as she shaded her face with her hands from the glare of the overhead sun. "You'll be coming down soon, won't you?"

Elizabeth laughed, "I've almost got enough." She reached for a pear above her head, plucked it and gently dropped it down to Jane, who caught it and put it into the almost full basket she carried.

After returning from her walk earlier that morning, she had seen her parents in private discussion through the parlor window. Her father had obviously found the whole conversation amusingly tedious, and she had not failed to notice how his gaze invited her to interrupt them, but she found she could not. She had to allow her mother to speak to her husband occasionally, even if Mr Bennet had not wished it. Shortly thereafter, she had walked inside to find Mrs Hill telling Jane that they needed to harvest the pears so that they could be ripened properly in the store-room. Jane had then asked Elizabeth to accompany her. Everyone knew that Jane did not climb trees; she was quite terrified of heights. Lizzy enjoyed the excuse to do an activity that was generally thought of as unladylike, so she had agreed to climb the tree and pick the pears to throw down to her sister.

"It's a really nice view from up here." Elizabeth commented, lifting her eyes to gaze across the land from her high vantage point, "You can almost see the tree break that signals the border to Netherfield."

When Jane didn't reply, the girl in the pear tree looked down. Jane was looking thoughtfully at the tree trunk, "Can you see the house, Lizzy?"

Elizabeth laughed, "Why, are you interested in spying on a certain someone?"

Even from high up in the tree, Lizzy noticed Jane's blush, "Of course not. How could you think such a thing? I would not spy on Mr Bingley!"

"Mr Bingley? Whoever said anything about Mr Bingley?" Lizzy teased, "I was talking of Miss Caroline Bingley."

"Oh..." Jane's blush had deepened further as she realised her mistake, "Caroline? Why would I wish to spy on Caroline?"

Lizzy's laughed in reply as she threw two more pears down at her sister, ensuring she caught the first one before dropping the second, "I think Caroline herself would assume it would be because you admired her taste in fashion and wished to imitate her style before she even left Netherfield. If I see you and Miss Bingley wearing the same dress, I shall know why."

Jane shook her head with a light laugh, "You should not tease Miss Bingley so - she does not deserve it. And you know I cannot climb trees."

"I shall remain suspicious dear sister." Lizzy grinned and examined a pretty leaf that had turned a lovely golden colour as the season wore on.

"Lizzy! The last time I tried to climb I fell and hurt my arm so badly I became ill for three weeks. I have no wish to repeat the incident."

"No, of course not," her sister agreed, adding contemplatively, "Though if you had wanted to spy on your Mr Bingley, I shouldn't have blamed you at all."

"Lizzy, he is not my Mr Bingley."

"I daresay he will be rather soon though. He will not leave Hertfordshire without asking for you." The younger sister nodded decisively, then said, "And you shall be terribly happy, but I should not be happy to see you go - I would miss you unbearably." And with that declaration, she stood from where she had crouched in a fork in the trunk, reaching for a fat pear that seemed just beyond her reach.

"Lizzy, I could not leave - what are you doing?" Jane's voice was high with fright by the end of her speech as she saw her sister reaching out farther than she usually did, balancing on her toes.

"Last one," Lizzy called as she stretched further, putting a hand on the branch above her to put her weight on as she leaned out further... almost had it. Then Lizzy heard a dramatic crack, felt her weight shift, a gasp was torn from her throat and then she was plummeting towards the earth, not having time to contemplate how much it might hurt to hit the ground. But suddenly, she did hit something, heard Jane cry out in shock and saw a mans' face staring down at her. He smiled. Such a handsome smile. Then she fainted.

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Lizzy ran down the long hall, her breath coming out short and fast as her footfalls echoed dully down the unfamiliar corridor.

It was following. It was coming. It was getting closer.

It had begun when she'd accidentally opened a door, thinking it was her private chambers, only to feel a gust of frighteningly cold air gush at her from within the dark room. Her spine had started to tingle, the fine hairs on her neck lifting as she shivered, staring into the dark depths of the room. Something indefinable moved and she had bolted, she ran. But it followed.

