The Happy Life of a Duchess

After Adele asked about this matter carefully and understood the Duke's father's attitude, she decided to try to contact her relatives in Frankfurt.

On the one hand, after knowing that this little niece Clara is another lovely original character, she uncontrollably aroused more curiosity.

On the other hand, she always has a feeling of wandering and rootless in this world. Although the Duke's father is very kind to her, she also knows in her heart that her father is old and will always leave, and there must be her in the future. Be yourself.The strength of her natal family is stronger and the relationship with her is a little bit closer. Only then can her future married life be more secure. Do some more realistic considerations.

The so-called many friends are easy to handle, and one more reliable relative can also add a bit of color to her interesting life.

And according to her impression, the relatives over there should also be good-natured and kind-hearted people. Sethman's family, including the servants and housekeepers, all have their own points of nod. They are also kind-hearted and rich people. Since She has a good character, so why can't she get to know them more?

They were all girls without mothers, and Adele felt that she should be able to talk to Clara.

It is also a coincidence that after accepting the reality and planning to leave Barignier and come to Paris, Adele thinks of her modern relatives and friends are running out.

But at this time, she suddenly realized that her experiences before and after were also similar. It was because her mother was gone, and her unreliable father who couldn't be a parent stumbled along with her, and she had to figure out a way to cultivate with her own father. Feelings, teach him how to express his care and love for children normally.

Adele woke up early the next morning.

Unlike a family with a very regular schedule, the Duke's father basically attended the dance the night before, and he lost the energy to get up early the next day. However, whether it is Adele or the father, both of them have good habits in normal times. , Stable work and rest activities.

Breakfast at around nine o'clock in the morning, Adele will take a walk in the garden alone to exercise early in the morning. In the morning, she usually reads, writes, plays the piano and learns some art. In the afternoon, she comes according to the situation. , and sometimes continue to learn things.

However, because she planned to go to the farm early, Adele got up an hour earlier than usual today.

Jenny and Mary usually get up early. As maids, of course they can't get up later than the master. In fact, they usually pack themselves up in advance, and then have a quick meal before serving Adele. This is Adele. Dale gives them preferential treatment.

If it was in the past, they might have to serve the young lady, and then wait for the host to run out of things before it is their turn to go down to eat in another room.

"Thank you, Armand."

As Adele's housekeeper, Mrs. Lude is authorized to sit on the table and dine with her, but most of the time, this serious housekeeper who has high demands on herself does not enjoy this privilege, but stands together Wait for her to finish eating before processing.

"Housekeeper, please talk to Mr. Charlie, Mrs. Semantha and others, and tell them that my courses will be suspended for the past three days. I have something to do. I will invite them back to resume teaching later."

"Yes." The butler with gray hair nodded yes.

This means that Adele may have to live at the farm for two or three days, and she may have to send a letter back to inform her if she wants to stay longer, but it is impossible to stay for a long time, and the social season is not over yet. I have to come back to hold salons and dances, and I have to go to various houses to attend the banquets that I have already posted to her.

Mrs. Lude has prepared luggage and other things for her in advance, and everything has been prepared at the farm.

Jenny and two strong servants were also accompanying her. The servants rode horses, while Adele and Mrs. Rudder got into the front carriage, and Jenny was in the rear carriage which still had a lot of luggage. She didn't mind either. this.

"You seem to have something to say?"

Adele could see that Mrs. Lude was hesitant to speak, she seemed to have something on her mind, and she had to say it now.

"Forgive me for not telling you directly before."

"Yes?" Adele sat up straight, and Mrs. Lude looked a little serious.

"Do you still remember that I went back to my hometown to deal with my distant relative?"

"Oh, yes, you returned to Barigne after finishing the process, and I finally saw it. I was so happy at the time... I remember it seems that your nephew came here?" Adele thought for a while, and immediately recalled stand up.

In fact, it is not difficult to guess, although it is very trivial, but for her who has just arrived in a strange world, under the uneasy mood, she is afraid of being discovered by others every day as some kind of demon possessed She lived in fear, and in order not to make herself look weirder and worse, she was very cautious in every move she made.

Looking back now, those uneasy temptations that she may have been a little immature and overly "neurotic" at that time seemed more like a lack of love, but she was not as cautious as she was at the beginning, and even now. Maybe she can't have the results she has now.

Although it has only been a few months since she came back, she seems to have had the impression of several years.

After all, she is now able to socialize with the wives and ladies of various families with a smile on her face. Even when facing someone she is not familiar with at all, she can also smile and wait for the other party or a third party to introduce her, or use some words to cover herself The mistake of forgetting the other party's name——

It has become more "old fritters".

In short, she has made great progress in social and other aspects.

From the time when she was very uneasy even going out alone, to now walking alone without any panic, she has indeed changed a lot, and she is gradually adapting to the Paris high society and the overall social situation.

