[Pride and Prejudice] Rich Lady

Coming out of Dad's study, Jane and Mary were discussing the approval of Netherfield Manor for new curtains.The original hanging velvet curtains have been used for many years, and even some corner room curtains were secretly removed by servants and sold.

"We can make some curtains of moline cloth, which is the most suitable fabric for these decorations." Jane said with a smile: "the cloth supplier in the store has this kind of fabric, so I will write to Uncle Gardner workshop to place an order."

The high-spirited Jane is extremely dazzling.Elizabeth remembered that in last autumn, the most thing Jane did all day long was needlework. At that time, there was only the most common white cotton cloth, and even Indian fine cloth Jane didn't like spending money, but now she can easily and naturally propose to use high-end Mo Lin Bu arranged the windows of the whole manor.

But...Elizabeth frowned, and asked Kitty who was sitting on the sofa reading the travel notes: "Honey, where are Mom and Lydia?"

The second floor was completely quiet, and the silence made Elizabeth a little uneasy.Not Lydia's merry bird chirping, nor Mrs. Bennet's laughter.

Kitty was stunned for a moment. Ever since she patiently finished reading Mr. Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe", she has become fascinated by this kind of and travel notes, and her restless temperament has changed a lot. The chapters are so focused that I don't care about anything else.

Her pretty hazel eyes were bewildered for a moment before she said, "Mom is a little tired and asleep. Lydia, Lydia...is supposed to be in her room?"

"After breakfast, she said she wanted to rest for a while, so she went back to her room." Kitty looked at the walnut Big Ben in the corner, and exclaimed, "It's noon, and Lydia hasn't gotten up yet, is she sick?" ?”

Elizabeth gently knocked on the door of Lydia's bedroom with her knuckles, and opened the wooden door. The red curtain was empty, and there was no sign of Lydia at all.

The sisters were downcast, and Kitty was very worried. She picked up the hem of her skirt and ran downstairs: "Mrs. Hill, Sarah, where is Lydia?"

Mrs. Hill and Sarah shook their heads, "I haven't seen Miss Lydia all morning, isn't she upstairs?"

Mrs. Hill looked outside the courtyard, frowned and said worriedly: "The sun is too strong today. If Miss Lydia goes out for a walk without wearing a hat, she may get sunburned."

"I hope it's just a walk." Elizabeth had a bad foreboding, and she and Jane went upstairs at once to put on long gloves and hats.

"Mary, please tell papa not to disturb mamma. Stay home with Kitty, and we'll be back soon."

Elizabeth took Mr. Bennet's leather-handled hunting whip from the drawing-room cupboard, and clutched it tightly in her hand.Jane also rarely had a smile on her face, and she was carrying a saddle bag woven with colorful woolen threads.

Only Elizabeth knew that the beautiful bag Jane had woven herself contained Pa's old flintlock.The bullets in it were brought back by Elizabeth from the shop in London.

Recently, the law and order in Meryton is not very good. There are several times more foreign merchants and guests than before. You can often see strangers even near Longborn, but there are still only so many subordinates of the sheriff. It has already happened. There have been several incidents of theft and robbery.I also vaguely heard that there are young girls in the town who are being pestered.

The drunks, gamblers, and scoundrels that Atwood had brought in, who had disdained the town, had come to Meryton for some reason, and Mrs. Brown had seen with her own eyes the thugs who had come to disrupt her business.

The most important thing is that the Bennet family has really attracted attention recently.In the whole of Meryton, there are only about 20 households with farms that can be called gentlemen. These families have not changed much for decades, and even the size of the farm is about the same as before. Originally, everyone guessed that Longbourne would It was the first to decline, and it is likely that even Bennet Farm will disappear later.

But before the groans were over, Bennet changed drastically:

First, Mr. Bennet invested in a good property and made a lot of money; then, he bought two store properties and rented the store to relatives; At a time when it was never a good thing to lease a shop to a relative, his relative's shop was so popular that even city ladies condescended to patronize the country shop; and soon Mrs. Bennet's brother opened one nearby The workshop, the orders come one after another; what is even more unacceptable is that Mr. Bennet has learned some new tricks from the city. He used the rent from the shop to buy shares in his brother's business. What a good investment. ;Suddenly there were rumors that Mrs. Bennet was pregnant again, but everyone didn't believe it; just when people praised Mr. Bennet's vision, a bigger "surprise" came to his relatives Go up—the big noble who invested in the construction of new roads, the circled route happened to pass through Gardner's workshop, making that worthless and hard-to-walk land golden... It didn't take long before Bennet actually took Nether Field bought it? !

Such a legendary event, in the countryside where nothing major happened, not to mention Meryton, even the neighboring town of Hatfield has a saying that "it seems to be a family favored by God and illuminated by the holy light".Bennet of Longbourn is simply famous.