She must get to safety. One of these doors would bring relief. She stopped abruptly at the first door she came to, and yanked it open. It looked neat, tidy, in order, but dull, as though it had rarely been lived in. No help was to be found here.

She rushed to the next room, gasping as it almost swung open under her fingertips. It was messy, lived-in, homely, comfortable. Welcoming. Deceptively safe. But somehow, Lizzy knew help could not be found here either.

Desperately, she ran to the last door in the corridor. The darkness was closer, closing in every moment and this was the last door, or she'd be trapped! Her hands grasped the old handle, but it wouldn't open, wouldn't budge. She was panicking. Locked. She was locked out! She couldn't go back, even though she wished she'd stayed in one of the previous rooms. Her breathing was gaspy and ragged. She continued to tug hopelessly at the door in strengthless bursts, knowing it was completely stuck.

But then it opened from the inside, just as she feared the darkness would consume her.

She darted a look inside the room. It was dark. She couldn't see a thing, but it felt frightening, unwelcoming, lonely. A feeling spread from her upper back down her spine like a tiny trickle of freezing water moving inch by inch, painfully slow and lingering. She had no other choice; it was this room or be lost to the darkness of the hall. She stepped in, shut and locked the door behind her, when suddenly a dark, masculine chuckle reverberated around the room. It suddenly occurred to Elizabeth that she was still trapped - but with a different kind of evil. A form appeared and hands reached out for her.

She couldn't escape.

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"Lizzy are you coming in for supper?"

Elizabeth looked back at her sister framed in the door, smiling slightly as she called back, "I'll be there soon."

Jane nodded with her usual serene smile and turned back into the house. Elizabeth turned her back on the quaint building so that she could stare at the beautiful vision before her. The pond had a golden haze that covered the waters' surface; it looked magical as the late afternoon sun hit it at an angle. Dragonflies and water bugs looked like fairies dancing across its surface. It looked mystical, like something from a dream, and she was standing right on the edge of it.

Lizzy sighed softly. This was just what she needed to calm down after that terrible dream had shaken her up and left her mind disturbed and restless. After waking from the dream to find herself breathless and hot, she had desperately needed cool air and fresh, open spaces. She had escaped here; her favourite place. It was a small glade at the edge of the pond, with a large tree whose branches she could shelter under in bad whether, or climb and sit in. She'd certainly never fallen out of this tree.

It still irritated her when she thought about it. How could she have managed to fall out of the tree? And worse, to have someone catch her? Then faint in his arms and wake up in bed after experiencing the most terrible nightmare! Jane had told her that it had been Mr Wickham that had just managed to catch her. Apparently he had come to Longbourn with Mr Denny to call on them. While Lizzy quite liked Mr Wickham, and he was certainly a handsome and amiable gentlemen, the idea of being caught by him and then fainting, was a very unpleasant one. Jane had also assured her that Mr Wickham had been the perfect gentleman, offering to carry her back to the house and then handing her over to Mr Bennet who had been shocked to discover his favourite daughter quite unaware and out of her senses. Mortification didn't begin to describe her feelings. She wasn't sure how she'd be able speak to him without blushing in mortification now that he'd held her in his arms while she'd been unconscious. It was unthinkable! And the dream following all this had so unsettled her that she still didn't feel quite able to return to the house yet. Thinking of what or if it could mean anything was very troubling. The Meryton reverend had once said that some dreams had meanings; that they could be sent to warn people of trouble coming. Troubling indeed.

Lizzy sat down, putting her chin in her hands as she stared at the still water, sun beams gently filtering down through the leaves of the great tree. 'Lizzy's tree', as Jane had once entitled it. As a child she had climbed it many times. The large boughs were strong and wide, holding her weight like great, strong, unyielding arms reaching towards the sky. These days, as a young and proper gentlewoman, she could not climb it so much as she wished, but at rare, differing times, she flaunted propriety and climbed high into its farthest reaches when she thought no one saw. She smiled and rested there for another half hour, pondering on her dream and what she discovered upon waking from it, before heading back home.

