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“Your comments a moment ago had me thinking about my welcome and the hours until we left for the Assembly. Let us leave that debacle for a moment. What are your thoughts about this morning?”

“Your time away has changed your friendships. You described Miss Lucas as your closest friend when you first left here. It is clear that she and Miss Bennet are now very close. The way you have described them being unable to travel to visit you, I think they have bonded over shared miseries.”

“Miseries?”

“That was too strong. I think they are both chafing under the thumbs of their respective mothers. A visit to you in London would have been beneficial to you all, but them more than you. Miss Lucas has brothers yes, I am remembering that correctly?”

“She does, two of them, John and Franklin.”

“Why has Lady Lucas not allowed Miss Lucas to visit? Your uncle would have been delighted to host her for several weeks if not months. I do not know the Lady but is Lady Lucas lazy, relying on Miss Lucas to do the toil of the mistress while she gets to act the part?”

Elizabeth sighed.

“You can say the same thing with Mrs. Bennet and Jane. I can see how Jane and Charlotte would bond over this. In fact, when you lay it out like that it is obvious. And I am much closer to Mary now that Jane. It has not been deliberate or conscious it is just the natural flow of the four relationships.”

Claire nodded.

“To me it appears exactly like that, yes.”

“Is there anything else you noticed from this morning before we dissect the Assembly?”

Claire smiled.

“I know you will not want to hear this but you act in ways you do not even realise.”

“That sounds ominous. In fact you appear to be having far too much fun in this exercise!”

“I am sorry Miss Elizabeth.”

Elizabeth had to laugh.

“You also need to work on your sincerity. Enough joking about, what else did I do?”

“You did not defer to Mrs. Bennet. And before you ask, I mean you decided to do something and just went ahead, there was no asking permission of your mother. You did not ask to be excused from the room, you did not ask your mother if you could take a turn about the garden. You just decided and went ahead and did it. When you called me into the parlour and asked me to get your pelisse ready I saw the look between Lady Lucas and Mrs. Bennet. Later, while you were walking with Charlotte, Jane and Mary, I heard Mrs. Bennet complain to Lady Lucas about you.

“In fact, there is another issue. Mrs. Bennet is not my mistress, you are. I owe no loyalty to her and when she says something about you I am not conflicted as to whether to tell you. And no, I was not eavesdropping, your mother can be heard over half the house.”

“Oh bother. Can there be nothing about returning to Longbourn that is easy?”

“Is that rhetorical?”

“No, this is why we are talking this afternoon, I want your thoughts.”

“I do not think Mrs. Bennet is going out of her way to annoy you, she is not chasing conflict. But she has been the mistress of Longbourn for more than 20 years. I do not think she is capable of change. You left home at 16 years of age, given the way she acts she would have very happy if you were married at that age. But then after four years away you have returned. And there cannot be two mistresses of an estate at the same time.”

“But I am not acting as if I was the mistress!”

“Oh, I know that. But you should be treated as a guest, based on your life experiences. Rather than an as a daughter of the family.”

Claire shrugged.

“That is the issue. She does not see you as a young woman with more life experience than she herself possesses. She sees you as a headstrong daughter that she needs to rein in.”

There was a long silence.

“Am I wrong? Have I described the situation falsely?”

“No, you have not.”