[Pride and Prejudice] Mary's Pride and Prejudice

hunt

Elizabeth and Mary entered the room, and Mrs. Bennet was having a lively discussion with Mrs. Gardiner about Mr. Alfred. It was the exact opposite of Mr. Alfred's first visit to Longbourn, when Mrs. In Mrs. Bennet's eyes, she boasted about Colonel Edwards without saying a word. In her eyes, Mr. Alfred was just mediocre. Now the treatment of the two young people is completely opposite.In the eyes of Mrs. Bennet, Mr. Alfred is simply a prince charming. He is personable and cautious, and he is really a gentleman with status and education.

At this time, she was happily saying to Mrs. Gardiner: "I thought Mary might not be able to get married. She doesn't like dancing or socializing. She likes to stay in the room with books all day long. Not at all attractive, and in the end she was the only one left of the sisters to die alone with her parents. But now it's quite the opposite, and she may be the first of all the daughters to marry - Mrs. Edwards - my God, Her sisters will call her that in the future, and I get very excited when I think about it!"

"Mom—" Lydia's facial features were all wrinkled together, and she said coquettishly, "Don't call me Mary like that, I would think she married Colonel Edwards, then Colonel Edwards is too pitiful!"

"What are you talking about, Lydia? Even if she is married to Colonel Edwards, Mary is not unworthy!" Mrs. Bennet reproached Lydia. At this time, Mary and Elizabeth walked in. Mrs. Bennet Immediately waved to Mary: "Come here, dear."

She pulled Mary to her side, took a closer look at Mary's face with her hands, and looked at Mary's figure back and forth, and said to Lydia, "Look at Mary, she is so beautiful and rich, Even a handsome man like Colonel Edwards is equally attractive, but Mr. Alfred is very good, he is a lawyer and has a bright future, maybe Mary will become the wife of a judge in the future." Thinking of this, she was satisfied Laughed out loud.

Mary said with black lines all over her head, "Mom, you called me ugly a few days ago!"

"Oh, dear—" said Mrs. Bennet nonchalantly, "my daughter, however ugly she may be, is prettier than other girls! There is no Lucas lady like you !"

Mary rolled her eyes and felt helpless for this fickle mother.

At this time, the worried mother began to care about her daughter's clothes for the next day. The Edwards brothers just invited the girls to go horseback riding in the countryside. It was a small farm in Richmond where the Edwards family had a small lake. Ladies can go rowing.Although it is only February, the weather is warm and the grass has grown, which is a good time for outings.

Lord Adrian and Miss Woodhouse were married after Christmas, and they were still honeymooning in Europe. The old duke left Miss Edwards alone on the farm and refused to let her return until her brother and sister-in-law finished their honeymoon. London social circle.From the point of view of the old Duke, he thought that after Miss Woodhouse came back, Miss Edwards would have a dignified and decent sister-in-law from a well-born family who could properly teach her, admonish her words and deeds, and guide her thoughts. The granddaughter must become as steadfast in traditional feminine virtues as her sister-in-law.

However, Miss Edwards was bored alone at the farm. Knowing that Elizabeth and Mary had come to London, she sent a letter from Mr. Alfred, inviting them to the farm for two days, where they could go boating and fishing. , horse racing.In her letter, she said pitifully that if they had any sympathy, they should come here for two days, otherwise she would die of loneliness.Colonel Edwards said: "There are more people than horses in Hyde Park. People who really want to run horses will not choose it. Richmond Manor is a good choice."

Mrs. Bennet was glad that she had made sufficient preparations, and the girls had brought all the riding clothes.When Kitty learned to ride a horse last year, Lydia forced Mr. Bennet to learn with Kitty, but Mr. Bennet had no choice but to agree, and she learned it well.So this time she had to go with him as a matter of course.

Mary was a little worried, and specially asked Elizabeth to keep an eye on Lydia, so as not to let her have too much contact with Colonel Edwards.

It was very strange for Elizabeth to hear such a request from Mary. Although Colonel Edwards had some bad love history, but he and Lydia?

"I don't think I'm asking for trouble, Lizzie, I think Lydia has a crush on Colonel Edwards, and Colonel Edwards is handsome and personable, just the type Lydia likes, I'm afraid Lydia would fall for him, and Colonel Edwards would never be a good husband."

Elizabeth frowned and thought about it, and she said to Mary earnestly: "I will pay attention, a romantic and passionate person like Colonel Edwards is indeed easy to make people full of doubts about his feelings. But," she took a deep look at Mary , "If Lydia really developed feelings for him, I'm afraid things won't end so easily."

Mary was silent, worried that her wayward sister fell in love with a playboy or something, it was too much to test her IQ.

