little miss austin

"The last baron? Is it your grandfather?"

"No, it's my father's uncle. He has no children, so the title passed to my father."

"Actually," Evan said mysteriously, "I heard that it wasn't some illegitimate daughter, but his mistress. He locked her in the attic, and then the woman went crazy, jumped out of the window, and fell died."

Alice couldn't help frowning: Evan, this brat, how come he hasn't been beaten to death yet?

"Don't talk nonsense, it scares Alice." Oliver warned him.Then he said to Alice: "Don't listen to his nonsense. But every old manor has people dying suddenly, without exception. Are you afraid?"

Alice shook her head, "I know. There is nothing to be afraid of. There is no such thing as a 'ghost' in the world."

There is nothing in the attic, only a single bed and a chest of drawers, as if someone lived in it a long time ago.

The bed sheet hadn't been changed for a long time, it changed from white to yellow, and there were some suspicious black dots. Alice thought for a while before realizing that it should be the excrement left by the mouse.There must be mice in old houses, and it is impossible for mouse traps to catch all the mice.

The boys spread small tapestries stolen from a guest room on the floor, and sat down on them, one on each side.Oliver patted the middle of the carpet and motioned for Alice to sit down.

Evan took out a small tin can and some tissue paper from his coat pocket, and gave some to Oliver.

Alice watched in amazement as the two half-year-old boys rolled hand-rolled cigarettes—as expected, no matter what age, boys always want to try what adults are doing, smoking is such a fashionable thing, how could they not secretly try it!

After rolling the cigarette, he put it on the candle and lit it, and then imitated the adults, and began to puff.

Judging by that skillful look, it must not be the first time he secretly smoked.

"You guys know smoking turns your teeth yellow, don't you?" While no one knew about the dangers of nicotine, it was known that tobacco smoke could damage teeth.

Evan showed her his teeth playfully, "My teeth are very white, I brush my teeth at least twice a day."

Oliver hurriedly said, "My teeth are also very white."

Well, yes, both boys have good teeth, Evan's canines are misaligned and not quite straight, but they are very white.Oliver's teeth are perfect. Except for the pointed canines, the upper and lower teeth are neatly arranged and very white. It can be seen that they have been carefully maintained since childhood.

Teeth are one of the criteria for distinguishing a person's origin in this era. Children from poor families have neither the conditions nor the awareness to pay attention to the protection of teeth. Handymen who do rough work and farmers in the fields often have yellow and uneven mouthpieces. Teeth: The gentry class and above attach great importance to teeth. If you have money to buy toothbrush and tooth powder, brush your teeth in the morning and evening, wash your hands before meals and rinse your mouth after meals. Dentists are already profitable professions. For young masters like Oliver, dentists will visit regularly.

Evan came over suddenly and stretched out his hand to break her mouth, "Let me see your teeth."

He pinched Alice's cheeks unexpectedly, and separated her lips with his fingers.

Oliver was already yelling, "Evan! Let her go!"

Alice froze for a moment, then immediately opened her mouth and bit his finger.

Evan yelled in pain, "Let go of me! Are you a puppy? How dare you bite!" Throwing the cigarette, he beat her a few times with the other hand.

Alice bit his finger hard with her teeth, until she felt that she might have bitten his finger, and then she let go.

Evan cried in pain, "You are a bad girl! Bad boy!"

Alice stood up and kicked him.

Oliver also quickly stood up and grabbed her, "Okay, don't hit him."

"And his upbringing?" cried Alice to him.

"It's Evan's fault. He shouldn't be so rude to you. Evan, apologize to Miss Austin."

Evan jumped up, yelling, "She bit my finger! She should be apologizing to me!"

"Shut up!" Oliver punched him in the stomach, and Evan bent over in pain. "If you don't respect Miss Austin, you don't respect me as the master." He said coldly, "You still have to write to Mr. Hastings to apologize to him."

Evan didn't dare to refute his cousin. After a while, he stood up straight, "I'm sorry, Miss Austin, I was too reckless."

Oliver snorted, "You just stay here and wait half an hour before going down."

Take a candle from the candlestick, put a few drops of candle oil on the floor, and stand the candle on the floor.Then he said to Alice, "I'll take you back to your room."

"Evan hit you a few times, does it hurt?"

"Why don't you stop him?"

Oliver smiled, "Isn't that you in the middle? I'm sorry, Mrs. Holmes spoils him too much, he's a little—a little immature."

