little miss austin

Susan fell asleep.

Seeing Susan occupying half of the bed, Alice couldn't bear to wake her up.

In fact, she is very poor.Of course, the "poorness" of the rich is also the misfortune of the rich and well-fed. How many people are willing to exchange their fate with her.

Alice felt more and more happy.

The next day, after breakfast at Fengshan Manor, I took my leave.

The Deng Bo'er siblings were still shocked by the strange aura of Fengshan Manor.

"Mr. Beckford must be very interesting." Grant said firmly.

William laughed, "It's 'fun' by your standards, but some people don't think so."

Grant disagreed, "Is it the rumors of his homosexuality?"

"Not just gay, Lord Courtney was underage at the time."

Only then did Grant suddenly realize: So Beckford is not only a homosexual, but also a pedophile.

Sally showed a shocked look.

"They probably didn't have much chance to have practical contact," William said vaguely. "At that time, this matter caused a lot of trouble, so Beckford had to hide abroad and came back after more than ten years."

Alice frowned, "The inappropriate behavior of the underage Courtney and Beckford is all from Courtney's uncle. There is no circumstantial evidence, so it cannot be considered conclusive. They have servants around them. If there is any indecent behavior in the room, someone among the servants will definitely see it."

Courtney’s uncle exposed the abnormal relationship between his nephew and Beckford for some unknown purpose. The physical evidence is a letter from Beckford to Courtney, which is indeed full of words of admiration, but it is impossible to judge the relationship between the two. People really have an indescribable physical relationship, so Uncle Courtney claimed to have seen them on the same bed, and he inadvertently broke in, and Beckford got up from the bed in a panic.

When Alice saw this report, she thought "Pooh": As an uncle, seeing another man on his nephew's bed and still being intimate, shouldn't he immediately tell his nephew's parents?So it took you years to realize that Beckford was a beast?

Beckford doesn't look like the kind of person who is so stupid to sleep with Courtney at Little Courtney's house for lust!Just find an excuse to ask Courtney Jr. to go to his residence, what can you do!

Then, either Uncle Courtney asked his brother to disinherit him in order to ruin his nephew's reputation, so that he would have a chance to get the title and family property, or Beckford's enemies wanted to make fun of him.

These two directions, the first one was given up because the old Courtney did not cancel his son's inheritance rights; the second one, Beckford did return after hiding from the country for 11 years, for which he lost his seat in the House of Commons, money On the other hand, there should be some losses, but I don’t know how much this amount is, and Beckford was able to return to China, did he also use money to buy connections?

Thinking hard.

Therefore, if you have money, you must have the necessary power. The Beckford family can accumulate millions of property. It is impossible to have high-level and noble relatives and friends.

Therefore, the lesson is that to make money as low-key as possible, you need some strong backing. Tom is only a junior member of the House of Commons, and he still doesn't feel reliable enough.So at that time, William Kingsley wanted to take a stake in the publishing house through an intermediary. After discussing with Henry, she unanimously agreed to let him take a share; the shares of Mr. Hastings in the Austin Typewriter Company have always been there, and he was paid dividends every year. Mr. Hastings has friends in the House of Commons and the Supreme Court, and his contacts are still very wide.When Mr. Hastings came to London, he always took Henry and Tom out to company, and introduced them to his friends and relatives.

William didn't want to talk about it, so he quickly changed the subject.Speaking of Grant going to Bath with the Austin sisters, you must pay attention to safety. In big cities, there will always be homeless people. If you see a crowd of idlers, don't approach them; if there are children hugging their legs and calling "Daddy", hurry up Go, maybe it will cost you a lot of money; the accent cannot be changed to an English accent in the short term, so it is normal to be taken advantage of when you go out, even if you bring servants and slaves, it may not be able to protect you from being touched.

Grant was astonished and amazed, his face expressive.

The group broke up in Salisbury, William took Sally back to London, Eliza and Cathy took Alice and Grant to Bath.

Servants are indispensable when you are away from home.

He took 4 strong men, each with his own maid; Grant brought a black slave, and a personal man; Alice also brought Jacob.Eliza and Cathy shared a carriage, Alice and Grant shared a carriage.

The two of them were not the only ones in the carriage. Alice's personal maids Sidney and Jacob were both there. Soon after the carriage was on the road, Sidney took out a folding wooden table according to the hostess' instructions, and the four of them began to play cards.

