“Mr. Darcy, we have quite lost you. May I inquire as to what is occupying your thoughts?” Caroline was hoping that his thoughts were of her.

“I was thinking that if your brother does not come home in the next ten minutes, I shall have to leave.”

Caroline was not about to allow that to happen and said the first thing that came into her head.

“Did you know that Miss Jane Bennet is in town?”

“How could I possibly know that?” Darcy said with an edge in his voice. Although comfortable with his efforts to get Bingley to leave Hertfordshire, he certainly understood that Jane Bennet would have been disappointed. He would have preferred to think of her at home with her family.

“Apparently, she arrived in town three weeks ago. It seems that visiting Louisa and me was her first order of business. She sent us several notes, and her persistence was finally rewarded. I visited her yesterday at her uncle’s home in Cheapside.”

It was not a good visit. Caroline was disappointed to find that the Gardiners lived quite comfortably in a large house in Gracechurch Street, featuring Meissen porcelains, a Sevres tea service, and richly carved French furniture. She had not expected to find the Bennets had relations who were genteel and obviously well off.

“She probably thought of you as her friend,” Darcy responded.

Louisa gave her sister a look to warn her that she had gone where she should not have.

“Of course, she is our friend,” Caroline said quickly, trying to cover her gaffe. “It is just that I wished to spare her any embarrassment. Obviously, she cannot come here. It would not do for her and Charles to meet, and as soon as I had an opening in my schedule, I visited her. It was never our intention to hurt Miss Bennet, and Louisa and I were very grateful that you were with us on that day when we convinced our brother he should not see her again.”