little miss austin

June 1815, 6, Waterloo.

Waterloo is not far from Brussels, only 9 miles away, so it can be said that it is close at hand.

Napoleon Bonaparte returned from exile, determined to restore his kingdom of France.He gathered a force of 7 men and faced the multinational Allied forces commanded by General Wesley and the Prussian army commanded by General Blucher at Waterloo.

The multinational allied forces numbered 6, and the Prussian army 8.

All three forces are facing various problems.There are 2 British soldiers in the Multinational Allied Forces, but only 5 veterans who have experienced the Peninsular War. He can't take the risk of letting the children of the nobles go to the front line.

The battle started at 2:[-] am.

It had rained the previous few days and the ground conditions were poor. Napoleon believed that General Wesley would not attack before the ground dried out, so he was not ready for battle in time.

None of the three armies knew exactly when the frontal attack took place. Wesley's Ministry believed it was 11 o'clock, Napoleon's Ministry believed it was 10 o'clock, and some records said it was 11:[-].

The offensive sequence is that the artillery bombards for a while, then the heavy cavalry or dragoons attack, and then the infantry, advancing one by one, attacking, occupying, counterattacking, retreating, tug-of-war and attrition, until 21 o'clock in the evening, both sides stop fought.

Each of the three troops cleared the battlefield and counted the casualties.

There were 1 casualties in the multinational allied forces, 5 casualties in the Prussian army, 7000 soldiers in the French army were killed, and in the next few days, another 6 people were unable to receive timely treatment. and die.

Napoleon Bonaparte announced his abdication again a few days later on June 6.

General Wesley's battle report arrived in London on June 6, and the London Bulletin was issued the next day, making the report all public.

1815, end of August, Nepal.

Alice Austin has this month's letter from England.Brother Henry sent her the battle report of the Battle of Waterloo, letters from family and friends, and postal parcels, and he received a lot of them every time.

Mrs. Austin always felt that she was in the backcountry and had nothing to eat or wear, so she would send her a big bag every time.Food was not easy to send by post, so all she sent was cloth and Women's Times magazine, asking her to make skirts according to the latest styles on them, but she couldn't live in India for a few years and become a country girl.

As usual, he asked her when she would be back.Londoners are surrounded by a lot of gossip every day, and they don't remember her elopement scandal for a long time.Coupled with the Battle of Waterloo, people are talking about war now, and the big rewards that will surely come in the near future.

General Wesley - now the Duke of Wellington - wrote the battle report very plainly, briefly describing the battle process, and mainly commending a large number of subordinates. The officers whose names are written in the battle report will definitely receive medals and bonuses, The reward of title.

Among them was the name of Colonel Oliver Bundfield.

After the Peninsula War, Oliver was promoted to colonel and received his own baronetship.The title means fiefdom, which means that his income has increased.

Alice quickly finished reading the battle report and handed the newspaper to Ivo.

The battle report was not long, and Ivo finished it quickly.

He folded up the newspaper, held it in his hand, and asked softly, "Do you want to go back?"

"Go back in a few months." She found Oliver's letter among the letters.

A lot has happened over the past year.

Augusta Leigh gave birth to a girl in April 1814, whom he named Elizabeth Medora; Byron returned to England at the end of 4, and after the birth he visited only once.

Before he kidnapped and took Alice away, he met her cousin Annabella Millbank through Mrs. Caroline Lamb, and proposed to Annabelle, who was two and a half years younger than Alice. Born in May 2.She rejected Byron's marriage proposal at the time.

Annabelle was a bright girl, gifted in mathematics and geometry, and her father, Lord Millbank, invited a Cambridge professor to be her tutor.Byron thought she was smart enough to have a common language with him, but Annabelle, who was only 19 at the time, wanted nothing to do with the famous prodigal son.

Back in London, Henry found Byron and beat him up.

The other brothers, except Francis who has not come back, all came to him to discuss boxing skills. He suddenly discovered that the girl who offended a Godot would definitely be severely punished by his brothers. It will take a while to have a blue nose and a swollen face.

