The Other Bennet Sister

by Janice Hadlow

They were the principal inhabitants of the village of Longbourn; and their house, solid and unremarkable as it was, made up in comfort what it lacked in pretension.

A is for Apple, C is for Cat. Once she grasped this, there was no holding her back.

Her life, such as it was, now took place almost entirely between the pages of her books.

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.”

the Gardiners worked hard at the business of happiness, exerting themselves tirelessly to coax it into being. 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. The result was the happiest home Mary had ever known.

and above all, when his hand once grazed her own as he handed her a book—then she knew without a doubt that these were feelings of an altogether different kind.

He craved sensation, but she doubted he was a man governed by profound and lasting passions. Those would involve rather too much trouble. His feelings were like jam spread thinly on bread and butter—sweet, all-encompassing, and readily available, but not penetrating very deeply.

“I might add in my own defence that if I had loved you less, I might have ventured more. It was hard to be bold when I was only too aware of what I stood to lose.”