Page 10 of Eavesdroppers Never Hear
Mary thought about it for a minute and finally smiled. “To answer the question, one would need to know if the grapes are in fact sour. If they are, then the fox should be applauded for giving up on his ill-formed quest to obtain them. If they are sweet, he should be chastised for not putting forth more effort.”
Jane laughed. “Are you asserting that Lizzy’s and my friendship might be sour?”
Mary blushed but held her ground. “Lizzy is the one who wants to shoehorn sisterly relations into a two-thousand-year-old fable.”
“Now you are prevaricating,” Jane replied gently.
Mary sighed. “I cannot say. Our sisterly relations have evolved over a long time and a lot of interactions. I am four years your junior, and two years Lizzy’s. Such a gap not often bridged.”
“Why is that?” Elizabeth asked.
“I cannot say. Perhaps, by the time I could talk, think, and say something mildly interesting; you were both too advanced and already too entwined in each other’s lives. I do not know why it is, but I know few sisters who are close with such a gap.”
“Perhaps that is the way it typically is,” Jane said gently, “but that does not necessarily mean it is the way it must be.”
Mary just shrugged.
“The duty of brothers and sisters towards each other is reciprocal; it consists in mutual kindness, forbearance, and affection,” Elizabeth said. I found some of the tracts you wrote down one day in the parlour. I believe that was one of them.
“It was.”
“Perhaps we need not answer the question about the grapes today. Suppose we mimic the fox and reach for the branch; but refrain from despair if we find we cannot reach them, or they are not to our taste.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning it is not too late. Mama’s predictions of Jane’s imminent departure to Netherfield are wildly premature…”
Jane interrupted to correct. “Impossible!”
“Let us say improbable.”
“Fair enough.”
Mary asked, “Meaning?”
“Meaning we have plenty of time to know each other better if we put forth some effort. I believe Jane and I will be around for some time, since suitors are rare as hens’ teeth in this town, and we just walked away from the only eligible man to visit in years.I know it will be uncomfortable to break old habits, but what can be the harm?”
“What indeed,” Jane asked.
Mary sat clenching her fists for some minutes. It was a nervous habit she had tried to either lose or hide for many years with limited success.
She finally snapped her fingers. “Eureka!”
Elizabeth laughed. “I always wanted to emulate Archimedes, but you beat me to it.”
Jane laughed, while Mary simply quoted Fordyce again:
“Too many resemble the fox in the fable, who, failing to obtain the grapes he longed for, sullenly said, ‘they are sour.’ When you cannot compass the object of your wishes, be content, and believe that it is beyond your deserts, or not suitable to your circumstances, and endeavour to render yourself easy and happy in some other way.”
Jane asked, “I take it the good reverend suggests trying, but not making yourself miserable if it does not work out.”
Mary seemed nervously optimistic, so Elizabeth suggested they sit together and simply talk for a few hours to see what happened.How bad could it be?
They spent the next two hours in general discussion, but then Jane was fading so they helped her into a clean nightrail, re-braided her hair and sent her to bed.
The following day, the elder sisters told the entire story, starting with the assembly, Lucas Lodge, and a few other interactions; then ended with a complete description of their abortive stay at Netherfield.
In the end, poor Mary said, “I cannot believe anyone could say something so… so…”
