The Other Bennet Sister

by Janice Hadlow

Seriousness seemed the only quality a plain girl might adopt without exposing herself to the scorn or pity of others.

‘Mr Bennet, I have something to tell you. I’m afraid it’s very provoking news. Would you like to know what it is?’ Mr Bennet lowered his paper and looked over it evenly at his wife. ‘Whatever my wishes in the matter, I am sure you intend to tell me.’

‘You see, my dears, there is no need for concern. Your mother, with her usual decorum, will ensure that neither silliness nor self-indulgence will prevail.’

True beauty, he declared, had nothing to do with outward appearance. It came from within, the product of a well-regulated mind and a properly formed understanding. These qualities, and not a pretty face, are the real measure of a woman’s worth.

Dr Fordyce says novels are very unsuitable for women to read; their morals often leave much to be desired, they have nothing of worth to tell us and they convey no proper instruction.’

‘For me, that is one of their chief recommendations. I do not care to be told what to think at every turn of a page. And I do not agree that they have nothing to tell us. These are works in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature is displayed, the greatest powers of the mind described. No, I cannot sit by and leave the novel undefended.’

‘Do you really imagine,’ he replied evenly, ‘that his principal intention in settling here was to choose a wife from amongst our daughters? It seems an unlikely inducement for signing a year’s lease, even on the most advantageous terms, especially as he has yet to set eyes upon any of them.’

‘Our interventions are only welcome if they are agreeable,’ she murmured, ‘and by that, I mean that they reflect what everyone else thinks and are delivered with a most submissive smile.’

But it is my situation I dislike, not myself. I’m not sure the same is true of you. It’s hard to persuade anyone, especially a man, that your regard is worth having if you have none for yourself.’

am interested in human happiness, sir, in the better understanding of what it is and how it may be achieved. I wish to explore whether it is a state which arises from the chance convergence of circumstances, or whether it is a condition we may will ourselves to possess. I want to understand how we may recognise it when it is within our grasp and in what ways we can learn to live without it if we are not lucky enough to experience it.’

‘Then I should say he tells us it is only through self-knowledge that genuine happiness is to be had. Only when we know ourselves – when we have examined and understood our strengths and weaknesses, when we have been honest enough to admit what we really desire from life – only then do we have any chance at all of attaining it.’

Your appearance does not suggest a blithe indifference but an acute awareness of your choices. You dress as you do because you do not believe you deserve anything better; and in doing so, you communicate that low opinion of yourself to everyone who sees you. If you were to embrace a few improvements, I believe it would signify something more than merely a desire to look a little smarter. I think it would suggest a willingness to allow yourself the self-respect you deserve, and which you have been reluctant for so long to grant yourself.’

They did not consider happiness a matter of chance or destiny. Instead they did everything in their power to cultivate it, prizing generosity over petulance, preferring kindness to umbrage, and always encouraging laughter rather than complaint.

‘That is the power of poetry,’ he said simply. ‘It allows us to imagine ourselves anew, if we will permit it to do so. It reveals to us the hidden wishes of our hearts.’

It’s a building more to be admired than loved.

‘that a great deal of time is thrown away in the pursuit of attachments that can never come to anything. I refer to those where the difference in rank between the gentleman and the lady is simply too wide to be bridged. The most harmonious matches are always those where there is something like an equality of position between the parties involved.’

It was scarcely to be credited that Miss Bingley should consider her, of all people, a rival for Mr Ryder’s attentions; and it was even more to be wondered at that she had not meekly absorbed the insults with which Miss Bingley accompanied her accusations.

it is not enough simply to experience feeling. You showed me that one must find the courage to act upon it. There are times when happiness must be fought for, if we are to have any chance at all of achieving it.’

‘It’s an interesting philosophical question,’ Mary observed with a smile, ‘whether a good deed can be truly considered good, if it is motivated by malice.’