‘Oh!’ cried Charlotte. ‘No, I do not mean to go up against the law. I am proposing instead that we offer Mrs Bennet a tenancy at Longbourn, now that it is ours, for the length of her natural life. I understand the farm has a very good bailiff, and if he is willing to continue, that need not change. The bulk of the income from the estate would come to us, of course. Mrs Bennet has a small annuity of her own, and Mrs Darcy and Mrs Bingley, I am sure, would supply whatever extra is required.’ She crossed her fingers as she added, ‘The needs of a widow and two single daughters will surely not amount to much.’

She laid a hand on her husband’s knee: ‘William, would you like to run the Longbourn estate? Do you wish to give up being a clergyman? I know the hours are somewhat irregular, that your occupation exposes you to mean sights, suffering, and sickness. Would you rather live at Longbourn and discuss crops and cattle and marl pits and rents with the bailiff? Tell me.’

She watched his face, wondering if she had gambled on an innate sense of compassion that was perhaps not as active as she could have wished. It was time to apply a lever. ‘And then there is Lady Catherine. She relies upon you so much. You are essential to her company, to life at Rosings. She would not wish you supplanted by a stranger.’

‘Do you think so, my dear?’ said Mr Collins, clearly struck by this line of reasoning. ‘I agree, it would be a great wrench leaving dear Lady Catherine and Rosings behind.’

Slowly, they mulled over Charlotte’s idea, with Mr Collins throwing out objections, and Charlotte talking her way carefully through each one. Mrs Bennet might live another thirty years, but the terms of the lease could be reconsidered each year. What about their own daughters, Sarah and Laura – would they not benefit from coming out in the society of Meryton? That was still years away, and what social advantage could Meryton and its surrounds offer compared to the heady proximity of Rosings, and the benefit of Lady Catherine to advise and guide them? Was it not selfish to withhold the Rosings living from another deserving candidate? The decision was not forever. Mrs Bennet, who had always been choleric, might not live that much longer. Besides, with the extra income from Longbourn, a curate could be employed to undertake some of the more tiring and insalubrious aspects of Mr Collins’s work. He could concentrate on writing and publishing his sermons, perhaps even his garden notes. He could travel more regularly to Oxford and London to confer with his fellows and use the libraries there, should the shelves of Rosings ever become stale.