[Pride and Prejudice] Rich Lady

"Have you come out for a walk by yourself, Charlotte?" asked Jane kindly.

Charlotte Lucas answered Jane politely, and then turned to Elizabeth: "Long time no see, Lizzie."

"Long time no see, Charlotte. How are you?" Elizabeth said.

"I'm fine. I didn't expect to meet you here. I heard that you went to a private girls' school in the city. It's a good thing."

Elizabeth responded dryly: "It's all thanks to Uncle Gardner, we didn't miss the news from the school."

Jane wondered at the restrained politeness of the conversation between the two of them, who had once been the best friends of Longbourne, and could not have become so strange because Lizzie had been away for a while.

Jane smiled and said to Elizabeth: "At last Christmas, Charlotte paid a special visit to Longborn to ask if you would come home for Christmas."

Elizabeth hurriedly thanked her for her deep friendship with her, but she didn't know what to say?What did they talk about together?In the memory of that lady, there seemed to be endless words, but when the two got married, the friendship they had when they were not married gradually faded away.In particular, people always compare this pair of good friends together, and Mr. Collins, who is Charlotte's husband, has changed his attitude several times, which adds to the embarrassment between good friends.

Charlotte Lucas was probably embarrassed too, and made an excuse to leave at once.

After she left, Jane asked Elizabeth strangely: "Did something happen between you?"

"Although I understand that you are very busy at school, it is obviously not conducive to the continuation of friendship when you leave the news." Girl, but since you left home, you have never delivered a letter to her, which is not in your character, can you tell me what happened?"

Elizabeth was silent for a while, what could she explain for this?Do you want to tell Jane that the three views are different and friendship will never last?

——In the memory of that Mrs. Darcy, the friendship between the two of them remained for a long time after Charlotte got married, but since that Lizzie married Darcy, Charlotte's husband, Mr. His benefactor, Mrs. Catherine, unilaterally refused to forgive her cousin. Because of her husband, Charlotte's relationship with Elizabeth faded, which made Mrs. Darcy secretly sad for a while.

Later, Mrs. Catherine condescended to resume contact with Pemberley because she cared about the weak power of her only daughter. Immediately, the attitude of the Collinses improved immediately.Charlotte wants to save the friendship, but Mrs. Darcy has become dull.

That Elizabeth's compliment to Charlotte Lucas couldn't have been more accurate.But maybe because of being too rational, Miss Charlotte is accustomed to submitting to customs. She is willing to marry a boring man for a comfortable life, and she is willing to be humble and obedient to maintain a rich and comfortable family. She is willing to accept Lady Catherine This became the reason why the two former friends finally broke off contact: when Jane was hit hard by Mr. Bingley's cheating and returned to Longbourn to avoid healing, Charlotte followed her husband's advice and came to Advise Jane not to make things big, lest it become a scandal.

Elizabeth could still repeat what Charlotte had said at that time: "...you are making too much of a fuss, Jane. How much luck must a girl have to marry a rich gentleman with only a thousand pounds? You have Mr. Bingley still loves you so much, but now he just made a little mistake—even most of the fault is not his fault, why can’t you be magnanimous Why don't you forgive him, but want to torture yourself and betray God's love for you? You have money, status, glory and love, but you don't cherish them! Jane, I advise you to go back to Nottinghamshire, gentlemen will not Be good at waiting, until you have exhausted the last bit of patience and love of Mr. Bingley, it will be too late for you to regret. Dear Jane, God does not like people who are too greedy, especially women. You must know that women are only young and beautiful. Such a little willful opportunity..."

Even the expression and tone of the speech were completely imprinted in the memory of Mrs. Darcy, which shows how angry she was at that time.Elizabeth also recognized the anger of Mrs. Darcy, because Jane fell ill after Charlotte came to comfort and visit: even Charlotte, who had been friends with their sisters since childhood, did not agree with understanding, as if black and white should be reversed. However, Jane, the victim, became the one who willful and troublesome.Nothing could have hit Jane, who was so vulnerable at the time, nothing could have been more chilling.

Mrs. Darcy cut off contact with Hunsford and his wife because of this, and refused to forgive Charlotte all her life after Jane died young.

