Page 9 of Eavesdroppers Never Hear
“To make children happy, and at the same time wise and good, is to rear up the most valuable of human beings.”
“Enough, Mary!” Mrs Bennet snapped furiously. “Nobody wants to hear your sermons. Let us return to Mr Bingley.”
“The young of both sexes should be careful not to form any connexion which has not the sanction of reason and virtue,” Mary said without batting an eye.
Elizabeth tried her best not to laugh. Her best was admittedly not perfect, but it would do.
“I am astonished, Mary. I would have doubted such sense from the good reverend.”
“Let us quit wasting time on your sermons and return to Mr Bingley… or do you think starving in the hedgerows when your father dies will be amusing,” Mrs Bennet asked even more stridently.
Mary winked at Elizabeth. “Young persons should be cautious not to indulge in idle and frivolous conversation, as it frequently leads to impropriety and vice.”
Elizabeth frowned, thinking Mary was coming uncomfortably close to what happened at Netherfield; but thenshe reasoned she need not worry about her mother catching on, since that would require her to listen.
For the next ten minutes, Mrs Bennet and Mary went back and forth, with the matron expressing some wish about the Netherfield party, and Mary replying with something entirely different.
Mary’s first few quotes were erudite, relevant, and well chosen. As the conversation continued, she seemed to pick verses at random or to deliberately provoke their mother.
By the end of the half-hour Elizabeth had promised herself to endure, she was still just as annoyed with her mother as ever but astonishingly amused by her next younger sister.
Eventually, in a fit of pique, Mrs Bennet banished both daughters from her company as if she were punishing them.
As the sisters stood to leave, Elizabeth noticed something she had never seen before. Mary turned away with a smirk on her lips. It did not last long, as any expression save a serious mien seldom did, but it was there.
As they left the parlour, Elizabeth said, “Thank you, Mary. That was well done.”
“What was?” Mary asked innocently, though the smile she could not quite repress put the lie to her assertion.
“You know what, but I will not demand you own it. Would you like to visit Jane?”
“I would love that above all things.”
~~~~~
Elizabeth joined Mary in Jane’s room and recounted the story of the encounter with great enthusiasm.
Jane thanked Mary warmly then became pensive. “Mary, I will admit to sharing Lizzy’s astonishment, and it puts to mind a question. Have we been unfair to you?”
“How so?” Mary asked with a questioning look.
Elizabeth was puzzled by the query as well, but felt no great compulsion to jump in.
Jane said, “I am ashamed to say it, but it seems to me that Lizzy and I have a close bond, as do Kitty and Lydia. You have been left mostly alone and ignored. I belatedly realise it was probably badly done. You should not have to look to a fifty-year-old book of sermons for conversation.”
Elizabeth frowned but recognised the justice of Jane’s question.
Mary asked, “Do you mean, were you unfair to treat me exactly the way I wished to be treated?”
“What do you mean?”
“I am not like the rest of you. I do not crave attention… or conversation. To be honest, most of the time I feel lucky to escape whatever is happening in the house. I can certainly not fault you for acceding to my wishes.”
Elizabeth said, “I can see your point, but are wants and needs always the same?”
“Explain!”
“Think of Aesop’s fable about theFox and the Grapes.The fox cannot get the grapes, so he asserts they are probably sour anyway. That is where we get the expression sour grapes. I do not assert the same applies to you… but I cannot deny it either.”
