Love Among the Gifted - A Pride & Prejudice Alternative

Chapter Thirty-Six

Dear Miss Mary B –

I hope you will forgive the presumption. I have asked the editors of the Weekly Register to forward this missive to you. I just wanted to offer you my sincerest admiration and respect for your well-reasoned and skillfully argued letter of January 16th. Your thesis that the practice of limiting people's opportunities for success due wholly to an accident of birth is damaging to our nation, both because of the inherent individual inequity which bleeds away the impetus to thrive for the common man and the untold costs of the ongoing loss of untapped talent on both the economic and military welfare of our nation ...

Mr. Henry More, St. Albans

Dear Miss Mary B.

I was most gratified to receive your kind personal response to my previous communication. I am curious as to your thoughts on Lady Caroline's most recent article in the Register. I wonder if she fully realizes the plight of the non-gifted. Even that term forces us to refer to ourselves only in reference to them, unless we accept their insulting appellations ...

Mr. Henry More, St. Albans

Dear Miss Mary B.

I appreciate your desires to achieve progress without chaos. I just wonder how possible it is. And if the fear of repercussions should cause us to hesitate to push for change. I am not suggesting that these ExtraOrdinaries have the right idea, or at least I cannot say the extent to which they take their methods are at all acceptable, but ...

Mr. Henry More, St. Albans

Dear Miss Mary B.

I cannot imagine how difficult it must be for you to be treated so unfairly by the rest of your family, simply because you were born sharing the characteristics with ninety-seven percent of the kingdom's population. Including your mother and her family. It is so unfortunate that your own unique talents and intellect are so overshadowed by your sisters' gifts. Your letters in the Register demonstrate a strength of character and a keen wit, with which no mere gift can compare ...

Mr. Henry More, St. Albans

Dear Miss Mary B.

I must wonder if these Mohock attacks are a true reflection of the feelings of a majority of the gifted towards the normal population. I would hope not, but how can one be certain? It may just be another example of how we are exploited and repressed by our overlords. For example, I know of one man, possibly the greatest genius of my acquaintance, whose tremendous talent is wasted as the clerk to a highly placed government official. He could perform his boss' role so much better than the old man, but is limited BY LAW to menial tasks. I apprehend that your potentialities are being equally discounted ...

Mr. Henry More, St. Albans

Mary set down the latest communication from Mr. More. She was not certain that she agreed with his solutions to the problems they both recognized. He seemed to take a more strident stance on the need for direct action to raise the awareness of the issue among the general populous. She was more of the opinion that education and noncooperation might be more appropriate approaches.

As she strolled on the shaded lane, she pondered the tale he had told of his acquaintance in the government. She knew what it was like to have her prospects limited by the accident of her birth. Most recently, while she found Mr. Collins personally repugnant, she was mortified that neither he nor her mother had given her any contemplation in his obvious quest to marry a daughter of Longbourn. That he settled on Lizzy was no real surprise. But that she was not even considered was hurtful.