little miss austin

When she left Newton Manor, she didn't leave even a scrap of paper, but took everything away, including the custom-made wooden planks.When they arrived at Daylesford House, they erected boards and nailed up papers as before.

Hastings is very interested in her method of setting, but thinks that she will lose her creative passion, and she has turned literary creation into a "job" rather than a creative thing.

"Art creation is an 'accidental event', you have to have 'passion' and 'desire', you have a core story, a core character, and then create around this core."

"That's the same for me, I establish the core, then use the material and materials to form a framework, and then add details to it. Once I have done the preliminary work, the writing stage will be very fast, I may write 4 a day. Hours or more. There is no fixed routine for creation, and I can choose the creation habit that suits me."

"You can. Indeed, the method of creation varies from person to person, and it should not be fixed. What is good and what is not, as long as you think this is more suitable." Hastings looked kindly Looking at her, "Tell me, what's the matter with you and the Bundfield boy? Or, the Gordon boy? Or, the Byron boy?"

She lowered her head and smiled, "Don't think about them now."

"Alice, you don't have a father anymore. I can be regarded as your godfather. I watched the three of them grow up. If you need it, I can talk to them."

She nodded.

"You have money now, don't worry about most things, if there are any problems that can't be solved, tell me."

"I will."

Many years later, when I returned to Daylesford, I changed a few servants. The Indian servants are still there, and the peacocks are still there. They gave birth to a few litters of peacocks, and they can even steam a peacock to eat when they entertain guests; there are a few more monkeys. , A monkey mountain was built for monkeys to play.

Alice still worked in the morning, and took a walk with Hastings before breakfast. Hastings was in good health, except for the age spots that gradually increased on his face and hands, he was considered healthy.

He has a lot of life experience, he has seen almost everything in life during his time in India and Bangladesh.He talked about his wife who passed away. He said that she died of puerperal fever due to the illness caused by childbirth. It was very painful. His newborn daughter was so immature and lovely, but passed away prematurely. He buried his wife and A young girl, she lost her son the following year.

He told her about the pain he had been through, the pain that was so deeply etched in his heart.Love and marriage did bring him happiness, but happiness was so short, leaving him more pain.Happiness satisfies, pain makes him silent, and—cruel.He spoke of some of the actions he had sanctioned in the Indian subcontinent, many of which were not humane.

He explained to her why some tough decisions had to be made at that moment, he had the best interests of the East India Company and the British government in mind, he had some dishonorable blood on his hands, but as long as the gains outweighed the losses , then those are "collateral damages" and can be ignored.

When Alice was studying in Daylesford, Hastings felt that she was still too young, and she didn't know much about many ugly conspiracies. Now she felt that it was time for her to understand the dark side of society.

Sometimes she wonders if it is a good thing that she knows so much. This era is not like the information age of the later generations, where you can know the world's affairs with a small handheld terminal device. Half of the people in this country have never left their birthplace. 20 Miles away, the only things they could know were what was said in the newspapers, and what was said by word of mouth.As William Beckford once said, the more you know, the less happy you are.

Ivo returned to London from the Isle of Wight, became an unofficial reporter for the London Morning Post, wrote a letter to Alice, and then disappeared again.She deeply suspected that Ivo went undercover again, but he didn't say what topic he chose this time, and he didn't even mention that he was going out to work.She hadn't told him she had been to Newton Park, but Faraday Park was only a few miles away, Julian and Maria were at Faraday Park again, and he must have known she was visiting Oliver.

Ivo didn't say anything, and seemed to pretend not to know.

Sidney, who stayed in London, wrote to say that Byron had been in fits of madness, and had visited her every morning, afternoon and evening for a week, refusing to believe that she was not in London, and always thinking that Sidney was lying to him, thinking that she was hiding from him.After the person stopped coming, I wrote several letters and sent them over one day, sending flowers and gifts, which was very annoying.Ask her what to do with Byron's letter.Alice wrote back and asked her to keep Byron's letter, but she was not allowed to peek, and she would deal with it when she went back.

The latest gossip in London, the Viscount of Melbourne finally couldn't bear it anymore, and forcibly sent his wife to the family castle in Scotland. She is the best friend of Mrs. Caroline Lamb. She is 38 years old and 14 years older than Byron.

