little miss austin

After the dance, the Austin family returned home.

Mother asked Jane why she didn't dance with Wesley, and how she was with Tom, who had written her some letters and whether he had said how much his pension was.

"Mom!" Jane was a little shy.

"What's the matter? He looks like he's pursuing you. Of course I have to ask about his annuity." Mom took it for granted, "He has to have income to have the money to marry you. Am I wrong?"

Pastor George said leisurely: "But first of all, it depends on whether Jane likes him. Secondly, he has to come to propose marriage."

"Father! It's not time to say that yet."

Listening to their conversation, Alice felt that her mother was very realistic, and her father was also very realistic, while Jane looked like a little girl immersed in love.

So Tom must have wooed Jane tonight when he kissed her.Jane, who was born in a pastor's family, would not kiss anyone casually. Tom had to express his love before Jane would allow him to kiss him.

Jane is a girl who has a lot of romantic ideas in her mind. She believes that love is the greatest in the world, longs for wonderful love, and dismisses tacky money. She probably never thought that Tom can live in London only with the pocket money given by his uncle. Survive while he has no more money to support a family.

If Tom could wait until his uncle died, he would have no problem marrying Jane then.As a former member of parliament, Benjamin Langlois has a lot of property. Tom didn't say it explicitly, but Henry mentioned that Langlois actually raised the eldest nephew as an heir. Tom will Will inherit the entire estate of Langlois.

But who knows when Uncle Langlois will die?Waiting for his uncle to hang up and get his inheritance doesn’t seem right. Tom should find a way to make money sooner, and it’s better for Jane to publish her novel earlier. No matter what happens in the future, it’s always better for a girl to have some money .

Henry stayed at home for a short week, and soon returned to Oxfordshire.

Tom also reluctantly returned to London after church on Sunday.

The correspondence between him and Jane became very frequent. He might write a paragraph every day, and he could fill 2 or 3 letters a week, and then mailed them on Friday or Saturday.This way, when Jane returned from church on Sunday morning, Jane would receive the letter, and the rest of the day, Jane would stay in her room to read and write the letter.

She didn't write to Tom every day, she just replied one letter a week, and the content of the letter was very subtle, she just talked about what happened this week, and sometimes she mentioned Alice to him, saying that her little sister encouraged her to share the past. The novel she wrote was changed to the third person, and she also said that Alice insisted that Henry inquire more about publishing houses, booksellers, and bookstores, and also asked Tom to help inquire, maybe he would know some big names in the publishing industry.

When Tom wrote back, he said that Henry had told him about it, and he was looking for someone to ask if anyone knew a client in the publishing industry. Lawyers always know people like this, and the seniors must have connections.He didn't ask why Alice thought of asking about this. Of course he knew that Jane liked to write novels, and wishful thinking that this was Jane's business, he was very concerned about it.

Alice mobilized everyone she knew.She asked Wesley if she knew any London booksellers or shopkeepers or printing houses, and wrote to Mr. Hastings and Cousin Anna to ask if they had any acquaintances in the publishing world.

Mr. Hastings wrote back quickly, giving her the name and address of the publisher who was publishing the Bhagavad Gita for him at the time.

Cousin Anna replied a few days late, saying that there was a distant relative in the printing factory who also gave her name and address.

Alice was busy for a few days, and made a summary note together with the feedback from Henry and Tom.

To be a publishing house, the most important thing is capital.

This amount of capital fluctuates quite a lot, ranging from 5000 to 5 pounds. The reason for such a large fluctuation is to see whether you want to do all the upstream and downstream related industries.The upstream is the printing factory, and the downstream is the bookstore and distributor.

The funds needed for each industry vary. For example, a printing factory can be a large factory with dozens of printing presses, or a small factory with only one printing press; a bookstore can be a two-story building with a coffee shop. A unique salon-style leisure place can also be a simple small front door.

All things are difficult at the beginning, Alice sighed.

A rough version of the plan was first made. The main reason is that the amount of funds needed is not yet known, so the item of funds is left blank.

For the time being, the printing factory may not need it and outsource all of them, which is more cost-effective. After all, a printing machine is quite expensive.Alice still doesn’t know what the current printing press looks like, and there are many types of printing presses in later generations, such as single-color, two-color, and four-color. She thought that there must be no register printing presses, after all, the technology is not so advanced. London All newspapers are printed in monochrome.And what's the power source—certainly not electric, maybe steam engine power?manual?If it is manual, it is really a physical and technical work. After all, the gravity of the human hand cannot achieve the same or similar strength for each pressing. Only mechanical power can ensure that the printing strength of each pressing is equal. In this case, experienced The salaries of technicians will not be cheap.

In fact, the bookstore can also be dispensed with, and distributed after publication, which will save a lot of expenses for opening a store.

Then what needs to be considered is, first, the price of paper, according to general economic principles, the greater the purchase volume, the lower the unit price of paper; The lower the price, the price of printing 100 copies is definitely not the same as printing 500 copies; third, bookbinding workers, most printing factories will provide bookbinding services, some of which are calculated separately, and some are combined in the printing price; fourth, transportation costs, the same Some of them need to be transported by the publishers themselves, and some of them are provided by the printing factory with one-stop service, from paper to printing to binding to transportation.

