Free Mary Bennet: A Novella in the Personages of Pride & Prejudice Collection by Jennifer Becton

her.”
    Mary’s foolish pulse leapt with excitement and something like desire, but she tamped down her emotions.
    “Then I demand an explanation,” Miss Hardcastle said. “Why must we depart so suddenly?”
    When Mr. Hardcastle spoke again, he sounded tired. “Did you not observe the guests, Pen? Read her mother’s intent. It is plain as the lace on her dress. This is not merely a dinner party. This is a matchmaking scheme.”
    “You did not object to Mrs. Bennet’s previous matchmaking scheme…when you were the beneficiary.”
    “Well,” Mr. Hardcastle said with resignation in his voice, “Miss Bennet made it clear that her circumstances are changed.”
    “But she feels for you,” Miss Hardcastle protested.
    “I hoped it was so,” Mr. Hardcastle said, voice turning wistful, “but she will not allow it. She fears her feelings, mistrusts them.”
    Though Mary could not see the Hardcastle siblings from her place against the wall, she imagined that Miss Hardcastle looked upon her brother with pity.
    “I am sorry, Simon, but perhaps this is for the best. Much as I like Miss Bennet, I do not wish to see you suffer as the husband of a woman who does not know her own mind.”
    Mary’s forehead creased.
    What was Miss Hardcastle talking of? Mary knew her own mind!
    She had spent her entire life as a student of the mind. She relished study and contemplation, and her reading had taught her that feelings were untrustworthy. She must let reason be her guide. And reason told her that her parents were correct: a woman must marry for security, not love.
    “However,” Miss Hardcastle said, her voice thoughtful, “you have held but a few conversations with her. Perhaps she is not yet comfortable allowing her feelings to guide her. Perhaps all that is required is time.”
    “I am not in control of the time available,” Mr. Hardcastle said simply.
    “No, I grant you,” Miss Hardcastle agreed. “Her mother is in great haste to see her married.” She paused and added, “If only Mary were not so determined to hold to errant teachings on restraint and modesty that she denied her own heart…such a foolish notion indeed! Perhaps her mind may be changed….”
    “Pen,” Mr. Hardcastle said with affectionate exasperation. “Your faith in Miss Bennet does you credit, but I fear this shall not end well.”
    Any reply Miss Hardcastle might have offered was overwhelmed by Mrs. Bennet’s voice as she screeched into the hall.
    “Mary!”
    Mrs. Bennet burst into the center of the Hardcastles’ private conversation without an apology.
    Mary’s pulse quickened. She would certainly be caught eavesdropping.
    “Have you seen Mary? She is needed at the pianoforte.”
    “No,” Miss Hardcastle said, her voice calm. “We stepped into the foyer to get some air and have not encountered her here.”
    “Well, then I must go and find her. The two of you must take your seats, or you shall miss her performance.”
    With that, Mrs. Bennet shoved the Hardcastle siblings back into the drawing room, unknowingly saving Mary from much embarrassment at being discovered.
    Nothing Mrs. Bennet could do, however, would save Mary from what she had overheard.
    Miss Hardcastle’s proclamation stung, and moreover, it was utterly incorrect.
    Mary knew her own mind, and her every decision reflected that fact.
    She clenched her hands. In matters of matrimony, a wise woman allows herself to be guided by logic and reason. Giving way to feelings creates nothing but strife.
    Had Mary not witnessed the phenomenon herself? And had she not also witnessed the exact opposite?
    She covered her eyes with a shaking hand and turned the matter over in her mind. Alas, she could not reconcile Lydia’s romantic disaster with the love matches her sisters Jane and Lizzie had made.
    Only one thing could be concluded with certainty: Lydia had displayed a careless disregard for propriety. Mary could not allow herself to behave with such indiscretion.
    She must be