[Comprehensive classics] Darcy or Brandon

"...Then the two of them lived happily together." Annie gave the story a perfect ending, and then took a sip of honey tea, expressing that she had finished telling the story.

Several children sighed with satisfaction and regret at the same time. Aimee pouted, leaned over and hugged Annie's arm and said coquettishly: "Why did this story end so soon! Tell me one, tell me another!"

"Oh, we've been telling this story for more than half an hour, but it's not short at all!" Annie pointed her finger at the tip of Aimee's nose and said with a smile.

"But the dance will be over for a long time, we can't stay idle for the rest of the time! Cousin Anne, just tell another story, we will all thank you." Aimee begged sweetly .

Seeing Aimee's behavior, the other children also looked at Annie begging pitifully, as if they would cry aggrieved if Annie didn't tell them another story.

Annie has a lot of stories, but foreigners can't understand them at all. Most of what she tells Aimee is made up by herself in her spare time. It's true that one is used and one is missing, so these children look at Annie no matter how pitiful they are. said.Moreover, Annie is not a person who likes children very much. Usually, she just wants to get some benefits from Aimee when she usually pleases Aimee. Now the children's noisy voice makes Annie, who is very tired physically and mentally, feel annoyed. She tries not to go Looking at the skirt crumpled by those little hands, he said with a smile: "My dears, I really hope to tell you another interesting story, but I can't stay here with you all the time, I have to help entertain the guests. Ai You know, May, I have to entertain guests."

Aimee's entire face bulged with dissatisfaction, but she also knew that Annie was right.Although the Pratt family has a good income, Mr. Pratt is a generous person. They have seven children, and they often need to pay attention to expenses.Therefore Mrs. Pratt would not allow Anne and Lucy to live in Pratt's house for free, and she always made them do some work to barely cover some food, clothing, housing and transportation expenses.Mrs. Pratt and her three eldest daughters are not dexterous people, and none of them are good at manual work. Therefore, the needlework of the Pratt family is often entrusted to Anne and Lucy on weekdays, and once there is a dance, Mrs. Pratt will let Anne and Lucy entertain guests instead of her three daughters.

If Anne and Lucy don't do these things well, Mrs. Pratt will keep a dark face in the next few days, and strictly control everyone in the family to ease her anger.For Aimee, Mrs. Pratt was in charge of her, which was very annoying and painful, because Aimee was a very lively little girl. She liked to play upside down and play outside, and Mrs. Pratt was angry. When she is young, she will be strictly regulated according to the code of conduct of a lady, and she will never be allowed to run around.

"Okay, don't be angry, I'll tell you a story tomorrow." Annie stroked Aimee's curly hair and said.

Aimee was not comforted, she was about to complain, but Mrs. Pratt dragged a young lady into the lounge in a hurry.

"Annie, you are here. I have been looking for you for a long time, and your sister." Mrs. Pratt said dissatisfiedly after seeing Annie, "Where is your sister?"

"Lucy isn't here, wasn't she in the ballroom just now?" Annie frowned and said.

"No, I really don't know where she went." Mrs. Pratt said, shaking off her veil.

Seeing that she was about to lose her temper, Annie quickly said, "Auntie, what do you want from us?"

Mrs. Pratt let out a fuss, patted her forehead and said, "Look at my damn memory! This is Miss O'Brien, and she needs a little favor from us."

"Auntie, what do you need me to do?" Annie asked.

Miss O'Brien, who was standing beside Mrs. Pratt with her head down, blushed when she heard Anne's question, but Mrs. Pratt didn't care much. She smiled kindly, and moved closer to Anne. Whispered a few words in his ear.

Just now Anne saw Mrs. Pratt in a hurry and thought it was something serious, but after listening to it, she found out that Miss O'Brien had encountered a little physical problem when she went to the bathroom just now, and needed to Change your underwear.It was obviously embarrassing to leave this kind of thing to the maid, so Mrs. Pratt pulled her over and asked Annie to help.

After Mrs. Pratt finished explaining the reason, she said to Anne: "Annie, quickly take Miss O'Brien upstairs. Hurry up, don't delay the dance."