Grant found that Alice was good at playing cards, and Jacob, a tall, burly and seemingly honest servant, was also very good at playing cards.He has long known that Jacob is Alice's childhood playmate, but that's all. Who doesn't have a childhood friend? The difference in status between the two is too big. No matter how you look at it, Jacob will not be a threat.

When they arrived at the post station, it was Jacob who was busy, arranged for the ladies and young masters, and arranged for the horses to rest and feed the fodder. settle accounts.Jacob was very familiar with the prices of various supplies, and he calculated the accounts very carefully. There were coins of various denominations worth no less than 50 pounds in his wallet.

Grant thought, Jacob is very capable and literate. Alice can let him hold so much money, which shows that he trusts him. Maybe Jacob will be the treasurer of Alice's family in the future.In the past few months, he has been making up for it, and he has also learned a little about the ranks and differences of the British servant class.

After walking for two days on the road, when they arrived in Bath, they went directly to the hotel where the Austin couple lived. Mrs. Austin had already booked a room for them.

Alice was very happy to see her parents. Pastor George seemed to be looking better than when he was in London, and her mother was in good spirits.

Grant found everything new in Bath.There are no hot spring resorts in South Carolina. This time he came, of course he would go to the hot springs to experience it.The water in the hot spring is warm and smells like sulfur. It is really comfortable to soak for 1 or 2 hours.

Every morning, I go out for a walk with Pastor George before breakfast, take a rest after breakfast, go to the hot spring with Pastor George, take the servants to serve; eat a little at noon, take a nap, and spend the afternoon with Alice and Cathy in Paris. Stroll around town.

Alice also has a similar itinerary, going out for a walk with her mother before breakfast, and sometimes with Pastor George; going to a hot spring in the morning, taking a nap at noon, shopping in the afternoon, going to a dance or going to a stage play in the evening, there are many social activities in Bath , Never worry about having no place to play.

Grant has learned social dancing in England, and he is very interested in dancing. He wants to shake his legs when he hears music, but he can't dance because of Alice. He spends most of the time chatting with her, and occasionally invites Cathy or Yi Lisa dances.

Alice had planned to stay in Bath for two weeks before returning to London for William and Sally's wedding, but on their first Saturday night in Bath, Eliza passed out in a ballroom.

Eliza's partner was Grant. She fainted to the ground. Grant reacted quickly and pulled her in time, preventing her from falling straight to the floor.

Immediately there were slight screams and gasps from the crowd, with shouts of "bring the smelling salts" and shouts for people to disperse.

The band stopped playing, and Grant took Eliza to the lounge next to the dance hall. Someone brought smelling salts, and Cathy, who came over, took the bottle of smelling salts and placed them under Eliza's nose.

Mrs. Austin also quickly pulled Alice over, "What's wrong with her?"

Eliza turned pale, her lips were blue, and it took her a while to wake up.

"What's wrong with me?" she murmured.

"You passed out. How do you feel?" Cathy said softly.

"Dizziness." Eliza lay on the sofa and dared not move.

Grant was a little scared, pulled Alice and whispered, "What's wrong with her? Is it because the dance hall is too stuffy?"

There are many people in the dance hall, no matter how good the ventilation is, it will be stuffy.

"Maybe, I'm not a doctor, how do I know?" Due to the backwardness of medical technology these days, people who suffer from serious and minor ailments basically have to deal with them by themselves. Herbal therapy is actually a continuation of ancient witch doctors, keeping up with the trend and keeping up with the times. Jin, after the discovery of ancient mummies in Egypt, even mummies can be ground into powder and used as medicine, so don't expect such medical skills to heal anyone.

The practicality of mummy was learned by Alice by accident. She went to London to buy paints, and there was a kind of "mummy brown" among them. With such a strange name, she had to ask the shopkeeper what it was, so the shopkeeper told her that it was A mixture of pigments made from mummies ground into powder, a rich brown that many great painters love - of course Alice didn't buy mummy brown, which is so strange, think about being dug up after you've been dead for many years, making Into paint, how strange it is!

