Miss Mary in Pride and Prejudice

When the Earl of Leicester taunted the Lisbon priest face to face, he was three-point calm, three-point teasing, three-point disdainful, and there was a little bit of subtle fear.The grievances and entanglements between him and Lisbon cannot be resolved in a few words. Although Lisbon's emphasis on the king's personal letter has its irresistible appeal and persuasion, but he obviously does not want to give Lisbon face, he let Lisbon speak He had already shown his aristocratic bearing, but he didn't want to listen any more, especially he didn't want to be at the mercy of Lisbon, even though he planned to solve the problem of the Princess of Wales for the royal family from the very beginning.

In fact, Mary knows Earl Leicester's sensitivity and thoughtfulness better than anyone else. He has a pair of insightful eyes and a heart that understands human nature.He won't get angry easily, but once he has a grudge against someone, it's like magma waiting to explode in the depths of a volcano, with turbulent undercurrents, forbearance and deep-seated.Therefore, he dismissed the Lisbon priest with impatience and perfunctory attitude, but he did not treat the Princess of Wales who came from thousands of miles to join him at all.

It seems that the Lisbon priest visited the suburban villa in person, not entirely for the sake of making fun of it - he was scouting for the Princess of Wales's secluded place, and thought that the Earl's Iris Villa was a very suitable place, comfortable, secluded and convenient for transportation.But the Princess of Wales was dissatisfied, because she thought the style there was too small, and the Earl also disagreed. On the surface, it sounded that it was not suitable for the status of the Princess of Wales. In fact, it was because it was the love nest that both he and Mary loved. .

He generously bought the Pitty Palace, which Mr. Smith had coveted for a long time, and gave Mr. Smith a chance to show off his talents, decorating the entire palace beautifully, which made the Princess of Wales ecstatic.

The poor princess was neglected by her husband and criticized by the royal family in England. She went back to Germany to seek the support of her natal relatives, but was severely reprimanded by her elder brother, who asked her to be a woman and go back to England to curry favor with the crown prince. , it is best to give the crown prince a male heir, so that her status will be as stable as Mount Tai.In a rage, Princess Caroline came to Italy, but although she could stay away from those who disliked her in Italy, she felt extremely lonely.

The anti-French alliance headed by Britain has been established, and Napoleon obviously scoffed at this. He is leading the army across the Alps and intends to enter Italy. Therefore, the Italian nobles are now all over the two sides, and they dare not flatter the British princess too much. So as not to offend the invincible monarch.Therefore, after Princess Caroline moved into the Pitti Palace, there were very few distinguished nobles who came to visit, so noble guests like the Countess of Leicester were very precious, not to mention, she knew that the Prince of Wales would never Having cost her a penny, and having nothing of her own, her comfort in Italy depended entirely on the earl of Leicester's generosity and devotion to the King.

Since she received the courtesy and warm invitation from Princess Caroline every time, Mary visited Pitti Palace many times during her stay in Florence.Although Princess Caroline was reckless by nature, she was born noble and received a proper aristocratic education, so her artistic taste was not vulgar. As soon as she moved into the majestic and luxurious building, she chose the Palatine Hall on the second floor as her home. The living room where I receive my friends every day.The four walls of that elegant room were covered with the works of Raphael and Titian. Mary liked one of the paintings very much, which was Raphael's most outstanding work-"Lady with the Veil".

One day, Mary came to visit the Pitti Palace alone. After chatting with Princess Caroline for a while, the princess was invited by a servant to paint a portrait in front of the rose bushes in the courtyard. A painter who is good at portraits. Although the princess is obese, she likes to find someone to take a portrait of herself, because the self in the painting is more beautiful than the self in the mirror.

Mary had nothing to do in the living room, so she stared at the "Veiled Woman", staring at the beautiful woman with dark eyes half hidden under the delicate tulle in the painting, imagining her story and her love.

"Her name is Margarita, and she is Raphael's wife." Priest Lisbon's voice suddenly came from behind, and Mary was startled. Looking back, Priest Lisbon was wearing a black robe trimmed with silver, and he was in a hurry. He walked slowly to Mary's side, but the moment he made eye contact with Mary, he turned around abruptly and walked back to the table, took out the wine bottle from the ice bucket, and began to pour the wine.

Mary looked at him silently, admiring the Lisbon priest from the side, it seemed that the curve of his face was more graceful, the naturally drooping forehead hair, thick eyebrows, bright eyes, and slightly pursed lips should have been pleasing to the eye The handsome man, but because of the coldness in his eyes, made people feel sharp and startling unexpectedly.