"The two of them haven't met a few times in total, and the contact with each other is not deep. I think there is still hope to alienate them." Mary said uncertainly.

Elizabeth nodded: "I hope so." She has already decided to take a good look at Lydia and Colonel Edwards tomorrow. She has always believed that she has a keen mind and strong insight. She will definitely notice the bud of love.God bless, I hope Lydia has not had time to fall in love with that man, a veteran in the field of love who has been lingering in the flowers for many years may never easily make up her mind to enter the palace of marriage...

Elizabeth believed that Colonel Edwards was not despicable enough to play with Lydia's feelings, but even though her sister had always been presumptuous, selfish and domineering, Elizabeth still did not want her to suffer any possible harm.

The next day the weather was fine, Mrs. Bennet opened the window and looked at the blue sky with a smile and said, "Today's weather is really good. I rarely see such good weather in London."

Mrs. Gardiner also said: "Yes, I have lived in London for many years, and the days when I see the blue sky are really very few."

Before nine o'clock, Alfred and Colonel Edwards came to pick up Mary and the others. Jane had received an invitation from Mrs. Nash before that, so she couldn't go with them today.

However, Kitty and Lydia chattered along the way, and everyone was not lonely.

Mary had already opened her heart yesterday, and was determined to explore a field that she had never gone deep into in this foreign country that she had lived in for more than ten years—to fall in love, so today she decided to have a good exchange of feelings with Mr. Alfred.But she is still a novice, and she really doesn't know what to do, and those references from her previous life don't seem to be applicable in this ancient country.After politely greeting Mr. Alfred, she has nothing to say. Of course, she still needs to find a topic. After stumbling and thinking, Mary decided to let nature take its course and talk to Alfred. The husband talked about some trivial matters after the separation. Now the atmosphere between the two is much more harmonious. Mr. Alfred has more and more smiles on his face. The two are like a pair of old friends, talking about it from time to time All kinds of news and old news comment on the opinions of both parties and intersperse some old interesting stories of the two.

In the blink of an eye, the destination has arrived.

When the two got out of the car, they still hadn't finished their thoughts. How could the short journey give them time to get back the fun they lost in these days of separation.But fortunately, the days to come are still long, so there is no rush, the two of them looked at each other and smiled.

Richmond's farm is just outside of London, where there are large grasslands and forests, which is a good place for horseback riding.Many aristocrats in London have villas here. There is an earl living in the east of Edwards's house, and the rest of the neighbors are also old and famous families.

Miss Edwards had been standing at the door waiting for them early, and she was very happy to see Mary and Elizabeth, as if they were close friends who hadn't seen each other for a long time.

She said to Elizabeth: "Dear Miss Elizabeth, although we have never met before, I don't think I am a stranger. Correspondence has made us close friends."

She praised their friendship in this way, so Elizabeth had to agree: "The like-mindedness among friends is far more important than the length of time they have known each other. I have heard many stories about Miss Edwards, and I admire you from the bottom of my heart. "

Miss Edwards quickly waved her hand and said frankly: "Don't mention it, now the retribution is coming. My grandfather locked me here. If I dare to go out, he will find trouble with the Women's Association."

Elizabeth has written to this lady several times, but she already knows her temper well, so she smiled and said: "I can't really believe that a farm will imprison your heart."

Miss Edwards immediately burst out laughing: "That's right, my heart is free, and grandpa can't control me about it, not to mention that I can't go back to London, and I can communicate freely with the outside world, and invite friends to come here freely .”

She took Mary's hand and said: "Miss Mary, I heard from Alfred that your riding skills are very good. I was ready to compete with you yesterday. My riding skills are highly praised." , but the gentlemen are always reluctant to let me ride too fast, and the ladies are afraid of taking risks."

Mary laughed when she heard this: "Miss Edwards, Mr. Alfred has never seen me ride a horse. What he knows is just hearsay, and it really can't be used as a criterion for judging the quality of riding skills."

Miss Edwards smiled heartily: "Whether you are skilled or not, you will know after a competition. Of course we can't be too arrogant, but we can't be too humble."

She turned her head to Elizabeth again and said, "Dear Elizabeth, I heard that your younger sisters are all excellent in riding skills, so as their older sister, you must be no less inferior, right?"

"If you think so, you're making a big mistake!" Elizabeth spread her hands. "Actually, my riding skills can only guarantee that I won't fall off my horse."

"What? Is this true?"

"Yes," Elizabeth nodded, "I fell off the horse twice when I was learning to ride a horse, so I started to tremble and fear when I was riding a horse. Seriously speaking, this is a story about fighting against fear. If you want me to learn well Riding a horse, I’m afraid you need to find a psychologist.”

Miss Edwards was amused by her words, and she smiled and said, "It's okay, we can still go boating, and have a picnic on the hillside in the afternoon. The wild flowers over there are all blooming, it's very beautiful."

