Miss Mary in Pride and Prejudice

Things were just as the Earl of Leicester had expected, and without the persuasion of others, the crown prince chose the best way to avoid disadvantages according to his own nature—obediently marrying Princess Caroline.

Mrs. Fitzherbert sadly left Carlton House and went to Italy, which seemed to be a natural place to heal the wounds of a sad and frustrated woman.However, friends who are familiar with the crown prince's love history privately assert that the two of them cannot really be separated. In the past, Mrs. Fitzherbert also separated from the crown prince for a short period of time, but soon reunited like glue, because Fei Mrs. Zhbert was deeply ashamed of being a mistress, and the crown prince even publicly expressed that he would elope with her to America.

But in any case, it seems that the crown prince has changed his ways. The parliament soon passed a bill to allocate a large special allowance to the crown prince for him to pay off his debts. In order to improve, all social activities in the palace returned to normal.At the invitation of the queen, Mary was honored to be the master of ceremonies at the wedding of the crown prince.Mary readily accepted the appointment, although she was also eager to return to Howard Manor because Jane was about to give birth to a child, but in the letter, Jane reasonably asked Mary not to turn down the honor, and she thought that she was not in labor at all. There is no sign that Mary will go to Howard End after attending the wedding of the crown prince.

The wedding day was Sunday, one of the rare sunny days in England in winter, and everyone praised God.Westminster Abbey was newly decorated, the walls of the hall were hung with gorgeous tapestry, and the flowers in the royal garden and the greenhouses of various noble manors were scattered in the air and formed a fragrant carpet on the ground.The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London, the Lord Chancellor, representatives of the royal families, nobles, government officials of all levels, and other gentlemen and celebrities, who can get an invitation to watch the ceremony, are all proud.

Ordinary citizens in London also gathered around the church to watch the ceremony. They kept cheering and cheering as if they had hosted this happy event at home. The scene was very grand.The king always liked to let the people watch all the grand events. He was eager to please the people. Before stepping off the carriage and entering the church, the king deliberately led the queen to the crowd and talked with the representatives of the citizens. , the queen also gracefully accepted a bunch of cornflowers handed over by a disheveled girl-this is the secret of the king and queen's popularity.

Mary stood on the steps, watching the nobles enter. The Earl of Leicester was among them. He looked solemn and walked calmly. He still couldn't help smiling at Mary as he passed by.Finally, there is the guard with a scepter and a national sword, the red scabbard of which is embossed with the royal coat of arms.Followed by the Crown Prince, Prince of Wales, although the Prince of Wales was very dissatisfied with his marriage, this emotion did not prevent him from dressing himself up on this important day.Behind Mary, someone whispered: "Oh, the Crown Prince is like a beautiful bird in paradise."

Mary couldn't help showing a smile, she turned her head, and it was her companion, Countess Kargen, who was speaking. One of the hostesses must be married and the other must be unmarried, and both of them must have undisputed noble status.The Countess of Kalgen obviously came from a wealthy family, and she has been immersed in the court's ups and downs since she was a child. Unlike the well-known ladies like Georgiana who grew up in a country mansion that Mary knew well, she is a proud and self-willed but well-regulated court lady. With the legacy and title of his father and brother, there is an inheritance of [-] pounds and a large castle, which is worth a lot of money, so it is naturally up for sale.

But their responsibilities left little time for small talk, and they were soon in a carriage to St James's Palace to make preparations for the wedding reception.When Mary first entered the court, she was very interested in the red tape of the royal banquet, especially the preparation ceremony was extremely grand, and every move had an awe-inspiring and inviolable procedure.After hearing the sound of trumpets in the distance, knowing that the wedding ceremony in the church was over, two guards with bronze drums on their backs walked up and beat the drums, and then a gentleman walked into the banquet hall holding a scepter, Followed by the attendants carrying tablecloths, napkins, cutlery, salt shakers and bread, they all looked dignified and behaved properly. Mary laughed inwardly as she watched them kneel down to the empty table before putting the things in their hands on it.

But she quickly corrected her expression, because now it was her turn to play, she stood on both sides of the table with Countess Kargen, and wiped the plates with bread and salt to keep the tableware absolutely clean .After wiping, cold dishes were served one after another. Mary picked up the table knife, cut off a part and put it on the plate, while Countess Kargen poured a third of each banquet wine into the crystal glass , the guard next to the waiter with tall feathers on his head stuffed the food into his mouth expressionlessly, and then drank a glass of wine-this is to prevent the food from being poisoned-it is said that it started from King Henry II, There is such a rule in the British royal palace, and to this day, it is more of a ceremonial nature than a practical use.

