I went back and read the earlier posts on this topic and found it most helpful. Thanks for all the research you did to get all that information. One thing though, there were some posts that talked of Mrs. Bennet wanting a special license for Darcey and Lizzy to avoid the interference of Lady Catherine. This doesn't make sense to me to begin with as it doesn't seem likely that Mrs. Bennet was aware of Lady Catherine's disapproval to begin with. When Mrs. Bennet questions Lizzy about what Lady C had to say, "Elizabeth, was forced to give into a little falsehood here; for to acknowledge the substance of their conversation was impossible." Mr. Bennet recieves a letter from Mr. Collins in which he warns Mr. B of Lady C's disapproval which he shares with Lizzy. However, he thinks the whole thing a joke and I can't imagine, in any case, that he shared it with his wife. I may have missed something but it doesn't seem likely to me that Mrs. B would even consider the thought of trying to circumvent Lady C as I don't believe she was aware of Lady C's feeling about her nephew's possible engagement/eventual engagement to Lizzy. If anything she thought Lady C was paying Lizzy the distinction of a visit on her way through. Your idea of an in-joke is a good one in my estimation. Thanks.