In Vain Have I Struggled

Half a novel of held breath lets go here. Chapters thirty-three and thirty-four, the proposal readers brace for, and the first thing Sadie Stein notices is what Austen withholds: the speech itself. One famous line, then summary, and Stein wants to know why the author looked away. Before the detonation there is a walk with Colonel Fitzwilliam that turns into the whole book in miniature, on who in this world ever gets to choose. Then the fight, the first real one Austen permits any of her characters, both parties striking to wound. What did Darcy think she was going to say? Stein's answer is stranger than you expect.