little miss austin

"I can sit next to you and I promise I won't talk, I won't ask you questions, I won't disturb you."

"No, I don't like having people around me when I'm working."

Oliver had no choice but to give up, "Then you have to write quickly, I really want to continue reading."

"I wrote it well, right?"

"More than good! You're only 15! You're a genius! I don't know any 15-year-old who can write such a wonderful story."

Alice's little tail was going up to the sky with pride, but she still had to pretend to be modest, "I should still have room for improvement."

Oliver didn't doubt that at all, "You're going to be a great writer."

"I wanted to publish under my own name, but Henry still felt that I should continue to use the pseudonym LadyChristiana."

"Is the name Lady Christiana bad?" Christiana was her middle name.

"I want to use my real name."

"Is that good?" Oliver hesitated, "Or you can choose a male name as a pseudonym."

Alice lowered her face, "Do you think women don't deserve to have their names on the cover of their works?"

"That's not what I mean—the name is just a code name, and the work itself is still yours, which cannot be changed."

"Strange! Why can't I use my real name? Ah! Or, do you think women should stay at home honestly, cook, wash and take care of their children, and not have their own careers?"

"I didn't say that." Oliver was quite distressed, "Why do you care about names?"

"I could use the name Lady Christiana, but I would not use a name like George Eliot. You use a man's name, which means you compromise with the man's society. You pretend to be one of the men, so it will Avoid being humiliated by men who say women writers are 'literate lions'. How strange! Don't all men with money, power and status want an educated wife? Don't Should the more educated the better? Why would they invent such a humiliating word?"

Oliver actually felt a little embarrassed, "You—" he wanted to say "that's different", but after thinking about it again, it was indeed "different", men are really hypocritical.

"Look, even you don't think a woman should be famous, or be known."

"That's because, first of all, women who can be well-known are either members of the royal family, or some notorious courtesans and high-ranking mistresses."

"So you think it's a shame for a woman to become a famous writer with her own knowledge and ability?"

"I didn't say that—"

"But that's what you think."

Oliver pursed his lips immediately and stopped talking.

Alice put away the manuscript paper, "You should go back."

Oliver couldn't figure out why he started arguing with her all of a sudden while talking well.

What is the point of contradiction?

He thought hard for a long time in the carriage, and he was still thinking about it when he got home.

Alice also asked Ivo the same question.

Ivo failed to see "The Gaze of the Abyss", but he knew that Lady Christiana was Alice.

"You can use your real name if you want, is that a problem?" He said relaxedly, "I'm really looking forward to seeing your real name on the cover."

"Don't you think women shouldn't be famous?"

"Ah! It sounds like it is!" Ivo looked stunned, "Mother doesn't like those 'famous' women, no matter what kind of women they are. In fact, she has seen almost all the love stories on the market. Most of the novels are written by women, right? But she still doesn’t like them very much, thinking that they—how should I put it? I think they’re not like women, and that’s probably what it means.”

"I don't want to know what Mrs. Gordon thinks. I'm asking what you think."

"If it's someone else, I can't tell. But if it's you, I think it's okay."

"What's 'like'?" Alice glared at him.

Ivo said with a smile: "You have to know that all problems in this world are about money. If you make a lot of money, others will only be envious and won't care about anything else. As for what they say behind their backs , who cares so much!"

This is the truth of the universe, money is the foundation of all things, and money can give people confidence.

However, Ivo said this because he didn't know that Alice was already rich.The boys thought that the companies owned by Austin's family were all owned by Brother Henry. No one knew that Alice was the major shareholder, with an annual income of tens of thousands.

Ivo's answer is not a standard answer, but it has satisfied Alice.

"If you look down on me because I'm a famous writer later on, I'll tie you up and drag you around London on the back of a horse."

"That kind of situation will absolutely, absolutely never happen." He hurriedly said: "When will your book be published? Or if the pre-sale starts, I will ask my father to order 50 copies, no, 100 copies!"

"What are you ordering so much for? It's just for giving away, and ordering 20 copies is enough." Alice smiled and said, "Don't talk about it, let's go on horseback."

Riding a horse requires a change of riding attire. Ivo came here on a horse and had already put on his riding attire. Alice went upstairs to change, so he waited for her in the living room.Horseback riding is the only outdoor activity you can do without Cathy, and Cathy doesn't know how to ride a horse.Jacob would follow her, but Jacob was a servant, not her brother, so it didn't matter.

