...have diminished no matter whom she married. Say Charlotte was fortunate enough to marry Bingley or Darcy; her husband would still then have her primary loyalty and confidence rather than Lizzy. That Mr. Collins is far less discrete is admittedly an added problem to Lizzy's sharing confidences with Charlotte (even had Lizzy not become aware that Charlotte's manner of thinking did not perfectly mirror Lizzy's own). Still, I would have expected some growing apart between Lizzy and Charlotte no matter which girl married first or whom they married.