The sun was going down as she walked in through the back door, where a maid looked up to smile briefly at her before going back to her chores.

"Lizzy!" Jane exclaimed as she stepped down from the staircase, "There you finally are. I have been so desperately wanting to talk with you, come up and let us rest a while until supper."

Elizabeth grinned and allowed herself to be tugged along behind her sister as she asked, "How is Mama and Papa?"

"Oh!" Jane gasped, raising a hand to her lips, before suddenly giggling and giving her sister a very happy smile, "While you were sleeping and outside all this time, you missed Mama's news. You would never guess!"

"Wouldn't I?" her sister replied teasingly, as they sat togther on their shared bed, "Unless Mr Bingley has proposed to you today, I can only imagine that she is delighted about an upcoming ball, or perhaps she has discovered that a person of importance will be attending the Lucases dinner party?"

"No, Lizzy, Mr Bingley has not proposed, though he did call in while you were sleeping, and he asked after your health when he heard you were ill. He was very sweet... but you have distracted me!" Jane suddenly realised she had become side-tracked, as she abruptly started speaking of what she had wanted to tell her sister earlier, "Mama has much more cause to be excited than for any of that; though you are right in a way. Mama has indeed discovered that persons of import will be coming to the dinner party - and not just that - but Blytherton has also been let."

Elizabeth regarded her sister with interest, not unlike her father might have, "Really? And Mama must know who these people are or she would not be so nervous and happy. In fact," she declared laughingly, "I think I could guess. An unmarried gentleman has taken residence there. Am I not right Jane?"

"Indeed Lizzy, not one unmarried gentleman; but three!"

"Three!" Elizabeth cried, astonished.

"Yes, and Mama has told everyone not only this, but apparently they are all very wealthy gentlemen of great means. She is convinced they have come to Hertfordshire to seek out wives. She has already told Lydia that she must entrap the viscount."

Lizzy shook her head, bemused, "I'm not surprised. I'm sure she has gentlemen all planned out for the both of us and Kitty and Mary too. Speaking of Mary - where is she? I have not seen her all day."

"Mary has been helping out at the parish. Kitty says there are some children there that Mr Netton wants to help, and Mary offered to assist him at church last Sunday. She went there early this morning, just after you left for your walk, I presume." Mr Netton was the local Vicar and as he had yet to find himself a curate, he sometimes needed the assistance of the young women when dealing with the children.

The darker-haired of the two nodded thoughtfully, before grinning mischievously at her sister, "I think Mama would be interested to note that Mr Netton is yet an unmarried man."

"Lizzy! You would not dare say such things around Mama! Mary would surely be mortified and Mr Netton would become plagued by Mama's schemes... and he is more than three times Mary's age!"

Elizabeth laughed gaily, "But Mama has cause to worry for Mary. You, however, have your Mr Bingley and might not understand. You are right though; I would not wish such trials upon my sister if she did not wish it." Indeed, a plotting mother such as Mrs Bennet was a fearsome thing to behold.

"Lizzy, I have told you several times, he is not my Mr Bingley. And I do understand. Besides," Jane retorted with a smile, "You surely cannot understand either then, for you have your Mr Wickham."

Lizzy kept her smile in place, even as she said, "Ah, yes. The dashing, brave Mr Wickham who rescues ladies from falling out of trees. I suppose I do owe him that much." Jane giggled, "He is everything amiable and I shall easily admit that I have some partiality for him."

"Do you really like him Lizzy? In that way?" Jane asked in her concerned, sisterly way. She thought that being in love was a great thing, but also frightening too, for she did not want her sister hurt if that militiaman did not fully return her feelings. But..."Mr Wickham certainly seems to have some affection for you. He seeks you out often enough. Has he said anything to you, about... the future?"

