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comes into the house and finds fault with everything and everyone, leaves instructions for the necessary corrections, and departs. But despite all this, I am quite content to be here and to be the mistress of my own home, and for all of Mr. Collins’s faults, he is a kind man who sees to the needs of his parish.”
    “I am happy to hear it, truly, but what about your needs?”
    “Easily met. Monday and Tuesday are reserved for visits to his parishioners or church business. On Wednesday, we dine at Rosings Park, so that Lady Catherine may criticize the sermon Mr. Collins has written. He spends as much time as possible on Thursday in the garden, an activity he enjoys, and one which I encourage. It seems that Lady Catherine has outlived most of her friends, so we usually dine at the manor house on Friday as well so that we might entertain Her Ladyship. On Saturday, we do all our shopping for the week in the village, and that night, we perform as man and wife. Sunday, he preaches, and then the cycle repeats. Very little changes from week to week, and because my marriage is lacking in romance, I can see you are unimpressed.”
    “Charlotte, I made no comment.” Nor would she. The thought of Mr. Collins performing as a husband could result in the loss of her appetite.
    “Lizzy, you do not need to say anything. Unlike you, I never was romantic. All I asked was a comfortable home, and I have that. But speaking of romance, Miss de Bourgh called this morning to say that they are to have visitors at Rosings, her cousins Colonel Fitzwilliam and Mr. Darcy. What a coincidence! You are here, and Mr. Darcy is coming to visit his aunt.”
    “Surely, Mr. Darcy is free to travel about the country without giving any consideration as to where I might be,” Lizzy said, confused at Charlotte’s continued insistence that the gentleman had some interest in her.
    Charlotte just nodded, but she thought it unusual that Mr. Darcy was coming to Kent when he had just been to Rosings a few weeks earlier. There must be a special reason for him to return so quickly.

Chapter 4
    Colonel Fitzwilliam reread the latest post from Fitzwilliam Darcy. With only three days’ notice, Darcy had asked that he join him at Bromley so that they might visit with their aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. This was something the two cousins did about four times a year, more if they received an appeal from Anne de Bourgh to come to her rescue. Since they had already made the obligatory visit a month earlier, he did not understand why they were returning to Rosings Park, especially now, at the height of the shooting season.
    Darcy was aware that it was his aunt’s fondest wish that he marry Anne. However, neither party wanted any such thing. After having survived a nearly fatal illness as a young girl, which had permanently affected her health, Anne had decided she would never marry. She knew or had heard reports of women who were invalided by childbirth, or in the case of Darcy’s mother, had died because of it. As a result, she wanted nothing to do with the marriage bed, which made Darcy’s note so puzzling. His quick return to Rosings Park would be seen as his finally coming around to his aunt’s point of view. It was all so confusing.
    Unfortunately, Fitzwilliam had little say in the matter. As the younger son of Lord Fitzwilliam, his father had provided him with a paltry annuity. His elder brother, the current earl, had quite successfully squandered a good portion of the family’s fortune in London’s betting parlors and at its gaming tables and had nothing to spare for his little brother. If Lord Fitzwilliam died tomorrow and the colonel succeeded to the title, there would be little left, except the title. The manor house was mortgaged, there were liens on the contents of the house in town, and creditors were baying at the doors crying for repayment. Every time the colonel visited the ancestral estate, he noticed another family heirloom had gone missing, and the