Then she inquired that mummy powder was used as a material in the formula of hemostatic agent, added to rosin resin powder and gum arabic powder, and made into powder or tablet, which can stop nosebleeds and vomiting blood caused by esophageal ulcers, Also, it is widely believed that powdered human skulls work better.

Eliza lay on the sofa for more than ten minutes, during which a servant brought honey water. Mrs. Austin made Eliza drink the honey water, and when she could stand, she took her back to the hotel.

At noon the next day, Mrs. Austin happily announced the great news to her husband and daughters: Eliza was pregnant!

Eliza, 43, had largely given up on being a mother again after the death of her son Hastings Jr., and the reason she didn't realize she was pregnant was because she thought she was going through menopause.

Both Cathy and Alice were very happy, and both thought that the lovely and reliable brother Henry should have a child of his own, either a boy or a girl, preferably a boy.

Mrs. Austin also praised Grant, saying that he reacted quickly last night and did a good job. He didn't let Eliza really fall, and protected Eliza and the baby in her stomach.Grant said a few nice words obediently, and the more Mrs. Austen looked at him, the more she liked him.

Pastor George was also very happy.Originally, he had given up the hope of seeing Henry's child, but now he saw that hope was in front of him.He immediately wrote to Henry in London, asking him whether he should take Eliza back to London or stay in Bath to raise the baby. Eliza is now pregnant for more than 2 months and less than 3 months, and it is best to wait until she becomes pregnant 6 months, make sure there is no miscarriage, and then go back to London; or if you think London is too lively, you can go back to Steventon, still renting Lagrange Gardens, and stay there until the baby is born.

Henry in London was delighted to receive the letter, and immediately wrote back, saying that Eliza should stay in Bath until the end of June, and that it would depend on her whether she wanted to return to London or go to Steventon for delivery.Henry wrote to Eliza again, asking her where she would expect to give birth. Eliza thought London was better and more convenient, but she felt that Steventon was quiet and suitable for raising a baby.

Alice said, "You can wait for the baby at our new home. I have already reserved land, and I can build a few small villas next to it."

Austin's new house is in the suburbs of London, not far from the city, convenient, relatively quiet, and all conditions are met.

Write a letter to tell Henry, and Henry immediately went to the construction team to start work next to the new house.The architectural drawings were designed together at the beginning of the design of the new house. Alice asked the architect to draw the drawings of the European-style independent villas of later generations. There are 4 bedrooms with 2 bathrooms. Although the sparrow is small and complete, it is suitable for a family of 4. There is no servant room.

But it is also easy to build the servant's house. The reserved land is next to the woods, half a mile from the main house, and the servant's house is built along a row of log cabins along the edge of the woods.

Henry was not short of money, and said that the construction of the house started immediately, and by the way, the same independent small villa was built on the land reserved on the other side of the woods.

Mrs. Austen felt another big stone in her heart, her mood improved, and she was cheerful all day long.

What about Alice's affairs? Instead, she doesn't worry too much. The childhood playmates she knows can form a poker game in line. When the time comes, it just depends on who she likes, so there is no need to worry.

Grant is also good, smart, beautiful and sweet-mouthed. His background is a bit poor, but fortunately, he has money at home, so he can make up for it. Mrs. Austin is not so strict, as long as Cathy goes with her, they can go wherever they want.

When the scheduled return date came, only the Austen sisters and Grant returned to London.

During these days, he stayed with Alice every day. Grant felt that he was already very familiar with her. The distance between the two of them was getting closer and closer. one time.

On the way back, Jacob was still busy all the way, and everything was done properly. After returning home, he handed in a travel expense account book, which Cathy used to keep accounts. A habit formed immediately.Cathy started to help her mother keep accounts when she was 14 or 5 years old. At that time, the income was not much, and every pound had to be carefully planned and used.

Although the family is rich now, the habits developed over the years have not been lost, so we must keep accounts carefully.

Cathy was keeping accounts, and Alice went to inspect the construction site by the woods.Grant was not in a hurry to go home, but was going to stay until after dinner, so he also went to the construction site with her.The small villa was built very quickly, the frame has been set up, and it will be completed in about two months, and then the interior decoration will take more than a month before you can move in.

"I thought you were going to live together."

"Oh, you don't understand this. Married couples have to live by themselves and cannot live with their parents-in-law. Although my mother has a good temper, no matter how good-tempered she is, she is not Eliza's biological mother."

