little miss austin

She has been busy with her studies, and has never even been to London, let alone go to Bath, so she can only communicate with her parents, brothers and sisters by writing letters.Pastor George's correspondence with his sons, half of the text is about religious content, and the correspondence with his younger daughter is completely about daily life, such as the scenery and the market in Bath. Many dignitaries came to Bath to recuperate. very rich social life;

Mum, on the other hand, said that Bath had to pay for everything, that she missed the vegetable garden in Steventon very much, and mentioned the few mini tomatoes that Alice brought back from Daylesford a few years ago. Planted a large area of ​​mini tomatoes, not only Alice loves to eat them, but also Cathy and Jane, and the little Anna of James’s family also likes to eat them very much. The children basically eat small tomatoes as fruits. This is someone else’s house. Rare things that are absolutely unavailable;

Cathy also said that Bath has a lot of social activities, and her mother wants her to go to the dance almost every day; Major Bridges sends flowers almost every day, even if no one comes to visit; Miss, the lady of the baron's family, but they all feel tacky, no one is as interesting as Jane, and none of the little ladies is as cute as Alice.

Alice happily accepted the eldest sister's compliment with a happy smile.

As for Jane, her married life seems to be going well. She hasn't said anything bad about Tom. While doing housework, she mainly concentrates on revising her novel and has started to write a new novel. He feels pretty good about himself.No mention of pregnancy.But Jane will only turn 25 at the end of this year, so there is no need to worry.

The level of medicine in this era is still very backward. Doctors are still using bloodletting therapy and herbal medicine, which is no progress compared with the Middle Ages; there are no obstetricians at all, and even members of the royal family of Kensington Palace only have midwives to help give birth. The mortality rate in the puerperium period during and after childbirth is very high. Those like Mrs. Austin who have given birth to 9 children and have not died on the delivery bed are definitely considered to be in good health.

Alice was horrified when she learned this fact: why there is no obstetrician!So Cathy didn't want to think about getting married again, probably because she didn't want to die on the delivery bed. After all, as long as this kind of thing happened once, it would be over for the mother.

What about Jane?Alice was even more frightened at the thought that Jane might die prematurely by having a child.

Think about their first sister-in-law, who died of dystocia.

Alice finally remembered that when she learned that her sister-in-law died because of giving birth to a child, her mother and two sisters were very sad.

well!So women are really pitiful. Women need to bear the heavy responsibility of race continuation, but reproductive science has never been developed. What a strange thing this is!

Alice searched all the books on medicine in Daylesford, but unfortunately, because Mr. Hastings is not a doctor, there are very few books on medicine, and there are only some books on herbs, which mainly contain They are all talking about the efficacy of herbs, but not how to use them.

It might actually require going to medical school, she figured.But she was a girl, and medical schools, like universities, did not accept female students.

She is very worried about this, for Jane, and for her possible future.

On returning to Daylesford from Oxfordshire, a nearby baron, who was on vacation, sent a message asking if Mr. Hastings would be honored to attend their week of hunting.

Hastings wrote back, saying that he was getting old and not riding well, and it was better not to be a drag.Ask the baron if he can take Alice, Alice has not seen hunting yet.

The Baron wrote back promptly, saying that he would take Miss Austen with her if she could keep up with them on horseback.

Alice was hunting for the first time, and she didn't know what to do to prepare.

Mr. Whitaker, the butler, said: "If you're going on a hunt, you've got to have at least two rifles, and although Sir says you won't really be on the hunt, I'll get you a rifle. Besides, you've got to have At least four riding outfits, Merry—" He looked at her valet.

Meili quickly replied: "Miss has two sets of women's riding clothes and four sets of men's riding clothes."

Mr. Whittaker nodded, "Take them all. Then it's better to have a revolver and bring at least two servants. I'll let Jacob, Kurt, and Jack go with you. Of course, Merry will also follow. The rest can be told to the servants of Newton Manor."

"And what else?" Alice asked.

"You can ask Meili to tell the cook what you like to eat and what you don't like to eat." Mrs. Bloom, the housekeeper, said, "Bring some warm clothes, and Jacob will wrap you in a woolen scarf when you get off the horse." If you are sweating, you must quickly change into dry underwear."

Mr. Whittaker said: "Don't run too fast with those gentlemen, someone will always be left behind, just follow the gentlemen who are behind. Both Kurt and Jack are very familiar with the nearby forests that can be hunted. To get you lost. Also, be careful, and keep your distance after the gentlemen start shooting."

