[Pride and Prejudice] Rich Lady

Mr. Bennet had advised Elizabeth before that she did not pay too much attention to the affairs of the Lucas family.Although she was worried about Charlotte, she did not think that the tough and flexible girl would do what Sir Lucas wanted.

Moreover, there is really no need to worry too much. The root cause of this disaster, Mr. Claude, had already 'disappeared' that night, and it was impossible to set foot on British soil again no matter what.

What's even more ridiculous is that on the evening when the news of Maria Lucas's marriage came out, Sir Lucas's valet came to Longbourne in a humble manner, and asked Mr. Bennet, who had just returned home, about the whereabouts of Claude. He was ridiculed mercilessly by Mr. Bennet.

"Sir told his friends that he agreed to Claude's marriage proposal to Miss Maria, and that he would marry them in Meryton Church. But you mean that Claude ran away. This is a shocking anecdote!" Banner Mr. Tate made no scruples about demeanor, and made no effort to conceal his contempt for Claude.

"If Sir William is here, I would like to ask him why his future son-in-law came to Bennet's house to inquire!" Mr. Bennet said with a sneer, "Is he afraid that I will also take a fancy to that half-blue boy? Please rest assured, Sir William, my daughters would rather be old maids than associate with such a man! If any of them lose their minds and marry a bastard in the future, she will have to take off her name and forever Don't come back. Go back and tell your master, Longbourn is very clean, and you don't welcome that kind of stinky thing!"

Over tea in the evening, Mrs. Bennet related this anecdote.Sure enough, a neighbor came to visit her in the afternoon, and the ladies talked and speculated for a long time in the living room on the first floor. Mrs. Bennet was so surprised that she couldn't think of anything else, and her mind was full of Mrs. Lucas marrying so early. A daughter went out.

Fortunately, my wife's life has been very satisfying recently, and good things happened one after another, so she didn't sigh again.She just said viciously that Mrs. Lucas didn't love the children, and she even agreed with the children's frivolous little ideas. That kind of young people who have no property and no status are not good candidates at all-Mrs. Bennet thought that Maria and Claude were in love , Claude just proposed marriage.

No one spoke, even Lydia was very calm. She lowered her eyes, and the credulous and reckless temperament in her body suddenly settled down.She is not as talkative as before, and now Lydia has learned to hear other people's words, and Elizabeth feels a little distressed when she occasionally sees her thoughtful expression.

Mr. Bennet and Elizabeth knew very well that Claude would not come back. Even if Mr. Lucas stayed in his house for 100 years, this villain would never appear again.

But no one else knew, not the Lucas family, not all of Meryton.

But they will always know that this kind of thing of being arrested by a casino to pay off debts is worth talking about for a while, and Claude is a frequent visitor to that tavern, and sooner or later someone will pass the news back.Elizabeth was really gloating, she started to look forward to the expression on the face of the hypocritical and selfish Sir Lucas when he found out about this.

But the next day at Longborn was an unexpected visitor: Charlotte Lucas.

During the last vacation, Elizabeth had some unpleasantness with this former friend, and neither of them could convince the other, so they had to break up.Since then, Miss Lucas has been deliberately avoiding Elizabeth. After Elizabeth realized her mistake, she wrote her an apology letter, but it didn't make the situation better.

The letter of apology did not receive any reply, and Charlotte deliberately avoided her again. Elizabeth really felt that their friendship had come to an end, and she never expected Charlotte to come to her on her own initiative.

But for Maria, Charlotte came.

Charlotte was much more mature than Maria, and she didn't explain any unnecessary words, didn't ask Elizabeth to help Maria, and didn't even mention herself.Charlotte talked with Mrs. Bennet in a very educated way, and she didn't show the slightest difference in her wife's concern about Maria's marriage. She sat there, as she did every time she came to visit Elizabeth.

Mrs. Bennet knew nothing.It didn't take long for Charlotte to understand this. This realization made her eyes warm. The only warmth she felt during the few days in hell came from someone else's house, or the Bennet's house that her father was wary of. .

