Margaret Dashwood: or, Interference

"Margaret Dashwood" by Edith C. Hubback is a novel written in the early 20th century. A continuation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, it follows the youngest Dashwood sister as she comes of age amid village sociability, family pressure, and romantic possibilities. The likely focus is Margaret’s navigation of suitors—most notably a pompous new vicar and a spirited naval officer—while neighbors and relations (not least Sir John, Mrs. Jennings, and the ever-meddling Dashwoods of Norland) supply the “interference” promised by the subtitle.

The opening of the novel introduces Margaret as a calm, observant seventeen-year-old shaped by years at Barton Cottage after Norland’s loss, with Elinor and Marianne now married nearby. Returning home in 1813, she and her mother welcome the new vicar, Mr. Atherton, whose self-important gallantry quickly wearies them, even as Sir John and Mrs. Jennings tease about beaux. On solitary walks Margaret twice meets a courteous stranger on High-church Down—later revealed as Commander Pennington—whom she keeps secret at first; gossip at Barton Park (with Miss Nancy Steele chattering) hints at him, and a Park ball also brings the unsettling reappearance of Willoughby. Pennington dines at the Park via the Palmers, then privately calls to say he is ordered to sea; Mrs. Dashwood discovers them, mother and daughter weep, and confidence is restored. Soon after, Mr. Atherton installs himself at the parsonage and proposes; Margaret declines. John Dashwood arrives to press the match—dangling an increased fortune if she marries the vicar—just before Elinor and Edward come to Barton, and the section closes as Elinor begins a sober caution, invoking Marianne’s earlier folly.