[Pride and Prejudice] Dear Lydia

"Mrs. Wickham is one of my most admired and valued young friends. She is extremely well-bred, charming, intelligent, modest and versatile. She is also the sister-in-law of my nephew Mr. I'm really happy that women are related to each other."

Mrs. de Boer was smiling and introducing her 'loveliest young friend, Mrs. Lydia Wickham' to a member of parliament and an elderly but well-known and respected old lady.

However, if bystanders look carefully, they will find some signs of stiffness on Mrs. de Boer's face with a standard smile.

Lydia listened happily, and occasionally added a few words in a modest manner, "Mrs. de Boer is too exaggerated!" "Dear ladies, please don't take this seriously. I prefer that's why I say that."

Her politeness and humility made the ladies present look at her even more with admiration.

As we all know, the widow of Lewis de Boer is a dignified person with a high status, and she cannot be seen unless she is rich and powerful. Now she suddenly praises the little-known Mrs. Wickham so much, so Mrs. Wickham must There's something special about it.

There is no doubt that Mrs. Wickham possessed, at present, at least one virtue of modesty.

Everyone was about to cheer up and have a good time with her, when the host of the party came over and interrupted them.The Earl of Chatham kindly asked everyone to give this charming lady to him for a while. You must know that he specially invited Mrs. Wickham to be a guest today, but he didn't even find a chance to speak with her until now. But it's too worrying.

The Earl of Chatham's move undoubtedly increased Lydia's weight in everyone's minds, and some people even began to speculate that in the next social season, there will definitely be this young and beautiful girl among the celebrities in London's social circle. Mrs Wickham.

"However, her dressing taste needs to be improved. If I can make a deep friendship with her, I will be happy to provide her with the necessary help in this regard." A lady who has made up her mind to make friends with her said so.

After the Earl of Chatham took Lydia away, he also questioned her taste, and looked at the cumbersome dark smoke gray dress on Lydia with some doubts, "I thought that people who knew the art of painting would be more comfortable in dressing. Even if you can't be the most elegant and outstanding, at least you will be natural and decent, but why do you dress up more and more strangely? Remember that you were not like this when you were in the country. "

"Your Excellency, thank you for condescending to comment on my clothes, but I have to clarify that my clothes do not represent my personal taste in dressing, but the aesthetic vision of your sister, Baroness Difar." Lydia replied with a good temper.

"What is the matter?" asked the Earl of Chatham.

Lydia then said in a relaxed tone that she was accidentally bumped by Mr. Pete when she first entered the door, knocked over the wine glass, and got all drunk, so she had to change clothes temporarily as a joke.

Earl Chatham knew his son very well, and knew that he could not do such a reckless thing. After listening to Lydia, Earl Chatham's exquisite and profound facial features could not help but slightly wrinkled, and he said softly to himself, "George It must be on purpose, what does he mean?"

"What?" Lydia didn't hear clearly.

"It's nothing." Earl of Chatham stretched his brows, "Mrs. Wickham, I heard that you and Lois will leave London soon and go back to Hertfordshire. I also plan to live in George's Netherfield Manor. I happen to be on the same road with you for a few days, and I have told Lois to take you with me when the time comes."

That's a pretty good proposition.

Mr. Bennett wrote a letter two days ago saying that the farm needed horses for the past two days, and there were guests on weekends, and Mrs. Bennett wanted to use a carriage, so it has been inconvenient to send a carriage to London recently, so let Lydia wait. , It will not be until next Wednesday that a horse-drawn carriage will be sent to pick them up.

If you can hitchhike back, you won't have to wait until next week.

However, Your Excellency the Earl is no better than your relatives and friends, so Lydia wanted to be polite first, "Will this be too disturbing?"

"No, we can take a look at the two paintings I bought recently on the road. It is really a perfect combination of 'vignette painting' technique and Moorish style! It is breathtaking, I believe you will like it."

"Oh," Lydia exclaimed. She knew that the Earl of Chatham's artistic knowledge, to be praised by him like this must be the best of the best, and she couldn't help but yearn for it, "Really, then I am really looking forward to it !"

"Don't worry, you won't be disappointed."

"But what about Lois, she's not interested in these things, and she'll be so bored to sleep with us walking all the way." Lydia remembered that Miss Mallard didn't like this.

"It doesn't matter. There are two carriages. Lois can take the other one. She can sleep in the carriage or enjoy the scenery as she likes." Earl Chatham replied with a smile, with charming lines showing at the corners of his eyes.

Some people seem to be favored by the heavens from birth. They have outstanding appearance when they are young, and they will not be inferior when they are old. The charm of the unrestrained demeanor is even better than the youthful beauty when she was young.

The Earl of Chatham was undoubtedly one of the lucky few. When he was in a good mood occasionally, instead of being cold and reserved, he had a pleasant face, and this natural advantage was displayed to the maximum.

Lydia stood with him and talked for a short while, and felt that many ladies looked at her secretly, half of them were looking at her curiously, and the other half were looking at Your Excellency the Earl. There is no lack of admiration and admiration.

"It's the combination of the charm of wealth, the charm of status and personal charm. Few women can't be tempted. A few years ago, when His Excellency the Earl was still a middle-aged man, there were many women who admired him because Whether this woman loves power, wealth or beauty, she can be satisfied with the Earl of Chatham." When Lydia talked about it with her friend Miss Mallard later, Mallard said the lady.

Lydia regretted, "It's a pity that I can't see what he looked like a few years ago. I believe he must be very individual and charming."

Miss Mallard shrugged, because she had been thinking about what Mr. Pitt said, so instead of regretting that Lydia could not see her uncle, the Earl of Chatham, when he was younger, she was quite satisfied. Said, "Your Excellency the Earl just told me that he would go to Netherfield the day after tomorrow, and he could take the two of us with him. I agreed without thinking about it for a while, but after thinking about it, I thought it was not appropriate. Why don't you find him later?" Give it an excuse, and say that you have promised your aunt, Mrs. Gardiner, to come to her the day after tomorrow."

"Why not?" Lydia wondered.

"Well, I think it's too reserved to go with His Excellency the Earl, it's better for us to go by ourselves." Miss Mallard made an excuse.

"Lois, I originally thought you were a rare and free-spirited person who would not be nervous just because of someone's noble status. It turns out that you are also like most people. The Earl of Chatham is still your relative. You and him Are you uncomfortable together?" Lydia teased her.

Miss Mallard reluctantly nodded, "Although he is my uncle, we have nothing in common. Traveling together in a carriage would be boring, so it's better to decline."

"I'm sorry, I guess I can't refuse his kindness according to your idea, because I have already agreed to him just now. But don't worry, Your Excellency the Earl said that there are two carriages, and he will show me a few on the way. His latest collection of paintings, if you don't want to hear us talk about them, you can take a nap in another carriage." Lydia told her apologetically.

"My uncle invited you to ride in the same carriage with him, and is he going to let me ride in the other one?" Miss Mallard suddenly felt that the concern of her cousin, Mr. Pete, was really justified.