However, at the beginning, she grabbed a little bit of information and read it over and over again. In the boring life of recuperating, she thought about delicious food and even made it by herself to kill time. Then, in the uneasy imagination of her family, she went to test the surroundings She uses other people's words to imagine the appearance of the people around her little by little, including Mrs. Armand Ruud, the housekeeper who is very important to her.

"Your relatives from Limousin are very reliable. During the curtain incident not long ago, there were two ladies who put in a lot of effort to mend the new curtains," Adele comforted Mrs. Lude, and also took the opportunity to sort out the curtains. Take a moment to think about yourself, "I am really grateful and very happy. Although I didn't meet them one by one when I was paying the wages, I just recognized their faces a little bit, but I still remember, it seems that one of the faces The one with a red mole on it is..."

"Yes." Mrs. Lu De showed a little smile on her face, "Please allow me to explain to you, the one with the red mole on her face is my nephew's wife, and the other one is still unmarried and has a little bit of marriage. It’s not going well, so it’s not like I didn’t mean to come here.”

After Mrs. Lude's introduction, Adele finally understood something.

Mrs. Lude and her husband, who has been running errands and doing business under the orders of the Duke, are actually related by blood. They were traced back to the family with the same surname not far from the village in Limousin. Later, they got together and served together. The Juradi family, because they are far away from their hometown of Limousin, if it hadn't been for an accident at the house of their distant nephew, Ben Lude, there would be no elders to take charge of that branch, and she would not go back.

Ben Ryder and his wife Dani are hardworking and capable people, but they are not without ambition.

I probably couldn't make any achievements in my hometown, and my life seemed hopeless. Mrs. Lude persuaded me, so I followed him to Paris.

A pair of brothers and sisters from the same village came out together. Houston and his sister are actually Ben Lude's uncle's family. Dani is Mr. Houston's sister, and there is also a sister who is not very successful in marriage. They also followed Brother came out.

The three children in the Houston family are all very hardworking, but their luck is not very good.

After Dani got married, it was still quite difficult to see her natal family, but the situation of her husband's family was not very good, so she contacted both parties, let's say there are too many people to help each other.

Houston hasn't married a wife yet, and he doesn't have that much money. His sister works with him and is slowly saving.

The last time I helped, there was Houston's younger sister Kelly. Kelly is quite good at sewing and other female workers, and she is more careful than her sister Dani. She is also the one among the helpers who has been recognized and praised by the tailor.

"Actually, they are one of the field tenants in the Duke's Mansion."

After Mrs. Lude said this, Adele understood that she had some concerns in her heart.

"It doesn't matter. I went there today mainly to learn about the handmade cloth workshop. If it really doesn't work, and people can't do it better than machines, then I will buy a few British 'Jenny Machines', and I will revise it later. The textile process improves efficiency and saves costs.”

"I have other plans, but I won't know until I get there. Let your nephew and niece and wife come over with them. They just live there, so they should know the situation better."

"it is good."

Hearing what Adele said, Mrs. Lude knew that she had already made up her mind, so she didn't say any more.

Mrs. Lu De's concern about this is just a worry that if they may be wrong, it will affect her. After all, she gave the money for renting the land, and the rent was also the land of the Duke's family, and she became a tenant of the Duke's family. .

She has no doubts about her loyalty, and she has worked hard for a long time, but she is not sure whether they are one of those people who are against the duke's mansion. If they are, she will not be lenient, no She would never plead for mercy on how to deal with it when she said "justice kills relatives".

Adele had a pretty good impression of them. She also had a good understanding of the level and temperament of the group of people who helped remake the curtains. They all relayed something to her.

Some tailors work quickly and swiftly, some tailors work delicately and have a leisurely personality, while others are active in thinking and can’t relax while embroidering and talking. Their temperaments are different, and the things they make are naturally impossible to be exactly the same, but good. If they are working together to make the same object, there is no need to worry too much.

"What else do you want to know?"

"No, it's gone." Adele shook her head, "I want to see it again."

"Okay, don't read too long in the carriage. This trip may take half a day. If you're really bored, you can just close your eyes and rest for a while."

The carriage was bumpy, and it was difficult to fall asleep. Even if the cushions and other arrangements were arranged, it was almost smelly.

It is impossible to take a complete rest and feel comfortable. Sometimes, after a long period of bumping, I still feel back pain, and my legs and feet seem to be weak when I get off the car.

When you leave the center of Paris and arrive at the outskirts of the city, the scenery in front of you is completely different.

Those distant chimneys and so on have long since disappeared, replaced by the familiar pastoral spring scenery.

Adele's mood also improved, and the spring and bright colors in front of her eyes only made her feel refreshed.

Due to the good weather and the smooth road, the time to arrive at the farm was faster than expected. We arrived at the farm about an hour earlier than expected at noon.

