Susan, how glad I was to hear of your wedding and your bridal tour, and it seems that one wedding has brought on another, for you will have heard by now that Jane Bennet is betrothed. Things happen in threes, so they say, and I think there will be another betrothal in Meryton before long. Mr Darcy has been often at Longbourn, so my mother says, and if I do not miss my guess, he will propose to Elizabeth very soon. I thought, as long ago as last year, when we were all together in Meryton, that he was attracted to her, and I counselled her to make herself agreeable to him. She would not do it, but her impertinence did her no harm with him; indeed, I think it attracted him more. To be sure, things did not look so promising when he went away, but now that he is back, and visiting Longbourn for no reason, I think it certain that he intends to marry her. I am glad of it. I like him. His manners are not prepossessing to begin with, but they improve on acquaintance. I have seen him many times, both in Hertfordshire and Kent, and I believe he would make Elizabeth an excellent husband, as well as being an excellent catch.

Your dear friend,

Charlotte

OCTOBER

Miss Anne de Bourgh to Miss Georgiana Darcy

Rosings Park, Kent, October 1

Dear coz,

Mama had a letter from Colonel Fitzwilliam this morning and he mentioned that you were unwell and so I write to cheer you. He sent us news of his deployment and I was glad that his injuries have healed so that he will soon be where he wants to be, back on the Continent and fighting Napoleon. I fear for him each time he goes into battle but I am glad for him nonetheless: he came to Rosings when he was injured and he was frustrated and bored, unlike his usual self. I only hope we may see him again soon.

We have more excitement here than usual. Mrs Collins is expecting a child in the spring and Mr Collins is very proud of the fact, though I fear he is more delighted because the news has pleased Mama than for his own sake. Mama has already told Mrs Collins what she must eat and what exercise to take, as well as how to raise the child and how to educate it. She has also suggested the child follows Mr Collins into the clergy and said that by the time it is grown, Mr Collins will no doubt have inherited Longbourn and so the child may have the living he now holds. Mr Collins was very grateful, as you can imagine, and bowed most profusely, though whether he will be so humble when he inherits his own property I do not know.

Having been in favour for a few weeks or so, even since the Collinses gave Mama the news, Mr Collins is now very markedly out of favour, however. He happened to say that Mr Bingley is to marry Miss Bennet, a circumstance which held no particular interest for Mama, and which Charlotte learnt in a letter from her mother, for it is the talk of Hertfordshire. He then went on to say, most unluckily, that Mr Darcy had accompanied his friend to Longbourn on several occasions and that he was on the point of proposing to Miss Elizabeth Bennet. I felt my heart soar at the news, for although I like Darcy very well as a cousin, you know my heart is elsewhere. But Mama sat as one stunned. She quickly recovered and said it was unthinkable that Darcy, descended from kings and related to earls, should offer for a woman with neither family nor fortune to recommend her. Seeing that he had displeased Mama, Mr Collins quickly remarked that the news was unreliable, mere gossip, and as Lady Catherine was so gracious as to remark, it was unthinkable, preposterous, ludicrous, and a dozen other such words.

Mama was for the moment mollified, but she kept returning to the subject and she has now announced that she means to go to Hertfordshire and make sure that Miss Elizabeth has no intention of marrying Darcy, and to tell her that she forbids the match. I think Mama is mistaken in thinking it will have any effect, for Miss Elizabeth has a decided personality and I believe she will not be browbeaten.

Mama means to take me with her, and I must confess I am looking forward to seeing the battle, although I am less happy at the thought of the rest of Mama’s plan; for after she has visited the Bennets, Mama intends to make sure that Darcy offers for me. She has never been in a hurry for the engagement before, since she likes to have me with her—or, perhaps it is better to say, she likes to have someone with her—but now I believe she is beginning to think that if the engagement is not formalised, Darcy might look elsewhere.

I am sending you a sketch of the park, which I have just completed, and I console myself with the thought that, if Mama is determined to visit Darcy, then at least I will have the consolation of seeing you.

