[Comprehensive Book] A Rose for Catherine

Longborn is not far from the girls' school, and Lydia can come to see Catherine in less than half a day if she travels by carriage.But she seems to have fallen in love with writing letters recently.It wasn't until one day that Catherine received letters from Knightley and Lydia at the same time that she belatedly guessed the awkward thoughts in her sister's heart.

For the first time, Catherine noticed that the youngest sister gradually had many ideas she didn't know.She looked at Lydia's childish handwriting with some fascination. The round letters looked like fat quails.

She looks like herself.

Catherine subconsciously sketched a chubby bird on the letter paper, and it took a while to realize it. She clutched her forehead and sighed amusedly, before continuing to write a reply.

"Lydia, I am so happy to have your compliments, if you have such concerns, I think there are clever ways to solve them - like you become a great designer, or I write a book for you ?”

She wrote the reply as a joke, but Lydia took it seriously. She only saw the latter method, and used more than a dozen adjectives to describe her happiness. , Talented and kind.

"I want to be the happiest girl in your story, live in a huge castle, and wear countless beautiful dresses!" she wrote innocently and proudly.

Catherine looked at Lydia's request and thought that she was still a child who hadn't grown up.After all, she was only a teenager, a carefree teenager.

She added another item to her schedule. Catherine, who had never written this type of story, spent a lot of time conceiving. During this period, she unknowingly finished more than half of the story of the prostitute that she once shelved. .However, for the details of the life of the bottom girls, the words she wrote always made her feel dissatisfied.

Her student, the girl who had given her books, mustered up the courage to knock on her door.

"Miss Catherine, have you read the book I gave you?"

For the students, Catherine chose to tell her real name. In fact, until now, there is nothing to hide.These girls who are willing to study in this school are under the same pressure as Catherine. Since they are brave, Catherine will not even have the courage to tell her students their real names.

Catherine froze for a moment, and replied apologetically, "I'm sorry, Chrissy, I've been busy recently, so I didn't have time to finish reading it. But I've already finished Chapter 3, do you want to talk to me about your reading experience?"

She spoke in a very friendly tone, afraid of disturbing the girl in front of her.

The girl named Chris hesitated for a moment, shook her head, and exited: "No, no, Ms. Catherine, then I won't disturb your work."

Chris walked to the door and paused for half a minute before making up her mind.She turned around, bit her lower lip and asked nervously: "Ms. Catherine, may I know what difficulties you have encountered? Is our study progress not good enough?"

Catherine looked up in surprise, not expecting her to worry about this.She comforted the girl: "It's not your business, Chris, I heard from the teachers that your Latin literature is very good. You are doing very well."

To avoid making sensitive girls think too much, Catherine explained to her: "In fact, it's not a school thing, but I encountered a little difficulty when writing a new work."

"What kind of problem?"

After Chris finished asking, she bit her lip and lowered her head, her brows and eyes full of annoyance.

She shouldn't be like this.

"There is a description about those girls in London who sell their bodies for cheating or for some reason, because I am not familiar with these situations, and the things I write always feel a little less."

she said distressedly.

She is not ashamed to mention these dark side things to the girls. The purpose of opening the school is to let more girls have a brighter future, so that the first girls can help the later ones from generation to generation.If even she thinks that these dark sides are shameful and cannot be mentioned, then how can she tell her students not to despise them and work hard to change their fate of sinking in the mud?

"Perhaps... I can help you."

Chris quickly looked up at her, then lowered her head nervously again, and said loudly.

A narrow and long street, lined with low and simple houses, lichen plants crawling unscrupulously from the corners into the depths of the deep street.Men came and went among them, and dirty children were mixed in. The thief rolled his eyes and looked at the people passing by, so as to find out who had a little spare money on him.The women stood at the door, and sometimes a man walked up to talk to them, the man took out the money bag, and the pounds and shillings pence clashed together, and the women smiled and leaned on the man, hugging each other. Went to the dilapidated house.The tavern was even more noisy. The sailors on the pier ordered a glass of the cheapest beer and gambled together. A few pennies were tightly held in the palm of their hands. The winner laughed and went to the opposite door to hug a young man. Girl, his companions laughed, their expressions were ambiguous and presumptuous.There are many Fitzroy houses in London, and there are many such long streets.

Those at the bottom live in it.

Chris looked at Catherine timidly: "My family lives here. Here..."

She couldn't speak, and she didn't want to say any more.

Catherine touched her head understandingly, put on a second-hand shabby cloak that she bought specially, held Chris's hand, and went to the place she said.

Chris has lived on this street since she was born, and she doesn't like dirty little friends who will be proud of picking up a purse, and she doesn't like strange men who sprinkle money on her mother's body.Catherine's girls' school is the only different scenery in her short and long 12 years of life. She likes it very much. There are clean bread, gentle and kind teachers, and friends who are willing to share skirts with her.

She didn't want to bring Catherine here at all. She didn't want her teachers and classmates to know her life experience, and she didn't want them to look at her with strange eyes.

She actually regrets now why she said that sentence at that time?She wanted to cry a little, but she was afraid that her dirty tears would stain the new dress that her good friend gave her.

She didn't think her mother was a bad woman. She wanted to work hard, but the bad guys tricked her, made her pregnant, and lost her job in the factory.She couldn't support her daughter, there was nothing she could do.But who would believe it?In Ms. Catherine's book, the wife must be a very bad, very bad woman who is despised and hated by everyone, right? ①

The usually long street suddenly became very short today, Chris rubbed her eyes to cover herself, "Here we are."

Catherine sighed softly, knelt down and rubbed the top of Chris's hair.She now somewhat understands where Chris's sensitivity and inferiority come from, and she wants to tell Chris that it's not her fault.

She took out her handkerchief and wiped the corners of Chris's eyes: "I'll think you were bullied at school later."

Chris hiccupped and hastily retorted.

"...No, everyone is fine."

Catherine pinned her red hair behind her ears and looked soft.

"You're fine too, don't be afraid."

The author has something to say: ①After the Industrial Revolution, the middle class rose, and it was difficult for women to find jobs in the cities.And jobs such as female workers are poorly paid. For many lower-class women, it is not as good as selling their bodies to get a good life.At that time, brothels were legal, and high-end brothels also cultivated courtesans.At that time, there was a magazine in France called "La Belle de Paris", which introduced this type of women.The situation of Chris's mother is mainly that she is not needed as cheap labor, loses her job, and goes astray.