"Why do you want to stay away?"

Mr. Whittaker smiled rather strangely, "That's because there are always people who are not good at marksmanship, and every year, people are accidentally injured by other people's guns."

Alice suspects the butler is trying to scare her.These nobles should have learned horse riding and shooting since they were young. After so many years of learning, they wouldn't accidentally injure others, right?

Mrs. Bloom actually nodded, "Stay away from them. Did Lord Bundfield invite Mr. Chapperton? Did you? My God!" Then she said to Alice: "Stay away from this Mr. Chapperton, He was such a bad shooter that you'd find that when he had a gun, everybody just wanted to stay behind him."

A lady stayed at a neighbor's house for a few days, and she had to bring a lot of things, including clothes, shoes and hats, in two big boxes. Several soft hats, divided into indoor hats and outdoor hats; several pairs of shoes, including calfskin boots for riding, soft-soled shoes for indoors, and lambskin shoes for outdoor walking;

The two rifles were packed in a special box with ten boxes of ammunition; the revolvers were also two, packed in a small wooden box, and they also brought a few boxes of ammunition.

The preparations are all done by the servants, and Alice is only in charge of directing them to do things, and it will be ready in one day.In the afternoon, the butler sent a letter to Newton Manor, stating that Miss Austin would be there early in the morning and have breakfast at Newton Manor.

At dinner in the evening, Mr. Hastings looked at Alice in high spirits and said with a smile, "So happy?"

Alice nodded, "I'm very interested in things I haven't seen before. Sir, I think women should have the opportunity to see more things, go to more cities, travel, and grow up like men. Knowledgeable."

"You're right, but you have to know that many places are too dangerous for women. It's good if you want to have more experience, but first of all, you have to ensure your own safety. Without safety, there is no other place." .”

What Hastings meant was actually similar to what Brother Charles meant. Both were based on safety. Indeed, without safety, there would be nothing else to talk about.

"But what about those adventurers? Even now, there are still many explorers in the UK who are risking their lives in order to expand the map and go to previously unknown areas. Many people died on the way, and even their bones could not return to the motherland. "

"Those people, some are for fame, some are for profit, and some are because of the adventurous spirit in their bones, but you are not, my dear little Alice."

Alice thought for a while, and the famous adventurers and explorers are almost all men. Of course, a large part of the reason is that few women in this era can be pioneers enough to want to become adventurers. Such a dangerous activity; and more objectively, because if you need to trek in the wild for several months, the physiological characteristics of men are much superior to those of women.

In fact, she doesn't want to be an explorer who opens up new worlds. This is a subtle negotiating technique. You first make a request that no one else can agree to, and it is rejected without accident, and then you make another one that is not so Make sharp demands, so that the probability that the other party will agree will increase, because he can't always refuse you.

This time Alice did not directly request to travel to Europe and the New World in the future, because she was still too young, and it would not be too late to wait a few years.In fact, in a few years, she can afford to go out on her own without the sponsorship of Mr. Hastings, but the problem is that Mr. Hastings may agree to her request, but it is difficult for her father and mother to agree, especially Mom, she's going to freak out.

She needs a strong foreign aid to convince her parents.

One morning in early November, just before dawn, Merry came to wake Alice up.

Alice sat up with her eyes closed, and let Meili take off her nightgown, put on her underwear, help her out of bed, put her petticoat on, put on her skirt, and then helped her to sit in front of the dressing table, and combed her hair , braided hair.

Alice woke up now, opened her eyes, and yawned, "What time is it?"

"A quarter past six."

She muttered: "Is it necessary to get up so early? How far is it to Newton Manor?"

"If you go fast, it will take an hour."

"It's only less than 8 o'clock when we get there, and it's not time for breakfast yet."

"It's almost there. When we get there, we have to put our luggage and change clothes."

Ladies are troublesome. When you get up in the morning and go for a walk, you need to change your clothes. When you come back from your walk, you have to change your clothes for breakfast.So in addition to the riding outfits, Mei Li also brought her 3 home skirts, so that she won't have to repeat skirts anytime soon.

I went to the bathroom to wash my face, and applied lanolin-based skin cream. Mei Li applied rouge and lip balm on her, and then went downstairs after dressing up.

