little miss austin

The siblings dawdled upstairs until lunch time before going downstairs.

Mom really didn't ask Alice if she had said the Lord's Prayer 10 times.She was still angry, but she had already scolded Jane, so she couldn't scold her again, so she got angry at Pastor George for no reason, and Pastor George coaxed her very well.

The brothers and sisters had a quick lunch, and they all hurried upstairs.

Alice was going to take a nap at noon, and as soon as she lay down on the bed, Jane came in quietly.

"Alice." She called softly.

"simple."

Jane looked very depressed, "What should I do? Mom is so angry, I don't even know what to do."

Cathy also came in quietly, "Why do you ask her? She doesn't know what to do."

The sisters sat down on the edge of her cot.

"My mother said that I don't hate Wesley, so I should agree to him. But these are two different things, they are different."

Alice failed to take a nap and was forced to sit up, "It depends on how much you like Tom."

Jane blushed. "I don't know—I can't tell."

"Did he propose to you?" Cathy asked.

"No."

They had known each other for half a year, and under normal circumstances, it was time for the man to propose to the woman.After a girl reaches the age of marriage, she begins to participate in more social activities. The most common one is the ball, where young men and women meet and talk.

Pay attention to the right family, or if the man is financially well-off, the financial requirements for the woman can also be relaxed. For example, Weiss ideally wants to marry Jane, so he can ignore Jane's lack of stable annuity income.

But the bad thing is that neither Tom nor Jane has a stable income now.

It may be for this reason that Tom has not proposed for a long time.

Cathy understands this truth, Alice understands it, and Jane understands it, but Jane is the girl who fell in love with Tom, so she suffers the most.

Thinking of this, Alice said: "I suddenly remembered an ancient story. It is said that in ancient England, there was a young and beautiful lady who had many admirers. One day, Baron A of the castle in the east and Mr. B of the small town in the west both met. I came to propose to this young lady, but the young lady was in trouble. The lady's father asked, why are you in trouble? The lady said, Baron A is rich but ugly, Mr. B is poor but beautiful, I would like to be in Baron A's house dinner, and return to Mr. B's house in the evening."

Both Cathy and Jane stared at her with surprise.

"This is—absurd!" Kathy exclaimed.

Jane asked, "Where did you read this story? Why haven't I read it?"

"At Daylesford House."

Cathy shook her head, "No man would allow this to happen."

Alice made a face, "Then I don't know, I just said there is such a story."

"Then in the end, who did the lady choose?" Jane asked.

"Maybe... it will still be Baron A, after all the baron has a castle."

Jane bowed her head, thought for a while, and then said, "No, I can't do it. It hurts me so much to think of being separated from Tom forever." She leaned on Cathy's shoulder and shed sad tears, "I like He, why hasn't he come to propose to me?"

"You should ask him."

"No!" Cathy exclaimed, "No, you have to wait for him to initiate."

"Why? Jane can take the initiative to ask clearly. If he doesn't want to propose, he shouldn't come to her all the time." Alice didn't feel that she had to wait for a man to take the initiative.Some men are like this. If you don't tell them, he will always naively think that you don't care.

So in comparison, Wesley is really masculine.

Jane panicked, "Are you really going to ask?"

"Of course. Ask clearly, if he doesn't want to marry you, tell him to go!" Alice said, and Cathy gave her a glare.

Cathy thought for a while, and agreed, "Yes, you have to let him make it clear, if he doesn't want to marry you and always comes to you, then it's too—too disgusting!" The elegant Cathy, Not swearing at all.

Jane wiped her tears, "I was thinking, if it's because of money, I can work hard to make money. I will ask Henry if I can sell my manuscripts, and I can write more novels, so that although I don't An annuity, but I'll have a sum of money, so—better."

"Henry didn't break into the publishing world that quickly, and I've heard that a lot of publishers are multi-generational businesses."

"But there's always hope."

"That could take years."

Cathy said: "Will Tom wait for you for several years? Or, Tom is willing to wait for several years, and will Mommy let you wait at home for several years?"

"Actually, I hope Jane can stay at home for a few more years." Alice said with a smile, "If you all get married soon, mother will talk about me all day long."

"Mom can't bear to talk about you. Besides, you will go to school next year." Jane pinched her little nose.

She is in a better mood now, and it seems that because she has finally made up her mind to make money by writing novels, she is full of confidence in the future.It never occurred to her that Tom would turn down such a good offer: After a few years—maybe only two or three years—Tom would graduate and have a job and income, and she would have a little savings, so there would be no hindrance to getting married again .

Alice often brainwashed her: as long as there is money, no problem is a problem.