Throughout 1814, Byron was busy recovering the £5 he had been defrauded of.

Also because of his elopement scandal, many debtors are now unwilling to lend him money, and his financial situation has plummeted, so he has to work hard for Henry Austin to pay back the money. In the past year and a half, he has published 3 more books Long poems, all from the Turkish Tales series.

He was not loved by debtors, but was still the favorite poet of the fashionable people in London, and his poetry books sold very well, and the latest edition of "The Bride of Abydos" sold 10000 copies on the first day!This is unprecedented!

People still frantically pursue him, and poetry books are selling better and better.

As for the heroine of the elopement scandal, who did not marry Byron, did not return to London, and after a few months the matter was no longer discussed.

By September 1814, Byron proposed to Annabelle again.This time, Annabelle accepted the proposal.

But soon, Lord Millbank hastily sent his daughter away, and forbade Byron to go to her.

Byron was a little depressed.

A month later he had a new mistress, a West End actress, Susan Boyce.

Alice's life abroad was low-key.

Rich people can live comfortably anywhere. Nepal is full of exoticism and high altitude. They live in valleys where the climate does not fluctuate much.When they came to Nepal, Nepal had just become part of British India.

Ivo took her to climb mountains. Nepal is on the south side of Mount Everest, adjacent to the Himalayas. There are a lot of peaks over 5000 meters above sea level in this area.

She took a break of more than a year before continuing to write, finishing Goliath, the last book in the "In the Name of the Father" trilogy, and sending Jacob to send the manuscript back to London.

Goliath was published in September 1815.It was soon discovered that Henry Austin's younger sister, Alice Austin, had been away for two years because of the elopement scandal, and Alice Leigh had never published a new book. It was guessed that Alice Leigh was Alice Austin.

But soon someone denied it, saying that if Alice Leigh is the youngest girl in the Austin family, wouldn't it mean that she started writing "England Horror Stories" at the age of 15?This is impossible! "England Horror Stories" was first published in the "London Morning News" under the name of Lady Christiana, but in the following years, people have known that Lady Christiana is Alice Leigh, but it is generally believed that Alice Leigh is at least 20 years old and married.Alice herself didn't know how this inexplicable illusion came about.

A few years ago, there was a "Jane Austen whirlwind" in London's high society. Jane was married and wrote a single theme, all of which were emotional stories. The English people accepted it quite quickly; but Alice Austin?She is only 15 years old and can write such a mature and stable work?

The men expressed that they don’t believe it, it’s impossible, it’s fake, someone must have ghostwritten it!

Of course, someone with good intentions would ask Byron if this Alice is Alice, but Byron didn't admit it, but he didn't deny it either.

By the end of 1815, Londoners were almost certain that Alice Leigh was Alice Austin.

1815, October.

In a few days it will be Christmas Eve.

Alice is turning 26 soon.

Outside the window is the endless snow-capped mountains, open the window, is the infinite beauty of snow-capped mountains.

She doesn't have a camera, but she can paint the beautiful scenery of snow-capped mountains on canvas. Apart from writing, she spends most of her free time painting.

In addition to landscapes, he also painted figures. He painted many portraits of Ivo and servants, and also painted many self-portraits, which were sent back to England.

Jacob is now her chief financial officer. He travels between Britain and Nepal once a year, and has already run back and forth twice.In Nepal, he met a cousin of a local British garrison officer, an English girl, and got married at the end of last year.

Kate, who was supposed to go back to London to get married, was reluctant to bear with her mistress, so she followed her to Nepal.

They hired several servants in the local area, and all the servants had children, and there were often laughter and crying of children in the house.

Ivo didn't like children very much, but he didn't forbid the servants to bring them.

Alice still doesn't like children very much, especially ugly children.

He looked at Alice who was embroidering with her head down, and for the first time, he thought how happy it would be if this situation continued forever!

Her female celebrity is lackluster, and up to now she is only at the level of making money bags. Every year, she makes a money bag for him, and she also makes a money bag for Oliver. A year's manual work is the progress of two money bags.

He sat down beside her, "Don't do it."

She looked up at him.

