[Pride and Prejudice] Mary's Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 68 Divergence

"Andrew, you are too close to Miss Lydia."

Colonel Edwards looked at his younger brother and laughed at himself: "Could it be that I have a love disease, and all women should stay away from me?"

"Your attention to Miss Lydia has exceeded the norm. I used to think that you would not fall in love with such a little girl."

"Oh, Alf dear, love has no rules."

Alfred stopped suddenly, and he asked in surprise: "Are you really in love with Miss Lydia?"

Colonel Edwards hesitated for a moment, he said hesitantly: "Maybe, maybe not, I can't be sure but I can't deny it."

Alfred looked into his brother's eyes and said slowly: "If you haven't confirmed this relationship, then I beg you to try to restrain yourself."

"Why?" Colonel Edwards dissatisfied, "Aren't I worthy of girls' admiration?"

"You are my elder brother. Of course I hope you can find your lifelong soul mate as soon as possible, but I don't see any future happiness for you and Miss Lydia at all."

Colonel Edwards' face suddenly sank: "Then do you think she is not worthy of me, or I am not worthy of her?"

Alfred said sternly: "The crux of the matter is not here. First of all, I don't see your willingness to marry her. That lady is young and immature, and she doesn't know how to play the little tricks you have with those actors and ladies. .Secondly, if you get married, I don't see that marriage doing any good to either of you."

Colonel Edwards said sarcastically: "Are you weighing marriage now? Alf, let me ask, what is your price? If a lady wants to marry you, how much does it cost? ?”

Alfred breathed a sigh of relief: "I don't mean money and material benefits, Andrew, if you marry Miss Lydia, you must be prepared to take care of an immature little wife for the rest of your life , I don’t think you are ready yet and you don’t have the patience to treat your own wife. Besides, Miss Lydia’s marriage to you is nothing more than two endings, either to have fun with you all day long, which is not bad Alright, or you'll just be jealous all day long, and then both of you will have a hard time."

Alfred stared into the eyes of Colonel Edwards and asked: "Are you ready? Are you determined to form a family with Miss Lydia and be faithful to the marriage? If so, I naturally bless you. But if you are only out of If it is fresh and interesting to associate with that young lady, then I absolutely do not approve of it, and any love that does not lead to a happy marriage is just a tragedy. I do not want either of you or Miss Lydia to be hurt by this tragedy."

Colonel Edwards was silent for a while, and answered with difficulty: "I don't know, I am very happy with Lydia, and she likes me very much, but everything you mentioned is too far away, Alf, I am a prodigal son , romantic, but it does not mean that I will not fall in love with a beautiful and simple woman, but I am also afraid that because of my inferiority, I will not be able to bear the responsibility of marriage."

"Before you make up your mind, you should stay away from her." Alfred suggested.

Colonel Edwards frowned: "I'm afraid I can't do it, but I promise I won't hurt her."

Seeing that Alfred was still talking, he interrupted him with a wave: "Stop trying to persuade me, Alf, Miss Lydia is my friend, and I won't give up on my friend, but I promise to stay with her Keep a distance in this regard, she is still an immature little girl, I will definitely restrain my behavior."

This guarantee did not satisfy Alfred. In his opinion, the relationship between Edwards and Miss Lydia is very dangerous, and he should rein in the precipice, but Colonel Edwards has already strode into the house. Alfred De had no choice but to find a suitable opportunity to have a sincere and in-depth talk with his brother next time.

The hall was very lively, and Mary and Lydia had been in for a while.

Just when the brothers opened the door and entered, Miss Edwards was standing on a chair in the middle of the venue and giving a passionate speech: "From ancient times to the present, people believe that women's physical strength and intelligence are lower than men, and I was also treated like this when I was young." Warning to grow up, but I am 17 years old this year. My life experience of more than ten years tells me that many women are smarter than men, and they are often more kind and generous. They act as guardians and comforters in the family However, people turn a blind eye to this and think that women are men’s vassals and slaves. When a woman is not married, she still enjoys a little human rights, but when she gets married, she will find that she is no longer alone. No one's rights and liberties, her property and herself belong entirely to his husband, this man has full authority to represent her, whether in law or politics, and if she is treated unfairly by her husband, then no one will stand for her Stand out, because people can't find her legally. Marriage has nothing to be comforted except that we women lose ourselves!"

