[Sense and Sensibility] Fascinated by you

The ball had already started for a while when Colonel Brandon arrived at Rockfield Manor. In fact, if his carriage hadn’t had some problems on the way, he thought he would have arrived on time, but there are always accidents in this world, so he I can only express my apologies to his dear friend Andrew.

This is a spacious hall with 12 columns supporting the high ceiling. There are some figure paintings and landscape paintings on the light golden walls. It is believed that the history of those paintings is more than 100 years. Glittering under the sunlight, he passed through the well-dressed crowd at the ball under the leadership of his servants, and found the master, Mr. Andrew Butler, who was talking loudly among the ladies.At that time, he was talking about his hard life at sea for the past seven years, which made the ladies at the ball exclaim.As soon as he discovered the arrival of his old friend Colonel Brandon, he left his petites at once.

Mr. Andrew Butler has long since disappeared from the embarrassment and confusion he saw a few years ago. He stood there in a well-groomed manner, his dark green eyes shining brightly. He looked at his old friend whom he hadn't seen for a long time, and then went to The former hugged him enthusiastically, "Oh, Brandon, you are still the same, I thought you wouldn't be able to make it tonight, you know I have invited almost all the marriageable ladies in the entire county for you!" After speaking, Andrew blinked his eyes mischievously.

Colonel Brandon had known about his friend's bad character for a long time, so he naturally ignored Andrew's last sentence, "Yes, Andrew, long time no see. I almost thought I wouldn't be here today, I There was a small breakdown in the carriage halfway, but fortunately, it was repaired smoothly in the end."

"Come on. Brandon, let me introduce you to some new friends."

"I really don't know when you have the same interest as John." After saying this, the frown on Colonel Brandon's brows seemed to deepen.

"It is a universally acknowledged truth that rich bachelors always marry a wife." Andrew replied with airs.

The two walked into the crowd, and Andrew formally introduced them, "This is Mr. Robert Hoffman and his sister, Miss Georgiana Hoffman." Mr. Robert is handsome and gentlemanly, but His expression was a bit stiff, and even attending the ball didn't bring a smile to his face.His younger sister is much cuter, with blond hair curled into small coils behind her head, blue eyes full of water, she is tall and curvy in a goose yellow evening dress, when introduced to her, she showed a smile A reserved and polite smile appeared natural and generous.

"This is Mr. William Wallace, Mr. Hoffman's cousin." Mr. Wallace is tall and straight, with a handsome face, and a pleasant face, warm and humorous, and he speaks like a spring breeze.

"This is my old neighbor. We used to play together when we were young. Mr. Westerberg, his older sister, Miss Hannah Berger, and his younger sister, Winnesburger."

"Oh, Andrew, don't bring up my childhood, it reminds me of when you put frogs in my pants." Everyone laughed, Mr. Borg was just an ordinary gentleman, not very conspicuous, He is slightly fat and has a kind smile, but his humor and self-deprecation are easy to make people like him.

His older sister, Miss Borg, seemed to be quite old, but she was still acting like a lady. When introducing her, she raised her chin slightly, showing a bit of arrogance. She stretched out the back of her hand to signal Colonel Brandon to kiss his hand. .

"Hello, Colonel Brandon." Winnies curtseyed. Miss Winnies was very similar to Mr. Borg. She looked kind and shy, and she was always timid when she spoke. There is a little baby fat, but when she smiles, two pear dimples appear on her lips, which looks very cute.

When Colonel Brandon talked with them, he noticed that every time Mr. Wallace spoke, Miss Hoffman was very focused and her smile was extraordinarily sweet, so he already understood Miss Hoffman's mind. After all, this The lady didn't bother to hide it, and I believe everyone who talked to them for more than 5 minutes could discover this not-so-secret secret.But he had not yet discovered that Mr. Wallace had any more than ordinary friendship for this lady.

After the conversation ended, Andrew took Colonel Brandon to a hidden corner, "Brandon, remember what I told you!" His eyes sparkled with excitement.

"Of course, but I haven't seen her."

Andrew's face darkened for a moment, but soon lit up again, "Yes, Hathaway is not in good health, but that's not important. What do you think of Mr. Wallace?"

Colonel Brandon's face also darkened for a while, and he opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something. After a while, he said: "Mr. Wallace looks good, but I don't know him so I don't have any qualifications to comment. Him." After finishing speaking, he closed his mouth, no matter how much Andrew teased him, he didn't say another word.

