Page 36 of Introducing Mrs. Collins
Hesitatingly, Charlotte asked, ‘Could you dance?’
Anne blinked. ‘I could not dance two fast reels in a row, but I am sure I could walk a quadrille.’
Charlotte could not pair this open young woman with the silent creature she had encountered on previous occasions. She had always assumed that Anne must be very sickly indeed; she keptso much to herself, often not appearing downstairs at all when there was company.
‘You keep to your rooms a great deal,’ Charlotte stated, hoping the observation formed the question she wished to ask.
Anne nodded. ‘That is when my spirits are low. My body, I think, could rally well enough but my spirits are’ – she searched for the word – ‘hard to predict. Some days, I feel very well and full of ideas – and glad of company. Today is such a one.’ She smiled at Charlotte. ‘But at other times, I feel unable to even face the day.’
Charlotte imagined what it might be to feel so utterly desolate but to have to entertain virtual strangers in your home at the invitation of your mother. She started to have an idea of why she’d had so little conversation from Miss de Bourgh on past occasions. ‘That must be very difficult,’ she said.
‘Iamvery difficult,’ said Anne, ‘but I have given up trying to be otherwise.’
They sat quietly for a minute or two. Charlotte, at every step, felt the danger of overstepping her place, but Anne seemed willing, on this occasion at least, to talk candidly.
‘Have you… thoughts of marriage?’ she asked softly.
‘I think it is too late for that.’
‘You are but six-and-twenty?’
Anne looked at her, and Charlotte caught a little of her mother’s hauteur in her manner. ‘You know yourself that six-and-twenty is not young, Mrs Collins.’
Charlotte’s cheeks reddened.
Anne continued, ‘My mother still talks of me marrying Fitzwilliam, which is absurd.’
Charlotte frowned. ‘Marrying Colonel Fitzwilliam?’
‘Oh! No! I mean Darcy; he isFitzwilliamDarcy.’ She chuckled at the error.
Charlotte laughed, too, but thought it rather careless to throw around so many Fitzwilliams in one family.
‘Why is it absurd?’ Charlotte asked carefully, knowing at least one reason why it was; She knew enough of Darcy’s latest ventures to merit caution on the topic.
‘If Fitz—Sorry, ifDarcyplanned to ask for my hand, he would have done so years ago. He will not do so by choice, and I would not want him forced.’
‘Would you have him if he asked you?’
Anne looked askance at Charlotte, who wondered if she had finally gone too far. Anne thought about it. ‘No. He is too cross and serious. I would need someone more gentle. Like your Mr Collins.’
Charlotte’s fork paused over her plate. She had never heard her husband endorsed as a preferred choice of partner. She looked over at him. He was spooning some potatoes onto Lady Catherine’s plate. It was enlightening to think that, from another’s eye, he was worthy of notice. As she so often did, she questioned her feelings towards her husband: could she yet feel more for him? Had her feelings from the start been guided only by the judgment of her friends, when first they had met? There would be many opportunities to know him more, she realised, in the years to come – to know him as a father might alter their relationship altogether.
Feeling confident that they were now conversing as women of a certain age, Charlotte coyly asked, ‘Has there been any man you have liked?’
‘I have hardly met any. I have hardly been out. And here at Rosings, it is nearly always cousins. My cousin Thomas used to visit – Richard’s elder brother.’
Charlotte was confused again. ‘Richard?’ she asked.
‘Fitzwilliam.’
‘Darcy?’
‘No! Colonel Fitzwilliam – Richard.’
‘Oh, yes,’ said Charlotte. She had heard the colonel’s first name before in conversation but had never spoken it herself.
‘So, the colonel’s brother used to visit? But not so often now?’ asked Charlotte, determined to keep up with the dialogue.