Thinking back, Elizabeth sighed secretly. She felt that Charlotte had entered into a misunderstanding. It was not a mistake to choose to marry for a better life. Put it on someone else.What's more, from the perspective of Elizabeth, a bystander, years of obedience and agreement have actually changed the once rational and calm Charlotte beyond recognition-the later Charlotte really looks more and more like her husband, Mr. Collins, It's just that she doesn't know it.

"It's nothing, I just feel that some of her thoughts and attitudes make me disagree." Elizabeth smiled at Jane, and the good mood of going out for a walk with her sister faded a lot.

Of course, what Mrs. Darcy remembers has not happened yet—of course, Elizabeth will not make that tragedy happen again.But Elizabeth was still affected, and she had a prejudice against Charlotte: she didn't intend to continue the friendship.This was naturally unfair to Miss Lucas, she was completely innocent at this time, but Elizabeth was a bit hard-hearted by nature, and had already decided to act like this—so during the six months she was away from home, Miss Elizabeth never mentioned her former friend in a word.

The considerate elder sister persuaded her: "When friends always have conflicting opinions, it's nothing. Maybe you can visit Lucas House and find an opportunity to talk to her. Speak out what's in your heart, and you can be like her again." As close as it used to be. Charlotte is a good girl."

Miss Bennet didn't know what was going on in her sister's heart, she thought it was just some disagreement between friends: if she knew that there was no disagreement at all, and it was Elizabeth's unilateral neglect that kept her away from her friends, she would definitely feel sorry for her sister's cold-heartedness. Surprised and worried.Jane is such a good girl without any evil intentions. I can't blame people for liking her.

"She really doesn't have any bad intentions." Elizabeth murmured, in her memory, Charlotte's sadness and regret after Jane's death was not fake.

But she never realized how much pain the words of her persuasion caused Jane.Charlotte thinks that what she is saying is the truth, she knows from the bottom of her heart that women depend on men to live, and she firmly believes that if a man gives a woman money, status, glory and the status of a hostess, then the woman should be satisfied, And can't ask for more from him--Charlotte is the epitome of many women of this age who enjoy and value their dignity and comfort as long as they can maintain a decent existence, and are therefore blind to their husband's flaws or transgressions.

"Oh, I'm so glad we were born in the Bennet family and became the children of our parents." Elizabeth cheered up and said to her sister without thinking.

Jane couldn't keep up with her train of thought. Her big blue eyes looked over suspiciously. The sun was shining through the green leaves, and the golden light shone all over the girl's body.

Elizabeth covered her heart and sighed: "Dear Jane, you are as beautiful as an angel! I must make a portrait of you and bring it to Tao Lisi, so that all my friends will envy me for having such a beautiful sister!"

Jane's cheeks were flushed by her younger sister's compliment, and she took Elizabeth's hand: "You haven't told me why you suddenly said that you are lucky to be the daughter of your parents?"

Elizabeth hugged her sister's shoulder affectionately, and said as she walked: "Because our father is a real gentleman with high moral character and integrity, and he is also funny and cute. And our mother is a good girl who really loves her daughters." Mom, although she is always afraid that we will not be able to get married and our future life will not be settled, but it is undeniable that she hopes that each of us can be happy and is willing to work hard for it." Maybe the direction of her efforts is not right, but Mrs. Bennet was really worried about her daughter's marriage, and she even used her brains to find ways to do it—for example, in order for Jane to stay at Bingley's house, she was cruel enough to ask her to ride a horse when it was obvious that it was going to rain.

Mrs. Bennet's narrow-mindedness is only because she is not knowledgeable enough and simple-minded, but it does not mean that she is blindly obedient: in the memory of Mrs. Darcy, when the incident of Bingley's cheating broke out, Mrs. Bennet was completely humiliated. He ran to Bingley's mansion in Nottingham and made a big fuss, teaching Bingley and Miss Bingley who spoke for him a vicious lesson.

This is probably the greatest confidence that Mr. Bennet can bring to his wife by keeping himself clean all his life.Mrs. Bennet has no shame in marrying after Lydia's elopement, but she can't tolerate men's flirting at all-she finally broke with her youngest daughter's husband Wickham because of this.

Jane agreed with her sister's words very much, and the two sisters walked back talking and laughing.

