This surfeit of fresh society, both the clergyman cousin and the grander party at Netherfield Park, led to an unusual number of social engagements in and around Meryton. The next fortnight was marked by supper parties, card games, and dinners, culminating in a ball at Netherfield Park. Over this period, Mr Collins’s pursuit of Lizzy became more and more apparent, including to the somewhat harassed object of his attentions. At the same time, his habit of lecturing all and sundry on moral matters, his constant deferential references to his patroness, Lady Catherine de Bourgh of Rosings, and the endless volume of speech that emerged from his lips, endeared him to no one except Mrs Bennet, who anticipated soon claiming him as a son-in-law.

Matters came to a head the morning after the ball at Netherfield. With her sister Maria taking her turn to prepare the household’s loaves and carry them to the bakehouse, Charlotte was to spend the morning with the Bennets, something of a tradition for her and Lizzy; they considered no ball complete until they had sufficiently talked it over the following day. Hardly had she handed her wrap to the servant who admitted her to the house when Lydia flew into the vestibule and seized upon her with a whoop: ‘Oh Charlotte, I am so glad you are come – what sport we have here today! Mr Collins has made Lizzy an offer, and she will not have him, and we are all at sixes and sevens.’

Charlotte was not even able to respond before it was the turn of Mrs Bennet, in an operatic state of distress and dishevelment, to fall upon her, begging her to persuade her stubborn friend to see sense and comply with the wishes of her family. The next minute, an agitated Lizzy hurried in to greet her friend, followed by Jane, ever desirous of keeping the peace between her mother and sister.

Mrs Bennet was not to be comforted: ‘Aye, there she comes, caring nothing for the rest of us,’ she cried. ‘Mr Collins may turn us all out onto the streets when your father dies, but this does not concern you. I tell you, Miss Lizzy, if you take it into your head to keep rejecting every offer of marriage like this, you will never get a husband at all – and I am sure I do not know who is to keep you when your father is dead. I know I shall not be able to.’