It now became necessary to speak, and as fast and plainly as she dared. Charlotte laid out her plan: that she and Mr Collins remain at Hunsford for the time being, while allowing Mrs Bennet and her remaining unmarried daughters to remain at Longbourn as tenants, even if only temporarily.

The results were no less than she anticipated: ‘Mrs Collins, have you entirely lost your mind? It is not for you to interfere with the settled notions of inheritance, the natural law of this land, all that regulates family and rank! I never heard of such a thing! Mr Collins is the heir of Longbourn, and he is required, by duty and law, to take possession thereof.’

Charlotte, screwing her courage to the sticking-place, rapidly moved to the reasons why such a delay might be both compassionate and advantageous to both families, but Lady Catherine became yet more indignant: ‘I understand better than most the pitiable state of many widows in this country, Mrs Collins. You need not try to school me. In Sir Lewis de Bourgh’s family, proper and sensible provisions were made for myself and my daughter, but, sadly, not everyone is as well prepared. But there is no case to be made for pitying Mrs Bennet! Far from sinking into hardship, she will take up residence at Pemberley, an elevation greater than anything she could have hoped for. She will be the most fortunate of women.’

Charlotte snatched at the opening. She needed to be both bold and delicate. Forgive me, Eliza. Aloud, she said, ‘Your ladyship earlier made allusion to the fact that there is no heir in the nursery at Pemberley. I have knowledge, based on my intimacy since girlhood with Mrs Darcy, that is of a private and confidential nature. I hesitate to share it – but I must.

‘Mrs Darcy has been brought to bed with a stillborn child no less than three times in the years of her marriage to Mr Darcy. Surgeons can find no defect or reason for her travails, so there is room for hope.’ She paused, hoping that Lady Catherine might be stirred to remember her own long-lost infant sons, and there was indeed silence in the room.

She went on: ‘The medical fraternity is of one mind. Mrs Darcy needs circumstances of peace and harmony – of restful repose – if she is to bring a child safely to life. She needs no additional anxiety or reason for agitation. Yet she has confided in me that she fears for connubial harmony in her home, should she bring her mother under her roof. I have no right to speak so bluntly – I know I sound harsh – but picture your nephew and Mrs Bennet dining together daily. Imagine the – fret – of it.’