The Other Bennet Sister

by Janice Hadlow

Mrs. Hill suddenly seized Mary’s hands and held them tightly. “One day I shall see you come back here as a married woman. I’m sure of it. It is what you deserve. And when it happens, I shall drink to your health, with the greatest joy.”

Once back at the Gardiners’, Mary felt at first as though a great weight had slipped from her shoulders. She had slain the dragon that was Miss Bingley by calling upon hitherto unsuspected reserves of bravery and self-possession.

Against all expectations, she had achieved her life’s ambition—she had lived to see every Bennet sister married, even the daughter who she was certain would never find a husband, especially after the unfortunate business of the spectacles.