In the end, there is no force quite so persistent and unswerving as youth's pursuit of diversion; and though there were many supposed hindrances to overcome, many seeming impossibilities, many concerns raised, here by the Lucases, here by the Phillipses, as to the logistics of the travel, the accommodations, the arranging of the party – but in the end, of course, it was wholly inevitable that the lively, ingenuous efforts of youth should triumph, and though it took a stretch of almost a month to enact it, the excursion to South End was, at last, ratified and confirmed. Lady Lucas, despite no particular fondness for either travel or the seaside, would accompany as chaperone; Miss Maria Lucas's youngest sister, Miss Amelia, by incessant pleading, would be allowed to join as well; and the Lucases' coach would be graciously supplied for this express purpose. There was an inn which had been once recommended to the Lucases by their cousins, which would suffice for accommodations, and Mr. Radcliff's sister would join them there, as it was all arranged expressly so that the weekend of their visit should fall upon her monthly leave.
If Mary had at this point yet nursed any hopes of remitting her acquiescence to this excursion, they were quickly thwarted; Mr. Radcliff would simply not hear of it. A gay weekend by the sea had never yet done anyone poorly, he insisted; such a weekend could not fail to charmingly interpose her stretches of study and reading; and in a week's time, not quite knowing how she had gotten there, aside from the fact that Mr. Bennet had given a rather strong encouragement in favor of it, Mary found that she was seated in the Lucases' coach as it rattled cheerily towards South End, in the company of the Lucases and Mr. Radcliff.
Miss Lucas and Miss Amelia were both of them trim, lively young women, a stark contrast to the self-possessed, sensible composure which Mary recalled of their eldest sister Charlotte, from the rather thin acquaintanceship she had held with her through Lizzy. The two younger Miss Lucases chattered readily and excitably, exclaiming over the most commonplace of sights that passed their windows, over the certain success of the impending weekend, over their eagerness to meet Miss Radcliff, having heard already such high praises to her credit – this last directed towards Mr. Radcliff, and indeed, a readier way into the gentleman's graces could not have been found. He was himself in pleasurable expectancy of his reunion, and the Miss Lucases' enthusiasm on his sister's account could not be anything but gratifying to him.
The Miss Lucases' manner of speaking was not nearly so reflective or tender-hearted as had been a feature of Georgiana's; and yet, there was something in their manner's artlessness, and well-intentioned sincerity, which summoned within Mary an agreeable wistfulness for her friend. Thus, though by all accounts their idle chatter should have begun to irk her, and appear to her distastefully frivolous, but the eagerness and lightness of spirit which were worn so charmingly by both Maria and Amelia, cheeks pink and hale with merriment, was quite difficult to either resist or begrudge; and quite soon, misgivings gave way to an almost hesitant jollity which overcame Mary, as she found herself several times smiling at a remark one of them had made, or nodding in agreement with Mr. Radcliff's sentiments on some subject, or craning her own head to peer out the window, and to see the greens as they swept prettily past.
Their arrival in South End was every bit as dramatic as one who visited it would have a right to expect; for a turn in the road revealed to them all at once, much as a painter unveiling his canvas with a flourish, the charming profile of the South End and all its resorts, and then, nestled in the town's crook, further on, the coast itself, fringed with a glittering sea of steel-blue which stretched inescapably into the horizon. Mary was stirred by the sight rather more than she thought it proper to be, for one who was neither a poet nor an artist, and though she should have never been brazen enough to suggest it herself, she was not ungladdened when the Miss Lucases both insisted, with great exclamations, that the coach be stopped there at the vantage point, so that they might marvel at the view and the sea air a few minutes longer.
YOU ARE READING
Pomp and Circumstance: A Pride and Prejudice Continuation
Fanfiction"In the character of Mary Bennet there existed a profound irony which was as follows: the only quality that saved her from being wholly ordinary was the extraordinary degree of ordinariness which she possessed." A Mary Bennet romance and Pride and P...
