Mary Bennet and the Meryton Midwife: Mary of Longbourn #5 by Carrie Mollenkopf

Author:Carrie Mollenkopf [Mollenkopf, Carrie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Pride and Prejudice & Related Fandoms, Sequels, Others POV
Goodreads: 213272733
Published: 2024-05-11T00:00:00+00:00

~Eighteen~

With a messenger dispatched, Jonathan Hamm was locked inside one of the two gaol cells that served the town of Meryton for several days, refusing to speak to anyone. When appraised of the events, the sole constable was eager to relinquish the matter to more experienced hands, and by the end of the week, Mary Sutton’s aggressor was a guest of the crown, awaiting a hearing in London. His wife, or what remained of Alice Hamm, lay upon ice, awaiting her own examination. During this time, Mr. Hamm had much solitude to contemplate his situation, and surprising to none, altered his plea upon the advice of a notorious barrister, Lord Geoffrey Waddell. Lord Waddell, having been alerted to the cause of Mr. Hamm by the legion of gossips with nothing better to occupy their days than to observe public proceedings, volunteered his services, free of charge. This turn of events, greatly alarmed Mary Bennet Sutton, as she felt an overwhelming sense of foreboding, and none of it even remotely agreeable. Even in far reaches of Hertfordshire, the reputation of Lord Waddell was known.

Rumor had it, that he had once been engaged to a wealthy and beautiful young lady from an excellent family. The courtship had been a whirlwind; the match of the year, everyone said, or so it was thought. Unfortunately, but a week before the wedding, the lady in question was found in a most compromising situation with another man. The embarrassment had been great, and in ordinary circumstances, sympathies would have been given to the injured party. However, this particular lady chose to reveal suggestions about Lord Waddell’s character that would turn even the most liberal of thinker’s mind to disgust. As to whether there was any truth to the matter, it was never discovered, for the accuser soon wed her paramour and relocated to the continent. As for Lord Waddell, he never challenged the remarks, preferring to let society believe what it would. Normally, time would render him innocent, but his behavior in the courtroom soon became notorious in regards to any woman. And now, as Mary Bennet Sutton, midwife of Meryton and surrounding country, held a summons to court in her hands, she felt a tremor of fear. It was one thing to be wrongly accused in the relative privacy of one’s own county, but quite another to bear the judgement of London society.

“It means nothing Mary. You will simply tell the truth,” insisted Fitzwilliam Darcy.

Darcy, as her sister Elizabeth’s husband, and a man of considerable wealth and position, when learning of Mary’s distress, had immediately put his London townhouse at her disposal. And within a few days, had personally arrived to lend what assistance he could. Of this support, Mary drew strength, for she could see the burden that was placed upon her own husband. Atlas, despite his personal expertise in the fledgling field of forensics, had his hands tied. Not only could he not examine Alice Hamm for himself, he could not even observe the proceedings of the doctor assigned to the task.

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