Mr. Hastings also just went downstairs, took his crutches and was about to go for a walk. Seeing Alice's pretty and lovely dress, he nodded his approval.

Alice curtseyed to him, "I won't be able to accompany you these few days, and when I come back, I will accompany you for a walk."

Mr. Hastings escorted her outside to the carriage.

Merry rode with her in the carriage, and Jacob got into the carriage, and took the seat opposite them.

Kurt and Jack were in the back of the van, complaining under their breath that it was too cold.

The coachman quickly drove the carriage to Newton Manor.

Newton Manor is a bit bigger than Daylesford House. It is a boxy house with three storeys in an orderly manner. One side of the main house is the servant’s house, and the other side is the stables and other tool rooms.

The carriage stopped in front of the gate of the main house, and the butler led several servants to wait on the steps. A servant quickly walked down the steps, opened the door, and pulled down the folding ladder.

Meili got out of the car first, then turned around and helped Alice down.

"Hello, Miss Austin." The butler greeted you, "Welcome to Newton Manor. The baron is out for a walk, please go in first. Grace will take you to your room, and breakfast will arrive at 8:9 Between [-] o'clock and Grace will take you to the restaurant."

Alice nodded.

Maid Grace took her up to the second floor.

Baron Bundfield's wife died of illness, and now there is no official mistress in Newton Manor. A cousin of the baron lives here temporarily and assumes the responsibility of mistress. This Mrs. Holmes is similar to Mrs. Baker, and she has been separated from her husband all year round. .Grace briefly mentioned the situation of Mrs. Holmes, mainly talking about two people, one is the baron's eldest son, Master Oliver, and the other is Mrs. Holmes' youngest son, Master Evan.Oliver is 16 years and 2 months old, and Evan is 2 months shy of turning 15.

During the hunting season, Newton Manor was almost full of guests, and the Baron called out friends very chicly.Of course, this also means spending a lot of money.

Some of the guests had gone for a walk with the host, some of the guests were not up yet, some were coming downstairs to have breakfast.

There are also some female relatives, Mrs., Mrs., some are Miss, and some are Lady.

Alice is just Miss Austen, but her speech and behavior seem to be well-educated, and the ladies and ladies don't look down on her very much.

The maid carried her suitcase into the room.The guest rooms at Newton Manor are similar to Daylesford, with a bedroom and a living room.Meili was busy getting her breakfast clothes to change into, and then stayed in the guest room to pack her luggage, while Grace accompanied her down to have breakfast.

There are a lot of people in the restaurant. The breakfast of rich people in England is buffet style. There are a lot of food for guests to choose. It's just that Newton Manor doesn't eat vegetable salad for breakfast.

After Grace led her into the dining room, he retreated to stand against the wall.Alice took the dinner plate, picked out fried bacon, fried oyster mushrooms with pepper, slices of toast, scrambled eggs with milk, and boiled eggs, brought them to the table, and sat down at a random seat.

Immediately a young lady started talking to her, asking which family she was from and who her father was.Alice replied that she had come by herself, as a representative of the neighbor Mr. Hastings.The young lady is not surprised at all. Neighbors who come to stay for a few days are also a kind of social activity. A generous host can sometimes entertain guests for several months, and it is not surprising that relatives stay longer, and stay for several years.

Alice ate very quickly, finishing breakfast in less than a quarter of an hour.

The owner hadn't come back yet, so he asked the butler, he said he had breakfast and had to rest for an hour, and the hunt would start at 1 or 10.

"What kind of prey are there?"

"It depends on the situation. There are rabbits, foxes, wild boars, and deer." A gentleman replied.

"Is hunting fun?"

"That depends on what your goal is. Generally speaking, it's quite fun."

Alice nodded, "Thank you, sir. Do you want to join the hunt too?"

"Yes. And you, young lady?"

"I'm going to hunt too, but I'm too young to shoot."

The gentleman raised his eyebrows in surprise, "Can you ride a horse?"

"Yes, I'm still riding well."

"Okay, today we will run a little farther, you have to be careful to keep up."

"I will, sir."

"Ferguson. Are you?"

"Austin."

"Hello, Miss Austin."

"Mr. Ferguson." Alice curtseyed, saying goodbye and leaving.

Grace still followed her, "You can take a rest in the room and change your clothes. After you leave, I will show Meili a little about Newton Manor. Your servant will be waiting for you at the stable."

Alice just replied: "Got it." Immediately afterwards, something suddenly passed her face.She was startled suddenly and stopped quickly.