Alice sneered, "It's not that he is ignorant, he listens to you very much, and he doesn't dare not listen to what the baron says. He thinks being rude to me is a trivial matter and won't be punished, so he disrespects me. "She reconfirmed that Evan is a bear child.

Oliver thought for a while, "I'll tell Mrs. Holmes to ground him these few days and not allow him to leave his room. Is that okay?"

"That's your business, you don't need to ask my opinion. I can tell you now, let me see him again, I can't say what I will do to him. "

"Okay, I see. I'm sorry that something unpleasant happened. I will write to Mr. Hastings to explain and apologize to him. I hope you can stay according to the original plan and don't leave early."

Alice snorted, "I'm not going to ruin the fun of the game for an uneducated little boy. I'll bring my rifle tomorrow too. You ask the servants to find us a place to shoot rabbits. Daylesford already has two There is only a deer, and I want to kill some rabbits and bring them back."

Oliver said gently: "Okay, I will arrange it."

Merry lived in the servants' room, not in the guest room.Most of the servants were either serving in the ballroom or playing by themselves.Oliver stood outside the guest room door, "I'll ask the servant to bring your maid, you go to bed early." He saluted and said goodbye to her.

Alice closed the door.

Oliver is really an almost perfect boy, etiquette, upbringing, appearance, all impeccable, but this may mean that he is a person who pursues perfection, or has a very strict father.Baron Bondfield is quite a special man. Oliver's mother died of dystocia when she gave birth to her third child about 10 years ago, and he never remarried.The child survived, but there seemed to be some limbs missing, and no one had seen the boy.Oliver is the eldest son and the inevitable heir. He lost his mother's care at the age of 5. He must be precocious and self-disciplined, but he will not be reckless like Evan.

Evan, on the other hand, must have been a child who was doted on by his mother and grew up spoiled. He also knows how to watch others order dishes, which is simply too annoying!When you meet such a person, you can only beat him, beat him hard!

Alice thought angrily, she was kind-hearted if she didn't bite off his finger just now!hateful!The few times he punched her arm was quite painful, and when she took off her skirt, it was already bruised.

After waiting for 20 minutes, Meili went upstairs, and Alice told her to find out the trauma ointment from the last time.Meili saw the bruise on her arm and wondered if she hurt it yesterday, but she didn't notice it yesterday.Alice didn't want to tell her about Evan, and the vagueness passed.

In the next few days, Evan did not appear in front of her again. Oliver dutifully took her out to hunt rabbits, and he really killed a lot of rabbits.One day, the two of them squatted down for a few hours, and asked the servant to light hay, stuff it into the hole of the rabbit hole, smoke out all the rabbits that formed a nest, and then beat them to death one by one, killing more than a dozen rabbits.Finally, the servant caught several little rabbits, made a cage, and brought them back to Newton Manor.

It would be nice to have a boy of about the same age to accompany her on a special trip. Oliver is thoughtful and takes good care of her. Anyway, most of the things are done by the servants.Fearing that she would get hungry halfway through the game, a servant specially brought a basket of bread and several bottles of water for her to eat and drink during the break.There are several kinds of water, rose water, orange water, honey water, and pure natural and pollution-free mountain spring water specially transported from a certain mountain in the distance.

Fearing that she would be cold, I brought a woolen cloak to put on her when I got off the horse; I also brought a large rug, so if the weather was sunny, I would find a place facing the sun and leeward to sit and rest.

Tell Alice about his and his father's affairs on the Isle of Wight. The Isle of Wight is a resort for dignitaries, and the royal family also has villas on the Isle of Wight. In summer, there are basically picnics in the garden every afternoon, and men ride horses for a walk. The ladies loafed and chatted in the gardens; there were balls every evening, and there were rich clothes, jewels, and plenty of feathers, the fashion of the last few years in London to wear feathered headdresses.

Oliver doesn't like to talk about right and wrong, and probably thinks those are too boring.But he also mentioned that some girls of the same age and status as him would always come to talk to him, and he felt that those girls were all boring, and their words were pale.

Alice pondered for a while, those girls are similar to Lucy and Lucinda, they have received lady education, but their vision and vision are limited, they firmly believe that a woman should marry a good husband, so almost every word and deed is in the Work hard for this goal.

In fact, there is nothing wrong with it.

Girls will look forward to love when they reach a certain age, which is inevitable for young girls. Boys are generally slower than girls in development, and their awareness of this aspect is also later. They are full of "play", but still If you don't appreciate the joy of men and women, you will think that girls are too troublesome creatures.

