A Match for Mary Bennet by Eucharista Ward Page A

without your part.” She looked sternly at Mary. “Did you slip into the library to continue Pilgrim’s Progress ?”
    Mary spoke almost before she swallowed. “Oh no, Lizzy. I haven’t looked at that book for many days now.” She coloured a little, fearing she had spoken untruly, at least in part, and choking back what she thought of adding—that she only devoted herself to sturdier books now. Happily, Georgiana led Lady Elliott to their table, and Darcy arrived to sit with Elizabeth as Bingley sat down with Jane. Mary became, for a while, the listener she had intended to be. Supper progressed with no further embarrassment, save only Mrs. Bennet’s overly loud comment to the assembled group: “Mary, look at that Colonel Fitzwilliam, simpering over Caroline Bingley. What a pity he has forgot how pleased he was with you at the Meryton Assembly. You should have placed yourself in his way and smiled at him. Why must you neglect your social duties? He might just as well be squiring you, you know.”
    Mary shrugged. “I am sorry, Mama. I have just now noticed him.” She smiled inwardly to think that his attentions to Miss Bingley might well be the result of her own advice to him at that very ball.
    Mrs. Bennet, showing dissatisfaction at Mary’s indifference, kept after her about her “bounden duty” to marry. “And you know, Mr. Grantley showed a remarkable attention to you. Have you read the essays he gave you?” Mary nodded absently. “Well, you be sure to thank him and show a lively interest. He may be a bit peculiar, but he is not so bad, really. You could do much worse.”
    Mary was saved from answering by Georgiana’s beckoning her to the pianoforte. Together they played noels while many country folk sang. Once, when she looked up from the keyboard, she saw Mr. Oliver eyeing her with a puzzled frown. She avoided his eyes, as he had no call to be questioning her earlier disappearance. She concentrated instead on her embarrassment at having overheard the conversation of the awesome Mr. Darcy and his even more awesome aunt. She reflected long on the unhappy complications of even unintended eavesdropping.

Chapter 9
    By the week following the great Christmas ball at Pemberley, the announced engagement of Colonel Fitzwilliam and Miss Bingley captured the common interest. Elizabeth pointed out to Mary that Jane and Charles Bingley smiled every bit as much as did the happy couple. Lady Catherine, abandoning her sedate silence whenever the subject arose, disapproved in the most stentorian tones. Mrs. Bennet, only slightly more temperate, reserved her petulance for Mary. “That might just as well have been you, Mary. The Colonel was right fond of you at Meryton’s Assembly, and if you would learn to smile and look admiringly at a man and cultivate a few flattering ways, I would not have to despair of you ever finding a husband. You certainly could have done as well as Miss Bingley if you had only tried. When a man is ready to marry, he is often not too particular about the lady.”
    Lady Catherine, overhearing this, sniffed. “Indeed yes; and I could tell you the exact moment when the Colonel became ready to marry.” But she did not do so. Mary held her peace, though she could well have seconded her mother’s view that the Colonel’s choice was indeed just to be married, though he seemed to have been more particular as to his choice than Mrs. Bennet gave him credit for.
    The happy couple, chaperoned by the Hursts, left for Norfolk to solicit the Earl’s approval. The Bingleys, promising to return for the christening of their godchild, retired to Otherfield Park. The Bennets made arrangements to leave after the christening, Mr. Bennet declaring that never again would he stray so long from his own library at Longbourn. Mary looked forward to the departure eagerly. She did not ache for either the travel or for Hertfordshire