Alice ignored Oliver for almost a month, and Ivo didn't know why the two of them were arguing, so he was so happy that he didn't mention Oliver.He wouldn't take the initiative to blackmail Oliver, but he would be a fool if he didn't make good use of the existing opportunities.

Oliver went to Austin's house several times without Alice seeing him, and then he was away for a few weeks, returning to London at the end of August and seeing Alice.

The Austin family had a large land, and there was enough ground for playing cricket. The youngest son of the Austin family, Charles Austin, came back from the warship and invited some officers on board to visit his home.Most of the officers on the warship are from a family background like Charles, children from upper-middle-class gentry families, and young sons from low-level noble families. Since they can become friends with Charles, their character is not too bad, so it can be regarded as very good a group of people.

Alice changed into men's clothes and played cricket with her brother and his friends. She was in a good mood, so she didn't drive him away when she saw Oliver, and let him play together, so the two reconciled quietly.

In September, the boys left London one after another to return to school.

George Byron went to Cambridge University, where he majored in History and Literature.

Grant Temple also went to Oxford as planned, where he majored in history and minored in biology and botany.

Alice had letters almost every day, and boys wrote to her from Oxford and Cambridge;

Lucinda Gleeson went to Southampton for the summer and was planning to go home in October. She would pass by London and stay for a few days; Susan Beckford said she would go to London in November, and William Beckford finally planned to To live in London for a few years in order to settle matters concerning Susan's marriage.

In addition, there are many letters from readers. Henry will give her some letters from readers every week, and she will choose some of the replies, type them on a typewriter, and then sign them by hand.

Wesley also wrote a letter, saying that he would arrive in London at the end of November and live in London for a while. The time is undecided, it may be a few months, or it may be a few years.

Eliza's due date was at the end of October, so Pastor George and Mrs. Austin ended their recuperation early at the end of September and returned to London.

However, just before the parents returned home, Jane suddenly brought Helena home.

It is not uncommon for Jane to take her daughter home to stay for a few days, but if she comes home suddenly at night, there must be only one reason: the young couple had a quarrel.

Because of getting up early in the morning, the Austin family went to bed at 9:[-] in the evening.Alice had just taken a shower and changed into her nightgown when she heard the sound of a carriage coming, stopped, and someone knocked on the door.

Wondering who it was so late, she rang the bell and called Sydney to come up.

Sidney came up after a while, saying that Jane came home suddenly with little Helena.

Alice went downstairs in her nightgown, saw Jane leaning on Cathy's shoulder, her eyes were red, and asked her, "What's going on? Did Tom hit you?"

Cathy frowned, angry and funny, "What are you talking about? Go, take Helena away, and take her upstairs to sleep."

The child should have gone to bed a long time ago, and now his little head is bit by bit, like a chicken pecking at rice, and it is about to fall asleep.

"If Tom makes a move on you, you tell me, and I will go to him to fight."

"Nonsense again! Do you need to go to a duel? We have several brothers. Pooh! It's not about duels at all! You go away! Don't be fooling around."

Jane was also amused by her.

Alice smiled, "Anyway, you have to tell me what happened tomorrow, or I'll beat up Tom. Come on, baby, Aunt Alice will take you upstairs to sleep."

She took Helena away.

Tom Lefroy rode up about two hours later.

Alice fell into a drowsy sleep, and heard someone walking up and down the corridor, knocking on the door, women's cries, and men's whispers. After more than ten minutes, the voices gradually became quieter.

Alice fell asleep again.

In the morning, after Alice had washed and dressed, she went downstairs, found Tom sitting in the drawing-room, and sat down in front of him.

"Alice." Tom's face was not very good.

"Jane is crying." She said expressionlessly.

Tom worried. "I know. My fault."

"I can't control your affairs, but if you made her cry, I should whip you hard."

Tom was a little surprised.

"What? I'm not a doormat, and neither is my sister. You have been angry with someone outside. Hold it back and don't try to bring this resentment home. Does Jane treat you badly? Jane is beautiful and virtuous , and gave birth to Helena for you, as well as your own career, not the kind of vulgar woman who gossips all day long—hey," Alice suddenly thought, "You don't have a mistress outside, do you? "

Tom almost spurted blood, "No! Don't talk nonsense!"

