More privately, she considered that the presence of the Collins family at Longbourn might inflame an already sorrowing and disordered household. Mrs Bingley was still unable to travel, a source of great regret to all, but especially Lizzy; and Charlotte was reluctant to risk aggravating the grieving widow without Jane, still recovering from her confinement, at hand to calm and comfort her mother. She was afraid their presence might be seen to be expedient, or proprietary; that they might appear as crows come to pick at the bones, or to imagine new furnishings in the home. Not least, she was afraid that the sight of Longbourn and its grounds and lands, its handsome honey-coloured stone and arched windows, in all the fullness of its summer gardens, might tempt her husband into imagining himself settled there, and thus create resistance to her plans to remain at Hunsford.

Her arguments prevailed, but at least the first and longest part of the journey was undertaken together in the relative comfort and privacy of the Darcys’ carriage. Charlotte bade her friend a sad farewell once they reached London – a sombre end indeed to the gaiety and pleasures of the summer.

The Collinses returned to Kent after only one night in town, and Charlotte found her home especially dear, but also disconcerting. Everything reminded her of Tom, and yet his absence seemed more pronounced. The bronze veins starting in the late summer leaves, the riotous growth of berries in the kitchen garden and hedgerows: all these seemed to flaunt the passage of time while he would remain in memory forever a small boy in ringlets and petticoats. The rooms seemed tiny and dark after the spaciousness to which she had grown accustomed; yet it took only hours to draw the skin of the house about her and feel it fit once more.

As soon as her family was settled back at the Parsonage, Charlotte sent Lady Catherine a note requesting the honour of a private interview, in which she wished to seek advice and guidance – guidance she was confident her ladyship would be able to provide. She also took the risk of asking that Lady Catherine not mention her application to Mr Collins just yet; she did not wish to involve her ladyship in the keeping of marital secrets, but her dilemma was such that she wished to solicit advice before consulting her husband. She did not add that such an approach doubtlessly corresponded with his notion of how matters ought to stand.