Warning: This is short too, about the same size as last chapter. Mr. Singleton is not present, only in thought. Also, I'm going to TRY to remember to put thoughts as italicized instead of in quotations so as to distinguish them from dialogue. It kinda sucks but oh well
Mrs. Philips had spent the day in correspondence with Jane and Mr. Bennet, and her words to them about Mary were not very kind. It had been half past one when Mary arrived and it was well after supper that she had still been asleep. Mrs. Philips interrogated them as to why Mary had been sent out in such a state; the response that Mary seemed well when she left and insisted on making the trip only slightly appeased her.
It was after supper when Mrs. Philips decided to check on her niece. Mrs. Philips entered the guest room to find her niece wide-awake and staring blankly at the ceiling.
"Mary?"
Mary turned her head to look at her aunt
"Oh. Hello Aunt Harriet." She said quietly as she sat up.
"I have been in correspondence with Jane and your father. We have decided that you will stay the night and in morning I shall accompany you to Longbourn. I will stay there for a few days to be of assistance around the house."
Mary merely nodded staring at the floor.
"Would you like a servant to bring you supper?"
"Yes, please. Thank you." She said smiling sadly.
Mrs. Philips left the room. She never knew how to behave toward her stoic niece, and now that Mary showed such a surprising display of emotion she had less of an idea on what to do.
Mary spent the rest of the evening wrestling with thoughts about Mr. Singleton and Lydia. Thoughts of Lydia resulted in anxiety while thoughts of Mr. Singleton resulted in anger, distress, and depression. She tried to think of other things but that was to no avail. Finally, after many thoughts and a little crying, she fell back to sleep.
The next morning was quite uneventful. Mary had always been one to control her emotions and so she forced herself out of bed, got ready, and then left with her aunt for Longbourn. Upon their arrival Mary was quickly greeted by Jane who ran to embrace her sister.
"Oh Mary, are you alright?"
Mary forced a smile.
"I am fine." She lied. "I merely had nothing to distract myself with and became upset along the way."
They were joined by their father, whose greeting wasn't quite as warm. He scolded Mary, blaming her for insisting on going and blaming himself for letting her do so. Mary frowned as she watched her father go to greet Mrs. Philips who wasn't helping the matter by chiding the man about Mary.
"Do not worry." Jane said. "He is mostly upset over Lydia and so he's been blaming himself as a father. I am sure he'll soon forget about this."
Yes, because I am so forgettable. Mary thought.
Mary and Jane entered the house to see a hassled Kitty being climbed on by a six-year-old Amelia.
"Oh thank heavens!" Kitty said. "Mary is back!"
There had only been one other person who ever seemed so happy to see Mary as Kitty did now, but Mary refused to think of him. Mary was sure that Kitty's happiness, however, was from relief of having Mary's assistance back.
"Oh grand! And Aunt Philips too!" Kitty said, looking out the window. "I dare say I may be able to take a short nap today."
Mary's convictions had been correct.
"Do not forget, Kitty, that father is to leave today." Jane gently reminded her.
"Oh drat! I had forgotten!" Kitty said, falling into a chair. "And here I thought we had an extra hand!"
Mary quickly fell into a routine of helping her sisters, and this helped to keep her mind off of Mr. Singleton. However, Jane insisted on carrying the brunt of the work for she always thought her sisters to be weaker: both were thin girls, Kitty was practically nothing and Mary spent most of her energy on studying. In this case, Mary wouldn't have minded leaving her accomplishment behind for the time being except that she found them to be a better distraction from Mr. Singleton. Thus Mary found her nose still in books and her fingers on the piano and retreated once more to her accomplishments.
It wasn't until evening that she really thought of Mr. Singleton once she had gone to bed. She even spent some time denying Mr. Singleton's disloyalty, that there had to be an explanation. Mary finally concluded that the explanation was Mr. Singleton was a cad like the rest of male society.
Mary spent the next few days in such a manner, forcing herself not think of him during the day as she helped around the house or read a book and at night she cried herself to sleep. Mary grew in bitterness. Bitterness at men and bitterness at silly girls like Lydia who allowed themselves to be fooled by such unworthy creatures. By the time her sister Elizabeth had returned from the Lakes Mary had become even more reserved, grave, and pedantic than she had ever been before.
Mary had been in her room with her eyes locked in a book when a knock sounded at her door. Mary sighed and responded irritably. Kitty opened the door and poked her head into the room.
"Mary, I think Lizzy is here."
Mary and Kitty walked down the stairs into the dining hall where, sure enough, Jane and Lizzy were eating dinner with the Gardiners. Mary had never been so happy to see Lizzy. Her family had been brought back together as best as it could be, with a wayward sister in hiding with a scoundrel and a regretful father somewhere tracking them down. Mary decided that perhaps the family crisis might be the time to breach the gap between her and Lizzy. Unfortunately it was in the only way she knew how, with pedantry.
"This is a most unfortunate affair, and will probably be much talked of. But we must stem the tide of malice, and pour into the wounded bosoms of each other the balm of sisterly consolation." Mary whispered to Lizzy.
Lizzy, of course, blatantly ignored Mary, probably thinking her words were too structured for a time such as this. As Mary mulled over her words her irritation of the situation Lydia placed her family in increased as well as her desire to moralize.
"Unhappy as the event must be for Lydia, we may draw from it this useful lesson:--that loss of virtue in a female is irretrievable, that one false step involves her in endless ruin, that her reputation is no less brittle than it is beautiful, and that she cannot be too much guarded in her behaviour towards the undeserving of the other sex." Mary said, concealing her bitterness as best she could.
Lizzy finally responded with a look of amazement but Mary took no notice; Mary was now lost in her bitter rant.
"Most undeserving the male sex is indeed!" she exclaimed. "And a young lady will do well not to make herself fooled by such as those. For a charming smile is not one a lady should attempt to contend with" at this she stabbed her salad mercilessly "but rather to be avoided at all cost-"
Kitty, exasperated by her sister, finally interrupted.
"Oh please, Mary; what do you know of men?"
Mary looked up at her sister in astonishment and Kitty smiled smugly.
"Mary, Kitty, please." Lizzy said with all the maturity of an older sister. Mary looked from one sister to another and then quickly finished her meal in silence. It was official; Mary would forever be misunderstood, self-righteous, and pedantic to her sisters. Perhaps it was her own doing, but what had they ever done to deserve knowing her true self? The worst part was she now had to suffer in silence for she no longer had anyone to confide in. Mary took as few minutes as she could to eat her meal and then left the room to play on her piano. She merely sat there idly, however, wondering what horrid thing she had done to make him put her through this.
I won't be updating as quickly as I had this week, BUT hopefully next chapter will be longer, as well as the next few. I must warn you, the story is taking a bit of a different tone and Mary is not about to fall into Singleton's arms and forgive him. There also will be more focus on the bennets and not always on singleton and mary.
Quotes from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
"This is a most unfortunate affair, and will probably be much talked of. But we must stem the tide of malice, and pour into the wounded bosoms of each other the balm of sisterly consolation."… "Unhappy as the event must be for Lydia, we may draw from it this useful lesson:--that loss of virtue in a female is irretrievable, that one false step involves her in endless ruin, that her reputation is no less brittle than it is beautiful, and that she cannot be too much guarded in her behaviour towards the undeserving of the other sex." Volume III, Chapter 5