However, Elizabeth kept in mind that she must always observe Lydia and Colonel Edwards, so she said that she could take a leisurely walk on horseback, as long as the speed is not fast, she can still take a walk on horseback, and let Lydia follow Just be by her side, so there is no need to disturb their pleasure of horse racing.

Over there, Lydia is visiting this small manor with Colonel Edwards. Although the manor is not big, because of its age, some decorative buildings are well maintained, which is worth seeing.Lydia didn't agree to Elizabeth's request when she heard Elizabeth's request. She said, "I still want to go hunting with Andrew. You'd better ask Kitty to accompany you."

"Hunting?" Elizabeth wondered, "Is it this season?"

Colonel Edwards smiled and said: "Although it is out of season, there are still some foxes in the forest. I heard Lydia say that you have never gone hunting with your father. I think we can go to experience it. There are many foxes in the farm. There are a lot of good hounds, the forest to the east does not belong to anyone, everyone can go hunting there."

Mr. Alfred has been silently following them, and he did not object to the proposal. There are no large wild animals in that forest, at most there are birds, foxes, rabbits, etc., and the biggest one is only Deer, but really lucky to meet that.

Since everyone was going to hunt in the forest, Elizabeth would not be spared. Men could ride their horses to chase their prey, but she could only follow behind slowly.

Mary changed her riding clothes, chose a white horse, and walked with Mr. Alfred.

Alfred, wearing a felt hat and holding a gun, rode on a horse and explained some hunting skills to her.Mary turned her head to look at him from time to time, not to mention, Alfred looked cool in such a suit.

Many nobles regard hunting as a decent skill, and the hunting ground has become a social place for gentlemen, so Mr. Alfred has been taught very strictly since he was a child. He explained to Mary the types of hounds, how to Searching for prey, tracking prey, and other hunts require attention.

They led a group of hounds to search in the forest. These were hounds kept by Duke Edwards on the farm. Mary didn't know the types of hounds, but according to Alfred, they were all famous dogs. The powerful dogs ran wildly, lowered their heads and sniffed fiercely, leading everyone through the forest for a long time, but they actually hit two wild rabbits.

Lydia was very excited and insisted on trying the pistol in Colonel Edwards' hand. Mary was afraid that she might accidentally go off.But Alfred said that with his brother taking care of him, there shouldn't be any problems.Mary thought it was because he was afraid that his brother was taking too much care of him.However, Alfred said that he could also teach Mary to shoot a gun, and Mary concentrated on learning new skills in a short while.

This pistol is very heavy, the barrel is very long, and the gunpowder inside emits a sulfurous smell. According to Alfred, there is now a small pistol with high sensitivity, but it is also easy to misfire.Mary looked at the size of Alfred's gesture, and felt that the small adjective was only relative to a man.

I don't know if it's because the forest is too big. By the time Mary found out, they had already separated from the large army.

But with Alfred as a local snake, Mary is not worried about getting lost at all, because she doesn't have to look after Elizabeth, and she doesn't have to worry about Lydia. Instead, she and Alfred are having fun, Alfred Red also taught her how to hunt birds.It's really easy to say this, just wait quietly, most birds don't distinguish colors, you can easily deceive them as long as you stay still, but it doesn't matter if you make any noise, Alfred will use a wooden whistle It's so much fun to imitate the calls of other birds and animals.

When Mary succeeded in scaring away the fifth bird, she decided to go back. Alfred comforted her by saying that most of the first hunts would come back in vain, and it was not worth being depressed at all.

Mary didn't feel sad at all. Although she got nothing, she was still very happy. She said to Alfred: "This afternoon's hunting experience is enough for me to reminisce, and I don't feel uncomfortable at all."

Alfred could see that she was really happy, so he didn't say anything else. He just brought the topic back to the interesting things that happened when he was hunting before, and he also blackmailed himself a lot about his shortcomings, which made Mary amused. laughing out loud.

They turned a corner and saw a group of people walking on the road. Colonel Edwards was talking with a strange gentleman, and Lydia was having a lively chat with another person.There was also a tall gentleman who followed Elizabeth silently. He had a serious and handsome face, but his slightly wrinkled brows really spoiled the beauty of his face.Mary was startled to see the man.

Mr. Darcy?

The author has something to say:

I'm really sorry, the power was off for half a day today, and I didn't call until three o'clock in the afternoon. Because of the power outage, I accumulated a lot of things that I didn't do. Later, I took the time to change what I wrote yesterday and repost it. Everyone, please help catch the bugs.

A lot of things are saved until tomorrow, so tomorrow may not be updated, if that is the case, the update will be postponed until Saturday, sorry!