In fact, Mrs. Pratt could have taken Miss O'Brien to change the clothes of her three eldest daughters. She came to Anne, apparently asking Anne to lend Miss O'Brien a set of underwear.But Anne has a slight obsession with cleanliness. She never changes clothes with Lucy, let alone lending her underwear to a stranger. It is equivalent to asking her to throw away her clothes. It's a good deal, especially considering her current financial situation.

So after thinking for a while, Annie said with a somewhat embarrassed expression: "Auntie, it rained two days ago, and Lucy and I only have two old clothes left, and I don't have any clean cotton cloth."

After Anne finished speaking, Mrs. Pratt took advantage of Miss O'Brien's inattention to glared at her, and said angrily, "Go and see if there are any new cotton cloths in the cabinet, and then go to the card Get a new dress from Lorraine's room, you know where it is."

"Okay, aunt."

"Hmph!" Mrs. Pratt snorted softly, and walked out of the lounge with her chin raised.

After Mrs. Pratt left, Miss O'Brien seemed a little anxious to change clothes, but Anne didn't leave right away. She held Miss O'Brien's hand and patted it comfortingly, signaling her to wait patiently.

The Pratts have a total of seven children, the first three are sons, named Chad, Edmund, and Harold, and the remaining four are daughters, Caroline, Daisy, and Lily and Aimee.Caroline is the eldest of the four girls. She is only a little older than Anne. She is a dull and mediocre girl in terms of character and appearance. Entering her room without her permission, even with Mrs. Pratt's consent.

So Annie turned to Aimee and said, "Aimee, can you accompany me to Caroline's room?"

"Okay, Cousin Anne." Aimee agreed happily. Anyway, there is no story to listen to, and Aimee doesn't want to stay in the lounge all the time. Now she is very happy to get up and take a walk.

After taking the things, Anne took Miss O'Brien to the dressing room, and she went back to the room to find a cloth bag made from leftover scraps from making clothes on weekdays.

Miss O'Brien quickly changed her clothes. She walked out of the dressing room with a blushing face and said with embarrassment: "Miss Steele, thank you so much. Oh, I too I don’t know how this embarrassing thing happened.”

Anne smiled quite understandingly, and said, "It's nothing, ladies always encounter minor accidents. Miss O'Brien, here is the cloth bag for you. You can pack your clothes and put them in the carriage."

Miss O'Brien was still worrying about how to get her dirty clothes back. Annie's behavior was really considerate to her. She immediately smiled gratefully, turned around and went into the dressing room to pack the dirty clothes. go in.

"Miss Steele, thank you for the bag. The flowers are beautifully embroidered on it."

"It's just that I make it casually in my free time. It's enough for a cloth bag. Then Miss O'Brien, let's go down. I'll ask the maid to make you a cup of hot ginger tea. Those cold ones in the ballroom Drinks are not suitable for you," Annie said.

"Miss Steele, you are so careful." Miss O'Brien said gratefully again.

Anne took Miss O'Brien back to the ballroom, and went to the kitchen herself.

The cook, Jasmine, was the only one in the kitchen. Annie walked over and took a piece of bread crumbs from the table and took a bite. Jasmine raised her head and said, "Miss Steele, why don't you go to the ballroom to pour the kitchen?"

"I'm here to invite you to make a pot of hot ginger tea. After you make it, please send it to a Miss O'Brien in the ballroom." Anne said.

"Just tell the maid to come over, it's not worth your trip, don't let your beautiful skirt get stained by the oil in the kitchen." Jasmine put down the half-stitched clothes in her hand, stood up and walked to the stove Said on the stage.

Annie pursed her lips, pinched the sides of the skirt, pulled it up and waved it, and said, "Where is there any beautiful skirt? This one was made in the spring of last year. I have worn it for most of the dances from last year until now."

Jasmine was very familiar with Sister Steele's situation. She looked at Annie's somewhat mediocre appearance and said, "Poor Miss Steele."

Anne didn't know whether Jasmine was pitying her life experience or her appearance, but she didn't plan to answer the conversation. She had to keep her mouth shut tightly, otherwise something bad would reach Mrs. Pratt's ears. Life was not going well for her and Lucy for a while.