On the second day after the last Evan incident, Oliver sent many gifts to her, including perfume and powder from Paris, taffeta from Paris, silk from China, and a King Kong brought back from South America. The parrot, the ribbons of various colors in rolls, made Mei Li wonder what was going on, and was puzzled for a long time.

Alice was very happy in Newton Manor without any bear children to bother her, so she stayed two days longer than expected before returning to Daylesford.

Regarding the Evan incident, Mr. Hastings received three letters on the same day, from Alice, Oliver, and Evan; later in the day, he received letters from Baron Bondfield and Mrs. Holmes .

Alice briefly explained what had happened; Oliver was an apology letter, and Evan was also an apology letter; the Baron and Mrs. Holmes also apologized first, and the Baron said that he had decided to send Evan to Harrow School, and it was time for him to learn some rules; Mrs. Holmes said that Evan has been grounded for the past few days, and he is not allowed to mess with Miss Austin.

When Alice returned, Mr. Hastings showed her the letters from the Baron and Mrs. Holmes.

"He did something wrong, but he can go to Harrow School?" Alice said angrily, "Where is this punishment? It's obviously a reward, okay?! He should be sent to a church on some remote island, knocking every day bell!"

So angry!

The baron also wrote that the family would spend the summer on the Isle of Wight next summer, and invited Mr. Hastings and Miss Austen to accompany them.

"Would you like to go to the Isle of Wight?" Hastings asked her.

"I want to go, I heard it's fun." She hasn't been there yet.When Oliver mentioned the Isle of Wight, he didn't say that Mrs. Holmes and Evan would go with them, so Evan should have been living with his mother in Newton Manor, not always with the Baron's family.

She didn't dislike Oliver at all, and was happy to play with him.

According to the education of the baron's family, Oliver's younger brother should also be a polite child, so he has no worries.

"Okay, then I'll write back and tell the baron that we'll go together." It's also good to go for a walk once in a while. The Isle of Wight is not only a resort, but also a health resort.

After a fortnight at Daylesford House, Alice packed again at the beginning of December for London and then Bath.

Henry and Eliza rented a small two-story building in London. The usable area was similar to that of Lefroy's house, but the location was better, so the rent was also a bit more expensive.

In London, I must live at my brother's house.

Eliza is also used to servants, but because the houses in the city do not have as many rooms as the country houses, they can only let Mellie and Jacob squeeze with other servants.

Little Hastings said nothing when she saw that she had brought Jacob.

The guest room is very comfortable, the inconvenience is that you have to share a bathroom with Little Hastings, nothing else.

In addition to visiting my brothers and sisters in London, there is another important thing to do is to have a meeting with Henry, Tom, and cousin Thomas.

The typewriter company was all started because of Alice, and the three men would not think that Alice is a girl and not qualified to attend company meetings.

Thomas works with his cousin and is very motivated.The higher the company's profit, the more dividends he will get. Who would think that more money is not enough? Of course, the more money the better.He has also changed the house now, the living space is more spacious, and the family can afford more servants.

Alice first looked at the company's business report for this year. The profit is still quite high. This year, her dividend has exceeded 1 pounds, and Henry helped her deposit it in the bank.

The next step is to discuss the launch of low-priced mid-range products. The main reason for reducing costs is to change the material from alloy to cast iron, so that the price can be discounted in half; the appearance has also been redesigned, and a plain appearance was chosen to Show the difference with high-end products;

The brand of the new product is determined, which is simply called "Austin" and the price is set at 169 pounds. For customers with good credit, they can provide low-interest bank loans and purchase in installments. In the home market with more than 500 pounds, the concept of promotion is no longer luxury goods, but household necessities, and strengthen the promotion of the practicality of typewriters; brainwashing every big man should have the concept of a secretary who can use a typewriter.There will also be a typing speed competition in newspapers. No.1 will be recruited to work in the Austin Typewriter Company, with a certain weekly salary, not limited to men and women.

Salesman, don’t worry, you can hire more, the salary doesn’t need to be too high, the basic salary plus commission, the more you sell, the more you get, you are guaranteed to be very motivated.This is not her invention. The factory has long used the piecework system to increase production.

After the meeting, Cousin Thomas left.Henry and Tom continue their meeting with Alice.

Now talking about another company.

Wesley and William graduated from Oxford University in June, and they were not busy going abroad immediately after graduation. William took Wesley to visit relatives and friends, and traveled all over central and southern England. Relatives heard that William would travel abroad, more or less They all sponsored some travel expenses, and actually got as much as 6 pounds, plus the 5000 pounds travel expenses given to him by his father, Lord Kingsley, William had 8000 pounds in his hands.