According to rumors, Byron was very fascinated by Mrs. Jane Harley's second daughter, Charlotte, who was only 11 years old and born extremely beautiful.

Mrs. Jane Harley is very famous in London and has countless lovers. It is said that her 7 children, except the eldest daughter who can be sure to be the child of her husband, the Earl of Oxford, may have different biological fathers for the other 6 children.The Earl of Oxford was not some cowardly husband who swallowed his anger, and everyone knew that he had public and private mistresses.

Mrs. Oxford's youngest son died in early April. The child was only more than 4 months old. He was not buried in the Earl of Oxford's family cemetery, but was buried in a church in the suburbs of London.The Earl of Oxford did not comfort his bereaved wife, but lingered in his mistress' apartment.So at least this child, one can be sure, is not the Earl of Oxford's cub.

The child was still young, and the mother did not have time to feel grief for him. After her best friend, Mrs. Caroline, left London, Mrs. Oxford hooked up with Byron.

Alice didn't think much of it when she heard the new gossip, he liked either older mature women or underdeveloped teenage girls, he slept with Mrs Oxford, loved his mistress' young daughter, morality was a thing for this man No, but he should be like Teresa in Athens, mostly admiring, enjoying the company of young girls, and unlikely to take any practical actions—he thinks the immature innocence and youth of teenagers are very beautiful, until They had to be a few years older to talk about "sex," but before they got older, he'd shifted his interest.

He is a bit of a pedophile, but he is not a pedophile, and he doesn't like the flat body of underdeveloped teenagers. Like ordinary men, he likes women with big breasts and soft bodies, women with feminine charm. In this regard, he is quite understandable.

Alice updated the gossip and quickly put Byron's affairs behind her.

She stayed at Daylesford House for ten days, attended classes every day, and on the last day of June, said good-bye to Mr. Hastings and went to Wokingham.

Oliver was doing well at the Earl's.

Jimmy is no longer his valet, he has a valet named Jesse.Jesse is a smart ghost, always able to do the things the young master entrusted him with quickly and well.

The carriage with the family crest of the Hastings family stopped in front of the main entrance of the Archimedes Manor. Jesse opened the door and helped Alice down.

"Alice." Oliver stood on the steps and stretched out his hand.

"Ollie." She put her hand in his.

"I've been waiting for you for many days, and I'm afraid you won't come."

"I said I will always be with you." She smiled, "Tell me, you haven't seen me for a few days, do you miss me?"

"Extremely. Did you miss me?"

"miss you too."

"I asked you to tidy up the guest room, which is next to my room." Oliver led her into the door.

"Next to your room? Is that okay?" she asked in a low voice.

"What's wrong? There is a door between the two rooms, you can sneak in whenever you want."

Sure enough, all men have the same idea, without exception.

Alice jerked his hand away.

Earl Devroll was tall and strong. He might have looked pretty good when he was young, but once he got fat, he ruined everything, and now he is a strong fat man.He has no son, but five daughters, four of whom are married, and one daughter, Elizabeth, who is the same age as Alice, is not married.

Regarding Oliver's arrangement of Alice's room next to his room, the earl said, as long as you are happy.

And Cousin Elizabeth said, Alice, you are finally with Oliver, great!

Elizabeth is also a girl from a relative's family who once lived in Newton Manor. She met Alice when she was a child, but the time she spent with her was short, and it was too late to become a best friend.The earl's family is well educated, and there is no plot of an unruly young lady. Elizabeth is a kind and kind girl, and soon becomes friends with Alice.

This time Alice didn't bring the wooden board. She had already organized the story line, and the materials and materials were arranged in order, and she was ready to start writing at any time.

But before starting to write the new book, she wrote a letter to Henry Austin, saying that she was going to start a magazine for women, publishing the latest fashion dress styles, women's beauty and health tips, women's health common sense, recipes, Book ads and samples, poetry, serials, celebrity columns, London socialite news and more.

At present, there are only a few magazines on sale in the UK, all of which are dominated by male readers. The Gentleman's Magazine, which was published in January 1731, was the first publication to use "Magazine".The earliest women's periodical was "The Ladies Mercury", which was published for only 1 weeks in 1693, but "Ms. Mercury" is not a complete periodical, but a double-sided printed newspaper. "Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe, author of "The Diary," has written some reviews for "Ms. Mercury."

