little miss austin

Jacob agreed and concentrated on checking the saddle straps for her.

"Can you ride a horse? Don't fall off. You must know that if you fall off a horse, you will die." Evan said unlucky words annoyingly.

Alice didn't even look at him.

Merry looked her over again, and put on a quilted headband trimmed with rabbit fur for her.Flowers are embroidered on the headband, and her round face is made more white and lovely by the gray rabbit fur lining.

Oliver came over, looked at her outfit, didn't say anything, just pointed to the headband and said to her: "The headband is not warm enough, and you will have a headache after a while in the wind." He took off the dark gray he was wearing. The woolen peaked cap was put on for her, and she found it was too big, so she told Meili, "Go and tell the housekeeper, let my maid bring the hat I had when I was 9 years old."

"Will it be cold?" Alice asked, frowning.In autumn, she only went out for horseback riding when the weather was fine, and went out for another week. She hadn't experienced horseback riding in winter in England yet.Today's temperature is not high, the sun hangs coldly in the sky, fortunately there is no wind, so it is not too cold to go out.

"It's going to be cold." Oliver put his cap back on. "Can you shoot?"

"Yes, but not very often at live targets."

"You need to practice more with live targets. Are there no pigeons in Daylesford House for you to practice shooting?" Oliver smiled.

"Shooting pigeons? Killing too many pigeons at once, we can't finish it."

Oliver smiled happily immediately, "You are so strange that you would worry about this."

Evan said disdainfully from the side: "Poor ghost!"

Alice still pretended not to hear, "It's shameful to waste. Mr. Hastings and I can't eat much food in a day, even with the servants."

"Daylesford House doesn't seem to have too many servants."

"Not many, not as many servants as your family."

"Are you Mr. Hastings' goddaughter?"

"No, I'm his student."

"Student?" Oliver was surprised, "What does he teach you?"

"A lot, except for working as a maid and dancing, he can teach me anything."

"My God!" Oliver exclaimed, "then you are so lucky!"

Hastings is not short of money, so it is certainly not for tuition fees to accept students, let alone girls.

"I have heard that there have been attempts to invite Mr. Hastings back to London and into the House of Commons, but he has declined several times."

"Do you want to ask my opinion?"

"That's it."

"I don't have a problem with that. He should enjoy the easy country life. Politics is so annoying."

Oliver smiled and stopped talking about this topic. "How long have you lived at Daylesford House?"

"Almost half a year."

"Will you live there forever?"

"Let's live here for a few years."

"Father only came over last month. We come to hunt every winter, and sometimes we come to live for a month or two in summer."

"Where did you live before?"

"Sometimes in Devon, sometimes on the Isle of Wight."

"Aren't you going to London?"

"Occasionally."

Meili and a maid came over, and the maid held a cardboard box, saying that she didn't know which one was suitable, so she brought several hats, not all of them were peaked caps, and there were other hats, all of which were almost brand new. Well kept.Merry tried several hats on Alice, and at last a light gray wool cap was just the right size.

She put on the hat, and Oliver came over to take a look, "Very well, you can put it on, and you don't have to return it to me."

The stables were huge, and the front and rear doors were all open. The hunting guests all took out their horses one after another, checked the saddles and rifles, and got on the horses one after another.

Probably because Oliver was talking to her all the time, Evan didn't always come over to be annoying. He had already got on the horse and urged his cousin, "Hurry up, don't always take your time."

Oliver smiled softly at Alice, "Just follow me in a while, and I'll watch over you. Where's your servant? Ask him to help you get on the horse." He didn't rush to get on the horse by himself, but watched Jack come over, and on the horse Kneeling down on the left side, Alice stepped on Jack's leg with her right foot, put her left foot in the stirrup, held the rein in her hand, and stepped on the horse with her right leg.

The posture is beautiful, vigorous and brisk.

This horse is not tall, it can be regarded as a young horse, and Mr. Hastings bought it specially for her.Alice also practiced hundreds of times how to mount gracefully.

The reason why there are women who sit sideways on the saddle is also because men think it is indecent for women to ride astride, but sitting on the side of the saddle is undoubtedly extremely dangerous. It is common for men to fall off the horse, let alone sit sideways up.Alice didn't care if others would think her straddle was indecent, but in order to look good, she still put in a lot of effort to practice.She was quick, had long legs, and was dressed in men's clothes and hats, so she was taken for a boy.

It is considered extremely rebellious for a woman to wear men's clothing. A well-bred lady should not wear men's clothing. That is, because she is young, no one has said anything about her. The guests of Newton Manor think she wears men's clothing Unruly, but still a kid, nothing to blame.