Grace looked up at the stairs and said dissatisfiedly: "Master Evan! You are not a little boy anymore. Miss Austin is the baron's guest. Don't hurt her."

Alice looked angrily at the half orange on the stairs - if it hit her head firmly, it would definitely hurt!It will also make the juice splash and stain the skirt, which is not beautiful.

Even the fall on the stairs had splashed the juices and got the orange juice on her damask shoes.

Grace also saw that her shoes were soiled, so she hurriedly said, "Change them later, and take them to the maid to clean them for you." He then raised his head and shouted at Evan, "I'm going to tell Mrs. Holmes later! "

Evan made a grimace, "Go and tell her! She won't say anything about me!"

This is a spoiled brat!

Alice didn't really want to argue with a brat with an underdeveloped cerebellum, but if there was another time, she wouldn't continue to swallow her anger.She was the youngest child in the Austen family, and no one gave her a hard time since she was a child, except that her mother sometimes yelled at her a few times; when she grew up, she also lived in Gresham Manor, Cousin Anna's house, and Daylesford House. They were all held in high esteem and won the master's favor. The servants were very respectful and never bothered about such things.

Back in the guest room, Grace mentioned to Meili what Master Evan did just now, saying that Evan was an overly naughty boy, and asked them to be careful, if he behaved impolitely towards Alice, he would go and talk to Alice. The butler or the housekeeper said that Mrs. Holmes would punish him, but Evan wouldn't do too much, it's just that he was young and self-willed.

After Grace left, Merry changed Alice into men's riding clothes: trousers, shirt, coat, boots.

After getting dressed, she put her hair back into a ponytail, braided it, coiled it, and tied it tightly with a ribbon.This is Alice's own hairstyle, in order to tie her hair tightly so that it will not be thrown out while riding a horse, and it would be unsightly if the hair is disheveled.Ladies sometimes ride horses, but they usually don't run too fast, and they wear hats to hold down their hair, so as to prevent their hairstyle from being blown by the wind.The so-called "the head can be broken, the blood can flow, the hairstyle can't be messed up", women have to maintain their beauty all the time, it's really tiring.

Alice didn't think about maintaining her beauty or ladylike demeanor, but the horse galloped and her hair flew around, which would block her view, so she had to tie her hair tightly.

Meili had just combed her hair when she heard someone knocking on the door, "Miss Austin."

It was the voice of a strange young man.

Mei Li looked surprised, "Who could it be?"

"Go to the door and ask who it is."

Mei Li went to open the door and came back soon to report, "It's Master Oliver and Master Evan."

Alice didn't see clearly what Evan Holmes looked like just now, and faced two teenagers of similar height, she didn't know who was older and who was younger.

The two boys can be said to be very beautiful. One of them has a round face and a pair of bright gray-blue big eyes. They are round and deer-like. They are very energetic and full of confidence. He was a child from a good family background; the other had a long face, slender eye slits, and a very handsome appearance, but there was a wicked smile on the corner of his mouth, which ruined his appearance.

"Evan, apologize to Miss Austin." The round-faced boy urged.

Evan was quite obedient, "I'm sorry, Miss Austin, I was reckless just now, I hope I didn't scare you."

"You are—" Alice looked at him coldly.

"Sorry, I should have introduced myself first. My name is Evan Holmes."

"I'm Oliver Bundfield, son of Baron Bundfield. Sorry to frighten you, Evan is always naughty."

"Alice Austin. Can you get him out of my presence? I don't want to see him."

Oliver probably didn't expect her to say that, and was taken aback for a moment.Then he said very gracefully: "Okay, I will order him not to appear in front of you."

Evan made a face at her.

If it weren't for the fact that it was indoors, Alice really wanted to pull out her revolver, fire a shot, and scare the bear.

The two boys saluted and took their leave.

When they got to the stable, Alice was annoyed to find that Oliver and Evan were there too.

The male servants of the two people were checking the saddle straps for them. Evan probably had hyperactivity in children, and he refused to stand obediently all the time, always twisting and turning.When he saw Alice walking into the stable, he winked at her and said, "Do you want to ride a horse too?"

Alice was determined to ignore him.He told Jacob, "I won't bring the rifle today, Jack will follow me, and you can familiarize yourself with the environment here." They brought their own horses, the horses that Alice usually rides, and they have already figured out the nature of the horses.