"Well, I know you must be looking for Lizzie, and you young ladies don't like to talk with us. Lizzie, go and entertain your friends!" cried Mrs. Bennet.Mrs. Hill hurriedly helped her back to the bedroom, and Mrs. Bennet had to sleep for a while every morning.

Elizabeth opened her bedroom door and invited Charlotte to come in. Charlotte was stunned for a moment, and immediately lowered her head.After a while, she said, "Millie!"

The maid of Lucas's family hurried forward with a stack of clothes, and Elizabeth immediately recognized that it was the day when Maria changed into a dress.With a twinkle in her eyes, she told Sarah to take Millie to the small living room downstairs for tea.

"I can't stay for too long." Charlotte raised her head, and there was no trace of tears shed on her face: "My mother allowed me to go out, the only reason is to get back Maria's clothes that day."

"Many people have seen Maria wearing that dress, and it is her best-looking and favorite Schumiz Dorles."

"But it's just a dress, and it's nothing compared to Maria!" Charlotte gritted her teeth.

Charlotte could not fail to understand that that dress was also honor!Elizabeth looked at her former friend in surprise. She meant that in her eyes, Maria's happiness was far more important than her reputation. This was probably the most beautiful sentence Elizabeth heard among all the words of Lucas recently.

Immediately afterwards, Charlotte didn't mention that dress anymore. She looked at Elizabeth and said with difficulty: "Lizzie, can you lend me some money?"

Elizabeth opened her mouth and wanted to ask a lot of questions. Finally, she said, "How much do you need?"

"The more the better!" Charlotte said directly, as if she had dropped some burden, "It's best to have twenty pounds. If you don't have that much, just lend me all of it!"

Charlotte spoke quickly: "I will try to pay you back as soon as possible, but it may have to be delayed until next year. Meryton is not short of tutors. I have to place an advertisement to see if Hatfield has a chance."

Elizabeth froze when she opened the drawer, she immediately turned to Charlotte, and quickly asked, "Are you going to be a tutor? Sir Lucas is going to kick you out?"

Charlotte's lips quivered, and she said nonchalantly: "Lizzie, you know, a woman of decent background, no property, only a few practical educations such as foreign languages ​​and music, and a governess." , is already a very good way out! It can still maintain dignity and decency, there is nothing wrong with it."

"Sir Lucas certainly wouldn't throw his daughter out, but Lizzie, have you forgotten that I'm over twenty-one and can manage my own property and marriage. I don't have either, but I can find one job."

Charlotte obviously didn't want to say more, she had changed a lot, and the two of them were no longer in the same close relationship as before, so Elizabeth had to swallow her words back, after thinking about it, she took out a few more denominations of 20 from the drawer Sterling notes stuffed into the money bag: "These are all for you."

Elizabeth quickly wrote down the address of Taurice College, tore off the piece of paper and stuffed it into the purse, put the purse in her hand, and said in a low voice: "When you have something to do, write to me, or go to this address to find Me. You hide the purse and go back quickly."

The little purse was heavy and stuffed. Charlotte saw her action just now, and knew that there was a lot of money in it: "Let's count it, and I'll write you a..."

Elizabeth didn't wait for her to finish, and pushed her: "Tell Mrs. Lucas that the Bennet family has never seen any outsider's clothes. Go back quickly."

"I'll send you the wallet in a letter." Charlotte choked up, and suddenly hugged Elizabeth: "Thank you, Lizzie, and I'm sorry. I should have thought about your words before."

Elizabeth stared blankly at the swing of Charlotte's simple white cotton skirt. She had already gone downstairs and asked the maid to come home with her.

After sending out Charlotte as a master and servant, Sarah went back to serve on the second floor. She sighed and said, "I said, I don't know this Millie. It turns out that Mrs. Lucas hired her newly. What happened to the child?" , Madam Sir is still in the mood to hire a new servant!"

"Sarah!" said Jane, frowning.

Sarah covered her mouth and immediately apologized: "Miss Jane, I never said a word outside. I, I just feel a little uncomfortable!"