Not even Evan scoffed that she shouldn't be wearing men's clothing.

For this day's hunting activity, Alice was a crowd of onlookers.

When the horse gallops up, the wind is very strong. Wearing a hat can really protect the head from the cold wind.Both Oliver and Evan carried rifles next to their saddles, and after running around a few kids separated from the main group.Oliver's servant took them to a grove, and the cousins ​​were very happy when they caught several rabbits.

The rifles of this era are still front-loaded, and the bullets need to be refilled after being fired, which is very troublesome, so you need to bring a manservant to load the bullets. Usually, you will bring two rifles and reload them in turn.

The two boys mentioned Mr. Chapperton, and Evan laughed at Chapperton's poor marksmanship for ten years, why he hasn't killed himself yet.Oliver smiled and said, it's not that Chapperton can't shoot, he did it on purpose.

"Is he deliberately not learning how to shoot, or is he pretending to be ridiculous that he can't shoot?" Evan asked.

"I don't know that, but he's not stupid."

That's fake.Alice wondered, this Mr. Chapperton probably vilified himself into a clown-like figure in order to stay with Baron Bundfield?Indeed, there will always be a clown-like character in a small group mainly for fun, making jokes and making people laugh.Giving up one's self-esteem must have paid off well.Oliver is the eldest son and the inevitable heir. In theory, the education he received should be the best that the baron can afford. As long as he is not too stupid, he can see Chapperton's true colors.The baron must also know the true face of this person, but who doesn't like a clown who can flatter, laugh at himself, and be a little vulgar?Therefore, it is necessary for him to exist. As long as the baron does not change his temperament and lifestyle, he will continue to keep him.

Evan seems rather naive, or rather, simply stupid.Just like most 14-year-olds, just as obnoxious, just as arrogant.

After running for several hours, I returned to Newton Manor at 4 pm.

Alice was very tired after riding the horse for several hours. She went upstairs and asked Meili to prepare hot water, took a bath, changed into a clean dress, and went downstairs to have dinner.

At dinner Oliver introduced her to Lord Bundfield.

The baron is very handsome, about 40 years old, with a mustache on his upper lip, looking very suave.He was tall, about as tall as Wesley, and it looked like Oliver would grow taller in the future.

The baron loves to laugh, and he always laughed when he was talking to Alice, asking her if she had a good time today, and whether Oliver had fulfilled his responsibilities as a master. You're welcome, just treat Newton Manor as the house of Daylesford, what's the matter? He told the servants to do it, and told the cook what he wanted to eat.A kind father's tone was a bit beyond Alice's expectation.

The baron is the highest-status person she has ever seen. The duke is the son of a prince, and the baron is the lowest level in the nobility hierarchy. Later, there are lower barons, and the title of nobility can be inherited.The number of knights is very limited, and the royal family has always controlled the rewards of titles, so it is necessary to ensure that the nobles will not be everywhere; the sons of nobles without titles can be called "Lord", for example, stewards and servants will call Oliver "Lord Oliver" Or "masterOliver", but Evan can't be "LordEvan", at most it's just "masterEvan".

After dinner, the gentlemen moved to the smoking room to talk, while Mrs. Holmes and the ladies moved to the games room.

Alice first went to the game room with the female guests, and stayed quietly in the corner to play cards with Meili.The wives were divided into small groups and talked about different topics. Alice was too young to get involved in the topic of married women except for a few words to her occasionally.

The talk of the married ladies was nothing more than that, the family and the family, and the "wives" and mistresses of the Prince of Wales were talked about.Alice was not familiar with the women's names, and after listening for a while, Meili realized that they were talking about famous courtesans in London, and led her out of the playroom.

After leaving the game room, Alice asked, "Are they talking about women with a bad reputation?"

"Yes, you don't need to know that."

Alice nodded.She's not that gossipy, not interested in someone's mistress or anything like that.

"How about you go upstairs and rest for a while. Are you tired today? You have never ridden a horse for such a long time."

Alice also felt very tired and wanted to go to bed earlier.There is no nightlife in the countryside, and the biggest pastime is to have a dance party. It seems impossible to have a dance party tonight in Newton Manor. The men brag for 2 or 3 hours, drink tea, and then go to sleep.

Meili led her along the corridor, ready to walk up to the stairs.

Oliver pushed through a door and saw her coming, and asked, "Do you want to go upstairs?"

"I want to go to bed earlier, I woke up too early in the morning, and I didn't take a nap at noon." He yawned as he spoke.

