A memorable occurrence in this happens in "Sense and Sensibility", Part III, Chapter XII, when Elinor Dashwood learns that the man she loved and believed had just married was in fact free:
“Is Mrs. Ferrars at Longstaple?”
“At Longstaple!” he replied, with an air of surprise. “No; my mother is in town.”
“I meant,” said Elinor, taking up some work from the table, “to enquire after Mrs. Edward Ferrars.”
She dared not look up; but her mother and Marianne both turned their eyes on him. He coloured, seemed perplexed, looked doubtingly, and, after some hesitation, said,— “Perhaps you mean my brother: you mean Mrs.—Mrs. Robert Ferrars.”