She said to Jane and Elizabeth: "This Millie is a silly girl, very talkative. She says Miss Maria is very ill, but Mrs. Lucas only has a pharmacist from Meryton to see her. Who knows Mrs. Lucas looks kind, but she is so cruel in private? In Longbourne, even if the servants are sick, Mrs. Bennet always asks a serious doctor to see us..."

In the Lucas mansion a few miles away, Charlotte hid the purse under her sister's thin quilt and said to the frowning Mrs. Lucas: "Mom, you go to rest, I will take care of Maria."

Mrs. Lucas looked at the second daughter who refused to open her eyes on the bed, she burst into tears angrily, and she was still nagging, when she heard little William crying from the courtyard, the lady ran out immediately.

Charlotte closed the door, Maria opened her eyes, and sat up with her pale lips pursed: "Did you borrow it? I was so offensive before, will Lizzie still lend us money?"

Charlotte nodded, lying on the door and listening to the movement outside for a long time, then quickly ran back to the bed, the two sisters took the cotton sheet away, and directly dumped the money bag in the middle of the bed.

A small pile of shillings, a stack of British pound notes of various denominations.

Charlotte stood there stunned. She thought it was so heavy, most of it should be pennies, but who knew...

"Three for £3, four for £20, nine for £4, and 5 shillings." Maria's hands were shaking, but when she heard a sound outside the door, she immediately pulled the cotton sheet and closed her eyes. Lie down and put all your money under your body.

……

"Did you hear? Maria Lucas ran away from home!"

"How could it be? She pressured her sister to get married. How could she run away! Poor Charlotte should be the one who should run away! I heard that Mr. Sir wants to send her to a monastery for cleaning up."

"Is it true? When Mrs. Lucas took care of her, she found that she was missing. The newly hired maid in their family could read a little and read the note left by her master. Maria said she didn't want to get married. She ran away in anger. Mrs. Lucas fainted after hearing this, she was so pitiful, Sir William invited the best physician from Meryton to treat her, but Mrs. Lucas has not woken up yet!"

"This Maria Lucas is really willful. I have long seen that the girl is frivolous and unruly. Look what she has done to the Lucas family!"

……

"This is really news that hasn't happened in the county for decades! An unmarried couple, the lady ran away first, and then the husband owed a disgraceful debt, stealing things from others, and was arrested and sent to work?"

"Fortunately, Miss Maria ran away, this Claude turned out to be a villain!"

"Mrs. Lucas is just back to health, and Sir William is sick again. And poor Charlotte, who is being bullied all day by her two little brothers."

"Miss Lucas is very pitiful for such a disgraceful incident at home, she is the most innocent."

……

"Miss Lucas can't take it any longer. She wants to leave Meryton to be a governess, and Sir Lucas is so angry that he wants to beat her!"

"Charlotte has long since been able to make her own decisions, and Sir Sir is planning to give her any property anyway."

"Miss Charlotte went to Hatfield, where she found a decent job as governess to the young daughter of a gentleman. The gentleman was an official, and his wife and children were very pleasant."

"Sir Lucas claimed that Charlotte and Maria would not be allowed to return, and he took his niece from his brother's house to live in their house."

……

In less than a week, no one in Meryton remembered the showy Bennet who bought Netherfield, and all eyes were on Lucas.

Elizabeth, since Charlotte's visit, seemed to have let go of her mind, and cared no longer about these rumors.

She was going back to town soon, and this time, she was determined to take Jane and Lydia away.

Although Lydia seemed to have recovered, she kept waking up at night and never mentioned Netherfield again.When Mrs. Bennet happily talked about the big manor, there was still uncontrollable fear in her eyes.

Jane had planned to take her to live with Uncle Gardner for a while, but Elizabeth had already bought an apartment in London, on Chipside Street, not far from Uncle Gardner's shop.Moreover, she and Lola's second dessert shop is also near Chipside. The two ladies are preparing to officially enter the social world, and Mr. Agent can't stay in London for a long time. Jane went to help them ——This dessert shop still uses the guise of "profit as rent" to make it easier for the ladies to check the accounts.

