Charlotte waved at the cheerful group, smiling yet again at how apt the fanciful names she had insisted on for her youngest children had proved to be. Lady Catherine had scolded in vain, especially at Charlotte’s obdurate insistence on Jonathan’s name when a plain old-fashioned English ‘John’ would have sufficed. Today, her son was as beloved and admired by all who knew him as his Old Testament counterpart, while Pandora had signified hope from the very first day she had lain in her mother’s arms.

Sarah escorted her to the corner of the terrace that acted as a sun-trap, and which still held the warmth of the day. Here there hung in the air the faint but familiar tang of tobacco, and a figure awaited them, attired in a pair of men’s breeches, along with a man’s shirt and hunting jacket: Anne de Bourgh.

‘Ah, here you are! I was beginning to wonder if I would have to ride out alone,’ she said, one thin arm extended beyond the embrasure, a cheroot curling smoke lodged between two fingers. She was as skinny and knotted as ever, but with a face now tanned and lined from winters spent travelling abroad.

Although she had ascended to the title Lady Anne when Lady Catherine died (of an apoplexy, nearly ten years ago), all the Collins offspring referred to her ladyship as their aunt, choosing sentiment over accuracy. It gave Charlotte great joy and some amusement to witness how Anne, who had never wanted children of her own, was considered a third parent, and treated as such, by her brood.

Jonathan, upon achieving double figures in age, had moved to Rosings to enjoy a more formal programme of education than his parents, by then settled at Longbourn, could offer. The problem was that he and Pandora were inseparable; and the deep unhappiness both children evinced at the idea of being parted was so palpable that Lady Anne had offered the same facilities and opportunities to both. As Jonathan was her purported heir, he began to refer to his benefactress as his aunt; a term of address his twin sister promptly adopted, the elder girls soon following.

Meanwhile, Charlotte, no matter how engrossed in the domestic opportunities that running Longbourn afforded, and while taking great pleasure in rejoining the society of her youth, found that she could never be parted from any of her children for long. The result was that she, as well as her two elder daughters, regularly visited Rosings for such long periods as to render it effectively their second home, and Lady Anne the honorary guardian of all four siblings. The continuing presence of four lively young people and their friends transformed the atmosphere of Rosings. While becoming a little less grand, it also became truly comfortable, possibly for the first time in its history.