He forced a smile.

In a few days, Oliver will be coming.

Oliver had written a few months ago, saying that he would be able to leave England in September and come to pick her up.

The sailing schedule is not fixed. It may be a few days earlier or half a month later, depending on the weather at sea.When you arrive in India, you have to come over by land, even if you ride a horse all the way, it will take at least two weeks to reach Nepal.

He hugged her shoulders, leaned his head lightly on hers, and sighed melancholy.

"What's wrong with you?" She wondered.

He didn't speak, just kissed her hair.

A few days later in the evening, a group of pedestrians on horseback came to the small village.

The small village is very small, so it is obvious that a dozen outsiders have come here.

Oliver dismounted at the entrance of the village, and a 12 or 3-year-old boy pointed to a new wooden house at the other end of the village, speaking in substandard English: MissAusten.

He walked quickly, quickly through the village, to the wooden house.

The door was ajar, and a local man was sitting outside, looking at him in surprise.He gestured to him to be silent.The locals looked at his officer's red uniform and dared not make a sound.

Alice was asleep on a chaise longue in the parlor in the middle of the cabin.

The military boots stepped on the wooden floor, making a light noise.

Ivo came down from upstairs and watched Oliver walk in with a frown.

Oliver seemed to see him, but also didn't seem to see him.

He squatted down in front of the recliner, touched her face lightly, and whispered her name, "Alice, Alice."

She woke up from the dream, opened her eyes, and stared straight at him.

After more than ten seconds, she smiled, "Ollie!"

a kiss.

The long-lost sweetness, there is nothing but sweetness.

The separation is for the next reunion. Now, they can finally be together, together forever.

tears.

Mixed together, I can't tell whether it's sadness or joy, just flowing on the face so frankly.

When she cried and said, I miss you so much.

He also cried and said, I miss you too, more than you can imagine.

The wind blowing from the Himalayas, with the coldness of thousands of years of snow, rushed in through the window.

Blow through this living room of tears and love.

Blow through the village.

Blow into the distance.

The strong wind blowing from the snow peak in the distance swept away some floating snow.

Another sky, it started to snow.

And far away England, London, also started to snow.

epilogue one

Alice Austen is well-known in the British literary world for her five-part "England Suite" with a total of 200 million words, and is as famous as contemporary writers Walter Scott and Jane Austen.She and her sister Jane are collectively called "Sister Austin". At the beginning of the 20th century, "Sister Austin" was selected into the textbooks of British middle schools and the history of British literature.

Scott is a representative of romantic writers. He called Jane Austen a "realist writer", while Alice Austen was both a romantic writer and a realist writer.

In the 20th century, after Shakespeare, the Austen sisters were the writers with the most works put on the stage, film and television.

epilogue two

The Earl of Oliver Bondfield was the Chancellor of the Exchequer during the Duke of Wellington's first tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He worked for more than a year, but later felt that he was too busy with work and resigned.

Ivo Gordon is the earliest investigative reporter in the UK. Over the years, he has trained batch after batch of interview reporters and investigative reporters.

George Byron was the most famous romantic poet in England in the early 19th century. He was a fashion I during his lifetime. People pursued him and loved him crazily. After 1817, he lived abroad for a long time, especially in Greece, he had lovers everywhere, and in the last years of his life he loved a young Greek countess named Teresa.

Gabriel Bernison participated in the 1829 excavation of the Greek site of Olympia by the French archaeological expedition "Moré Scientific Expedition".

Grant Temple was 1827 years old when he disappeared in 40 in what is now known as the Kansas River.

Epilogue three

There are many family businesses of the Austin family. At the beginning of the 20th century, the "Austin brand typewriter" was still the main profitable product, with an annual profit of tens of thousands of pounds.

The steam printing press died out with the advent of the alternator, and the Austin Press Company soon switched to electric printing presses.

In 1921, the Austin Newspaper Group was established.

Austin Women's College is the first women's college in England. In 1889, Alice School in London was merged into the college; in 1949, Austin Women's College was renamed Austin University and began to enroll boys.

