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“I am aware that it is a great deal.”

“It is also a very serious question, and I have had it before me barely a quarter of an hour.” She looked up. “I must ask you to give me a little time. I should be sorry to answer in haste, when you have taken such pains over your reasons.”

Mr Collins took this exactly as she had feared he would. He bowed so low that his hat was nearly lost.

“Such delicacy does you credit, cousin. Such modesty is just what one would wish for in a clergyman's wife. Take all the time you need. I shall not press you.”

He offered his arm to lead her back to the house. All the way there, he talked about the closets at Hunsford.

***

Later that afternoon, she slipped out of the house. Dusk was coming on. She set out for Meryton because it was the only road that offered.

She had not reached the end of the high street when she recognised the bonnet. Mrs Bennet sat on the bench outside the haberdasher's with a heap of paper parcels beside her and another in her lap.

“Lizzy! I have been in and out of that shop twice, for they had not the blue. Then the girl found it under the counter, where it had lain all along.” She moved the parcels aside. “Sit down, child. You look quite worn out. “

Elizabeth sat. The stone was cold through her pelisse. Along the street, the shopkeepers were putting up their shutters.

“Mama, Mr Collins has made me an offer of marriage.”

“Mr Collins! He has offered for you?”

“This very afternoon. He was thoroughly prepared with a list of reasons, chiefly among them, Lady Catherine’s opinion on the matter.”

Elizabeth had braced herself for raptures. She had expected the salts, and the matter settled over her head before she could speak, and every argument of duty her mother could muster. Longbourn had been the dread of Mrs Bennet's married life. Having the heir to Longbourn make an offer of marriage would have been the answer to all of Mrs Bennet’s prayers not long ago.

Her mother turned on the bench and caught her wrist.

“You have not accepted him?”

“No, Mama.”

“Nor shall you.” Mrs Bennet's colour had risen. “I will not have any girl of mine shut up at Hunsford, listening to that man's sermons across her own table until she is forty. I would sooner take in sewing. I have thought about it a great deal since your father took you and Mary into Kent in the spring. I tell you plainly, I have not a daughter I dislike enough to wish him on her.”

Elizabeth stared at her. Relief rushed through her, and close behind it came a warm rush of affection. For once, her mother was entirely on her side.

“Then I may refuse him?”

“You may refuse him twice over.” Mrs Bennet let go of her wrist and smoothed the parcel in her lap. “Only not before Saturday, if it can be helped. He will sulk, and he will sulk in church in front of all the Lucases.”

“That was exactly my own reasoning.”

“Then we agree, which I do not think has happened since you were in leading strings.” Mrs Bennet leaned closer, though there was nobody in the street but a boy with a barrow. “Now I shall tell you something I have not breathed to a soul, not even to Hill. I have a scheme, Lizzy.”

“Mama, I hardly think —”

“Let me finish. Once Jane is married and the register is signed, there will be no undoing it. Then your father shall speak to Mr Bingley about buying Mr Collins out of the entail entirely. I do not see why a cousin may not be paid to give up his claim like anybody else.” She sat back, very pleased with herself. “Mr Bingley will be one of the family by then. What man would let his own wife's mother and sisters be put out of doors, when a sum he would never miss could prevent it? He is the best-natured young man in England. He will do it gladly.”

He would, Elizabeth thought. That was the trouble.

She could see it all. Bingley would listen with his open, friendly face. He would agree before the request was half made, and the deed would be drawn up within the month. Then, unbidden, she heard a low voice in the parsonage parlour. He had believed the connection imprudent, he had said. He had meant a family with nothing to bring and a great deal to ask, fastening itself to a fortune. She had thought it the most insolent thing she had ever heard. Now her own mother was proving him right on a bench in the high street. The shame of it burned in her cheeks.

It would be useless to say any of this to her mother. She had learned long ago which arguments were worth her breath.

“It is a very good scheme,” she said.

“It is an excellent scheme, and that is not the end of it.” Mrs Bennet gathered her parcels. “Mr Bingley has a great many friends, Lizzy, and rich ones. I daresay most of them are more agreeable than that barely tolerable Mr Darcy, who stands about a room as if he had bought it. Once Jane has an establishment of her own, she will invite them to dine. There is Lydia to think of, and Kitty, and Mary, who plays. And you, of course. With a brother who keeps a ballroom, I shall see every one of you settled within two years.” She stood up, perfectly content. “Now carry this parcel for me, and do not walk so fast. My ankle has been bad since Tuesday.”