"It's time to rest earlier. Today you ran a long way with us. Do you want to eat roast rabbit tomorrow morning?"

"Roast it tenderly, don't bake it too dry, and cut it thinly, you can eat it with slices of bread. It's better to prepare another plate of lettuce, as long as the young leaves are."

"Okay, I will tell the cook." Oliver went upstairs two steps ahead, while looking back at her, "Tomorrow they will go hunting early in the morning, and breakfast will be an hour earlier. Do you want to go and see? Father asked someone to rush A lot of deer came over, you must have never seen that scene."

"Can I go too?"

"Just follow me."

Oliver sent her to the door of the guest room before bowing and leaving.

After entering the room, Alice didn't go to bed immediately.

She had brought the typewriter with her, and it was on the living room desk.There are two stacks of paper next to the typewriter, one is normal thickness paper and the other is thicker letter paper.

First, he took a piece of letter paper and rolled it into the typewriter drum, and wrote a letter to Mr. Hastings.

"Dear Mr. Hastings: I had a great time at Newton Manor. I rode for a few hours today. Although it was cold, it was not too cold to ride and run. The Baron's son Oliver is a very nice boy , the baron is also very kind, but Mrs. Holmes seems to be very busy and has never talked to me. Some of the ladies are boring, and some are gossips, but the uniform is that they are all dressed beautifully. The worst thing is There aren't any girls around my age here, so the ladies don't talk to me much. Yours, Alice."

When finished it was removed from the roller, folded, waxed, stamped "A.A", and set aside for Jacob to return to Daylesford tomorrow.

I took another piece of plain paper, rolled it into the typewriter drum, and began to write what I saw today.She typed very fast. After half an hour, she finished typing a page. She took it out and read it again. It was very good, there were no misspelled words, and the wording was a bit exaggerated, so she took a dip pen and came out to draw a picture. , Finished the modification, put it aside, pressed it with an amethyst paperweight, then got up and entered the bedroom, and went to bed.

Early the next morning, after a hasty breakfast, he followed Oliver out to watch them hunt.

As far as hunting, Alice has never seen it before—a lot of servants and farmers on the territory were dispatched in advance to drive the deer from other places far away, and I don’t know how many days. Or grab it first, and then let it go here, I don't know.In short, there were 2 to 30 big deer, no young deer, running wildly all the way, and the baron led the hunters to chase them all the way.

Both Oliver and Evan followed closely. Although they were at the end of the queue, they finally caught up. Alice also followed closely behind Oliver's horse.The two big boys didn't bother to talk, they just urged the horse to run.

Continuous gunshots were heard one after another. Because of the need to reload, the gunfire was not too intensive.

Alice thought to herself that the deer did not seem to be long-distance runners with endurance. Once the gun was fired, the deer that was not hit would run wildly for a while. This is animal instinct; It's time to slow down, and the hunters should start hunting aggressively.

Sure enough, after two or three hours, the running speed of the deer herd slowed down, and the gunshots began to increase, and even Evan shot a single deer.Evan put down the rifle and yelled at Oliver, "Look! I got it!"

Oliver also fired a few shots, but they missed. After all, it is difficult to hit a running deer. Evan also took advantage of the short time when the deer stopped to rest.

Several male servants also followed, and Evan told them to tie up the injured deer and carry it over.

Oliver got off his horse and motioned for Alice to do the same.

"You haven't seen a wounded deer, have you?"

Alice stepped on Kurt's shoulder and got off the horse, "I haven't seen it."

"Are you afraid of seeing blood?"

She shook her head.

Oliver took her to the wounded deer.

The deer was very big, with beautiful antlers, and a large blood stain on its chest, which was still bleeding. Even in winter, it exuded a strong smell of blood.

Evan also dismounted and came over, and glanced at her, "Don't faint later, I don't bring smelling salts, if you faint, I'll throw you here and not take you back. "

Alice didn't even want to roll her eyes: "Little brat!

A servant brought a hand saw, and several servants were discussing whether to saw off the head of the deer now, so as not to break the antlers on the way back to the manor, which would be ugly.

The half-dead deer lay there, panting, with big wet eyes, looking beautiful and fragile.

Nearly out of breath, but not out yet.

Alice frowned, took the revolver from the belt around her waist, aimed it at the deer's heart, and fired.

Neither Oliver nor Evan expected that she would suddenly take out a revolver and shoot. They were all startled and looked at her in surprise.

The deer eyes slowly closed.

Alice put away the revolver and asked the servant, "Are you going to cut off the deer's head and take it back as a specimen?"