Back at the house, Mrs. Bennet asked them enthusiastically if they had met their neighbors, "It would be great if someone invited us to visit recently!" She said, "I hope they can meet my little Lizzie, the whole Only Lizzie is educated at the city school in Meryton! How respectable!"

When she learned that the sisters only met Charlotte, Mrs. Bennet was very upset, "It's such an unfortunate time for you to go out for a walk. I feel sorry for the neighbors."

Mrs. Bennet went on: "Is Miss Lucas coming to visit Longbourn, then? I think I can serve her the usual meals, Lizzie, do you agree? I don't think she'll be any better at home than we are." Good food."

Elizabeth's thoughts were driven by Charlotte to an important and difficult decision she had imagined before, and it took Mrs. Bennet to ask her aloud again before she recovered: "Oh, no, mother. We I didn't hear that she meant to visit."

"Isn't she your very good friend? You didn't come home after half a year, why didn't she come to you?" Mrs. Bennet said dissatisfied.

"Maybe she has something to do. You know, there are a few children in the Lucas family. Mrs. Lucas needs help from others to take care of her." Elizabeth prevaricated.

Mrs. Bennet looked down on her, and her voice rose again: "Although Mrs. Lucas is kind, she is really incompetent. Unlike me, all the servants I hire are capable of doing things, and I never let you touch your hands." Those unseemly chores!"

Mr. Bennet came out from the study and heard their conversation, so he retorted to Mrs.: "I don't think it is a disgraceful thing to help mother take care of younger brothers and sisters. Like our Jane, her sisters all admire her. She loves listening to her!"

Mrs. Bennet said angrily: "Mr. Bennet, you are deliberately angry with me again! You know that I don't mean it, Charlotte Lucas is not as capable as our Jane, who is capable of educating her sisters! She just It’s all about doing some rough work for the servants, and I heard that the Lucas boy wants to eat his sister’s pies—how can a decent lady always get oily in the kitchen?"

Before Mr. Bennet could answer, Mrs. Bennet's mood was already depressed: "But Mrs. Lucas is lucky. Charlotte is an adult and can give birth to a son, followed by another...Lucas The family was originally the same as ours, but in a blink of an eye there is no shortage of sons."

Elizabeth who happened to be thinking about this quickly asked, "How old is the little brother of the Lucas family?"

Her mother curled her lips and said, "The older one is 4 years old, and the younger one is less than 2 years old."

Elizabeth did the math, Charlotte was 22 years old this year, 6 years older than herself, and Mrs. Lucas was born to Mr. Lucasshaw when her eldest daughter was already 18 years old.What a coincidence, Jane was only eighteen years old this year, which was Charlotte's age at the time.

When Mrs. Bennet mentioned other people's sons, she thought of her own sad things, and she couldn't help saying: "The Lucas family has no farm land to inherit, and Mrs. Lucas has made a wrong calculation: you must know that the more children you have, the more Xia Lv will inherit." The less chance the Dee sisters will get married, the less money they'll get after all—the Lucas girls aren't pretty!"

Mr. Bennet has long accepted the reality of not having a son, and he has long advised himself not to let others inherit his property.

Elizabeth asked her father, "Dad, it turns out that Charlotte is 18 years older than her little brother? Did Mrs. Lucas get married very early? She was younger than her mother?" Marry and have a daughter when you are an adult?

Jane hurriedly touched her sister to remind her not to anger her mother, and told her in a low voice: "Mrs. Lucas seems to be married in her 20s, and she gave birth to Charlotte's little brother when she was over 40."

The daughter suspected that a woman who was plain old and a few years older was younger than herself. This definitely touched Mrs. Bennet's sensitive nerves. She even had the demeanor cultivated by her daughters these days. Lost all manners, screamed and questioned: "God, Lizzie, why do you think that! Mr. Bennet, you should take this bad girl to the city to have a look, I suspect she is like Miss King, There's something wrong with the eyes!"

Mr. Bennet shrugged his shoulders and tried to comfort his wife without any sincerity: "I'm sure our little Lizzie is not sick. You can see that her eyes are very bright—Miss King's eyes are fine, but her eyesight is poor in dark places. Some. It’s not a bad thing for the young ladies, and the adults will be more at ease, because it ensures that they don’t have too much fun and forget to go home.”