"Really do not have?"

"Am I that kind of man?" Tom held his forehead, "I swore in front of your father that I would never let Jane down."

"Hmph, it's better not to, or I'll ask Henry to break your legs."

Cathy entered the living room, "Alice, stop talking nonsense."

Alice snorted heavily again on purpose, and then stood up, "I'm going out for a horse ride first, and I'll have breakfast when I come back."

Riding the horse all the way, thinking all the way, since it wasn't Tom who was raising a mistress outside and Jane found out, the biggest possibility was to quarrel over the children.Henry's baby is about to be born, and Tom is a little bit ready to move, and wants Jane to have another baby.

But in this era, it cannot be said that Tom’s thinking is outdated. Everyone is trying their best to have children, and they don’t care whether they can support them or not. Just like Jacob’s family, Jacob didn’t even feed the children before returning home with salary It's all a problem, isn't it still basically having a baby every two years?Helena was three-and-a-half years old, and it was reasonable for Tom to want another child, not to mention Tom, and even Mother sometimes murmured that Jane should have another child.

Ugh!

This is really a problem that cannot be solved perfectly!

If it was the 21st century and the maternal and neonatal mortality rate was extremely low due to advanced medical science, Alice would not have to worry so much, but this is not the case.

The best solution is for Jane to have another boy, so that Tom doesn't have to be anxious all the time.But we have to ignore the high mortality rate of children in this era, and hope that all children will grow up healthily.

She was very upset, unknowingly whipped a few more times, and the horse galloped.

Jacob was taken aback, and quickly rode his horse to follow.

Tom Lefroy failed to pick up his wife and daughter, and had to leave in a sleepy manner until late at night.

Another day passed, at noon, Reverend George and Mrs. Austin arrived home.

It was lively for a while, and the parents didn't notice anything unusual about Jane, but she was betrayed by little Helena. Mrs. Austin asked her granddaughter when she came and lived for a few days. Helena said that her mother only took her when it was dark. over here.

Needless to say, the two of them must have had a quarrel, and Jane ran back to her mother's house in a fit of anger.

Mrs. Austen felt sorry for her daughter at first, and after asking about the reason for the quarrel, she felt that her daughter was a bit self-willed, and persuaded her for a long time, asking her to reconcile with Tom.

Alice didn't hear how her mother talked to Jane, and her mother forbade her to listen to "women's affairs". Her mother's central thoughts were probably those, to respect her husband, to live a good life, and to have a few children.

Tom came again on the third day, first talked with Pastor George, and then walked around the lawn with Jane twice, picked a bunch of wild flowers for Jane, so it was probably reconciled, and we had dinner in the evening , took Jane and Helena home.

Fast forward to the end of October, and one day before the due date, Eliza gave birth to a boy.

The boy was thin, weighing just 5 pounds 3 ounces, and had a weak cry.

The mother was very worried that the child would not survive, so she took the child back and hired a nanny to take care of the child day and night.

Eliza's delivery went smoothly, she didn't have to take care of her baby at night, she ate well and slept well, and her body recovered well.

The little nephew is named William, which is the name of Reverend George's father, and little William has the same name as his great-grandfather.After one full month, Eliza took her son back, and the little guy was so fat and white that he looked exactly the same as when he was just born.

It's been a rough month for Alice.

There have never been such young children living in the family, especially newborn children, who need someone to take care of them 24 hours a day.Don't look at Little William, who is thin and small, and cries extremely loudly, he is really a child with a bad temper.

Alice woke up when the baby cried.She complained to her mother that Little William was too good at crying, but instead, her mother scolded her and scolded her for being so noisy, how would she take care of her child in the future?

Alice refused to accept, "I won't have children in the future!"

Mom stared, "What did you say?!"

"I don't know how to get married, how can I have children? There is no such thing."

Mom was on fire, "Alice Austin! You say that again?!"

Alice immediately shut up and obediently stopped talking.

Mrs. Austen complained to her husband, saying that Cathy was a bad example, and she would be fine if she didn’t get married. Now even Alice, who is not yet 16, is thinking about not getting married. Is she trying to piss her off?

Pastor George was confused, "Do you mean Cathy, or Alice?"

