beauty and money

Mary just in time for Christmas after recovering from her illness. Whenever this holiday comes, Mrs. Bennet will complain that her daughters are too scattered.Because Mr. Bingley's sister Caroline had some feelings for Mr. Darcy before, Mr. Bingley said that he would not spend Christmas with the Darcy family, so as not to cause pain to his sister, and Lydia was unwilling to return to Longbourn. In such a country place, she and her husband enjoy the reunion after a long absence in London, and Kitty's belly is getting pregnant day by day, and the couple return to Lord Menardius' manor in Cornwall to raise a baby. As for Elizabeth, she regrets She must spend time with Mr. Darcy and his sister, and it would be very poor for Georgiana to be left alone, but she hoped that Mrs. Bennet and her sisters would come, and she would gladly welcome them.Of the five sisters, only Mary is still in Longbourn, which made Mrs. Bennet very sad, but there was nothing she could do about it. The children always had their own lives, and she inevitably felt a little lonely.

So she invited Uncle Gardner and Aunt Phillip, and Uncle Gardner wrote in a letter that although he wanted to bring his aunt and two cousins ​​to Longbourn, but the business in London multiplied during Christmas, and he He regretted being unable to leave his business behind.Aunt Feili and Mr. Feili also declined Mrs. Bennet. They wanted to go to the parish of her son Edward in Kent. Aunt Feili praised more than once that the town where Edward served as pastor was worthy of the reputation of the garden of England. The scenery is very sweet and peaceful, the parishioners are simple and pious, and Edward's life is very comfortable. He and his wife have always hoped that their family can spend Christmas together.

After receiving the reply, Mrs. Bennet was very disappointed. Last year, two daughters, Kitty and Lydia, came home. Now only Mary is by her side. Her enthusiasm for Christmas has been reduced by half, but Mary and Gray Mr. Bennet decorated a small Christmas tree. Mr. Bennet spent all day fishing, hunting, reading, and sometimes told Mary some funny things about him and his friends. Before Elizabeth married, this listener’s job has always been by her.

Compared with Elizabeth's witty interaction with her father, who amused Mr. Bennet from time to time, making him love her intelligence and quick-wittedness more, Mary is a silent listener who doesn't say anything. Mr. Bennet was disappointed, but now she just forgets all this after listening to it, and never expresses her opinion during the listening process.Although Mr. Bennet is dissatisfied with Mary's dullness and silence, he is still very happy with Mary's obedience and quiet temperament that is more and more similar to Jane.

After recovering from a serious illness, Mary was pale and thin, her body was too thin to support any clothes, as if she had turned back into a little girl overnight, but she herself was very happy.Until Christmas Eve, she received a mail package from afar, which was given to her by a person she didn't know. When she received this mail package, Mary herself was not prepared at all.Enclosed with the mail package is a short letter.

Miss Mary:

Dear Miss Mary, I found out your whereabouts after many inquiries. It was so difficult to find you. I even published a newspaper about it, and I am sending a copy of the newspaper to prove that what I said is true.This gift should arrive before Christmas, this is my gift to you, although it was prepared months ago...

This letter is from London, signed by Old William. After he painted Mary's portrait in the hotel, he went back and created an engraving. He originally wanted to ask Miss Mary's permission before publishing it, but he couldn't find it at all. She, after many inquiries, learned of Miss Mary's whereabouts, and hereby sent a miniature portrait, hoping that Miss Mary would allow him to publish her portrait in the newspaper.

Mary took out a newspaper from the mail bag, and circled the key points with a pen in the corner of a missing person notice.And the little portrait that Old William mentioned is a fifteen-inch oil painting portrait. The character on the screen is not Mary, but a delicate image drawn based on Mary. It is the mysterious angel Raziel. The shadow of Mary can be discerned in the angel's face, and the worried and mysterious gaze is very attractive. This painting is marked as a reproduction of the engraving. Old William mentioned in his heart that he was very impressed by the world in Dante's Divine Comedy. Interest, so he created with many characters as prototypes, but only the mysterious angel, he was always unable to express his sacred and unfathomable sense of mystery, and when he saw Mary thinking deeply, he suddenly thought that the mysterious angel had once At the risk of being punished by the Lord, he passed on precious knowledge to Adam. He is the first teacher in the world and a disseminator of knowledge. Therefore, he is selfless, holy and compassionate. He clearly knows how to teach Adam knows what he will end up with, but he still obeys his heart and spreads the truth to the world. He has the virtue of obedience as an angel and independent thinking.

Mary looked at the angel in the portrait. She seemed to see Raziel who was about to be executed by the Lord because of the spread of knowledge. He was worried and obedient, that is, he did not regret his choice and accepted his fate calmly. He was just confused, he He should be loyal to his beliefs or his heart. It is not wrong to spread knowledge to human beings, but it is wrong for him to violate the will of God. His meditation on self and divinity is very attractive.

After looking at the painting carefully, Mary kept it in her bedroom. She didn't want Mrs. Bennet to find out and cause any trouble. Although she wrote a reply letter and mailed it to the address, she also returned it to As a gift in return, I sent a few books of religious poetry that I had read.

