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Barely a teenager when her two older sisters, Elinor and Marianne, were being courted then wed, Margaret's fate was left undisclosed by Austen. So what became of this bright and spirited young girl? Romance, of course. And thanks to the considerable gifts of novelist Julia Barrett, whose Pride and Prejudice sequel, Presumption, earned praise from Austen scholars as well as passionate Austen readers, Sense and Sensibility has been brightly and inventively continued in The Third Sister.
Elinor and her husband Edward Ferrars are settling into the parsonage at Delaford in Dorset where Marianne and her husband, Colonel John Brandon, reside in the manor house. Margaret, now 17, is still living at Barton Cottage in Devonshire with her widowed mother. Life revolves around home and the entertainments at the nearby estate of Sir John and Lady Middleton. Sir John, an inveterate matchmaker, is determined to find a suitable husband for his young neighbor. Margaret, having seen the tumult that love gone wrong had caused in her sisters' lives, is equally determined to resist his good intentions.
Enter the handsome Lieutenant William du Plessay, fresh from the Napoleonic troubles in his native France. Now an officer in the British army, he is visiting the Middletons in the company of his mother, the Comtesse. William is instantly taken with Margaret. She is instantly put off by his very forward manner. His easy facility in the drawing room makes Margaret think him a bit too dangerous. Thankfully, an invitation to a ball at Delaford gives her reason for escape from Devonshire.
But life in Dorset proves to have its own complications. Edward and Elinor are suffering a visit from his mother, the very woman who had disinherited Edward in favor of his younger brother, Robert -- the same brother his mother now accuses of being a profligate. Her favor now seems to rest on the shoulders of a nephew newly arrived from the West Indies, one George Osborne. Charming and well mannered, he makes a fine impression on everyone at the ball, even Margaret.
No sooner is Margaret returned to Dorset than she is invited to accompany her friend Lady Clara Ashburton to Brighton for the sea air. And who should she encounter in Brighton but both Lt. du Plessay and George Osborne.
Stylish, witty, and deliciously entertaining, The Third Sister is, quite simply, a delight.
Robert C. Jones is a writer in Warrensburg, Missouri.
©1996, ProMotion, inc.
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