Alfred held his forehead, regretting that he was delayed outside too late, he couldn't help but look at Andrew with some blame, and Andrew also looked regretful, Adrian walked to the two of them at this time, Colonel Edwards started He blamed this brother: "You should watch her and talk like her. When it reaches that old stubborn ear, our family will be in trouble again."

Adrian spread his hands: "Brothers, please tell me how to do what even you can't do?"

Colonel Edwards suddenly lost his temper.

Alfred said in a low voice: "I knew she would have to do this, luckily I sent grandfather away in advance."

Adrian looked at his silly brother and said, "Sooner or later, the sword will fall from your head. In London, news spreads faster than the best horse."

Colonel Edwards covered his head: "God, he will definitely say that I led her into trouble! I don't want to be safe."

Adrian nodded affirmatively: "That's for sure, in fact, I think so too."

"Shut up, Adrian." Colonel Edwards said irritably.

Alfred was impatient to hear the two brothers bickering. He saw Mary and Sisters standing in a corner not far away. Kitty and Lydia looked a little bored, but Mary and Daphne listened with gusto, so he Quietly walked over and stood beside Mary.

Mary felt the same when she heard what Miss Edwards said. That's right, British laws are so sloppy. Unmarried ladies have legal rights. They can dispose of their own property and sign contracts and legal documents by themselves. When she gets married, all her rights will be transferred to her husband, and her husband will be responsible for everything she does, even if it is her dowry, if there is no agreement signed before marriage, she will It cannot be used casually.

Although the people in this era are civilized and civilized, men all pay attention to gentlemanly demeanor, and all of them are courteous and courteous to ladies in public, but in fact, few think highly of women in their hearts.

Mary understood Miss Edwards' indignation very well. It was because of this that she considered whether she should stay single for life long ago. It was too difficult to find a husband with a conscience.

When she saw Mr. Alfred approaching, she said to him: "It hits the nail on the head, doesn't it? For women, being married is as much as being dead."

Seeing the sympathetic expression on Mary's face, Alfred disagreed: "After a woman gets married, she becomes one with her husband. They become one person. The starting point of this is not to deprive a woman of It is the right to bring couples closer together so that they can understand each other and stay together."

"Perhaps, what Miss Edwards said is not unreasonable. Women pay too much for their families and receive too little." Mary looked at him and said.

Alfred frowned: "Actually, she may not really think so. Recently, my grandfather found a fiancé for her, and Olivia was very dissatisfied. She probably did this out of resistance to her tough grandfather rather than because of it." I really want to get the freedom of marriage."

"Is that so?" Mary looked at him.

Alfred nodded: "Think about it, she didn't have so many long talks when she met you the day before yesterday, because she had a big fight with her grandfather yesterday, my grandfather is a traditional and stubborn old man who never valued women. Children. But our brothers have already thought of a way to persuade grandfather to give up this idea, but now I am afraid that Olivia's words today will annoy him and make things out of hand."

Mary thought about it carefully, and said: "No matter what Miss Edwards' starting point is, she is indeed dissatisfied with the current marriage system. I don't think her doing so may be a bad thing. When facing injustice, someone must be the first to stand. Come out and speak out, so that people will face up to those problems, and everything will be possible to find a solution."

As she said that, she was a little less interested: "But in fact, women are indeed treated unfairly, whether in marriage or in society, and the irony is that the public generally defines women as weak, but they are unwilling to protect the weak. I think an important criterion for judging whether a society is advanced and civilized is to see how people treat the weak. If we advocate a strong and prosperous nation, but turn a blind eye to the suffering under our own wings when we are powerful, then this rich and strong country is shameful. .”

Alfred was silent for a moment, then slightly nodded and said: "Yes, a nation without kindness and compassion is sad."

Mary shook her head: "Just relying on the pity of others is also unreliable. Only making women stronger is the fundamental solution."