The little butler here has already prepared everything and is waiting.

In terms of ability, the people here are certainly not as good as the old butler of Bailu Manor, but some simple services and arrangements are not a problem.

If there is any event to be held here, then the middle-aged butler Mr. Johnson will definitely not be able to do it, but he can still handle other things.

Adele sat in the living room for a while with a cup of tea, and after the housekeeper reported the situation to her, she asked to see the person in charge of the workshop.

The person in charge of this workshop is the son of the housekeeper here. Little Johnson has not yet practiced his father's calmness. Adele asked a series of sharp and pointed questions. He originally wanted to be vague. Hidden ground, but with more and more loopholes, even the words before and after are contradictory, and they have to lose.

The middle-aged housekeeper Mr. Johnson followed Khan out, and he didn't dare to say anything more.

Now they already know that this place will belong to the lady in front of them in the future. This will be her dowry, and she is different from Mr. Duke who has no energy to discipline these things. She is obviously looking forward to it and hopes to handle it well. .

Finally, in desperation, they had to take Adele to the workshop to have a look in person.

There are a total of fifteen workers here, three women and twelve men. Perhaps they did not expect that the distinguished lady would go to the workshop in person. When Adele arrived, only six of them were still working diligently, and three of them were men. There are three women, there are nine people left, three of them are drinking and talking nonsense and bragging over there, and the remaining six don't know where they went at all.

Adele walked in, the thread used in the workshop was some corroded old wooden tools, the dust accumulated in the workshop did not look clean, not to mention the poor air circulation, Adele originally thought that there were no more advanced textile machines Yes, but actually opened the warehouse, and a newly purchased industrial-era machine over there has been piled up with dust.

She watched blankly, then turned to look at the trembling and speechless Mr. Johnson.

She pointed to Mr. Johnson Jr., motioning him to go aside with her.

"Why are there only so many people working? Is it time to work?"

It's not even time for Adele to have lunch, let alone them, how could they have so much time to rest, they are servants, not free men with ample wealth.

Adele looked at his expression, and finally sighed. Before leaving, the old housekeeper actually mentioned something to her.

The tenants here are no different, just like the person in charge of the handicraft workshop is the son of the housekeeper of the farm. They are related by kinship, and these tenants are also used to living in this rural area, including the nearby squires, etc. They also know each other, although they are only some low-level characters.

Adele wants to take care of it, of course there is no problem, but because of various entanglements, she can't let all these people go out immediately. First, there is no shortage of people here, and even if they leave, they may not be able to recruit suitable ones immediately. Secondly, the reputation will be affected, so such a direct move seems extremely disgraceful.

"I hope that this handicraft workshop, which looks very ugly at present, can become a good one. To put it simply, I want it to work on the right track."

"This piece of land on our family's land is still planted with cotton, and some other places that have not been rented out are directly abandoned. They will be used in the future. Let your father come to see me in person later, and I will give him Regarding the entire planning of this place, all those under the name of our Juradi family must be re-displayed in an orderly manner."

"Let's talk about the handicraft workshop you are in charge of first." Adele saw that the other party showed a look of trepidation. He was not that kind of cunning and shrewd, and he seemed a little smooth, but not to the extent of daring to deceive the master. After all, This is the more serious crime, and these are what the old housekeeper told her. Before going out, she already had a plan in mind.

"You should also know about the previous flaws. If there is a problem there, or if there is a serious shortage, the worker in charge of that piece of fabric can no longer be kept. I don't care what method you use to find out. In short, give me A plan for you, an investigation into the matter, and then ask them to leave."

As soon as these words came out, the other party was sweating more and more.

There is no doubt that this is an offending job, but Adele has already spoken, so he can't pretend that he doesn't know.

And in fact, this little Mr. Johnson is also very clear about this matter, the problem with the previous curtain, the Duke has sent the old housekeeper over to investigate, that is to say, the host already knows who is on the wrong side , who is in question.

Right now, Adele is talking about this matter again, just hoping that he will show an attitude.

This is not a particularly surprising thing. Adele also knows that the big and small Johnson family here should be one of the characters she can't move for the time being, and she really doesn't want to move.

After all, the people here can’t be opened for her, including the management. Farmhouses, manors, and field management are slightly different from other places, and they have to deal with tenants and slaves, and keep in touch with the priests of the local village.

It's hard to find a reliable butler, and she has been operating here for a long time. Adele doesn't want to do such an offending thing because of her relatives.

"My expectation is to be able to make something more sophisticated."

"You mean...?" There was some surprise on his face.

"I don't need too much output, but I need to be able to provide me with high-quality fabrics." She looked at the other party with a smile, "But with the machine, the efficiency is always better than in the past, even if you open a few There are problems, a few lazy ones, and the rest can do well. What do you think?"