Page 120 of Twice Chosen

Darcy took her hand. "Good. We need not repeat it."

"You always say that."

"Because you repeat arguments."

She smiled despite herself.

Even fifty years of marriage did not remove the work of choosing one another daily.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Charlotte Chooses

Charlotte thrived in London.

Her letters surprised Elizabeth, though perhaps they should not have. Charlotte had always been capable. In Hunsford she had managed Mr. Collins, Lady Catherine, household accounts, servants, visitors, and eventually several children with the precision of a military commander disguised as a sensible woman in a cap.

Lady Matlock appreciated competence.

Charlotte appreciated being appreciated.

The first letters concerned practical matters: the size of her room, the lady she accompanied, the cost of London coal, and the shocking inefficiency of a household in which three servants appeared to do the work of one.

Then a name began appearing.

Mr. Edmund Avery.

Lady Matlock's widowed estate solicitor.

Thirty-four. Serious. A daughter of six. No great fortune, but enough to support a family without anxiety.

Charlotte mentioned him first because he had discovered an error in a tenant account.

Then because he lent her a book.

Then because his daughter, Lucy, had taken a liking to her.

Finally came a letter Elizabeth read twice.

I do not pretend to romance, Lizzy. You know me better. But I find I am pleased when Mr. Avery enters a room, and I think that may be a beginning.

Elizabeth cried.

Darcy found her at breakfast with the letter open beside her tea. "Bad news?"

She handed it across the table.

He read.

A slow smile appeared. "Good."

"Do you remember Hunsford?"

"Too well."

"She was never entirely miserable."

"No."