little miss austin

Speaking of which, Alice's painting was inspired by her and Cathy. She likes to draw very much, but she doesn't like to draw figures. She only likes flowers and scenery.Both Cousin Anna and Mr. Hastings gave her a set of paints, brushes, and paper so that she could practice at home.

"Is she usually... is she naughty?" Thinking that Alice is not a well-behaved child at home, she is often so naughty that her mother can't help but yell at her.In the afternoon when she was not at home, the house was indeed much cooler.

"She's very good."

Jane smiled: So Alice is very good at pretending to be a good child outside.Cousin Anna and Mr. Hastings like her very much, which shows that she is really good at dealing with people.

"Jane—" Wesley suddenly raised his voice slightly.

"Ok?"

"I think—" he was so nervous that sweat broke out on his forehead, "we have known each other for several years, I think you should know my situation, I have an annuity of 2000 pounds, and I will inherit Mrs Gresham's property in the future, I I can—I can give you a comfortable life, and you can do whatever you want, write novels, or go to balls."

Jane was also extremely nervous, "Mr. Wesley—"

He knelt down on one knee, "Jane Austen, if you agree to marry me, all this is yours."

Jane almost ran away.

Mom didn't know about it until the next morning, and at the same time, Jane rejected Wesley on the spot.

Cassandra was very angry and yelled at her: "What are you thinking? You gave up such a good opportunity for nothing? Tell me, can you find a husband who is more suitable for you than Wesley?"

"But I——I don't like him at all." Mom got angry, and Jane didn't dare to say anything, so she had to defend weakly.

"Oh! Get rid of your little girl thoughts! You don't like him, but you don't hate him, do you? You don't like him because of Tom? Well, I'll tell you right now, if Tom can have 2000 An annuity of £1000, no, as long as he has an annuity of £[-], he proposes to you again, and I promise to happily agree to your marriage. Does he have it?" Mom was heartbroken, "You know what a poor family looks like, Daddy worked hard, but you couldn't grow up like Wesley, or like Anna, and I don't want you to have servants, tutors, seaside vacations, and a whole box of beautiful dresses made every year? I gave all I had I gave it to you, but I can't let you live like that!"

"Mom!" Jane was terrified.

Alice and George, who were feeding the chickens in the yard, were also terrified.

Alice saw Francis smoking a pipe outside the yard, and beckoned him to come.

Francis shook his head, but beckoned her out instead.

"George, you wait here for me. Don't go into the house, don't make mom angry." She signed in sign language and solemnly told Brother George.

George nodded, obediently staying where he was.

Alice walked out of the yard, and Francis led her a little farther.

"What happened last night?" She didn't go to the dance last night, and Henry took her to Cousin Eliza's house.They were not at the ball either, but were busy discussing when they would marry, where they would live after they were married, and how long Henry would remain in the militia.

As a busy person, Alice also participated in the discussion between her brother and her future sister-in-law.

"Jane rejected Wesley." Francis said briefly.

"I know that, but I'm wondering why Wesley proposed marriage suddenly?"

"Then I don't know."

Alice wondered, Wesley is such a boring bastard, who gave him the courage to propose?She didn't know whether to praise him for his courage or call him a fool.A marriage proposal must be a matter of tacit understanding between both parties, and the woman is full of expectations for the man's proposal, so that there will be a happy result.

If she had known in advance that he was going to propose, she might have tried to dissuade him - but it was also very likely that he would not listen to her at all, and would think she was a little kid.

Think about it, Wesley's temper has always been very tough, and this is also his point.He likes Jane, and he will give it a try no matter what, and he may not give up until Jane clearly rejects it.fair enough.Jane's temperament requires her to endure Wesley's boredom and boredom, and she may go crazy in the end.

"Jane likes Tom."

"But Tom has no money."

"What if Jane had a little money of her own?"

Francis thought for a while, "That might be better."

When the brothers and sisters returned to the house, mother was already doing housework.The two older sisters, Cathy and Jane, were there, and the mother and daughter were silent, ironing clothes and sheets silently.

Alice stuck out her tongue at Cathy, and Cathy signaled her to leave quickly, but she didn't run away. When her mother looked up and saw her, she said to her dissatisfied: "Go upstairs! Go and say the Lord's Prayer 10 times!"

Alice hurried upstairs.

But the Lord's Prayer or something, I can't read it.She opened the box next to the bed and started packing her things.

There were many small boxes in the trunk, which contained her treasures by category: some cheap jewelry, birthday and Christmas presents from her brothers and sisters, money bags, a few nice dip pens, bought in London Rolls of ribbon.She felt so poor.

There was a pink lace box in the box, which was given to her by Wesley. She took the box home and never opened it.She took out the lace box and pulled off the pink ribbon on it. The ribbon was old, almost the lightest pink, and it was an ornament from many years ago.