Grant didn't quite understand, "but mother can live with Sally."

"Then it's best not to stay too long. William is not a good-tempered boy. If Mrs. Temple meddles in their affairs, William will get angry."

"Huh?" Grant was stunned, "I always thought—" He suddenly came to his senses, thought for a while, then nodded, "I see."

After a while, he asked, "What about you?"

"Me? What did you say?"

"What do you want your future home to be like in your—well, I mean?"

"This is my home."

"I mean . . . after marriage."

Alice gave him a strange look, "It's really strange that you ask."

"Haven't you thought about it?"

"I'm going to live with Cathy in the future."

"That's no problem." Grant replied almost without thinking.

Now Alice really wanted to laugh, "Who am I living with, do I need your consent?"

Grant pursed his lips and said nothing.

Alice walked around the construction site, urged the contractor to complete the construction with quality and quantity, and returned home soon.

The wedding of William Kingsley and Sally Temple took place on a Saturday in May.

After marriage, the young Kingsleys lived in a villa in London.There were not many servants, about 10. Mrs. Temple left Sally's female slave and another male slave to her daughter, and gave the two slaves free status through formal channels and signed a new employment contract.The two free blacks were legally married in a church a few days later.

Grant talked to Alice about this, "They were actually married on the sweet pomelo farm, but the United States does not actually recognize marriage between slaves-you don't even have personal freedom, how can you have freedom of marriage ?”

"What about your house?"

"Southern planters aren't as cruel as you think. Cruel foremen are common, and that's to keep the niggers from running away. Father doesn't want to whip them as long as they don't run away."

"That's because a good slave is worth a lot, isn't it?"

"Certainly. An educated indoor slave girl can be had for around $600, and a good-looking literate female slave can fetch $1000; an educated indoor male slave can cost a little over $600. If a strong farm Male slaves can also be worth $1000. Ordinary slaves cost between $200 and $500, and children are cheaper, less than $100."

Alice listened in amazement, "You are familiar with slave prices."

"Well, yes, I should know how many slaves there are in the family and how much they are worth."

"Why don't you want to set them free?"

Grant looked at her amusedly, "Sonia and her husband can only be granted free citizenship when they come to England. If they are in South Carolina, they will run away that night."

"I don't know."

"The problem of runaway slaves has always been there. A well-meaning manor will give his slaves food, clothing and a wife, but there will still be people who want to run away. For example, I have a farm with 30 black slaves. I Give them all the freedom, and then hire them to continue doing their old jobs, so I'm going to pay them."

Alice nodded, "It's fair to get paid for your hard work."

"I don't care about paying a salary, for me it's just a little less, I'm making $3 a year, it's not much different than making $2 a year. But the problem with free black people is, they always want to go north Go, that way, they get their paychecks and run away, and there's no work on my farm."

Only then did Alice understand, "I understand. But slavery is still backward, barbaric, and undesirable."

"I know, but I alone can't change the state of slavery in America."

Because of going away for a month, the completion date of Alice's new work was postponed until the end of June.

Henry went to Bath, brought Eliza back, and lived in a small villa next to Austin's new house.Satisfied with the cottage, Eliza was busy all day furnishing her new home.

Her stomach doesn't look big, but she moves fairly neatly.Jane brings Helena to visit her and congratulates her again on being a mother again.

Eliza was quite moved, feeling for a while little Hastings, who would have been nineteen if he had lived, and was in college.

Jane hurriedly comforted her: "Don't think too much, you should think more about this child now, he will definitely bring you more happiness."

Eliza forced a smile, "Yeah, I should think more about this child." She stroked her belly with her palm, "What about you? It's time for you to have another child. Tom really wants a boy."

Jane smiled wryly, "If he doesn't want it, there will definitely be a boy."

"What? You...argued?" Eliza was keenly aware of something.

"It's not a quarrel." Jane was a little tired.

"For the sake of the child?" Eliza could not think of any other reason for their quarrel.The two of them have no financial problems, with an annual income of 2000 pounds, they can live comfortably in London, and they can solve most of their problems with money.

"...Yes. He asked me when I would be willing to have another child."

"Then you—what method of contraception do you use?"

"There's nothing new, just condoms, and sometimes sleeping in separate beds."

Eliza's eyes widened, "What?!"