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Unable to pry any information out of her, Mrs. Bennet had to be satisfied with recollecting how full of admiration Mr. Bingley had been.

Her friends would be very interested to hear of this development.

And she would enjoy informing her adversaries, like Mrs. Peacock, who had been boasting that her elegant daughters were certain to command his attention.

It was a pity she couldn’t go visiting at once, but tomorrow would have to do. It was getting late, and she had to break the bad news to Lydia.

However, when Lydia returned, she was entirely unconcerned to hear that she must look elsewhere for a husband. “Jane is welcome to Mr. Bingley,” she said. “I would much rather marry Colonel Forster anyway.”

“You can’t have him,” Kitty cried. “I have already claimed him.”

“I have been thinking you should marry Mr. Madison,” Mrs. Bennet said to Lydia. “He is very wealthy and has a settled home, where you will enjoy entertaining.”

“I don’t care about a settled home. Besides, Purvis Lodge is nothing to get excited about.”

“No, but Mr. Madison is planning to purchase an estate. You will be able to hold balls.”

“Mr. Denny says that the officers are always invited to balls and parties wherever they go, which is a great deal better than having to do the work of planning one myself. And he says they will probably be going to Brighton in the spring. There will be a great many other regiments and ever so many new officers for me to meet. And I will be able to see the Prince Regent, and it is very likely that he will notice me, and then I will be invited to the pavilion.”

“Invited by royalty!” Mrs. Bennet cried. “What a great honour.” And a great thing to boast of to all her acquaintance. Now she could understand Lydia preferring an unsettled man.

“I would like to go to Brighton,” Kitty said.

“And so you may,” Mrs. Bennet declared. “Lydia and the colonel can have you to stay with them.”

“La!” Lydia cried. “I will be your chaperone since I will be a married lady.”

“Lydia Forster,” Mrs. Bennet said. “How well that sounds.”

“But I am supposed to marry him,” Kitty said. “Why should Lydia get to take him away from me?”

“He likes me better,” Lydia said. “He has already asked me for the first dance at the next assembly.”

“So far in advance,” Mrs. Bennet observed with delight. “That is a remarkable attention indeed. I am very sorry for you to be disappointed, Kitty, but evidently Colonel Forster prefers Lydia.”

“This isn’t fair!” Kitty cried.

“It is said that all is fair in love and war,” Mary contributed unhelpfully.

Lydia smirked.

“You can have Mr. Madison,” Mrs. Bennet said to Kitty.

“I do not want him.”

“He is very wealthy.”

“He is dreadfully dull.”

“He can afford to buy a house with a ballroom.”

“He will probably use it to hold committee meetings instead of balls.”

Mrs. Bennet could not deny that this was quite possible. “But he is still an excellent prospect.”

“Not for me,” Kitty said stubbornly. “Lizzy should marry him since they like to talk about dull things together.”

“They do,” Mrs. Bennet agreed thoughtfully. “That would be an excellent match. If anyone wants a headstrong wife, it would be a man like Mr. Madison, and you do like him, Lizzy.”

“Yes, but only as a friend, and he doesn’t want to marry me—or anyone for that matter.”

Mrs. Bennet waved away these objections. “The two of you are perfect for each other. I don’t know why I didn’t see it sooner.”

“There wasn’t anything to see,” Elizabeth insisted.

But Mrs. Bennet had already turned her mind to further rearrangement of her plans. “And you can marry Mr. Collins, Kitty.”

“What!” Kitty cried in horror. “I don’t want to be a clergyman’s wife. I want to marry an officer. Why can’t Lydia marry Mr. Collins and let me keep Colonel Forster?”

“I am too pretty to marry a clergyman,” Lydia said.

“So am I. I would rather marry Captain Carter. He is even more handsome than Colonel Forster.”

“But Mr. Collins will have Longbourn,” Mrs. Bennet cried. “He is a much better prospect. And Mrs. Long told me the other day that Captain Carter’s father is in exceptional health, so he isn’t likely to inherit for a long time. And he only has the tiniest allowance to keep him going.”

“Why does everything happen to me?” Kitty complained.

“I can find you a husband when you come to stay with me in Brighton,” Lydia said.

Kitty perked up. “You did say lots of officers, didn’t you?”