Mary has known Lisbon for a long time, and what she admired most about him was that he always has the right way to treat different people, with innate grace, compassion and dignity, and at the same time, strong self-control .Today, however, when he was alone with Mary, Pastor Lisbon seemed a little upset. He poured two glasses of wine, then walked back to Mary with a goblet and handed her one of them.

Mary lowered her eyelashes, took the glass of ruby-like crystal clear wine, and asked softly, "Wife? As far as I know, Raphael has never been married," she looked up at the woman in the painting again, and then said , "And she wasn't wearing a wedding ring either."

With a look of inexplicable pain, the priest of Lisbon explained with difficulty: "It was Raphael's students who tampered with the details of the painting after his death in order to try their best to cover up the teacher's inappropriate marriage. The wedding ring on the woman's hand was gone. In order to make this dishonorable lover of Raphael disappear forever, they named this painting Vernalina." A half-smile appeared on his face, and he He continued to say in a sneering and sad tone, "And all of Margarita's disgrace is because of her background—she is a baker's daughter, which makes her love for Raphael heinous. ——Because she wanted to cross the gap between classes, and wanted a position she didn't deserve..."

Now Mary understood a little bit. Mr. Lisbon was talking about Margarita, but how could he not be talking about his own mother?She couldn't help feeling sympathetic, and she asked softly: "I remember that this painting was not originally placed in this room, did you suggest moving it here?"

Pastor Lisbon's deep eyes are full of longing, hope, and tension. They are a pair of eyes that can talk, but at this moment, they are not as calm, self-confident, and elegant as before, but reveal fragility and sensibility. He suppressed the surging emotions in his heart, and replied sadly: "Yes, I can't bear to let such a portrait be buried in the corner of the stairs, she deserves the best, but it's a pity that there are so many portraits in this room." A masterpiece, people who come in are admiring the princes and noble ladies, not paying attention to this simple, silent woman, except you, Mary... I find that you are always staring at this painting..."

How he longed to understand that his pride and indifference were only a disguise.However, how could Mary fully understand his painstaking efforts?In Mary's view, under his god-like appearance is a naked desire to clear up old grievances, which is enough to arouse her guard and is enough to offset the remaining goodwill of the old friendship.

So Mary did not continue the conversation with him, did not give him a chance to talk about the unfair treatment he had suffered since childhood, and let the words from the heart dissipate in the silent air. She put down the goblet, stood up, stood in front of the window, and listened intently. The troubadour's song from the courtyard:

"May I compare you to summer?

Though you are sweeter and milder than summer:

The strong wind will make May Jiaolei's redness disappear,

The time that Xia Tian possesses is also fleeting..."

It was a famous baritone singer from Cairo singing Shakespeare's sonnets to please the lonely Princess Caroline, who, despite her dissolute nature, cared less about outward decency and fame than her husband. , especially now that she has a little princess who is left in the court of the queen of England, the condition for her to see the child is to maintain a clean reputation, so the life of the princess is more boring than when she was in London, so she has to Dedicated to art, interacting with singers, painters, poets and writers in Florence, Venice and Cairo, and gaining a reputation for elegant taste by mentoring newcomers.

When the song ended, Mary breathed a sigh of relief. She felt that the tense moment had passed. Priest Lisbon had given up the purpose of talking and approaching. Now he could talk to Mary with a calmer and more rational attitude.

"Mary, I would like to introduce you to a friend whom you already know well during your stay in Florence, but I am afraid that he has offended your relatives and you may not want to see him." He said politely Said.

Mary looked at him with questioning eyes. Her eyes were clear and unshakable, which made Pastor Lisbon feel guilty and ashamed. Just when he was about to give up this topic, there was a sound from Lester in the courtyard. The voice of the earl talking to Princess Caroline, the princess treated the earl a little too enthusiastically, the earl still responded to her with a somewhat mocking tone, he didn't care about satisfying the princess's various extravagant and luxurious material enjoyments, because the final cost These will be doubled to him by the British royal family and government through other means.

In those few words, Pastor Lisbon made up his mind, and he said to Mary, "I want to introduce you to a colleague of mine, Mr. Austin, who has been working since he resigned from the pastorship in Pemberley. I have been seeking a post away from England, so I recommend him to replace me as missionary to the East Indies. He will be sailing in Italy. I thought you might like to see him before his departure. I am very concerned about breaking off the engagement with Miss Darcy. For one thing, I think he has his own explanation."