“THE LEAST HELEN Lucas could do,” Mrs. Bennet said as Liz descended the staircase in her running clothes, “is thank me for introducing my nephew to her daughter. I’ll tell you what—finding a man willing to date a young lady that size is no easy feat.”

Was it possible that in Mrs. Bennet’s mind two mutually exclusive narratives coexisted: the belief that Liz had made a dreadful error in spurning Willie and the belief that she, Mrs. Bennet, deserved credit for the match between Willie and Charlotte? It appeared so.

Liz had reached the front door and said, “I’m going for a run.”

“Did you send a message on the computer to Allen Bausch yet? He’d be so pleased to reconnect with Mary.”

“I don’t think Mary wants anything to do with him.”

“It’s worth a try. You just never know.”

“No,” Liz said. “That’s not true. Sometimes you do know.”