“Hundreds of them. You will be able to have your pick.”

“Then I shall go to Brighton and find a husband there.”

“But what about Mr. Collins?” Mrs. Bennet wailed.

“Maybe one of the Peacocks would like to marry him,” Lydia suggested. “They are desperate for husbands.”

“I could not bear to see one of them as mistress of Longbourn. Why did we not have six daughters?” Mrs. Bennet cried, looking at her husband in despair.

***

“What a day we have had,” Elizabeth said to Jane. “Momentous news, a very agreeable new acquaintance, and a near escape for Mr. Madison. Even with his talent for evading Mama’s hints, he would have been horrified at having Lydia offered up to him.”

“But now she will be making hints about you,” Jane pointed out.

“He and I will easily dispatch them, and I think we understand each other well enough for there to be no awkwardness between us.”

“She will still go on hoping. And hinting.”

“But to no avail. Sooner or later she will have to realize that Mr. Madison is just as determined to avoid matchmaking as she is to make matches.”

“Probably later rather than sooner.”

“All the better. If she must make matches, I prefer her latest plan over the one for me to marry Mr. Collins, who would very likely have taken her hints to heart and pursued me relentlessly. Having read his letter, I now agree with Papa that he is very foolish indeed, so I can say with absolute certainty that he will not suit me.”

“She won’t want to give him up though. I fear that Kitty hasn’t heard the last of that suggestion.”

“Probably not, but she seems to have acquired my talent for being difficult.”

“It is a pity she has also acquired Lydia’s obsession with officers.” Jane sighed. “But I feel for her. She was very disappointed over Colonel Forster.”

“Yes, but she also appeared to be on her way to a swift recovery when the idea of Brighton was mentioned. I do hope that plan doesn’t come off. I shudder at the notion of Lydia finding Kitty a husband.”

“That is a dreadful thought,” Jane agreed. “She is completely unsuitable for being anyone’s chaperone.”

“Or anyone’s wife. For Colonel Forster’s sake, I hope he doesn’t have any serious interest in her.”

“His eagerness to secure the first dance with her suggests otherwise.”

“He does seem to have a liking for silly young ladies. But his choices are his own business. If they do marry, we can only hope that Lydia will not be able to disgrace our family excessively from a distance.”

“She may settle down.”

“Perhaps in time, but I think she would first take every advantage of the freedom which marriage offers. Indeed, I fear that no distance will be sufficient to spare us the embarrassment of tales of her exploits making their way to this neighbourhood. I very much hope that the colonel is only enjoying a bit of light flirtation and that Lydia may yet acquire some maturity before she marries.”

“It is a pity that Mama has encouraged her to think of marriage at all.”

“And to spend so much time with the officers, but on the bright side, Lydia’s interest in their doings provided Mr. Bingley with an escape from being hinted in Lydia’s direction.”

“Oh, yes! He would have been horrified. Thank goodness she did go out. But now Mama will be hinting about me instead.”

“I don’t think you have to worry about that. She won’t think it necessary since she is convinced that he is already in love with you.”

“That isn’t much comfort. What if she tells all her friends, and Mr. Bingley finds out that she expects him to marry me? He will think me presumptuous, and we won’t be friends at all.”

“I am sure that won’t happen. Mr. Bingley seems too amiable to think badly of anyone.”

“I think that even he will be horrified if Mama anticipates our marriage in his hearing.”

“Perhaps we can find some way of keeping her at home for the next week. Just until your engagement is announced.”

Jane half laughed and half snorted. “I don’t know how you can tease me so dreadfully.”

“Very easily since you teased me about Mr. Collins. And Mr. Bingley did seem to like you a great deal.”

“Lizzy!”

“But since you are determined not to say anything, neither will I.”

“He is very nice,” Jane said. “Such easy manners and so good-natured, but very sensible and proper as well. Everything which a young man ought to be. I look forward to knowing him better. I just wish Mama would not read so much into his friendliness.”

Elizabeth agreed that this was unfortunate, but she herself thought that Mr. Bingley had displayed more than friendliness.

Not infatuation as her mother had perceived, but a strong rapport between the two of them.

That sort of connection was the seed from which true affection grew, and Elizabeth thought it very possible that what she had witnessed earlier was the fledgling growth of a grand passion.