Mary stood looking at herself in her bedroom mirror. She wore a simple pink cotton dress but even she could tell that the colour suited her better than her favoured brown. It scraped back into a bun and made her skin less sallow. It was lower cut than what Mary considered decorous but Kitty had assured her that all ladies wore such necklines and it was quite proper.

There was nothing to be done about the dreary colour of her hair but Kitty had spent some time dressing it so it was piled high on her head with tendrils artfully curling down to frame her face. She had to admit that it was a vast improvement from her usual style of hair Mary gave her reflection a nod of approval. She would do.

She could hear her mother calling, 'Mary! Mary! Where are you? Hurry up, we must be away to my sister Philips or we will miss the start of Loo.

'What a disaster that would be,' Mary muttered before calling, 'Coming, mother.'

Mrs. Bennet and Kitty were in the process of going outside to the carriage. Mary followed them out and was handed up into the carriage by the groom. She thanked him politely. Her father was as usual, nowhere to be seen, ensconced in the library.

As the carriage jolted along, Mary looked at Kitty seated opposite to her. She would never wed until Kitty was married off, she decided. Kitty was slim and pretty with glossy brown hair and sparkling, dark eyes. She resembled Elizabeth. Kitty's sea green gown set her beauty off to perfection. And she seemed to have no problem with conversing with gentlemen. Who would ever take a second glance at Mary with Kitty standing next to her? Mary scolded herself for her envious thoughts. Kitty had spent some considerable time styling her hair, which was very kind of her.

They arrived late at their Aunt Philip's house but Aunt Philips was far too good-natured to scold them. She was a better-tempered, plumper, version of their mother. The house was not as full as in the days when the officers from the regiment used to throng the place. Mary was becoming accustomed to these gatherings. Previously, she had always shirked them if she possibly could for she had been rather shy but being forced to accompany her mother had helped to teach her to converse more easily.

Aunt Philips bustled up to them. 'There you are!' she exclaimed. 'Why, Mary how well you look tonight.' The note of surprise in her voice was very noticeable. 'And you Kitty, of course, are as pretty as a picture.' Kitty was a favourite of her aunt's.

Kitty smiled and left them to find her crony, Maria Lucas. She had become less silly since the departure of Lydia and the frequent visits that she paid to Jane and Elizabeth. Mary was not invited half as often as Kitty was to the homes of Jane and Elizabeth but she tried to be charitable about it. She knew that her older sisters were attempting to turn Kitty into a sensible young lady. Mary considered that to be an uphill struggle but admitted that there had been a noticeable improvement in Kitty. She no longer flirted with every young gentleman that she met, and it was now possible to hold a rational discourse with her for several minutes.

Mary looked around the crowded room. She could not see Susannah Long, amongst the people thronging the room.

'I have a gentleman that I especially want you to meet, Mary,' her aunt told her. `He is a new clerk to your uncle and a most respectable young man.'

'Indeed,' said Mary, politely. Then she realised that this must be the gentleman that her aunt had mentioned previously. The one with the unfortunate red hair.

'I am sure that you will find that you have a great many things in common. He too loves to have his nose stuck inside a book,' Mrs. Philips said, who could not imagine a more tedious way to spend the time. That promised a more entertaining conversation that those Mary usually held with the gentlemen of Meryton. Mary's interest in the new clerk increased.

'Ah, here he is now!' Aunt Philips cried, seeing her stout husband, emerge puffing, into the room. A tall, slim, young man soberly dressed in black coat and trousers accompanied him. His dark red hair was cut short upon his neck, as was the custom with clerks.

'Mary, my dear, may I introduce Mr. Robert Dane,' Aunt Philips said. 'Mr. Dane, my niece, Mary Bennet.'

Mr. Dane smiled at her. 'I am pleased to make your acquaintance, Miss Bennet.'

'It is good to have some young, fresh faces,' Aunt Philips said. 'It has become so dull since the officers left Meryton, don't you think so, Mary?'

'I have not noticed any increased in dullness,' Mary said coolly, thinking that her aunt could be most insensitive. How could she forget the distress caused to her sister's family by one of those self-same officers? That it had all ended well was not in the least due to Mr. Wickham.

'Ah but you were not partial to the company of the officers, were you, as I recall?' her aunt said.

'I will take that as a compliment,' replied Mary.

The behaviour of Lydia and Kitty had often shocked and distressed her when the officers were in Meryton. She had become more self-confident since Elizabeth and Jane's departure. She would never have dared to say that to her aunt and uncle previously.

Her good-natured aunt just laughed and said, 'There has never been any doubt that you are a good girl, Mary.'

Mary wanted very much to change the topic of conversation. She did not in the least wish for any new acquaintance to learn the recent history of the Bennet family.

Mr. Dane changed the topic of conversation by asking Mary if she would like some tea. Mary gratefully assented and moved off with Mr. Dane towards the tea table.

'I understand, Miss Bennet, that you are renowned in the neighbourhood for being very learned and well read,' Mr. Dane said after he had handed her the cup of tea.