Epilogue four

Jane Austen died of illness in September 1818 at the age of 9, leaving behind two daughters, Helena Lefroy and Diana Lefroy.

Charles Wesley died in December 1820 at the age of 12. He was never married and had no children.

Mrs. Austen died in August 1827 at the age of 8.

Earl Oliver Bondfield died in November 1836 at the age of 11. He was never married and had no children. The title was inherited by his younger brother Julian Bondfield.

Cassandra Austin died in March 1845 at the age of 3, never married and without children.

Alice Austin died on June 1845, 6, at the age of 1, never married and had no children.

Ivo Gordon died on June 1845, 6 at the age of 1. He was never married and had no children.He died on the same day as Alice, within a few hours of each other.

Henry Austin died in March 1850 at the age of 3, leaving behind an adopted son, Henry Austin Jr., and a biological son, William Austin.

Tom Lefroy died in May 1869 at the age of 5.Both of his daughters are dead.

Epilogue five

2019 years.

Austin Family Cemetery.

The urban area of ​​London is now much wider than it was 200 years ago. Back then, Austin’s family could only be regarded as a suburb of London, but now it is in the urban area.

For 200 years, the Austin family still kept a large piece of land including the cemetery. The space between the old mansion and the five small villas is now almost full of houses.One of the tourist attractions is the Austin House, which is the Alice Austin Museum.

The family cemetery is not far away, and the Austin family has spent a lot of money refusing to remove the graves of many ancestors over the years to ensure that this area will not be removed.

A church was built nearby.

Every year, 10,000+ tourists come to visit the Alice Austin Museum and the Austin Family Cemetery.The Reverend George and Mrs Austen are buried side by side in the family grave above ground; Alice's coffin is in the church crypt next to that of Lord Oliver Bundfield.

Epilogue six

Byron died in Greece in 1824 at the age of 36.

Ivo went to Greece to bring his body back to England, where it was buried in the family graveyard of the Byron family on the Newstead estate.

George Byron never married, but had many illegitimate children.

Ivo arranged for Lucy's son and daughter. Byron never admitted that Lucy's children were his children. He spent a lot of money during his lifetime, and he sold Newstead Manor long ago to pay off his debts. Xi and the children were not doing well, but Alice couldn't stand it anymore and sent some living expenses to the mother and child.

Ivo also brought back all Byron's manuscripts, including his unfinished autobiography, and handed them all to Alice.

Alice compiled Byron's manuscripts and autobiography, which were published 20 years after Byron's death.

In Byron's autobiography, he wrote about his dissolute life, and also about Alice.Alice deleted all the content about herself.

It was not until the 100st century, more than 21 years later, that the Austin family finally published a complete version of Byron's autobiography, adding Alice's chapter.

Epilogue seven

Alice died suddenly.

55 years old, not very old.

She is never married, never had a child, exercises every day, and has always been in good health.

He has a good mental outlook, loves to laugh, and doesn't look like he is 55 years old.

Not young anymore, there are wrinkles around the eyes.

She died in a carriage accident, bleeding internally.

When Ivo arrived, she was unconscious.

He couldn't even say the last word to her.

He wept bitterly and was so sad that he couldn't help himself.

After returning home, he wrote a suicide note to his two unmarried sisters, saying that Alice was dead and it was meaningless for him to live.The will has already been made, and the family property is left to the youngest son of the eldest sister, and the cash is divided equally among the 4 nieces of the 6 married sisters.

Ivo Gordon died by suicide and was buried in the Gordon family graveyard.

