Content with what she had found both outdoors and indoors, Charlotte was more than happy to praise her husband for the contents and contrivances of the home he had made hers, and the next several days were given to minute exploration of every corner and cranny of the house, its attic and cellars, and every appurtenance it boasted. She was especially delighted to find herself the mistress of a bacon safe, which emitted a pungent and pleasant smell of smoked meat and aged wood when she opened it. And while she regretted the absence of a pianoforte – she had hoped that music might sometimes take the place of conversation of an evening – it was not as if she would have leisure for practising.

CHAPTER XXIII

AND SO THE FIRST MONTHS of Charlotte’s married life passed. To her joy, Elizabeth replied promptly to her letters, and answered them at great length. The old confiding tone was sadly absent, but she was faithful – and as spirited as ever – in rendering all the news gleaned from Longbourn, Lucas Lodge, and Meryton.

One thing pricked Charlotte to anger; Lizzy wrote lightly of the officer Wickham’s sudden attention to a young lady who had until her inheritance held no charms for him. Far from criticising his mercenary ambitions, Lizzy excused her former admirer with the observation that handsome and charming young men needed something to live on as much as plain young men.

And what are plain young women supposed to live on? thought Charlotte, remembering the frank dismay, even disgust, that had passed over her friend’s features when she first broke the news of her engagement to Mr Collins. It took some reflection on the connubial disharmony to which Lizzy was exposed at home, and which had rendered her perhaps thoughtless on the topic of marriage, to make peace with this painful memory.

Meanwhile, the winter was a mild one, and Mr Collins was able to be assiduous in his care of the garden. Charlotte encouraged, hinted, and sometimes downright insisted that he follow one or other project aimed at improving his modest corner of Kent, arguing for the benefits to his health, but welcoming the respite from his chatter. As the eldest of a large brood of children crammed into a house that had always felt too small, she found the luxury of an unpeopled establishment one of her greatest pleasures.