"No." Elizabeth mused, "No, he has not. But that does not mean my hopes are dashed; for though he is everything charming and handsome, we have always had an understanding that I am too poor, and without a dowry, for him to be tempted into matrimony with me."

"Oh Lizzy! How terrible! But... is your heart touched?"

"No, I do not think so. And I do not blame him, in fact, I think I understand and sympathise with his plight. All men, no matter how handsome, must have something more to live on, than pretty smiles when he enters the married state." Jane continued to gaze at her sister with concern, so Elizabeth laughed, "Truly Jane, I am unaffected. He is charming and pays me a great compliment by always seeking me out, but my hopes for matrimony with him were never raised. I am quite content."

"Well, then it is certainly very good that he is not the only unmarried, young gentleman in the neighbourhood. These three gentlemen who have let Blytherton, may yet be a blessing in disguise for you Lizzy!"

The sisters laughed happily as Elizabeth commented, "A blessing in disguise for the neighbourhood too, for wealthy men in a small town can only be a good thing." Her sister agreed. "I wonder what they are like?"

"I think they would be nice sort of people, if they are indeed Mr Bingley's friends." Jane answered innocently.

Elizabeth smiled at her sisters' clear partiality for Mr Bingley, "Well, I daresay we shall find out soon enough, if they are to come to the Lucases dinner party. I have no doubt that they have been invited, and Mama would not let us stay home even if we were terribly ill. We shall make out their characters over dinner and dancing, and the mystery shall be solved."

"Yes, I think it will... only, Lizzy, you must agree not to judge them too harshly, for I know you are prone to seeing the folly in men. If you always hold their faults against them... I fear you will never be happy, for there are no perfect gentlemen."

Her sister chuckled, "Ordinarily I would agree with you; but actually, now that I have met Mr Wickham, I am convinced there are such men in the world. Mr Wickham is a fine man and I would be happy to marry him, if he was so inclined. I think it is only my lack of fortune that has prevented him from forming any serious design. But, alas, since that is not to be changed, I shall hold out hope for another gentleman who I can respect and love."

Jane regarded her worriedly, "Mr Wickham is not perfect, Lizzy."

"Indeed, Jane?" Elizabeth raised a surprised eyebrow at her fair-haired sister. It was very unlike her to point out a fault in a person or even mention that a person was not blameless. She had only been joking, after-all, about Mr Wickham being perfect. She was well aware that perfect gentlemen did not exist except in novels.

Jane looked down at the bed-clothes with a blush, "I am well aware Lizzy, though I do not like to think ill of people, that everyone has at least some small smirch in their character. Yours is perhaps outspokenness, mine perhaps shyness."

"And Mr Wickham's?"

"I - I do not know Lizzy. I just think... well, perhaps it is for the better that he has no designs on you."

Elizabeth gasped, "Jane, I would never have believed it of you! I could never imagine you might say such a thing. Pray tell, what has Mr Wickham done to grant himself such an unfavourable opinion?"

"Nothing, Lizzy." Jane said quickly, "He has done nothing against his character, and yet... he does talk so freely with all the young women of Meryton... don't you think?" she asked hesitantly.

Lizzy considered this, "I always thought him to be rather friendly towards Lydia, and the others, but that is just because he is amiable and wishes to please everyone. We cannot hold that against him, can we?"

Jane agreed, "No, I suppose you're right. Perhaps I am sensing something that is not there. I am only concerned for you Lizzy."

Elizabeth smiled and drew closer to her sister in a sisterly embrace, leaning her head against her shoulder, "I shall be quite content, Jane. I'm sure Mr Wickham is honourable and if he is not, we shall soon find out. A man always shows his worth and character with his actions; no amount of flattery and amiability will hide that."

And Lizzy knew not how soon she was to be proved correct.

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Reviews are wonderful! Are you ready to meet Mr Darcy in Chapter 2; "Insolence and insults"?