A servant replied, yes, it was the first deer shot by Master Evan. According to the rules, it was to be brought back as a specimen and hung on the wall of the collection room.

Alice frowned, "What's so good about such a deer head?" I really don't understand the blind pride of a man.

The servants discussed it for a while, and decided that it is better to find a donkey cart first, or ask some farmers to carry the deer back to Newton Manor.A servant rode to a nearby village.

Evan got on the horse, "Let's go, we can go back."

Alice asked: "Oliver, can you do without hunting a deer today?"

Oliver smiled, "It's not the first time I've come out to hunt." It means that those who have hunted deer before don't care about today.

Then there is no problem, go back.

She has also been running for 2 or 3 hours, and today she is even more tired than yesterday, because she ran so fast that she now feels that the inner thighs may be worn out, and her little buttocks are shaking enough——she Now I finally understand why Kurt told her not to run too fast in the morning. Even an adult would probably be bumped so hard that her butt hurts.

Sure enough, the two big boys walked very slowly on the return journey, and the servant prepared cotton pads for them to put on the saddles.

Back at the manor, when taking a bath, Alice saw by herself that the skin on the inner thighs was really worn out, and after a hasty wash, she got out of the bathtub without daring to soak too much.

Mellie had already prepared the ointment, and when she lay on the bed, she applied the ointment to her inner thighs and buttocks.

Alice groaned and said that she would have a day off tomorrow and would not go out.

Mei Li smiled and said, "The baron will not go out tomorrow, he said he would invite some guests to the picnic in the garden in the afternoon, and there will be a dance in the evening."

Alice was stunned: This is the entertainment of the rich. Since guests are invited, the host is responsible for eating, drinking and having fun. Everything is money, and gold coins are used like running water.

The baron and the hunters came back one after another after noon, and the manor became very lively and busy. The boiler room was busy heating hot water for the host and guests to take a bath, and the kitchen was busy packing up the dozen or so deer brought back. Come down, then peel the skin and remove the meat. The dinner that night is roasted venison, and roasted 3 whole venison.The baron ordered the butler to send two deer to Daylesford, and then gave them to other neighbors. In the end, he kept 10 deer, ate 3, and left 7. The kitchen was busy until midnight, but it was cold. , Let it go and continue packing tomorrow.

Most of the venison is marinated, and some are dried into venison jerky, and a lot of spices are used.

Alice ate a little cake and grilled sausage casually at noon, and slept for more than two hours after eating.After getting up, I wrote another letter to Mr. Hastings, just in time for Newton Park to send deer to Daylesford, and handed it over to the footman.

After writing the letter, I took another piece of plain paper and rolled it into the drum, and began to write what I saw and heard today.She felt sorry for the deer, but she couldn't say that the baron and the hunters were wrong. Hunting was an elegant and expensive sport, and it was also a kind of social activity. In the era when the breeding industry was underdeveloped, wild animals were also one of the sources of animal fat. one.

Hunting on country estates is both fun and practical, and it's hard to judge it as a brutal sport.Even the normal animal protection organizations in later generations seek not to torture and slaughter, and do not object to normal breeding and slaughter.So she can only say, let the deer die faster and don't suffer more pain. This will not prevent her from going down to eat venison for a while.

I had a great time in Newton Manor. Oliver is a very good little master and fulfilled his master's duties perfectly.Although Evan said a few words to her when he had nothing to do, he convinced Oliver that as long as Oliver didn't allow him to talk nonsense, he would be able to shut up obediently, so Alice generally ignored Evan.

They were not old enough to attend the dance, so they could only sit and chat in the lounge next to them. Evan was a bear kid who couldn't sit still, and urged them to leave after staying for a while.

Alice didn't want to act according to his wishes, and said to Oliver: "Let's play cards, can you play whist?"

"Yes. But the game room must be occupied by now, we—" Oliver pondered for a while, "go play in the attic, where few people go up."

"attic?"

"Follow me." Oliver stood up, took a candlestick from the table by the door, and lit it. "It should have been built by the previous baron. It is said that he raised his illegitimate daughter in the attic."

The author has something to say:

*The translation of "Mingshu Harlots" is too gentle, and the literal translation of Harlots is a prostitute.I haven't watched this drama, but I read the synopsis and it's a brothel story.

* Higher than Harlots is Courtesan, literally translated as senior prostitute, courtesan, usually referring to professional mistress.Mistresses are usually better educated, and some of them are even more educated than ordinary squire women.For comparison, Courtesan is at the level of Chen Yuanyuan and Li Shishi, while Harlots is at best an ordinary oiran.

*Hunting or something, write blindly, don't take it seriously.