"Mrs. Lucas, just by looking at her appearance, you should know how difficult it is for her to get married—how can you suspect that she is younger than your mother?! I was only about Jane's age when I married your father, and Mrs. Lucas was already an old girl in her 20s when she got married! Use your brain to calculate, she is many years older than me!" Mrs. Bennet turned a deaf ear to her husband's words and yelled at Elizabeth wholeheartedly.

Elizabeth quickly smiled and apologized to her mother: "Of course I didn't think that my mother was older than Mrs. Lucas, after all, you are so young and beautiful! I just wondered that she gave birth to Mr. Lucas in her 40s. Common—but not too strange, I've heard of several similar things in town."

Elizabeth looked intently at Mrs. Bennet's expression.But the lady's mind was preoccupied with the first sentence, and she seemed to have lost all hope of producing an heir to Longbourn, and did not respond to Elizabeth's temptations.

On the contrary, Mr. Bennet was more perceptive. He glanced at his second daughter, and because Mrs. Bennet became interested in being flattered and started talking loudly, he no longer cared about what his daughter said.

"Let me just say, Lizzie's eyesight can't be that bad!" Mrs. Bennet laughed.

"Well, Miss Lucas looks so much like her mother, but she hasn't had the luck of Mrs. Lucas. I guess Miss Lucas won't be able to find a suitable marriage in two years' time, which is unfortunate!"

Mrs. Bennet looked at the two eldest daughters sitting together, and she was very proud: "Our family is different. Except for Mary, the other daughters are all beautiful. Even Meryton knows Banner from Longbourn. There are several beautiful ladies in the Te family. I don't think Mary is ugly, but compared to her sisters, she is really inconspicuous."

Both Jane and Elizabeth hurriedly prevented their mother from saying any more. They looked around for fear that Mary would come back by chance. If she heard it, she would be very sad.

Even Mr. Bennet was sullen, and said unhappily: "Mrs. Bennet always blamed me for belittling her own children, but my good wife, how can you spoil your daughter like this? Isn't Mary's appearance just because her parents gave her a bad look?" Is it because of the unfairness!"

Elizabeth hurriedly comforted her father. Although his father had good intentions, the words he said were not very nice. Like Mrs. Bennet, he thought Mary was ugly and the most ordinary of the five sisters.

But—Mary is obviously the most beautiful one besides Jane.

"Mary is prettier than all of us, but she doesn't know how to dress herself up." Elizabeth said, "When I come to do her hair and make up, you will find that you have never seen her clearly."

It's a pity that neither of her parents took her words to heart.

Mrs. Bennet is often stubborn in one aspect, and she insisted on finishing the unexpected interruption: "Although the girls in Charlotte's family are average in appearance, they are all good girls. I hope they will not be too harsh in the future." Ups and downs - if my daughters are married, I'd love to introduce promising young people I know to them to help them be happy. Speaking of which, Charlotte is 22, 4 years older than Jane I wonder how Lizzie can be called good friends with her."

Elizabeth spread her hands, "I have a very good friendship with the girls in the neighbor's house in Longbourne. Maybe your daughter is naturally pleasing."

This amused everyone, and Mrs. Bennet said: "I should like you to stay with Charlotte of the Lucas family, she is a very fine girl indeed!"

Mr. Bennet raised his eyebrows and whispered to his daughters: "Of course she is willing. As long as you are more beautiful and outstanding, your mother thinks she is a good girl! Just like Miss Lucas and Miss Jin , because Miss King has a rich grandfather, your mother would rather you befriend the Lucas girls than Miss King..."

Elizabeth and Jane covered their mouths and sniggered.

After a while, Lydia, who was sweating profusely from running and failed to make the kite fly into the sky, came back, and the warm chat came to an end.

"Lizzie, do you know the secret to sending these kites to the sky?" Mary and her second sister were close, and asked Elizabeth by her side.

"It's okay, probably to the extent that it can be successfully flown into the sky." Elizabeth took a closer look at the kites of the three people, shook her head and said, "You are too careful, there is not even a little bit of mud on the kite after flying for a long time-I have no experience." How can you learn how to fly a kite after being planted from the sky a few times!"