Then Mary flipped through the newspaper she received. It wasn't the latest one, but there were still some strange stories printed on it.She found a call for papers in a corner of the newspaper, which was not well paid, and she figured that if such articles could get published, it would be easy to become a writer.

By accident, Mary herself wrote a short story that night. She smiled at her little story and put it away. She thought it was a joke, but she still took advantage of it to go to the post office the next day. mailed out together.Since it was Christmas time, she did not expect to hear back soon.

As Christmas approached, the whole of Longbourne entered into festive celebrations. Grian and the cook, Mrs. Lesha, prepared roast goose together and took out smoked pork legs for Christmas Eve dinner, but the Bennet family Mrs. Madam and Miss Mary, too rich and too wasteful, too simple and shameless.As a result, they made a lot of dishes, but only a little of each, and the rest Mary and Mrs. Bennet distributed to the servants, and made them happy.

The heavy snow and Christmas came as promised, and there was heavy snow like goose feathers in the gray sky. Mrs. Bennet took Mary to make new clothes. Her clothes were baggy and looked very ugly.Mary made a sheer blue dress that was trimmed with silver fox fur and was very beautiful. Her slender waist was wrapped in warmth without feeling tight.Mrs. Bennet bought a silk fan, which she said was cheap this season.

But Mary feels that this fan is not cheaper than in summer. It comes from the far east, China, which is farther than the Indian colony, and every lady in the social circle cannot refuse it. Everyone needs an exquisite hand-held folding fan, which is elegance. And beautiful.But Mary never liked those noble ladies who covered their smiling faces with fans in winter. She didn't think it was beautiful at all, but thought they were pretentious.

But in order not to spoil Mrs. Bennet's happiness, Mary didn't say a word, and Christmas should be left to her.Mrs. Bennet bought a lot of items with undiminished enthusiasm.Those businesses should really thank her and her daughters for what they do for local businesses.Mary thought so, but insisted on accompanying her mother to complete the shopping.It's like peeling off the skin, being asked tirelessly for opinions that you would never listen to, being constantly recommended various products, and enduring Mrs. Bennet's enthusiasm.

After being tortured, Mary returned home, she was so tired that she didn't want to move, thank God, tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and it will finally pass.

On Christmas Eve, she received a reply. The result of the submission disappointed her. The reply heavily criticized her writing and advised her not to have unrealistic thoughts.Mary, who was prepared to be rejected, was unexpectedly angry. She didn't think there was anything wrong with her little article.On the contrary, it was much better than those published in the newspapers, but it was ruthlessly criticized and belittled as worthless. If it was rejected, it should be very polite. I don’t know who is so ruthless.

In order not to affect her mood, Mary ignored the reply letter, and she happily prepared baked apples with Mrs. Bennet. They gave the servants a holiday and had to do everything by themselves.But Mary was very happy. It was rare for her to cooperate with Mrs. Bennet. The two of them hurriedly cooked the ingredients prepared the day before into delicacies. The people are ready, the roast goose is put in the hearth with embers to smoke slightly, the smoked pork leg has been sliced, the bread needs to be made first, but it has been fermented, just put it in the oven and bake it. This is still a problem.

The mother and daughter who were not good at cooking spoiled the bread, so Mr. Bennet had to go to the bakery in the town to buy it. Fortunately, it was not too late and he bought some before the bakery closed.The sun was about to set in the evening, but the light at this time was no different from the daytime, it was gloomy. When the darkness completely enveloped the earth, Mr. Bennet finally came back on his horse, with goose feathers on his hat and shoulders The snowflakes, the horses at home are also wet, and the horses are pacing anxiously, waiting for someone to lead them to rest.Mary took off her father's cloak, swept away the snow, and hung it by the fire. Mr. Bennet took off his hat again. The bread in his bag exudes the smell of warm wheat. Complaining that the snow was too heavy and the road was difficult to walk, Mrs. Bennet who greeted him wrapped her husband in her oily and warm hands. She pulled him to sit by the fire and took off his snow-stained boots and socks inside. It was a little damp, and Mrs. Bennet made her cold husband drink a cup of hot cocoa, and kissed his slack face.

Mary went outside to lead the horse back to the stable, and wiped its wet fur with a cotton cloth. The horse snorted affectionately, tilted its head to enjoy the service of the little master, and saw Mary giving it a little more. He took the oatmeal and rubbed her hair happily.As the light sank into the west completely, the candles of Longbourne lit up, Mr. Bennet by the fire said that when he came back, he saw there were still homeless people on the street, and the current social order was becoming more and more unstable. He was disturbed to keep Mary and Mrs. Bennet from going out at night anytime soon, those bums could do anything.

Having said these unpleasant things, Mr. Bennet looked forward to the dinner prepared by his wife and daughter. Of course, there were chickpea stew with preserved vegetables, roast goose and smoked pork leg, as well as stewed potatoes, beef pudding and a good bottle of house wine. , the three happily ate dinner and began to wish each other well.The family said good night to each other after celebrating mass in front of the cross and singing hymns in front of the Christmas tree. Mary had a wonderful dream that night. In the dream, the snow stopped, and a bright moon in the sky reflected the cold gray snow and In the cedar forest, she was wearing a tulle-like skirt, but she was not cold at all. In the snow, she danced with a gentleman with a vague face.