There is a famous saying in later generations of merchants that children and women are the easiest to earn money. In this era, a large number of families that got rich first emerged during the Industrial Revolution. Women in these families generally received education, regardless of their education level. At least to the extent that they can read and write independently, women's economic ability and literacy rate have increased, so this emerging huge market is not reflected in the media industry, in Alice's opinion, how incredible it is!

Wokingham is very close to London, and you can reach the city at noon by carriage. Alice goes to London almost twice a week for the new magazine, stays in London for one night, and returns to Wokingham the next day.

The first time she went by herself, and the second time she took Oliver with her, and picked up custom-made sunglasses with smoky gray crystal lenses in an optical shop.He still has bandages with ointment over his eyes, which can be hidden by wearing sunglasses.

After taking off the sunglasses, he took him to Henry's office.

This is the first time for Henry to see the injured Oliver, and he feels very distressed. What a beautiful young man, it would be a pity if he really lost his sight!

Oliver didn't think there was anything wrong with it, except that it was inconvenient to walk and unable to read books and newspapers by himself, but he could still do many things by himself, and most of the other things could be done by servants.

He was sitting on the single sofa in Henry's office, listening carefully to Alice telling Henry about her ideas for running a journal.

It will take about 3 to 6 months from the preliminary preparations. In the early stage, a few trial editions with a small number of pages will be printed, and they will be delivered with the "London Morning News". The subscription system is mainly implemented, with an annual fee of 3 pounds or 5 GBP, you can get 1 magazines for a whole year that will be officially published in January next year; she wants to recruit editors, and it is initially determined that there will be 12 copy editors and 3 proofreader, all of whom are women; there will also be a magazine office with clean windows. ;With an advertising salesman, this job is more suitable for a man, after all, I am afraid that no one has ever worked as an advertising salesman for a woman, but in the future, I can train a female salesman specially;

I also need to find a printmaker to draw illustrations for magazines. This can be done by special contract. The artist does not have to sit on duty, but works at home, and the piecework system can save salary costs. Printing issues, because illustrations can only be drawn, and then engraved engravings, illustrations All adopt single-sheet color printing. To solve the problem of color ink, the machine does not matter. One printing machine is dedicated to each color. Even if more colors are used, red, yellow, blue, and green, that is, 4 more printing machines are used. We have our own printing machines. The biggest advantage is that it can only be calculated as a cost price.

Today's newspapers also have illustrations. Many newspapers publish political satires and character satires, but they are all printed in monochrome with black ink. Most of the illustrations in "Gentlemen's Magazine" are also printed in monochrome, with only a small amount of red. Overprint illustrations, if the new magazine uses 4-color overprint printing, it will be the first magazine in the world to use color printing technology.

She put forward very specific and strict requirements for the ink. The ink should not smudge or smear when you touch it with your hands. .After Austin Industrial’s steam printing machine was launched on the market, it has actually forced the printing ink industry and the printing paper industry to carry out technological innovations in advance. Previously, the speed of manual printing was slow, and the problem of quick-drying ink was not serious, and the problem of paper was not serious. Fast machinery Printing makes these two problems urgently need improvement.

Austin Publishing House has bought a printing house in the outer suburbs of London, and now it is a large publishing house integrating printing, publishing of other reading materials, newspaper publishing, and distribution. The stamp duty alone costs at least several thousand pounds every year.

Henry supports Alice's idea of ​​starting a magazine. Alice has money herself, and the start-up capital is not a problem. He has read the plan, and the profit prospect is also very promising. To make money from advertising, you can go to drugstores, clothing stores, hat stores, shoe stores, jewelry stores, perfume stores, cosmetics stores to talk about advertising; the rise of the bourgeoisie has created a large number of middle-class families. They have a lot of money and don’t know how to spend it. , the new magazine will also play the role of a shopping guide to a certain extent, and now the stores have also tasted the benefits of advertising. Does a colorful advertisement on a whole sheet of paper look impressive?

