[Pride and Prejudice] Mary's Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 46 Rejection of Marriage Proposal

On the second day of the ball, Uncle Gardiner left with Mr. Lake. They still had a lot of heavy work to do in London.Despite the loss of the company of several beloved friends, the Bennet home is still buzzing.They invited Miss White and her friends to Longbourn for two more meals, and Mr. Lawrence came with him at the last time. Mary didn't pay attention to this gentleman at first, although he invited Jane to dance again and again at this ball. Nobody thought anything was going to happen between him and the Meryton girls.

But when the guests left, at night, Elizabeth came to Mary's room and said to her, "Something has happened, Mary, come with me."

Seeing her pale face, Mary thought that some terrible tragedy had happened, but she was dragged into Jane's room. Jane sat on the bed and smiled when she saw the two younger sisters entering the room.

Her smile was still beautiful, but it had a bitter taste.

"What happened?" Mary asked.

"Mr. Lawrence proposed to Jane in the afternoon!" Elizabeth dropped a bombshell.

"What? When? Why didn't I know? No, I mean how did this happen? We've been together all day." Mary was a little incoherent in surprise. Mr. Lawrence may have had mutual affection with Jane before, but He didn't propose to Jane and left without saying goodbye, which made the Bennet family's good impression of him plummet.

"When we went for a walk in the woods next to the paddock in the afternoon."

Yes, they parted at that time, she and Mr Alfred, Kitty and Lydia with Mr Andrew, Elizabeth and Miss White, and no one noticed at all. Both Jane and Mr. Laurence were left behind.

"Jane, did you agree?" Mary asked quickly, but then she thought that Jane must have not agreed, otherwise she would not have the expression she has now.

Elizabeth pulled Mary to Jane's bed, and the three sisters sat together.

Jane patted Mary's hand: "I'm sorry for him, but I don't have that kind of feeling anymore, I mean, for Mr. Lawrence, I used to like him very much." Jane's face was a little red, but This was probably due to the fact that the candlelight was too close to her. She wasn't excited or had any emotions beyond ordinary, "But then he left without saying goodbye. I was so sad..."

Speaking of this, Elizabeth quickly hugged Jane, and Jane patted Elizabeth's shoulder and laughed: "It's all over, I'm not that fragile yet."

Mary was at a loss and said to Jane: "I'm sorry, Jane, I should have comforted you at that time."

"Don't you think I'm poor? Mary, how old were you then!"

Jane's smile was serene and beautiful, and she calmly told the two of her feelings: "If Mr. Lawrence proposed to me after my social dance a few years ago, I would definitely agree to her immediately. The happiest person in the world." Jane stared at the candle light in a daze, "but yesterday he had a long conversation with me, he kept telling how much he loved me and how he fell for me, but he left without saying goodbye Not a word was said."

"You still want to embrace a beauty like this!" Mary complained to Mr. Lawrence in disgust, "It seems that Mr. Lawrence is not as gentleman as he appears, and he has no sense of responsibility."

Jane shook her head: "I believe he must have other reasons or difficulties, and I am willing to understand his difficulties."

"Do you still love his mother?" Elizabeth interrupted Jane and asked her softly.

"No, the fire of love has obviously been extinguished."

"Then there's nothing to think about, is there?"

"Yes, I didn't hesitate at all when he proposed to me today, and I don't regret it now," Jane smiled lightly, "It's just that I'm still a little uneasy, I think it's probably because I'll never meet him again. A suitor with such good conditions, why... if there is something missing?"

Elizabeth laughed and said, "My God, you should turn into a cat to hear what people in Meryton say about you. If you can't marry a good one, no girl in this world deserves to be happy."

"Yes," echoed Mary, "Mr. Laurence is not a very good match."

Jane forced a smile and said, "In short, I won't consider marriages for reasons other than love. I just regret that I can't fall in love with Mr. Lawrence, even though I once liked him."

