Well, I don't think that Austen had Charlotte remark, "I may thank you, Eliza, for this piece of civility. Mr. Darcy would never have come so soon to wait upon me." because she
didn't want us to think Elizabeth was his primary motive in coming. And Darcy himself, when he proposes, tells Elizabeth that he's been in love with her for months. We don't know whether he knew Elizabeth would be there before he came, but that doesn't seem as important as what he did once he arrived and found her there. I think that Austen left a definite bread trail for us to follow when it came to tracking his internal struggle, moving from "no way" through "maybe" to "yes." We really have no reason to assume all these hints don't mean anything and should be ignored.
