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Before the assembly ended, Bingley had danced with Jane again. Mrs. Bennet's triumph threatened to become audible above the music. Darcy and Elizabeth, observing from a quieter corner, exchanged an amused glance.

"Do you think they suit one another?" Elizabeth asked.

"He is an excellent man. She appears to be an excellent woman."

"That sounds suspiciously like approval."

"It is an observation. I should prefer to know them better together before pronouncing upon their future."

"You are more cautious than I."

"You are already imagining a wedding."

"Only because I have lately developed an interest in them."

Darcy pressed her hand discreetly where it rested upon his arm. "Then I must hope your enthusiasm does not interfere with our own arrangements."

Elizabeth looked up at him, and the room seemed to recede behind the music and laughter. "Never," she answered. "I have no wish to exchange my future for anyone else's."

As they left, Elizabeth saw Jane standing beside Bingley, answering something he had said with an unguarded smile. On the ride home she caught herself smiling again and made no effort to conceal it.

Two days after the assembly, Elizabeth came upon Jane in the small parlour, carefully smoothing the creases from a sheet of music. Bingley had sent it over from Netherfield after discovering that she could not find the song they had discussed between dances. She had set it beneath a heavy book to keep it flat, although Elizabeth noticed that she lifted the cover to look at it twice while they spoke.

"He remembered the title?" Elizabeth asked.

"He said he had promised to inquire for it." Jane touched the corner of the page. "I did not suppose he would remember."

Elizabeth could have teased her. Instead she sat beside her and turned the music the right way up, content for once to let Jane speak when she wished.

The assembly did not mark the end of the Matlocks' interest in Hertfordshire. For several days afterward, Lady Matlock remained with her friends while Elizabeth visited Jane, and Darcy divided his calls between his betrothed and Netherfield, where Bingley's pleasure in Miss Bennet's company was becoming a subject of considerable amusement. Eventually the family returned to London. Jane's next letter arrived before Elizabeth had finished unpacking and contained news of a different sort.

A regiment of militia had come into Meryton some weeks after the assembly. Its officers seemed to have discovered every respectable drawing room within the first days of their arrival, and Lydia was convinced the town had never known such happiness. Kitty, being less extravagant, confined herself to reporting that several of the officers were handsome and that one had promised to attend her aunt Phillips's next card evening.

"I ought to be grateful that the gentlemen have names," Elizabeth remarked when she finished the letter. "Lydia has devoted half a page to the colour of their coats and scarcely a line to any other distinguishing quality."

Lady Matlock was arranging the seating for a dinner. "That is very like a young girl with a new diversion."

"Jane says they are well received, and Mrs. Phillips is preparing an evening in their honour. She wishes us to come." Elizabeth hesitated. "I should like to see Jane again. She has sounded happier in these last letters than she has in years."

The countess looked up. She heard the request beneath the explanation. "Then we shall arrange it. I am due to visit Lady Hawthorne in any case, and there is no reason you should not spend several more days with your cousins."

When Darcy heard of the plan he offered to accompany them, ostensibly because Bingley had written asking his advice on an estate matter. Elizabeth made no objection to that explanation. She only smiled when he added that the matter was unlikely to occupy more than an hour.

Their return to Hertfordshire fell late in October, when the trees along the lanes were losing their leaves and Meryton's shop windows glittered with candles before the afternoon had properly ended. Jane received Elizabeth with the warmth of one who had missed her daily companionship. Mrs. Bennet welcomed Lady Matlock almost as enthusiastically as she welcomed the prospect of introducing an earl's relations to the new officers.

"Lydia will talk of nothing else," Jane admitted as the cousins walked toward Mrs. Phillips's house on the evening of the card party. "I fear I have heard all the officers' names twice over."

"Then you are well prepared for the company," Elizabeth said. "I am still uncertain whether Colonel Forster commands the regiment or merely Lydia's admiration."

"The former, I believe. The latter is less easily determined."

At the Phillipses' door the sound of laughter rose above the rattle of arriving carriages. Elizabeth had been to enough great houses since leaving Longbourn to know that grandeur did not necessarily improve a gathering. Her aunt Phillips's parlour was crowded, overheated, and full of acquaintances who spoke across one another, but Jane's hand rested comfortably upon her arm as they entered. She felt the old affection of the place before she noticed anything unusual.

Kitty hurried forward with a young officer in tow. "Lizzy! You must meet Lieutenant Denny. He says he knows nearly every family in the county already."

"Then the regiment has been industrious," Elizabeth said.

Denny bowed, laughing, and introduced another officer who had just joined them. "And this is Mr. Wickham, who has contrived to become more popular than any of us despite being in Meryton scarcely a fortnight."