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The housekeeper left. Caroline looked again at the wet cloth.

“You ought to have told me if you were uncertain how to proceed.”

Elizabeth drew herself up. “I was not aware that I must report to you before placing flowers in water.”

“You need not. It would, however, have saved Mrs. Reynolds a great deal of work.”

That was sufficiently true to make Elizabeth’s answer more difficult.

“The fault was mine. I have acknowledged it.”

“Then I do not see why you object to my correcting it.”

“I object to being addressed as though I were one of the servants whose instructions you find unsatisfactory.”

“I should not address a servant so freely. It would be unkind when she could not answer me.”

Elizabeth looked at her. Caroline folded her arms, evidently pleased to have obliged her to consider the distinction.

“Jane asked me to arrange the flowers,” Elizabeth said. “She did not ask either of us to direct the other.”

“Jane is too good-natured to ask for half the things she requires.”

“She was quite capable of saying what she wished for this evening.”

“And I have endeavoured to provide it.” Caroline glanced toward the door. “I do not understand why you must oppose me even when we have the same object.”

Elizabeth might have asked when Caroline had last permitted her an object of her own. She refrained. Mrs. Reynolds was carrying away the consequences of Elizabeth’s foolish hand upon a leaf, and the tablecloth still bore the evidence. It was a poor occasion upon which to claim superior judgment.

“I am glad you knew how to repair the arrangement,” she said. “I shall thank you for that without agreeing that my sister requires somebody to make all her decisions.”

“Nor does she require every suggestion to become a dispute.”

Caroline picked up her basket. At the door she paused.

“Mr. Darcy has been accustomed to a very well-ordered house, Miss Bennet. Novelty alone will not persuade him to prefer confusion.”

“I was arranging flowers for Jane. I had not considered Mr. Darcy’s opinion.”

Caroline’s look made it plain that she did not believe her.

Elizabeth remained in the dining room until the footman came to change the cloth. Then, finding that her presence could serve no useful purpose, she went upstairs to dress.

She had considered Mr. Darcy’s opinion. That was the most provoking part of Caroline’s accusation. Only that morning she had remembered something he said upon their walk and wished for an opportunity to contradict him again. She could enjoy his company so readily when Anna was not mentioned that she sometimes forgot the reason for withholding her confidence. Afterwards she felt both foolish and ashamed.

Downstairs, Caroline’s three small flower glasses looked precisely as they ought.

Jane admired them, thanked both ladies for their trouble, and took her place beside Charles to receive the guests. Elizabeth was grateful when Mrs. Landon immediately asked about Hertfordshire. For several minutes she could answer questions which had nothing to do with ivy, Anna, or the proper arrangement of Mr. Darcy’s household.

Miss Westcott was about her own age, with a quick smile and very little of her mother’s caution in expressing an opinion. At supper she confessed to preferring September walks to any other.

“In spring one is obliged to admire every new leaf,” she told Elizabeth. “At this time of year we may merely walk.”

Elizabeth nearly dropped her fork.

“An excellent distinction,” she said.

Mr. Darcy, seated within hearing, looked toward her. “You have found the spring too demanding?”