Your dear coz,

Anne


Miss Georgiana Darcy to Miss Anne de Bourgh

Darcy House, London, October 2

Dearest Anne,

I think your sketch is beautiful, I have sent it to be framed and I intend to hang it by the fireplace in my bedroom. I do hope you call here, for I would so love to see you again.

How I wish the rumours might be true, and that my brother will marry Miss Bennet! I liked her very much when I met her and I know that she is special to him. He told me a great deal about her before I even met her, and all of it good. That is not like Fitzwilliam, for you know he is easily bored and has very little time for the women who cluster around him. But I know he was taken with Elizabeth. There, I am calling her Elizabeth, quite as if she were my sister already!

I am sure Fitzwilliam would like to marry her. I can think of no other reason for him introducing me to her, and being so pleased when we got on well together. He introduces me to very few people, thinking that I am too young to come out, which in general is true, and in the past he has only introduced me to young women who are related to his friends, like Miss Bingley.

Oh dear, poor Caroline: I know she would like to be Mrs Darcy, but it will never happen, even if my brother does not marry Elizabeth. He does not like her very much. He admires her accomplishments and he thinks her a suitable companion for me, and of course he likes Mr Bingley a great deal, but Caroline is not always wise and does not see when her amusing remarks become spiteful. Fitzwilliam sees it and hears it, though. He is ill-humoured himself sometimes—you see, I know my brother, and much as I love him I know that he is not perfect—but there is a generosity and kindness at the heart of him that I think Caroline lacks.

Elizabeth does not lack it. When I met her in Derbyshire she put me at my ease and went out of her way to protect me from some comments that Caroline made about George Wickham.

It seems odd to me now that I was ever betrothed, however secretly, to George. He ran off with Miss Bennet’s sister Lydia, you know. It was all hushed up but I could not help seeing that my brother was very agitated, and I could not help overhearing the directions he gave to his coachman, nor seeing what was in one of my guardian’s letters, for my brother was so distracted that when he gave it to me to read, he forgot to remove the sheet which had been intended for him alone. By the time I realised what I was reading, I had already learnt the truth: that George had preyed upon another young woman and that, having ruined her, he was refusing to marry her.

I do not think that he would have refused to marry me; indeed, I think that was his intention, but only because of my fortune. And if I had not been an heiress but had been foolish enough to believe him—which I am ashamed to say that I would have been—then my fate would have been the same.

Fitzwilliam had to pay George in the end to marry Lydia—and it is that, I think, which has persuaded me that my brother is really in love with Elizabeth, for he would not have sought out George Wickham for anyone else.

I do hope he is about to propose to her, and I do hope she says Yes. I would love such a sister. But whether it will ever come to pass…we must just wait and see.

I am sending you one of my own sketches and I hope you find it pretty.

Your loving coz,

Georgiana


Mr Collins to Mr Bennet

Hunsford, near Westerham, Kent,

October 2

Dear Sir,

I must congratulate you on the approaching nuptials of your eldest daughter, whose beauty is matched only by her modesty and elegance. As a clergyman it is my duty to encourage the institution of matrimony and I am sure that the marriage of your uniformly charming daughter to so estimable a man as Mr Bingley will bring joy to all who know them.

Having thus offered you the sincere congratulations of Mrs Collins and myself on this happy event, let me now add a short hint on the subject of another; of which we have been advertised by the same authority. Your daughter Elizabeth, it is presumed, will not long bear the name of Bennet after her elder sister has resigned it, and the chosen partner of her fate may be reasonably looked up to as one of the most illustrious personages in this land. This young gentleman is blessed, in a peculiar way, with everything the heart of mortal can most desire—splendid property, noble kindred, and extensive patronage. Yet in spite of all these temptations, let me warn my cousin Elizabeth, and yourself, of what evils you may incur by a precipitate closure with this gentleman’s proposals, which, of course, you will be inclined to take immediate advantage of. My motive for cautioning you is as follows: we have reason to imagine that his aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, does not look on the match with a friendly eye.