Chapter 12

That evening, Kitty and Lydia come to my room.

"Lizzie? Engaged to Mr Gregory? But what about what you told us?"

"We didn't say anything, of course, but there must be something going on."

"Girls…"

"Why would he flirt with you if he wanted to marry Lizzie?"

"I mean, you practically held hands! It's not like he was just being slightly flirtatious!"

"Lizzie and Mr Gregory spent the whole Netherfield ball together. They were as bad as, if not worse than, Jane and Mr Bingley."

"Girls, please!"

They quiet down.

"Look, I can only suppose that I over reacted, or over interpreted his actions. Mr Gregory is a good, kind man, and he was probably just being polite and trying to entertain me while I was staying at Netherfield."

Lydia has her eyes narrowed at me. "Nobody can be so calm about something like this, Mary. You must be jealous, even if only a little. Just let it out."

"I told Mr Gregory myself that I didn't want to marry. Since he and Lizzie are set to marry in barely a few weeks, maybe that proved too much of a deterrent. Not that I think he was considering me – he was probably interested in Lizzie from the start. Apparently Mama saw it, and warned Mr Collins away from Lizzie." I feel so stupid for not seeing it sooner.

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Mary. We saw that Bingley was in love with Jane, but nobody really noticed anything about Mr Gregory and Lizzie, except at Netherfield, where it was obvious."

"You're perfectly capable of attracting a man's attention - you're always telling us how we shouldn't compare our beauty from sister to sister, but, to be honest, you're quite pretty. If your dresses weren't so outdated, you could rival Lizzie and maybe even Jane."

"I don't want to waste –"

"Yes, you don't want to waste money on dresses, and that's fine, but you should let yourself live a little!"

Lord save me from persistent little sisters.

"I do live – or at least, I promise to let myself live more from now on."

I get a pair of sceptical looks for my trouble.

"And as for Mr Gregory, all I wish is that he makes Lizzie happy. I truly think he is a good man, and that they will suit. My own feelings for him were trifling – if they are ready to commit to each other at that level, I certainly shan't get in the way for some perceived wrong. And I certainly don't want you two to do that, either. Promise me you will be more sincere in your congratulations to Lizzie. I saw how she was affected by your reactions this afternoon – she hid it, but she was confused."

"It's your decision," sums up Lydia. "We will be fine with it if you are."

"We just wanted to be sure you were all right, really," Kitty explains.

I gather them both up in a hug. "You're the best little sisters I could ask for. Now off to bed, or we won't get our beauty sleep!"

They leave, and my smile melts away.

I am not proud to say that I cried myself to sleep for the second time in a week that night.

The next week passes by agonizingly. I get another letter from Collins, with more flowery writing than real substance. I've decided the best is probably to ignore him. Bingley and Gregory come to the house practically every day, and Mrs Bennet doesn't even have time to be upset with me about Mr Collins – she's busy preparing for the wedding.

I am the lucky sister who's chaperoning the lovebirds today, and Bingley and Jane look particularly amorous, so I sit with Lizzie and Mr Gregory.

I try to let them have their own discussion as much as possible. I block out their conversation while I focus on my embroidery, but sometimes my concentration wanes.

"Tell me about your childhood," Lizzie prompts him.

"There's not much to tell. I spent most of it in a boarding school, and rarely saw my parents. The school was excellent, though. I believe I owe it's director, Mr Weston, my thanks for giving me such a quality education."

"Oh, I don't know if I could have spent so long away from my family. Did your parents not miss you?"

"Oh, they were quite busy. My father was a shoemaker, and my mother was busy with my younger sisters. I think they were quite glad to be rid of me, really."

I see Lizzie start when Mr Gregory mentions his father was a shoemaker.

"And how did you like boarding school?" I ask. "I hear such different accounts about it that I do not know what to believe."

"Oh, I liked it well enough. I was one of the younger students to attend, to be sure, but that wasn't necessarily bad. The proctors thought I was sweet, and took rather good care of me. I really can"t complain."

Mr Bingley suddenly stands, and heads to the door which leads to Mr Bennet's study.

Jane has turned to us, and her smile is radiant.

"Mr Bingley has just asked me to marry him!"

Lizzie and I gather around Jane, and we congratulate her. I'm so happy for Jane – she deserves this. Mr Bingley, from what I have seen, is a good, sociable man, who will take care of her properly. I don't know if it's my actions which have sped up Jane's timeline, but I'd like to think so.

Soon the whole house is in uproar, and a celebratory dinner is planned. The men take their leave to get changed, and will extend an invitation to the Bingley sisters for tonight.

Mrs Bennet fawns over Jane, exclaiming that she couldn't have been so beautiful for nothing. Meanwhile, I notice Lizzie is trying to catch my eye. I follow her into the breakfast parlour, where she closes the door and turns to me.

"Mary, I need your advice."

"What is it, Lizzie?" It's probably the timing of her wedding with Mr Gregory. I'm the only one in this household who thinks it's rushed, but besides a small remark made only to Lizzie, I haven't spoken about it.

"You heard what Mr Gregory told us this morning. He's the son of a shoemaker! I thought he was the youngest son of a small country gentleman, or perhaps from some nobler trade… But a shoemaker's son? Am I making a mistake?"

Oh dear, I am not ready for this. Deep breaths.

"Lizzie, what matters is how you feel. How do you feel when you think about Mr Gregory?"

