Charlotte’s heart overflowed. Every word they spoke to one other was laden with exquisite meaning, and she was confident they understood each other. There would be no recriminations, no false promises or hopes. They would part as friends and resume the patterns of their separate lives. But – and she had to consider the particular irony of this – Jacob and Mr Collins might correspond in future; indeed, she had heard the two men make such promises earlier that morning, with every token of earnestness. Letters would arrive from Austria, carrying news, perhaps addressed to the both of them. Her husband might read the words of her beloved to her; she might add snippets of information and compliments to letters he would pen in return. And all without any sense of underhand stratagem. It seemed a delicate thread had been spun that she could take forward into her life.

CHAPTER XXXII

A CONCERT WAS PROPOSED FOR AFTER dinner that evening. ‘It will be our last opportunity to enjoy the talents of Herr Rosenstein before his departure,’ said Lizzy. ‘It can be his farewell gift to us. And our applause can be ours to him.’

The little girls were granted permission to attend, on condition they did not run wild, and indeed they sat solemn and still through the grand sonatas Mr Darcy requested, which the musician played with skill and aplomb. He was praised for his performance, his patron expressing deep regret that his sister was not present to listen, and Mr Collins contributing many expressions of gratitude and admiration. Then it was Lizzy’s turn, and with her accompanist she sang several lighter airs that gave general pleasure. As she sang with her characteristic unaffected brio, Charlotte noticed the play of feelings on Mr Darcy’s face: anxiety, pride, tenderness. Eliza, you deserve a son, she thought. You both do.

Mr Darcy even asked whether or not Herr Rosenstein could play any music suitable for dancing, and upon being assured that their merry band had indeed rehearsed for such an occasion, he gravely requested the honour of his wife’s hand as his partner. She assented with alacrity, he swept into a deep bow, and the musician struck up a Scotch reel. To the joy of the little girls, before giving her husband her hand, Lizzy invited Laura and Sarah to tread the floor as a couple as well, and Charlotte united with her husband in beaming at the sight of their daughters processing around the drawing room of Pemberley, none other than Mr and Mrs Darcy dancing alongside them.

Stranger things have happened, thought Charlotte, but not many. And then she remembered the encounter at the hawk house with a shudder of joy and shock: she had to close her eyes and hold herself still for a minute before she could go back to smiling and nodding at her daughters.