Mary's duty was just that, and after she had completed it properly, Countess Kalgen invited her to the Royal Chapel of St James's Palace to admire the newly renovated mass altar. Fun fact: On the eve of the wedding, an actress named Mary Robinson claimed that she had a son with the crown prince and that she was the crown prince's legal wife.

Mary was taken aback, and she said in disbelief: "How is this possible? Even if the crown prince has an illegitimate child with her, it is impossible to marry a woman just by meeting her, right?"

But Countess Kalgen said inscrutablely: "Dear Countess, this is where everyone criticizes the Crown Prince—he has ten thousand ways to seduce women, but he prefers to use fake marriages to trick women into sleeping with him." She lowered her voice and continued, "The Prince of Wales has been a pervert since he was a child. He was caught by the Queen when he was 16 years old. He was fooling around with one of the Queen's maids in the small reception room. In fact, everyone said that the Crown Prince may have had several illegitimate children. It’s true—it’s really heartbreaking for the king. His four prince’s illegitimate children can add up to form a bodyguard, but he doesn’t even have a legal grandchildren. In order to pursue love, they all choose to live with their mistresses, but Refusing to marry a lawful bride in a fair manner."

Mary felt that it was inappropriate to talk about such secrets in the corridors of the palace, so she asked: "So how did the Crown Prince get rid of that Lady Robinson?"

The Countess of Kalgan replied eagerly: "Well, there's nothing he can do but deny it. But that Lady Robinson has a dozen autographed letters from the Crown Prince in her hands, and she threatens to sell them to the London newspapers. At last It was the king who sent his own chaplain to intervene with the lady, and spent five thousand pounds to silence her, and the lady was said to have received a handsome annuity to bring up her son."

The countess of Kargen held her breath when she mentioned the king's personal priest, and Mary couldn't help wondering whether the countess had any special affection for the young priest.Her suspicions were justified. When they walked through the corridor and entered the chapel, the priest of Lisbon was making the final inspection before the mass. Mary noticed that the fair skin of the countess of Kalgen was full of excitement when she saw him. And slightly pink in color.

Pastor Lisbon turned his head, and the smile on Mary's face faded. Lisbon was a little surprised to see Mary, but he smiled and watched her, with the joy of reunion after a long absence in his eyes, as if those unpleasant things before had never happened.He is still wearing his black robes. Perhaps for him, there is no clothing more sexy than the priest's black robes. He is undoubtedly handsome, but the word handsome is not enough to describe him. In the court of the King of England Here, there are many handsome men, but there are not many people with his extraordinary charm. Maybe Mary is not as crazy as other women, but no matter what kind of grudges she has in her heart, facing him It is still difficult to feel resentment when he smiles. He has an innate allure to women, and he himself is undoubtedly well aware of his charm, and he does not hesitate to use it when possible.

Now perhaps his charms were at work, and perhaps Mary wanted to make peace, and she held out her hand, and said, "It is a pleasure to see you again, Mr. Lisbon."

Mr. Lisbon bowed his head gracefully and kissed the back of Mary's hand, looked down at her long eyelashes and lake-like bright eyes, and said with a sigh: "Mary, I'm glad you can forgive me, I was worried that you would never Don't want to talk to me."

Mary was already proficient at using court social skills to defuse embarrassment, she pretended to be alarmed and said: "I don't remember ever having a festival with His Majesty's personal priest, if it really happened, please forget it, my lord. "This is called meeting and smiling, Countess Kargen curiously asked the priest of Lisbon why he offended the Countess of Leicester, Mary smiled mischievously and said: "It's a long story, let the priest of Lisbon explain it to you .” She kicked the ball to Lisbon, and believed that he must have the ability to justify himself. Sure enough, Countess Kalgen was very interested and giggled from time to time.

Mary then went to the window to watch the scene of the king's arrival. When the king and queen stepped out of the carriage and entered the gate, the crowd gathered in front of the gate parted, which reminded Mary of the scene of Moses parting the Red Sea with his stick. An ordinary woman who is easily deceived by a flashy and vain appearance.