At home, Mary can not only take care of herself, but also teach Kitty.Everyone discovered a funny thing: Kitty, the little horse, actually listened to Mary the most.

After 'confessing' his plan to Mr. Bennet, Mr. Bennet raised his eyebrows: "Little birds can't help but want to escape from the wings of old birds. You have discussed it before I come to tell you. Poor old father's?"

Mr. Bennet snorted angrily, and said gloatingly, "Jane and Lydia should have both choked on the air in London, so that they would know how good Longbourn is! Stay in the city, not a few Yue, no matter how beautiful the bird is, it will be blackened by smoke, just like the crows on the Tower of London, then I will have to take a good look at my two black babies!"

Elizabeth blinked, and she said, "Dear Papa, I actually have a present for you."

Mr. Bennet was not moved by this, he opened a book: "Put it in the drawer, I will open it when I have time."

Elizabeth took the somewhat heavy box on her lap to the writing table with both hands.

"I've already guessed this." Mr. Bennet raised his eyes. "Your Uncle Gardner is obsessed with things from Mis, but I'm not."

It was just what Elizabeth's friend in Kensington sent yesterday, a small wooden box containing two identical flat boxes and a larger wooden box.Mr. Bennet had seen some things from Kensington several times before. They were all little things that the ladies liked.

Elizabeth opened the box and turned it to Mr. Bennet: "Dad, give me a hand."

Inside the box was a special revolver gun of the Ming Dynasty.

"Dad, the bullets are in that box, I'll take some away."

"Don't worry, this is a pistol that was eliminated by the Ming Dynasty fleet. Its origin is very innocent. But it is very useful." The daughter smiled: "If you have time, please dad to practice marksmanship."

"Hey!"

"..." Mr. Bennet tore off a page from the precious book in his hand.

The author has something to say: The fish couldn't hold back, it was supposed to be saved, but it ended up being posted, has it already developed the terrible habit of the second watch? ! !

"One shot, one friend???"

——When Yu wrote the title of this chapter, he wrote: You give me a hand, and I give you a hand, and suddenly he said by himself: One shot, one child...

Hahaha, the fish wrote it up to share with the little angels the strange mouth, and I will change it in the next chapter.

About pharmacists: Pharmacists were the lowest-ranked of the three legal professional doctors in the UK at that time, with the cheapest fees and the least recognized abilities.The three professional doctors are: physician, surgeon, pharmacist.Among them, physicians have the highest status, are regarded as high-class figures, and have received systematic medical knowledge education; surgeons are subject to more factors and are more of a physical labor nature; is at the bottom. [For information, please refer to "Analysis of the Transformation of the Occupational Structure of British Doctors in the 18th and 19th Centuries", author: Fu Yidong]

In addition, the revolver gun technology is more advanced than the flintlock gun, which was invented by American S. Colt in 1835.

Take a look at the timeline of the first two chapters, some little angels are confused by the fish:

Chapter 66 ends with:

1. Baker sent by Bennett was the first to find Claude;

2. When Baker monitored Claude, he found that Sir Lucas also found Claude and gave Claude some money. This is when Claude denied his relationship with Maria. Claude was killed by Banner The special father and daughter were terrified, and he didn't dare to talk nonsense.In order to win the letter, he also took out the badge left by his noble father and swore.Sir Lucas then discovers that Cloud is the "surprise" of the noble's bastard son.

3. Claude took the money to go to the tavern to drink, bragging that he was going to become the son-in-law of a nobleman (jazz is not a nobleman, just bragging), when he left the tavern, before Baker made a move, Claude was beaten by Anthony Xue's men Caught on board with a broken leg.

4. Sir Lucas didn't know what happened that night. He found that Claude was missing, so in Chapter 67 he said that "while he was making arrangements, he concealed the fact that Claude was missing."But Mr. Lucas sent someone to guard Claude's house, because the badge and bonnet crown were all there, and Sir believed that Claude would come back.

5. Claude will not come back, not coming back.