It turns out that the three little girls are very careful, for fear of getting dirty and damaging the kite, they are always careful.They also agreed to use Kitty's swallow kite as an experiment first, and if it breaks, the other two will save the one-month reward money given by their father to compensate Kitty.And it is agreed that when flying the kite, one person will run in front, and the other two will follow behind to protect, so that when the kite falls down, it will be caught in time.

After listening to the 'strategy' of her sisters, Elizabeth shook her head helplessly, and decided to demonstrate it to them personally: "You have to be bold and fly, tighten the string and run against the wind. Don't be afraid of the kite falling. Need to accumulate some failure experience - kites are not so easy to break."

The more she said this, the more reluctant the three little sisters were to donate their kites to ask her to demonstrate, even little Mary was the same.Elizabeth was unhappy, so she had to use Jane's phoenix kite.

Under the scorching gaze, Elizabeth trotted in the neat long dress she had specially put on.

Fortunately, the wind is neither too strong nor too small today, which is just right for the paper kites to be released.

After a while, a fiery red bird flew up over Longborn, flying high and steadily, and it was extremely beautiful.

The phoenix managed to alert neighbors across the countryside.

The author has something to say: Little angels, there is no such thing as a fat chapter!

When Yu wrote this chapter, he changed it many times, and finally decided to write it like this.

In the original book, Charlotte is a person who judges the situation and believes in utilitarian marriage, especially:

["Even if she were to marry Mr. Bingley tomorrow, I think she would be as likely to be happy as if she had spent a year studying his character. Marital happiness is all a matter of chance."]—p. Volume 6·Chapter [-], what Charlotte and Elizabeth said when discussing the relationship between Bingley and Jane.Charlotte believed that the whole point of marriage was to occupy a 'storehouse' where she could live and live comfortably.She suggested to Jane ["Therefore, Jane has to be on the alert all the time, and take advantage of every moment when there is an opportunity. Once you can catch him, it's not too late to have a romantic relationship."]

And after Charlotte married Mr. Collins, she also flattered and flattered Lady Catherine:

【Mr. Collins goes to Rosings almost every day, and his wife also goes every few days.Elizabeth could not help thinking that perhaps there were other vicarages to be paid, or she could not understand why they sacrificed so much time. 】—Volume 7·Chapter [-], Elizabeth wonders why Collins and Charlotte report to Lady Catherine's mansion so frequently.

["Lady Catherine is indeed a very respectable and well-informed woman," added Charlotte, "and a most considerate neighbour."]

[Is that the case? cried Elizabeth, "I thought at least pigs had broken into the garden, but it was only Lady Catherine and her daughter!" "

"Oh! my dear," said Maria, shocked at her mistake, "that's not Lady Catherine. The old lady is Mrs. Jenkinson, who lives with their mother and daughter. The other is De Boer Miss. Just look at her, she's a little one. Who would've thought she'd be so small!"

"It's very rude of her to keep Charlotte out in such a strong wind. Why doesn't she come in?"

"Well! Charlotte said it was rare for her to come in. It would be a great honor to let Miss de Boer come in."】——Volume II·Chapter 5.

Because of the social status of Catherine and her daughter, Charlotte is willing to flatter them without any reluctance.This is related to the education of the Lucas family. There is an interesting detail written in the original book: [Mr. Collins and Charlotte both stood at the door talking to the two female guests.Elizabeth found it amused that Sir William, standing solemnly at the door, gazing reverently at the nobleman before him, bowed whenever Miss de Boer glanced in his direction. 】——Volume II·Chapter 5, Sir William here is Charlotte's father, Sir Lucas.

What the fish wants to express is: Charlotte is by no means a bad person, on the contrary, she is sincere to her friends.The part of her advice to Jane in this article comes from her sincerity, and that’s what she thinks. In her heart, she actually thinks that Jane is too serious and irrational, so she kindly came to visit and persuade her.

But the three perspectives are different, which has caused a bad influence.Jane was devastated, while Elizabeth was filled with anger and grief.

The difference of way does not conspire with each other, Charlotte and Elizabeth have too much difference in three views, and this friendship is doomed to have a beginning and an end—maybe when they are not married, it does not involve much, and young girls are not likely to discuss these things in depth; but After each gets married, the contradiction of this concept will burst out when something happens, and it is difficult to avoid running counter to each other.

The above is the understanding of fish.