“You surprise me exceedingly, Mr. Darcy,” teased his wife. “You honour Mr. Knightley, but I do not recollect any similar offer to quit Pemberley for the comforts of Longbourn—such an omission is especially regrettable, as we might, by this time, all be living with Mr. Collins in the rôle of pater familias!”

Such a vision inclined even Mr. Darcy to laugh and rejoin, “I daresay, my dear, such a change might call for increase to even Mr. Collins’s natural air of gravitas; we are, I believe, better situated at Pemberley.”

Mr. Knightley was as agreeable and inclined to genius as his letters had announced him to be, and both Elizabeth and Georgiana were delighted with him. Like Mr. Darcy, he was naturally more prone to thought than speech, and the two men had many mutual interests and shared a strong sense of duty. Elizabeth later expressed privately to Georgiana that Mr. Knightley had reminded her of Colonel Fitzwilliam in his kind steadiness of character, and was surprised at the warmth with which Georgiana refuted the comparison.

“It is not that I think they are so very different,” Georgiana attempted to explain, after apologising that her initial response had seemed immoderate. “But they are at such contrasting stages in their lives. Mr. Knightley is married and happy, and sees himself as an husband as well as a man of business. He has found a wife who complements his own nature and makes him settled and easy, as he said to us at dinner. I cannot view Colonel Fitzwilliam in the same way at all. He is so uncertain of himself, and, were it not for the affectionate nature which spares us any distress, I fear we would often find him out of spirits. When he marries, I believe we will see a more cheerful side to him, and his complete happiness will give him the ease and bearing of which Mr. Knightley is possessed. That is—I mean to say—that they are not different as to character, but rather Colonel Fitzwilliam has not yet risen to the same blessings as Mr. Knightley.”

“Georgiana, you have a nicety in the comparison of character that must always incline me to your opinion. I believe you are exactly right; our Colonel Fitzwilliam is best of men, but he would do better for being married. Were he to be as content as Mr. Knightley when he does so, we must both, then, regard him as perfect—well almost perfect, for I cannot allow perfection in any man, as you know, save your brother,” she smiled.