"I feel… warm. Happy. I love him. He is a good man, he is intelligent, and I know he values my opinion. He also has shown me he likes me in small ways, like holding my hand, or a certain look…" Lizzie is looking dreamy. "You know I always said I would only marry for the deepest love, and I think I have found that with Mr Gregory."

This hurts, a bit. Especially that she mentioned hand holding. But this is my sister, Lizzie. I love her. I'm going to do my best with her.

"That's a very good sign for you both. Now, is it that he is shoemaker's son, or is it that he didn't tell you before, which disappoints you?"

"I think.. A bit of both? I mean, If his father had been an attorney, or a solicitor, or even a doctor, it would be a different thing, but… I am a gentlewoman."

"My dear, social class doesn't reflect anything on the worth of a person. Don't you find it impressive that Mr Gregory is so gentlemanly, has gotten a good education, and has risen so far beyond his parentage? It is not easy, you know, to do so in this time."

"Hmm." A pause, to consider my words. "You're right, Mary, as always. It is impressive, and I do admire him for it. I suppose I was just caught off guard."

"That, however, he should correct. Communication is key in a couple, and you should confront him about not telling you his family's situation sooner. Your feelings are valid, and you shouldn't be scared to tell him about them."

"Yes. It's scary, sometimes, to think that soon I won't be sleeping at Longbourne any more. But I am glad to be leaving with Mr Gregory. Thank you, Mary, you always have the best advice! Even though you don't wish to marry, it seems like you know more about being married than the rest of us," Lizzie quips, before leaving the parlour again.

I sigh. I might not wish to marry, but I did have relationships in the 21st century, and I know what is and isn't healthy. Hopefully I can help Lizzie and Mr Gregory get started smoothly.

I love my sister, but she can be… hotheaded at times, and this conversation has revealed a surprisingly… snobbish side to her. I know I wouldn't have minded Mr Gregory's origins… But that is a dangerous line of thought. I take a bracing breath, then return to the fold. Mrs Bennet is worried about tonight's dinner, I shall try to smooth things over.

A few days later, Lydia comes up to me, worried.

"Mary, I cannot sort this out. We were just having a bit of fun with Denny, and we got to talking about maths. I told him about how we had been working on Al Kashi's thorem, and he asked which one that was. So I explained it to him – and he told me that it was sine instead of cosine in the theorem! I checked twice before going to Mr Gregory, who told me that I had the right of it. He congratulated me on the demonstration, by the way. I told him you explained it to me."

"Oh, thank you, Lydia. You must have been disappointed that Denny didn't believe you."

"Well, no, I wasn't – at first. But then I thought about it. He didn't believe me when I checked it, not even when I checked it again. But when I told him Mr Gregory said that I was right, he mumbled something about maybe confusing the functions, and not liking trigonometry besides – that sine and cosine were practically the same function. It felt like he dismissed me, but when I involved a third party he agreed I was right, but belittled his mistake."

"Well, you're quite right to be disappointed in him. He should have listened to you, or at least looked over the proof with you. Perhaps this was during a party, and he didn't want to talk about it?"

"No! Well, I don't think so. He was boasting that he was the best mathematician of the regiment, and so I challenged him. It was quite fun, until we disagreed. He convinced all the other officers I was wrong too."

"Perhaps his pride was threatened? It was not well done of Denny to ignore your arguments, though – especially since he got it wrong."

"Kitty was there, maybe she could describe it better. Kitty!"

We're outside, at least, so I suppose there are some people who weren't almost deafened by Lydia's shout.

Kitty leaves Lizzie and Mr Gregory to their discussion and joins us.

"What is it, Lydia?"

"I was just telling Mary about the maths competition. You know, when Denny and I didn't agree."

"Oh, yes, I remember. He was so rude to you! He refused to even look at her papers, he said that 'a woman wouldn't know maths anyway'."

I'm getting a bit annoyed at Denny by now. "In that case, Lydia, you just have to let idiots be idiots. You know your own worth, and Mr Gregory confirmed that you were right, and Denny was wrong. It is good to doubt – it's the way you improve – however you should never let other people make you feel less about yourself. That Denny doesn't sound like a good sort of man."

"And he's one of the better officers!" Kitty chips in.

"I think I understand why you do not wish to marry, Mary, if that is how most of your discussions with men go. I've half a mind never to talk to Denny again."

"It's up to you, Lydia. You should weigh for yourself how important that interaction was to you, and if you wish to end the acquaintance because of it."

"It all comes down to what you always speak about; if a man is worthy," Kitty muses.

"Exactly. And you're the one who decides who is worthy and who isn't. It's a good idea to speak to others about it, to measure how they interpret the interaction – perhaps you overreacted. But the bottom line is that you decide for your life."

"I see what you mean. I'm glad we are to have such good brothers as Mr Bingley and Mr Gregory. They are worthy. I think Jane and Lizzie will be very happy with them," Lydia muses.

I give her a watery smile. "Yes, I believe they will."

And that's what matters. Lizzie's happiness. I truly am happy for Lizzie and Mr Gregory.

AN : To those who would find it strange that I made Mr Gregory so low born, I feel like now is the time to mention that I based his character on a real regency mathematician, Olinthus Gregory. He was born in 1774, and most of what I have described here (his childhood, education, professorship, study of the speed of sound, liking regularity in music) is based on the real person. However the real Olinthus Gregory had two wives over his life, and was married during the events of Pride and Prejudice, so I did have to tweak that a bit 😊 I always enjoy semi-historical content in novels, so I hope you'll appreciate this !