Reading about 'Miss Lucas' scheme' always made me feel sad for her. She had no considerable fortune and was not 'handsome'. She did what she did in order to escape of the horrible fate of becoming an old maid. I had been thinking Lizzy's criticism was a bit unfair, after all she had plenty of suitors and despite Miss Bingley was thought a beauty.

At least that's what I was thinking until today when a particular line caught my attention: 'Without thinking highly either of men or of matrimony, marriage had always been her objective...' Could this be some sort of self-fulfilling prophecy here? That Charlotte with her sober approach to marriage (and love) never developed that inner light which would have made her attractive in the eyes of men of more understanding and taste than Mr. Collins?