This is still when Mr. Bennet took the initiative to reveal the words of "the purchase of the manor thanks to his wife's property of four thousand pounds", which also caused a lot of jealous jokes.But at the same time, a mother with [-] pounds of property, a gentleman-class father, a rich uncle, a large manor that will not be inherited by outsiders, a dowry that does not know the actual amount but is definitely more than [-] pounds... the Bennet family The ladies are all welcome.

This is what Jane and Elizabeth fear.Around Longbourn, strangers were occasionally seen looking around, and some of them knew at a glance that they were not very nice people.

The last time Lydia ran out, she almost didn't frighten her sisters, but Kitty figured it out quickly and told them right away.At that time, even Jane, who was the most gentle-tempered, turned down her face and scolded Lydia fiercely. Elizabeth even told her younger sister the reason why she couldn't go out. No one thought that Lydia would dare to sneak out again!

Holding the whip in her hand, Elizabeth thought fiercely, when she finds the little girl, even if she is whipped twice, she must know how powerful she is!Otherwise, she will be more daring and reckless in the future, without knowing the depth.

The sun above the head was hot and scorching, and no one could be seen on the road or path.After trotting around Longbourn on horseback, Jane and Elizabeth became restless.Jane trembled and dared not believe it: "Lydia won't really walk to Netherfield, will she? Empty houses, three miles of road, and wasteland and hedges beside the road!"

Elizabeth's face turned pale, and without speaking a word, they turned their horses and ran towards Netherfield.

Along the way, the sisters were dizzy with anger. The original servants of Netherfield Manor had all moved out, and the Bennet family hadn't been able to hire a suitable candidate. Now the whole big house was empty. It's more terrifying than the cemetery behind the church, how dare Lydia?She also coquettishly said before that there are too many people in the room and too few people will be afraid, and she wants to sleep in a bedroom with Jane.

The horse trotted for about a mile, when Elizabeth suddenly pulled the rein and whipped the whip into the nearby hedge: "Who? Come out!"

Jane also held the flintlock gun that was supposed to scare Lydia in her hand. The barrel of the gun was so heavy that her wrist trembled slightly under the weight, and her heart was heavy with clouds.

There was a noise in the hedge, and Lydia trembled in a crying voice: "Li, Lizzie? Lizzie!"

Elizabeth, who was highly nervous, almost fell off her horse. Fortunately, the Shire horse under her was calm and calm. It only snorted when it was swept by the whip, but stopped there firmly and motionless.

The two eldest ladies of Bennet jumped off the horse, and Elizabeth grabbed Jane who was crying, and asked in a deep voice: "Lydia, is it only you? Why don't you come out? My dear, come, come to my sister." Come."

The hedge sounded louder, and Lydia cried, "It's not just me, but... woo! Yes, it's just me. Lizzie, good Lizzie, can you see if anyone else is on the road?"

"Please help us, help her!" she cried tremblingly.

Elizabeth was half-hearted, at least Lydia was not kidnapped, and the one with her was a woman.

With her sister behind her, Jane held the gun like a rock and walked slowly around the hedge.

Elizabeth followed behind her, and the scene in front of her was so frightening that Jane covered her mouth so as not to scream.

Lydia was covered in grass leaves and mud, and her gloves and cheeks seemed to be splashed with blood. She was holding a naked and faceless girl in her arms. The skirt of the girl was torn to pieces. There was a small dark red spot of blood on the petticoat—

"Maria!"

Maria Lucas!Charlotte's sister, Sir William's second daughter?

Maria covered her face with one hand and pulled the skirt of the dress with the other, desperately refusing Jane and Elizabeth to approach, she struggled so much that Lydia almost fell to the ground.

"Jane! Lizzie! I...I might have killed someone!" Lydia couldn't bear it anymore, she got up and hugged the second sister's neck and cried loudly.

Maria was slammed by her action, and suddenly couldn't help crying while covering her face.

The author has something to say: In the second watch, the stupid fish misremembered the time and thought it was eight o'clock written in the previous chapter...so he was not in a hurry, but turned over and was dumbfounded.

Note: Moreen: a high-grade fabric popular in England in the 18th and 19th centuries, mainly used to make curtains and decorations.

In addition: From the 18th century to the middle of the 19th century, there were endless rape cases in Britain. Nearly half of the criminals would choose those victims who walked alone in the wasteland or in the fields. Therefore, women at that time had to try to avoid going out alone——History Anna Clark.

In the original novel, Miss Bingley ridiculed and satirized Elizabeth who walked several miles alone to see Jane who was sick, saying that she "shows that she is disgustingly arrogant, has no regard for decency, and is full of country bumpkins", not only in Laughing at Elizabeth's mud-stained skirt, looking down on her embarrassment, and even mocking her for her lack of etiquette and rules.