After the proud maternal parent had quit the parlour, and Charlotte had earnestly thanked the Bennet sisters for their kind attendance and help, Jane had confessed that the outing was a relief, giving her brief respite from her mother’s incessant grumbling at the cruelty of fate and young men. Charlotte, who had heard snatches on her brief visits to Longbourn, thought one might easily be mistaken in thinking that Mrs Bennet had been the one thrown over. But Jane was all fortitude: ‘Mr Bingley shall be forgot, and we shall go on as before. Let me take it all in the best light possible, and endeavour to achieve a tranquil heart as soon as possible.’

Charlotte’s needle stilled. The late-angled winter sun streaming through the windows made a nimbus of Miss Bennet’s ringlets, creating an ethereal frame for her lovely features and roses-with-cream complexion. Gazing at Jane, the quintessential picture of feminine beauty, goodness, and diligence as she bent her long white neck over her sewing, flawless stitches flowing from her fingers, Charlotte could scarcely credit their reversal of fortune. By rights, it should have been Jane’s trousseau they were preparing; that they should be assembling her wedding costumes and linens – she who had neither beauty, youth, nor riches to tempt – seemed incredible. She was struck once again by all the good luck of her situation, and the contrast between her position and that of her exquisite neighbour brought her some comfort, strengthening as it did her conviction that she had indeed made the right decision – the only decision.

She tactfully turned the subject to the superior quality of Jane’s stitching and the happy memories of her friends the sight of these tablecloths and quilts would bring once she made her home at Hunsford; and the afternoon passed, if not entirely unclouded, in an atmosphere of diligent goodwill.

With the gracious permission of his patroness, Mr Collins soon returned to Lucas Lodge to conduct the necessary wooing of his affianced. Now followed the ungainliness of a courtship between two near-strangers, neither of whom had any especial affection for one another beyond growing mutual gratitude: Mr Collins for the balm ministered by Charlotte’s acceptance of his hand, and Charlotte for an avenue of escape.