Wesley received a dividend of 2 pounds from the Austin Typewriter Company last year, and received another 1 pounds in dividends this year, as well as a share repurchase of 5000 pounds. In addition to his annuity for the past few years, he has 4 pounds in his hand. Traveling for 3 or 4 years is not enough.

The two of them returned to London in October. William found a small publisher that was not doing well and was about to go bankrupt. He helped Henry act as a middleman for the acquisition. Henry invested 10 pounds and became a partner of Ferrero Publishing House. People, the name of the publishing house was changed to "Austin and Ferrero Press", Austin accounted for 1%, Stephen Ferrero accounted for 2%, William accounted for 58%, and Wesley accounted for 22%.

Austin's shares are divided into Henry with 25% of the shares, Alice with 18% of the shares, Jane and Tom with 10% of the shares, and Cathy with 5% of the shares.Cathy took out the 1000 pounds that she had been reluctant to use.

Things with the publishing house can be said to be relatively smooth, and now they have taken on some jobs, mainly publishing religious books.The plan is to launch the Jane Austen novel next spring, just as Jane's final touches are done.

Henry also plans to start a newspaper, also due to start next year.When he was a student at Oxford University, he once published a review book "The Loiterer" with his eldest brother James, which was published once a week and lasted for more than a year before it was closed due to funding problems.

Alice also felt that since her family had a publishing house, it would be no problem to run another newspaper. It is also very important to have a media at home. For example, you can publish some favorable book reviews to guide readers.Everyone does this, the only difference is that their own newspapers are more convenient to operate.

This idea came to Henry himself, and Alice thought, maybe in the future Austin Publishing will become bigger and stronger, and they can also build a media empire.It's not impossible to think about it!It is not a dream to work hard for at least a few decades to create the rudimentary form of a media empire. After a few more generations, the Austin family will become a big family in the British media and cultural circles.

So excited just thinking about it!

Alice has no doubts that Jane's work will become a masterpiece handed down from generation to generation.

It is not that there are no female writers in this era. On the contrary, in the past 50 years, there have been many female writers in Britain, and more than 2000 novels have been published, but very few of them have been handed down to future generations.Jane Austen's works have been widely welcomed by readers of all walks of life since they first appeared. They were quickly reprinted and translated into dozens of foreign languages ​​in the past 200 years. There are not many writers who can compare with her.

Self-publishing can maximize the benefits and promote Jane's works better. Jane should use her works to earn enough money to make her life comfortable. A writer uses his own knowledge and cultural accomplishment to provide readers with wonderful It is not a shame to receive remuneration for the reading experience; every reader should also use money to affirm the writer's work, "knowledge" is always the hardest thing to get, and "creativity" is even rarer, 1000 The same education does not necessarily produce a creative writer; there are 500 people in a dance hall, but only Jane Austen can extract the world from small talk and fake smiles. The most essential difference for readers.

After discussing the second task, take a break, eat some bread, drink a cup of hot cocoa, and then move on to the next topic.

The work was difficult and almost clueless.

Steam engines already exist, and some industrial enterprises already have relatively mature steam engine-powered machines, such as the textile industry and metal casting industry, but they have not been used in the printing industry.Related technological innovations are being made, but progress is slow.

Henry's job in the second half of this year is to find out who is making technical innovations in steam printing machines, but there is no definite news yet.

Alice asked, why can't we find engineers to design and manufacture new printing machines?

Henry hesitated, saying that the production of printing presses is limited, and the sales volume will definitely not be as good as typewriters, which are suitable for home use.

"But don't forget how many printing factories there are in England. Even if a printing factory only has 5 printing machines, the price of printing machines is at least a thousand pounds. Steam power is definitely much faster than manual labor. With new machine, the printing factory will not need to spend a long time to train the printing workers, the salary of the printing workers will be reduced, and the investment of the printing machine is almost one-time. In less than 5 years, all the printing factories will be replaced with new printing machines , and can also be exported to the European continent and the American continent. This is the case in any business, you have to enter this blank market as soon as possible to earn the most profit as soon as possible, and others will only follow your ass to pick up the bones you don’t want.” Alice said with certainty.

The author has something to say:

*Checked it out. At the end of the 17th century, there were already factories in Britain capable of producing tinplate (tin-plated iron). In the early 18th century, there was tinplate import and export trade. In the early 19th century, British tinplate products could be exported in large quantities.

* Oliver looks like Asa probably.

*Okay, to borrow the name of the Ferrero chocolate again.Ferrero is an Italian surname, and it is very common to use your own surname as a company name.