Mary was both flattered and all too aware, gentlemen generally did not find learned and well-read women interesting.

'I say this because I would be very pleased to have the acquaintanceship of someone in this neighbourhood who takes pleasure in reading.'

'Oh, I am not the only one; my father is a great reader. Indeed, I believe he is happiest when he is in his library.'

'He has a library?' Mr. Dane asked with interest.

'I believe it to be the finest in this neighbourhood,' Mary told her. Then Mary's innate honesty made her add, 'although that is probably not a great achievement around here.'

Mr. Dane laughed. 'I am starting to think that this may be the case. Of course, there are many pursuits, which one may gainfully follow apart from reading. I do not mean of course, a profession.'

'No, indeed,' agreed Mary, 'that is quite different. May I ask which pastimes you enjoy apart from reading?'

'I enjoy listening to music and singing. I understand you are proficient on the piano, Miss Bennet?'

'I have some small talent,' Mary said modestly.

She wanted to boast that she played the best in the neighbourhood to impress Mr. Dane but she was given to understand that ladies should be modest about their accomplishments. And the best in the neighbourhood was not an accolade to prize since hearing Georgina Darcy play. Ever since then, she had thought herself merely proficient on the piano.

'I hope that I shall have the pleasure of hearing you tonight?'

'Oh, I do not think my aunt intended that to be on the itinerary for tonight's entertainment, unless she wishes me to play some tunes so that we may have some dancing.'

'I am not a great dancer,' Mr. Dane confessed, looking down at her.

'Neither am I,' admitted Mary, pleased to think they had something else in common, 'despite the care and attention of the dancing master. He tried very hard with me but I fear that I am not a natural dancer.'

She stopped, thinking she had said too much. Society expected one to be a good dancer. Her mother had spent a fortune on dancing masters for her daughters. Mary suspected that she had done nothing to improve her image in Mr. Dane's eyes by this admission and bit her lip. She clearly needed to keep a rein on her tongue when talking to gentlemen. Mary had never cared about being a good dancer when asked so rarely to dance but she regretted it now.

'To master a skill when one has no innate ability for it, is so much more commendable I think as it shows diligence and perseverance,' Mr. Dane said. 'I fear we would be thought unobliging at the next ball if we did not dance at all but I trust that I may beg a dance off you and perhaps have a companion to sit out a dance or two with me.'

Mary stole a glance up at him. He might have red hair and freckles but he was tall and slender. Mary did not doubt for an instant that he would have dance partners enough if he cared to ask any of the other single young women in the neighbourhood who attended the ball.

Supper was then announced and to Mary's surprise, Mr. Dane sat down next to her and continued to talk to her. This was very pleasant apart from having to endure the sight of her mother nudging Mrs. Long and Lady Lucas and saying in a whisper so loud that it was more like the sound of a trumpet, 'There, do you see that? Even Mary has an admirer. She's not as pretty as Kitty but she is very clever and well behaved.'

Her mother praising her manners and exhibiting so little of her own! Praise from her mother at last! But Mary would rather not have been praised than for it to occur in such a fashion. Mary burned with embarrassment and dreaded to contemplate what Mr. Dane would think. He, however, seemed not to hear Mr. Bennet's words and continued to speak to Mary about other pleasant topics until called away by Mr. Philips to meet some other guests.

Mary went home that evening, more pleasantly diverted than she had ever imagined she would be. She had to endure her mother rattling on about Mr. Dane for the entire journey but she did her best to ignore it. Mr. Dane had seemed an agreeable gentleman but one evening's conversation did not make an engagement whatever her mother might think. However, Mr. Dane had given her some initial hope for her project and she determined that she would attempt to progress it in the morning. She was convinced he would never have remained talking to her for so long had she been wearing her usual gown, and her hair dressed in the customary way.

When they arrived home, Mr. Bennet emerged from his library to greet them.

'Oh, Mr. Bennet,' Mrs. Bennet began, 'I do believe Mary has an admirer, a Mr. Dane. He sat with her for quite some time and had tea with her.'

'What a triumph,' Mr. Bennet said. He turned to Mary, 'And how do you like this Mr. Dane?' he asked.

'He seems a most polite young gentleman,' Mrs. Bennet continued.

'Indeed. But I believe I had asked Mary the question.'

'He seems a most agreeable young man; we are told that he is most industrious, and he is a great reader and scholar. He expressed such interest when I told him of your library.'

'Indeed? Perhaps we had better have this paragon, this great reader and scholar, over to dinner and I can judge for myself as to whether he would benefit from a visit to my library.'

'Oh what a good father you have!' exclaimed Mrs. Bennet. 'Am I not always saying what a good father you have, girls?'

Kitty and Mary exchanged glances but remained silent.

'Thank you, sir,' Mary said to her father.

Her mother beamed. ' I shall invite him tomorrow. Only one course, for he is merely an attorney's clerk and I do not want him to be overwhelmed.'

'That, I fear, is inevitable,' Mr. Bennet said before retiring back to the library.