There seems to be nothing wrong with having a little sister who is a fan of money.

Jane went to Ash to find Tom Lefroy the next day.

She took Alice with her so it wouldn't be too conspicuous.Tom accompanied the Austen sisters for a long walk out into the fields.

Jane didn't talk to Tom much at first, it was Alice who asked him what he planned to do after graduation next year, whether to stay in London or go back to Dublin; where did Uncle Langlois live now, how old was he, and how was his health ;What happened with Henry about the publisher I mentioned last time.

Tom didn't treat her like a poor kid, and answered her seriously.

Basically, Alice is quite satisfied with Tom's attitude.Smart, yes; a bit arrogant, normal; social, laughing, and tactful.

It should be that she really likes Jane, and she always secretly visits Jane along the way.

Alice talked about her five-year plan, which is to let Henry enter the publishing industry as soon as possible, familiarize himself with the publisher's process, publish Jane's novels first, and then publish other people's novels.Given the growing appetite of the wealthy classes for recreational reading, the publishing industry will prosper.

This "five-year plan" really surprised Tom.

"I've never seen a girl as smart as you."

"You are very smart yourself, but if you don't get in touch with these things, you can't think of it. The nobles look down on businessmen, but which big nobles don't have shares in various companies, such as the East India Company. If there is no income from doing business, what do they use? Sustaining a life of debauchery? It’s not enough to rely on the income of the farm.”

Tom agreed. "Indeed. The big men have business at home more or less."

"And the publishing industry is different from ordinary business. It provides words and knowledge, so it is an elegant industry."

Tom couldn't help laughing, "You're absolutely right!"

This is indeed an industry that can be regarded as "elegant".

Jane couldn't help laughing: Alice is really good at persuading others.

Alice quickly left them on the pretext of going to pick flowers.

Alice didn't know what they were talking about, but judging by Jane's expression, it seemed that everything was going well and things were going as they thought.

Tom Lefroy will soon return to London as originally planned.

Francis followed suit.

Henry did not return to Oxford until the following weekend.

The house became quiet again.

Mom was still very dissatisfied with Jane, but Jane was very well-behaved, so she didn't find an excuse to scold her.

Alice still went to Gresham Manor three times a week. Mrs. Gresham was very dissatisfied when she learned of her nephew's failed marriage proposal, and told Alice that Jane should seize this excellent opportunity.

"I don't know what she thinks." Alice immediately pretended to be a child.

Mrs. Gresham snorted, "What did she think? She thought that Tom was good-looking! But what's the use of being good-looking?" She was very annoyed, "What's wrong with Wesley? Is he not as good as a Poor Irish boy?" She didn't think much of the Lefroy family at first, and now she even disliked the uninterested Lefroy who came to visit.

Wesley went to London the next day immediately after his failed marriage proposal, so Alice didn't have a chance to meet him either.

She wrote several letters to Wesley, but he replied to every letter, but the reply was very brief, saying that he was boring living alone in London, and asked her if she would like to come to London to play, and they could go to the circus performance.He's leaving for Oxford next month and won't be back in Hampshire very often.

Alice thought that she was really going to London to carry out her hundred-year plan, so she asked Reverend George if she could go to London for another two weeks.

Mother was about to let Cathy and Jane visit another cousin Cooper's house in Harpsden, Oxfordshire. When she heard that Alice was going to London again, she simply waved her to go too.

So the three Austin sisters set off at the same time on a Friday morning.

The Austin family’s carriage was a two-horse buggy, and they hired a professional driver to take them to the nearby city of Basingstoke, where they had a rest at the post station, and then waited for the carriage sent by Wesley from London. After picking up Alice, Cathy and Jane continued to Harpsden.

There were as many as 2 types of carriages in this era. The common box carriages used by ordinary people needed two horses to pull them. When the carriage was not in use, the horses were used for farm work, not for long-distance stage horses.If the journey is relatively long, you need to change horses at the post station. Of course, you need to pay for fodder to deposit your own horses at the post station. Therefore, travel, especially long-distance travel, is a laborious and expensive matter.

The post station has stagecoaches that travel regularly between large, medium and small cities, but there is a very bad thing about the stagecoach, that is, anyone can get on the coach, and you don’t know who your traveling companions will be, especially for ladies with good backgrounds. , riding a stagecoach is simply torture, and it is not in line with the status. People with a little money have their own carriages, which can avoid a lot of inconvenience.

The author has something to say:

*Eastern food and western accommodation.

*Alice is going to London again.

* Regarding the question of when the heroine will grow up, I think it's still early.