Inside was a pearl necklace.

The pearls hadn't changed color yet, they were soft and nearly round, and each one was about the same size, about the size of her index finger. The silk thread that wore the pearls was broken, and the pearls were scattered in the box.

"Wow!" Alice exclaimed.This was probably left by a daughter or wife of an unknown generation in Gresham Manor. Looking at the furnishings in that house, it is more likely to be a young girl.

She opened the box again, took out all the ribbons, and put them on the bed.The colors of the ribbons are very elegant, pink, light green, light blue, sky blue, stamen yellow, each color is very beautiful.As for the thread, Cathy must have it in her room.

She went to Cathy's room and found a small strand of silk thread and a pair of tremella hooks, and took them back to her room.

I also found a small pair of iron needle-nose pliers in my toolbox, re-threaded the pearls, fixed the silver ear hooks on both ends, picked out the yellow satin ribbon, cut two, tied them, and hung them on the white ear hooks. Hook it on, then put the necklace on in front of the mirror, the ribbon tied in a bow at the back of the neck.

The Austins were all blond when they were young, and they turned dark when they grew up. Jane and Cathy both had darker brown hair. Henry's hair was a little lighter, which was a darker golden brown. Small, still a lighter golden brown.

The little girl in the mirror had a full face, and although her eyes were not as big as Jane's, they were very clear, and unlike the brown pupils of the two sisters, they were gray-blue pupils.

Alice was very pleased with her looks: not particularly pretty, but cute, the kind of kid next door that everyone loves.

The skin is also very good, white and tender, and there are a little freckles near the nose, which are shallow and can't be seen if you don't look carefully.

She has a beautiful aristocratic slender neck, not the short, thick, country-style neck. She looks good no matter what style of skirt she wears, and she looks even better with a necklace.

She looked proudly at herself in the mirror.

The mirror is very beautiful, with a brass frame, decorated with curly algae lace outside the frame, connected to the dressing box, open the lid of the dressing box, open the top cover to see the mirror, inside the box can put combs, hair accessories, hair clips; The material is walnut, and there are small flowers made of tortoiseshell and pearls on the outside of the lid; the comb is also tortoiseshell, and the whole set was given to her by her cousin Anna.

Eliza said the dressing-case would be worth about twenty pounds--the price of a farm horse, which was more than the Austin family's household for a month. Cathy and Jane had never had such a fine dressing-case, and they were very envious.

My mother said at the time that Anna has been like this since she was a child. If she likes someone, she will give him a good gift.Said that she used to be as lively and lovely as Jane, but she became like this after her husband passed away.My mother sighed as she spoke, compared to being rich but becoming a widow at a young age, it seems that being poor and always dependent on each other is not so unacceptable.

Francis knocked on the door and came in, "What are you doing?" Seeing the pearl necklace on her neck, "I didn't know I brought home such a nice pearl necklace."

"It's not yours, it's a gift from someone else."

"Who gave it to you?" Francis was curious: this string of pearls looks worth a lot, at least hundreds of pounds.

"Don't tell you."

"Then I'm going to go down and tell mother you didn't say the Lord's Prayer."

"She has forgotten about it." Alice undid the ribbon, and put the pearl necklace back in the lace case.

He stretched his head to look at her dressing box, "What do you want? I'll bring it to you when I come back next time."

"Are you going?"

"Leave next Monday, go to Southampton first." Southampton is a port and a military port.

"Where are you going?"

"Asia, Africa, and Egypt. I won't know the details until I get on the ship."

Alice nodded, "If you have any jewelry that you think is good, bring some back, such as ancient Egyptian headdress bracelets. Asian, it depends where you are going, there are coral beads, which are not too expensive jewelry, and bring some Come back. You know Cathy is getting married, bring something a woman needs when she gets married."

"Oops! This stumps me!"

"It's fabrics, jewelry, etc. Isn't Asia producing beautiful silk? You can bring a lot of this back. It must be much cheaper than buying it in London."

"Okay, I'll make a note of it." It's nothing. Which officer on the warship didn't sneak some private goods back home?Otherwise, relying on the officer's allowance of a few hundred pounds is really not enough to do anything!Most officers spent their allowances on alcohol and tobacco and the prostitutes on the wharves along the way. Francis was fine with sex, but alcohol and tobacco cost a lot.

"What about the spices?" He asked again: "It seems that the prices of different spices vary greatly, and because of storage reasons, some are not suitable for long-term storage. I may not be able to return for more than a year."

"The consumption of spices is actually very limited, but the consumption of cloth is unlimited."

"But the fabric takes up a lot of space."

"Then there are only gemstones. There are many colored gemstones produced in Southeast Asia. If you are knowledgeable, you can bring some back."

Francis sighed, "It's really hard to make more money!"

Alice also sighed, "It's really hard to make money!"