Alice thought about it, and it seemed that the all-inclusive package was the most trouble-free, so that her capital occupation would be minimized.Besides, the printing factory always pays a certain percentage of deposit in advance, and pays the final payment after shipment, so she can use as little money as possible to operate.

When the work was over, she wrote to Henry again, saying that now he needed to find out what qualifications it takes to be a publisher and how to enter the industry.He also gave him a concise and easy-to-understand description. In the future, Henry will become a publisher and publish his sister's novels, so that Jane will happily develop her hobby into a career. This is wonderful!

Henry wrote back and praised her, saying that you went to London and Oxford, and now you have become a little talent in the family.

For this reason, Henry often went to London to deal with the judges with Tom, and met many big names in the legal field.Tom is studying at Lincoln's Law School, one of the four major law schools in London. This law school specializes in training barristers. It has produced many famous people, and there are many former prime ministers. In terms of contacts, the resources in the hands of former alumni are A lot, after all, this industry can touch all aspects of society.

Cousin Eliza thought it was a good thing that he was busy with publishing, after all, he couldn't always be an officer in the militia.She was very worried that Henry would be sent to the French battlefield one day after staying in the militia for a long time.

Eliza has received a perfect lady education, influenced by her cousin Jane, she writes something when she has nothing to do, and is also very interested in publishing her own novels in the future, although a lady with status is not interested in publishing under her real name I am famous for my novels, but seeing the words I wrote become printed matter, this sense of accomplishment cannot be replaced by other things.

Come July, Tom Lefroy came to Ash again.

Lincoln's Law School was on vacation in June, and he returned to his hometown in Ireland for more than a month. He couldn't stay and returned to England ahead of schedule.

When Lucy Lefroy turned 7 in early July and was officially socially active, Mrs. Lefroy threw a ball for her and complained why Tom wasn't there.When Tom came, Lucy pestered her mother to hold another dance.

At the ball, Lucy finally found out with surprise and dullness that Tom only danced with Jane almost from the beginning to the end, and occasionally danced with Cathy, and only danced with her once, probably because she was his cousin.

Lucy almost fainted.

Wesley was invited to the dance, but declined.

Alice didn't go either.

The Austins have acquiesced in Jane's relationship with Tom, and the only problem now may be Tom's annuity.

Tom lived in Ash for three weeks and played many cricket games with his neighbors, almost two or three times a week.

Henry also came back for a month. One day in August, Henry Austin became engaged to Countess Eliza Foyd.

Eliza was nine and a half years older than Henry, an age gap that was somewhat large, but not unique.As a lieutenant officer of the militia with an allowance of 9 pounds a year, he has some admirers because of his good looks, and he can definitely find a young girl with an annuity and a suitable age to marry, but love is not a matter of age limit.

The Austins have no objections, even the mother has no objection. Henry's allowance is enough for him, and Eliza has a lot of savings. After they get married, they will definitely live a good life, and the mother is missing one thing. mind.

The fifth brother Francis also came back from the sea, just in time to attend Henry's engagement banquet.

The Austin family invited the Lefroy family, Mrs. Gresham and others to their home for an engagement banquet.Mrs. Gresham was naturally unwilling to condescend, and Wesley came on her behalf.

The restaurant in Austin's house is not too big, but the decoration is quite warm. My mother is a good housekeeper, so she tried her best to make the restaurant look tidy.

The engagement ceremony was simple. Pastor George delivered a speech, wishing his son and niece a harmonious and happy life in the future.

The food is also very good. The two consecutive years of crop failure are over. Although this year's harvest is not a bumper one, it is at least much better than the previous two years.Real estate is plentiful, and prices fall accordingly.

Edward's family also came back from vacation in the seaside city of Southampton. Edward and his wife came to the engagement banquet and brought a lot of food.

They brought all three children, including eldest brother James' daughter Anna, for a day when there were four young children in the family.

Alice felt that she was no longer a "child" and did not count herself.

Because of her young age, she didn't eat in the restaurant, and took care of the four little dolls with Edward's nanny and servant.

One of the disadvantages of having many brothers and sisters in the family is that as long as the wives have no problem with their fertility, children will continue to come into this world.

After James got married, Pastor George asked him to be a pastor in Dean Diocese. He soon had a daughter Anna, but his wife died of dystocia when giving birth to the second child, and James could not take care of the one-year-old at the time. Anna, so the child was sent to Steventon to be raised.Anna and Edward's eldest daughter, Fanny, are both more than 1 years old, and Anna is 3 months younger. The two sisters have a good relationship, but as children, they will fight soon after being together.

Alice is only 3 years older than her nieces and always feels like an adult.She doesn't like children, she thinks they are too noisy.

The other two were younger, and Alice was more impatient with them.

The author has something to say:

*Jane had several opportunities to get married, but they never went ahead.Later, she wrote to Edward's eldest daughter, Fanny, that marriage without love was terrible, and asked her to make sure she liked the man she was going to marry.Austin scholars believe that Eleanor in Sense and Sensibility has her own true thoughts.