"Brandon, look, that lady and gentleman over there. Believe me, if you get to know her a little bit, you will definitely be interested in her." Since Brandon has made up his mind not to talk about related issues, then Andrew also took advantage of the opportunity to change the topic, and it seemed that this topic interested him as much.

It was also a lady with an outstanding appearance. She was wearing a wine red close-fitting dress. Her long red hair was curled neatly and hung down on both sides of her face. The big red flowers on her head were trembling slightly with her dancing steps. She was chatting with her male dance partner enthusiastically, and laughed happily when she was talking, which attracted everyone around her to look over.

He had to admit that she did look somewhat like someone he knew, and he was lost in thought as he looked at that young face.

"Miss Olivia Marshall, dancing with her is her brother, Mr. Bradley Marshall."

Andrew looked at his friend who fell into silence again, and felt that he should help him, otherwise, with his dull personality, he might still be single until his death.When the dance was over, he quickly pulled Colonel Brandon to meet him.

"Mr. Marshall, thank you for coming to this ball, I hope you have a good time." Andrew greeted Mr. Marshall first, then turned to Miss Marshall and bowed gracefully, "Miss Marshall, because you are in Kent tonight I'm afraid it's hard for the young man to fall asleep."

Miss Marshall's face was still flushed after exercising, and the flush on her face deepened when she heard such explicit praise. She bowed her head shyly and said boldly: "If anyone has difficulty falling asleep I'm afraid it's not because of me." He said and looked in Miss Hoffman's direction, it seemed that the two ladies had known each other for a long time, and Miss Hoffman was chatting with several young men in a low voice .

Mr. Marshall interrupted the conversation at once, because he was really afraid that his sister might say something more inappropriate, because she usually talked straight and straight, and she had to say what came to her mind, as if she was holding back her heart. As if it could make her sick.Mr. Marshall first thanked Andrew for inviting him to the ball, and then praised the beauty of Rockfield, the food and the music.The two exchanged serious greetings, and then Andrew introduced Colonel Brandon to the Marshall brothers and sisters.

Before the next dance started, Andrew secretly kicked Brandon and gave him several winks. Then Colonel Brandon stepped forward to invite Miss Marshall to dance.

For those aristocratic ladies who are used to frequenting various balls, Andrew's little tricks that he thinks are hidden are really hard to hide from them, and I have just said that Miss Marshall is a person who can't hide herself when she speaks. Of course, she will not directly Open your mouth to decline a gentleman's invitation because that would be impolite.But when she was dancing, she looked left and right but didn't look right at Colonel Brandon, and answered the topics that Colonel Brandon handed over in a few words. After repeating this two or three times, the colonel had nothing to say.

As an old man in his 30s, Colonel Brandon didn't know what those young girls were thinking, but his rich experience allowed him to guess the other party's thoughts exactly.But he is not good at words, and he can't analyze his past to win sympathy from the young lady whom he met for the first time. In the end, he can only silently finish a dance and say goodbye to Miss Marshall.

Andrew was talking with Mr. Marshall on the side while paying close attention to the two dancing people. As soon as the music was over, he couldn't wait to pull Brandon aside and start counting.

"Andrew, look at how many handsome young men there are here. If you put me and Mr. Wallace together, one is a vigorous 23-year-old, and the other is a taciturn 33-year-old. Even though all the girls have eyes If I don’t see it, I’m afraid I know which one to choose, but I also hope that there is a girl who seems to be deaf and blind and can’t see the difference between the two.”

"Okay, Brandon, you're saying that when ladies get married, they just want to see who is young, handsome and rich. If that's the case, then you can simply compare everyone's conditions. Do men and women just look at those? I think if marriage is not for love, then marriage will become a grave, and there is no difference between marrying a woman and marrying a sow. Of course, it does not mean the conditions It's not important at all, but compared to being young and handsome, just being rich is already the biggest advantage?" Andrew sneered as he spoke, his expression became gloomy as if he remembered something.

After listening to his words, Colonel Brandon became even more silent. He stood upright on the spot with an indifferent expression on his face.Somewhat ironically, those young ladies are of course lovely and charming, but they are cruel when they face marriage. They naturally pursue love, but if they unfortunately fall in love with a poor man, love can only be Abandoned, then weeping and making sad gestures while marrying rich gentlemen.And these two men who are not young are talking about getting married for love. Of course, fortunately, they have both escaped poverty.