Nevertheless, as the days passed, it became increasingly clear to Charlotte that Mr Darcy was entranced by Elizabeth. Not that he paid her anything like the gallant attentions lavished on her by Colonel Fitzwilliam; but he constantly sought opportunities to be in company with her. He repeatedly visited the Parsonage, creating minor storms of domestic havoc as the household had to stop whatever task was in hand to offer him comforts and refreshments. These he always declined, but his sudden appearances nevertheless meant the reception rooms had to have their fires continually stoked and the woodbaskets filled, the pantry stocked with fresh dainties. No one could quite relax, never knowing when his august presence might manifest itself.

Charlotte could scarcely credit it that all around her seemed oblivious to Mr Darcy’s infatuation; one with potentially significant, if not devastating, implications to almost every member of her immediate circle. It amazed her that Lizzy herself counted herself puzzled by his constant insertion of himself into her presence: ‘What can he mean by it? It makes me quite out of countenance. He sat here for half an hour in the parlour, but did not speak more than twenty words. I cannot make him out.’

Charlotte shook her head. Elizabeth, who prided herself on the quickness and acuity of her perceptions, could not see what was as evident as the emerald sprays shooting from the branches of the trees outside: that the man was deeply mired in love. Even as she confided to Charlotte the substance of a most interesting conversation with the Colonel – who, in the course of a private walk, had gently warned Lizzy that he was required to marry money – she seemed blind to the fact that a man with the liberty to marry where he pleased was revolving around her as steadily as the moon circled the globe.

After her first observations, Charlotte gave up dropping hints to her friend; she did not want to excite undue hope, especially after the debacle of Jane Bennet’s terminated courtship. Mr Darcy might be smitten, but he did not strike Charlotte as an impulsive man, and he had no pressing reasons, either of vanity or practicality, to enter into the matrimonial state.

But Charlotte did take an unseemly amount of pleasure in imagining the hullabaloo that would ensue if such a proposal was indeed made. Lady Catherine would be incensed, Rosings thrown into uproar. She dwelt upon the scenes that might follow with some amusement: while Mr Darcy showed his aunt the respect that was due to her as an older relation, he did not seem to value her advice as most did, much less hang on every word of it.