The Other Bennet Sister

by Janice Hadlow

By the time she was fourteen, Mary knew she came first with none of her sisters.

For a young woman it is quite a different thing. What do you think people will say when they see Mary in them? Who will want to marry her then?’ Mr Bennet looked thoughtful. ‘Perhaps one of those very men you have just described will offer for her, a wearer of spectacles himself, boldly indifferent to the scorn of all the neighbourhood. Indeed, it may be the very thing that brings them together.’

‘Thank you, Lydia,’ he declared, as Mrs Hill filled his cup. ‘Nothing could have made clearer for me the right choice in this matter. I will not stand in the way of any member of this family who seeks to diminish the amount of stupidity in this house. Mary, if you wish to read, you shall have the wherewithal to do so. You shall have your spectacles.’

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.’

Mrs Gardiner was lively and kind, with a quick mind, and a frank curiosity about the concerns of those for whom she cared. She was inquisitive; but she was not meddlesome. She employed her intelligence to understand what others thought and felt, the better to help them if she could. She wanted those around her to be happy; entirely satisfied with her own circumstances, it pleased her to see those she loved as contented and comfortable as she was herself.

‘And please, let us hear no more disobliging criticisms of your own character. The only condition I shall apply to your staying with us is that you try to speak more kindly of yourself. It that a rule you think you can obey?’

Mrs Gardiner looked at her with genuine surprise. ‘Can you really suppose,’ she asked, ‘that we would arrange a pleasant dinner for family and friends, and send you off into exile upstairs?’ ‘I would understand if you did,’ replied Mary. ‘I do not sparkle much at dinners, I’m afraid.’ ‘Perhaps that says more about the dinners you have so far attended than it does about you,’ declared Mrs Gardiner. ‘And anyway, in our house, no one is obliged to sparkle. Which, I find, makes it far more likely that they might. So, you will join us, I hope?’

I am already indebted to you in so many ways and cannot bear to add to my obligations.’ ‘I am not sure there is such a thing as obligation between those who truly care for each other.’

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.’

Mr Hayward was tall and broad-shouldered, with a shock of dark hair. He was not particularly handsome, but his expression was so affable and amused that by the time this fact was noticed, it was too late for it matter.