"That's right!" A voice suddenly said at this moment.

Mary and Alfred turned to see Miss Edwards, who had finished her speech very briefly.The guests gathered together in groups of three or four to discuss something enthusiastically. After greeting several people, Miss Edwards walked towards Alfred accompanied by Miss White.

She said to Alfred, "You don't mind if I bother you?"

Alfred smiled at her tenderly: "Never."

Miss Edwards asked Mary: "I heard Alfred say that you once asserted that we would have a female Prime Minister in England. Is this true?"

"Of course, I think that women are by no means inferior to men in terms of wisdom and knowledge, and most of them are more compassionate and kind than men. If society allows, women's achievements will not be inferior to men at all." Europe's first female prime minister was born.

Mary's words seemed to have turned off Miss Edwards' switch, and she said excitedly: "Yes, yes, it is true, we women are no different from men in essence, our souls are equal, our personality If we are equal, then our rights should also be equal! Economically and politically, we should be equal to men."

Miss Edwards felt that it was a pity that she didn't have an in-depth conversation with Mary last time. She was going to talk to Alfred, but she left her brother aside and had a lively chat with Mary.

Mary was saying, "Yes, ma'am, women are going to be involved in all walks of life. And I think if we can have queens, dames, then there will be female heads of state. We'll have female doctors, female lawyers, female officers, and even female fighters."

"Oh—" cried Miss Edwards, "Joan of Arc, I like that."

"There are also managers like me." Miss White, who had been silent all the time, interjected.

"Yes, Grace, you are now not only paying taxes independently, but paying more taxes than many ordinary people, and yet you don't get the same rights as them. It's really unfair that you should join us. signing event."

She was referring to the signature she asked for women's political rights when Alfred didn't come in. Alfred was a little confused at first, but after Mary explained to him, he objected Li: "No, you can't involve Grace, Grandpa will definitely blame her."

"Alf," Miss Edwards said impatiently, "we have made up our minds to resist all injustices, and we are all prepared to withstand all the storms."

"Just because you're ready doesn't mean Grace is ready, Olivia, I think you're being too impulsive when you say you're going to have a garden party to help Mrs. Fry raise money to improve conditions in women's prisons , but I didn’t expect you to be so radical that you would give a feminist speech at home, which will do you no good.”

"Do you think I'm doing something wrong?" asked Miss Edwards angrily.

"On the contrary, I think it's perfectly true, but it's not something that happens overnight."

"Then your delusion is slowly changing because you lack the courage to fight against difficulties, Alf. The courage to resist will be worn away in a long time."

"But blind resistance will only arouse greater resistance. Have you never thought about what kind of reaction grandpa will have?"

"Oh, on the contrary, I have thought a lot," said Miss Edwards indifferently. "When he forced me to marry that stupid and stupid Grant, I knew it was time to break with him."

Alfred sighed deeply: "I knew that your recent transformation has a lot to do with this."

"No, that's not the reason, it's a sex," Miss Edwards said firmly, "I will never get married until women can divorce at will..."

"Olivia!" Alfred sternly stopped his sister's rebellious declaration: "This is related to your lifelong happiness. I hope that you will make decisions about your future when you calm down. I hope you The decision he made was deliberate, for his own noble ideals and not out of impulse."

"It doesn't make any difference, anyway, the road I'm going to take is the same." Miss Edwards said angrily.

Seeing that the siblings were about to quarrel, Mary was so embarrassed that she didn't know what to do. Miss White pulled her arm and said to Mr. Alfred and Miss Edwards: "I think you should stop quarreling, don't forget We still have guests."

Miss White motioned their attention to Mary and the guests some distance away.

Alfred took a few deep breaths and quickly regained his composure. Miss Edwards was still a little unable to calm down, but she could force herself to smile at Mary.

The author has something to say:

It’s not that I’m in a hurry but that I’m in a hurry. I must try my best to spare some time to save some articles, otherwise it’s really bad to upload them at the end every time, and I will find that there are many places I want to modify in the future. , but it is no longer possible, alas...