The woods were buttery with primroses, and the visit by the party from home was due at last. Charlotte went about the rooms of the Parsonage with satisfaction: all was shining and comfortable. Bedchambers had been aired and linens scented with lavender; her larder held tongue, cold chicken, and a game pie for hungry and fatigued travellers; she had brewed cider and small beer for refreshment, and the pantry was fragrant with the scent of coffee beans sent for from London. The garden, although still winter-bare, was neat, with promising knots and tips of green in most beds. Now there was nothing left to do except hover in the entrance hall, imagining the sound of hooves and carriage wheels every five minutes.

At last the sounds of arrival were unmistakable, and Mr and Mrs Collins stepped out into the driveway to welcome their first guests. Charlotte’s heart lifted with real joy at the sight of well-loved faces at the carriage windows, wreathed in smiles, hands waving in greeting. There was Lizzy, alert and glossy as a starling, head tilted, Maria nodding and craning, her father’s ruddy face split by a grin. As they climbed down from the carriage, Charlotte picked up her skirts and ran to them, and the next few minutes were given to embraces and cries of welcome.

To Charlotte’s relief, Lizzy’s responses were as warm and affectionate as always, and she seemed truly delighted to see her old friend. Mr Collins wished to detain the entire party while he enquired after every member of the Bennet and Lucas families, but he soon acquiesced to his wife’s insistence that everyone come indoors and make themselves comfortable after the fatigue of their journey.

Once in the main parlour, he formally welcomed the party, and repeated Charlotte’s every offer of comfort and refreshment at length, in between inviting their admiration of every aspect of the room and its furnishings. Charlotte saw Lizzy, never good at dissembling, turning with open wonder to see how she took her husband’s flood of words, and could not help blushing. But what Lizzy did not understand was that Mr Collins was at his worst in company, and this company was indeed awkward: his new father- and sister-in-law, along with the cousin who had only four months previously spurned his proposal.