Austin Publishing has done a two-color printing experiment in the printing of "Child Harold's Travels" before, and the readers have responded very well, but the number of prints is not as large as that of newspapers or magazines. The illustrations can be dried and then bound. Ink and paper requirements are not too high.

Next, we discuss the issue of page numbers.

One of the traditional binding techniques is folding saddle stitching, which is suitable for booklets with a small number of pages; the other is single-page glue binding. After the pages are cut neatly, glue is applied to the spine and then pasted. For the cover, this kind of binding technology is mostly used in books, and the quality of the glue must be good, otherwise a book will be degummed within a few pages, which is too ugly.

Oliver couldn't see the Austin brothers and sisters, so he could only listen to their discussion.Alice considered almost all the issues, and of course there were some that she couldn't. That was because she hadn't done specific affairs before and didn't understand. After Henry told her, she could quickly adjust her plan.

He likes to listen to her talk, the soft girl's voice, no matter what she says, it sounds good, even if it is something he can't understand.He liked her confident tone when she talked about these things, this tone he had heard before, right at General Wesley's headquarters, in a sense, Alice was like a commander on the battlefield, she liked things Follow her ideas, and she is also very good at persuading others, Henry is an example.

He didn't realize until today that Henry Austin trusted and doted on his little sister. He agreed with everything she said, filled in the details for her vision, and considered things she didn't think about.After all, he must be responsible for implementing the details. After all, first, Alice is impatient to implement the details in the same way. She is a general and is only responsible for proposing a battle plan, and the specific logistics are handled by subordinates; second, a girl wants to go out to talk to people. , What she gets is more likely to be ridiculed and despised. She has to pay twice or even more effort to accomplish what a man can easily do. Alice will not waste her time on details.

Questions about women's employment are interspersed in the sibling conversation.Now those who can come out to work are all lower-level women, because they have to support their families, including women workers in textile factories and itinerant salespersons in theaters; further up are salespersons in various shops, which are the first choice for girls from the civilian class with better family backgrounds; and then priests Class, the priest's daughter is usually well-educated, but does not have enough money to be a lady at home, the most common occupations are governesses and girls' boarding school teachers; because of the Austin Typewriter Company, many girls are still You can be a typist and a secretary; then there are actresses and "actresses".Alice wanted to recruit some female editors, but she might not be able to find them at all.

After the meeting, Henry invited Alice and Oliver to a nearby restaurant for dinner.

Alice basically didn't need to take special care of Oliver. He had already learned to eat by himself, but he ate slowly. Every time a dish was served, the waiter would tell him what it was, so that he knew how to eat it.He ended up with a clam and corn chowder, and he spilled some of it on his chin.Alice wiped his chin with a napkin.

He was a little embarrassed and whispered "thank you".

Henry smiled and watched the two talking in a low voice, and felt that Alice could finally settle down this time, which was a good thing to make his mother happy.Mrs. Austin is getting older, and her temper has indeed changed a lot compared to before. She is stubborn and nagging. As a child, she always wants to satisfy her in everything. Anyway, money is not bad, and things that can be solved with money are not considered a big deal. Only Alice's marriage has always been a big rock in Mrs. Austen's heart.

Because of Cathy, Henry didn't think there was anything wrong with Alice not wanting to get married. Among the acquaintances of the Austin family, there were also women who were not married.But Henry still thinks she needs to get married if she has a suitable suitor.For example, when she went to visit Oliver in Newton Manor, she should not have lived in his house without the company of an older woman, but Mrs. Austin stopped talking to her at this time, and even acquiesced. She can also accept getting engaged and getting married for a few years.

Henry also thinks this is not a big deal, and his attitude towards Oliver is basically like welcoming his brother-in-law. The purpose is that he likes whoever Alice likes. Now that she is annoying Byron, his dealings with Byron are limited to business. out of range.He knew that Byron still wanted to reconcile with Alice, but ignored him.

After eating, Alice took Oliver to say goodbye to her brother and got into the carriage.

The carriage drove to the London residence of the Baron's family.

"Do you want to go back to live at night?" Oliver held her hand, fingers scratching her palm.

"Do you have a spare room in your house?"

"there must be."

"Then can I choose a room by myself?"

"Yes. You can try to be a hostess first."