I want to keep this out of Austenuations territory, so I will keep it brief, but think of the beginning of friendship between Charles Musgrove and Capt. Wentworth. It is not, I think, TOO far beyond the pale that a younger Colonel Brandon might visit for a time at Whitwell (while the family was in, of course) and be introduced to the Middletons while in the country. Sir John would be naturally inclined to invite him to come and shoot, would he not?

They both went to London for the season. Could they have been members of the same club?