Epilogue eight

Jane Austen's biography was written by Alice and published 5 years after her death;

After Alice's death, the eldest brother James' son James Jr. wrote biographies for the two aunts;

Alice's own autobiography was not found by the Austin family from Alice's manuscript until 15 years after her death, but it was not published until the end of the year of the 1889th anniversary of Alice's birth in 100;

Less than 10 years after Byron's death, someone wrote Byron's biography, which always mentioned Alice who was suspected or attempted to elope with Byron;

Alice's biographer would never leave Lord Byron behind, much to the annoyance of the Austen family;

All the biographers are arguing about who is her favorite person. Some people say that she kept all the letters Byron wrote to her. If Byron was not so scumbag, they might get married; some people swear Said that it was because Byron had hurt her that she was unwilling to marry;

Alice left a large number of letters, but like Jane's letters, most of them were burned by the family;

The Bundfield family kept some of Alice's letters to Oliver. In the 21st century, someone put some of them up for auction, and one letter fetched tens of thousands of pounds;

Alice left behind many jewels, most of which were given to nieces and nieces in the family during her lifetime. The Alice Austen Museum has preserved a string of ruby ​​​​bracelets she wore on the day of her death and Charles Austen's first battle. The topaz crucifix that the prize money bought her, this topaz crucifix Jane Austen also had one;

In 2000, an auction house in London publicly auctioned an amber necklace that once appeared in Alice Austin's self-portrait, which is preserved in her museum; the auction price of the necklace was as high as 20 pounds, and the buyer was an Indian. Regal, but this necklace was stopped before it left the auction venue. The British Ministry of Culture did not allow this historical cultural relic to flow out of the country. In the end, the Indian rich had no choice but to transfer the necklace to an anonymous British buyer. The buyer donated the amber necklace to the Alice Austen Museum;

A few years later, the British Ministry of Culture also blocked a turquoise ring originally belonging to Jane Austen from leaving the country.

Epilogue Nine

Gabriel Bernison had been to London in 1820, but Alice was still abroad and had not returned. He did not see her, and he never saw her again.

Alice lived in Asia and Africa for a few years. After Jane fell ill, she returned to England for more than a year. Less than a year after Jane passed away, she left England and went to North America.

Oliver was with her all the time.

At the beginning of 1825, Alice and Oliver returned to England and lived in Austin's house in the suburbs of London.They lived in one of the small villas and lived together for 11 years.

Epilogue ten

"Do you think I should also write an autobiography?"

"Write, why can't you write?"

"There will always be people who will talk about you when they talk about George in the future. When I think about it, I feel very unhappy. But I feel that I love you, and that is enough."

"do not think too much."

"Do you still remember him?"

"Sometimes. He shouldn't have died so early, he should have finished writing "Don Juan". You know, no one loves it at the end, and the huge pit will last forever."

"You are still too kind."

"He was an asshole, but I've stopped thinking about that."

"I decided that I should write an autobiography, so that people will know how much I love you in the future."

"But, you don't need others to know?"

"No."

"OK then."

"Alice."

"Ok?"

"You call me by my name too."

"Ollie."

"say you Love Me."

"I love you."

"I love you too, and I will always love you until the end of my life."

The author has something to say: *The heroine is not omnipotent, not omnipotent, and very selfish. If Oliver doesn’t go to Madeira, she won’t see him again, and she won’t take the initiative to explain Byron’s affairs. Will tell Oliver about Ivo.

*I originally wanted to add a little more psychological description of Oliver in this chapter, but it seems that there is no place to insert it.Oliver may know that Alice and Ivo have sex, or he may not know, let's make up our own minds.

* Cheating?I don't think it counts, it is considered "derailment" after marriage.Alice is selfish and willful, she doesn't care about others except her parents, brothers and sisters.Well, I admit that she is a bit scumbag, but I think there is nothing wrong with it. Why can't the heroine be selfish and ruthless if she has to take care of the mood and feelings of the supporting actors?Passionate is ruthless, but passionate is not promiscuous, and she didn't see one and love another like Byron.

*All male characters who have emotional entanglements with the heroine revolve around the shaping of the heroine. The author believes that her personality and temperament are completely molded. She is not perfect and has many shortcomings, but love does not give reasons. The reason is that in the relationship with Oliver and Ivo, she has always been the one who holds the initiative.

*Oliver and Ivo are very idealized characters. In fact, such people are so rare that I think it is impossible to exist.But yy, it is allowed to create a perfect character.

*The author himself is partial to Ivo, but the person who loves Alice the most is not necessarily the person who suits her best.

*Except for Alice, all Byron's lovers and mistresses mentioned in this article are all historical real people.