It’s a Wet Shirt Alert on ‘The Other Bennet Sister’
“Miss Bennet, I am so sorry that anyone has ever made you feel like a disappointment.”
We’ve reached the final few episodes of The Other Bennet Sister, as Mary has once again emerged triumphant, escaping the demands of her mother with a little help from Lizzie. She’s broken free and is heading towards a new future, accompanied by her aunt and uncle, the Gardiners, to the Lake District. It’s a long carriage ride, and we are once again privy to Mary’s thoughts as she reads Wordsworth’s Lyrical Ballads on the trip. (Yes, it’s poetry time again.)
At a stop on the route, she runs into her friend Ann Baxter, also traveling, though in a different direction, going to her hometown of Nottingham with her mother. Part of the reason for the return home, Ann confesses, is that she and Tom Hayward are no longer together. She found the emphasis on his career taxing, and (oops), somehow managed to get herself engaged to Mr. Powell instead, whom she met at Ryder’s supper party. She and Mary hug affectionately before boarding their respective carriages, and Mary shares the news of Tom with the Gardiners. They are distressed to hear the news and concerned that Tom must be sad.
(Oh, poor Tom! Whoever shall comfort him?)
As Mrs. Gardiner and Mary breakfast at their lodgings the next morning, Mr. Gardiner joins them with the conveniently no-longer-engaged Tom Hayward, who decides to take Mary for a stroll outside “to catch up.”