So she probably regretted missing it...

Jane cheered up: "Thank you for sharing this with me. I feel better."

Elizabeth smiled and said: "I should thank you, I really like to ask about how you used to like those idiots in the past, this will add some experience for me to stay away from those people."

Mary also nodded solemnly: "Me too, especially about the secrets of those young gentlemen and ladies, because I can't talk about these in public, so my curiosity is getting stronger."

"Oh, if that's the case, you can call Kitty and Lydia together." Jane sat upright and said solemnly, "Miss Bennet should share this experience and pass it on to the younger sisters, so that they don't have to. Repeat the mistakes of my sister..."

"Oh, please, our bed will be crushed—" Elizabeth cried.

The three sisters talked and laughed together, and Elizabeth and Mary didn't leave at night. They huddled together on her bed with Jane, the candles were blown out, and the moonlight outside the window shone on them through the glass. Speak your mind, talk freely, until you can't help but fall asleep one by one.

Miss White left Meridon two days later, with Mr. Andrew and Alfred, Mr. Lawrence with them, and the Bennet ladies to see them off. Mr. Lawrence treated them The attitude is not at all different from the past.But Jane performed better than him, and was more polite than him, which made both Mary and Elizabeth breathe a sigh of relief. It seemed that Jane had completely walked out of the shadow of Mr. Lawrence, and was no longer affected by him at all. .

Meridon held a few more dances afterwards, and Mary was finally able to dance most of the steps smoothly.

During this period, Miss White came to two letters, discussing with Mary the issue of establishing a product development team.Miss White had discussed this issue with several Miss Bennets several times when she was in Meridon. After returning to London this time, Miss White prepared a detailed plan and sent it to Longborn after her ideas matured. Sisters After reading it in detail, they put forward their own opinions for revision. After going back and forth several times, the plan finally took shape.

The first step of the plan is to recruit all kinds of talents. First of all, of course, we need to find a few chefs with good cooking skills and quick thinking. Mary is the first to recommend Alice's sister Lily. She is now in Meridon's food store. As a chef, she has a quick and intelligent mind, and has come up with many good ideas for product improvement. She is a good seed, and Mary is very optimistic about her.

At first, when Mary spoke to Lily, she thought that she would immediately agree. After all, she was going to work in London, and her salary was twice as much as it is now.But Lily refused immediately.Her face was flushed, and she rubbed the apron around her waist back and forth with both hands. She said to Mary very uneasy: "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, Miss Mary, I don't want to leave here, I don't want to leave my family, I want to keep Meriton to work." .”

Mary was a little surprised by her reaction. She wanted to persuade Lily further, but Elizabeth who came with her quickly stopped her. Elizabeth said to Lily: "Of course, it always makes us feel sad to leave our family. I often go to London, and I still live in my uncle’s house, but even though my uncle and aunt take good care of me and are considerate, I can’t help but miss Langborn, and it’s right not to leave my family.”

She took Mary and left quickly, and motioned to Lily: "That's just our suggestion, it doesn't mean that you must go to London, of course you should stay here with your family."

On the way back Elizabeth said to Mary, "I'm afraid Lily hasn't forgotten the terrible experience in London."

Mary suddenly realized that she had forgotten this episode long ago. Fortunately, Elizabeth came with her, otherwise she might have urged Lily to go to London, which would be very embarrassing for Lily.

"In that case we really can't let her go to London."

"Yes," Elizabeth sighed, "once the damage is done, it will never be forgotten. I still can't believe that a father would do such a thing. But the more I grow up, the more I know that this kind of evil is everywhere. The more I learn about the world, the more disappointed I am with it."

Mary thinks that Elizabeth is a bit extreme: "Evil and goodness always coexist. You can find goodness in any evil place, just as you can find evil in any good place. So you don't have to be too disappointed in this world for the time being. "

"Oh, yes, just as I don't have to worry about death for the time being since I'm still alive."