"It's all!" Mrs. Austin was furious, "Cathy didn't want to get married and rejected Robert. I was very sad! I don't want to hear don't admit that my Cathy is not good, you think I don't know those people What about Cathy behind her back? They say Cathy might be sick and that's why she can't get married. But what if I just hear that? How do I explain it?"

Mrs. Austin cried angrily, "Cathy is my beloved daughter, and I don't want her to be wronged, so she rejected the marriage proposal, and I didn't say anything to her. There are enough daughters in the family who refuse to marry. Now, is my little Alice going to be an old maid all her life? People will say that our daughters are not good. Then I can't stand it!"

Pastor George quickly comforted her, "Okay, okay, maybe Alice is just talking nonsense. She thinks William is too good at crying. To be honest, I can't stand his loud voice. Tell me, who does he look like?"

"Maybe it's like you. None of our sons are so good at crying." Mrs. Austin immediately thought, "Speaking of which, Alice knows so many lovely boys. Have you heard her tell me which one do you like? "

"Why would she tell me that? You should ask Cathy or Jane. Doesn't Sidney know?"

"Oh, Sidney, a silly girl! She is so loyal to Alice, and she won't say anything to me. If it weren't for her loyalty to Alice, I should like to fire her."

Reverend George smiled, "She just needs to be faithful to her mistress. Well, don't worry, I see Alice prefers Oliver and Ivo, and they like her too. Our little girl is still young." , She still doesn't understand this, after a few years, you should worry about it, all the boys who came to propose to her are very good, what you should worry about is not knowing who is the most suitable for her."

"Speaking of proposals, as soon as one of those boys proposes to her right now, I'll get them engaged right away."

"Isn't it too early? I want to keep her for a few more years."

Mrs. Austin sighed, "I also want to keep her for a few more years, but you see, she might want to piss me off first."

Alice didn't know that her mother was going to find her a fiancé right now, and was complaining to Cathy, "It's not that I don't like little William, but it would be nice if he didn't cry all the time. I can't stand children crying hard. It's better A child can quickly grow to one year old, skipping the initial stage of eating, sleeping and crying all day long."

Cathy was about to die of laughter, "Look at what you said! Didn't you also come here from the time when you only knew how to eat, sleep, sleep and cry all day long?"

"That's different. Anyway, I don't know what I was like when I was a child." Alice said confidently: "I don't like children who are too young at all now. If a child is like Helena, I would like it very much." Helen Na is well-bred, beautiful and well-behaved, and everyone loves her.

"I think it's okay. William is very cute. He looks more like Eliza, unlike us, with a high nose." Cathy pointed to the bridge of her nose.

"Didn't Mom think our noses are beautiful? She said it was an aristocratic nose."

"I'm tired of watching it, let's take a look at it in a different style."

Alice was amused by Cathy, "Yes, that's right!"

At first, Alice was worried that Henry and Eliza were cousins, and their blood relationship was too close, so there would be no problems with the child they gave birth to.Fortunately, Little William has ten fingers and ten toes, which is normal; he is not an albino, and has no physical disabilities visible to the naked eye; after the full moon, he did not see any problems.

Eliza wanted to move back to her own home in London, but Henry felt that the suburbs of London were much better than the city, and he still lived in a small villa by the woods. He expected to live there until William was 1 year old before moving back.

The small villa is well-equipped with everything, and it is very close to the main house, so it is actually quite convenient to live in.Mom goes to see little William during the day, Cathy usually goes there with her mother, and Alice goes there about once or twice a week.

In September, she revised "The Gaze of the Abyss" again, typed a new manuscript, and showed it to Henry.Henry changed the title of the book to "The Season of the Witch" and began to advertise in newspapers. The bookstore began to accept reservations, and it was scheduled to be officially launched during Halloween at the end of October.

As for the signature issue, the signature of "England Horror Stories" is LadyChristiana, which is the current signature mode for female writers. They don't use their real names, but they are also women's names.Alice refused to use a male name as her pen name, and proposed to either use LadyChristiana or AliceAusten.

Henry was a little hesitant, and proposed to use A·Austen, a pattern with Jane's signature.

The author has something to say:

*The legal age of marriage in Britain at this time may be as low as 14 years old, British explorer Alexander Mackenzie married 1812-year-old Geddes Margaret in 14.States in the United States are different. The legal age of marriage should have been very low in the 19th century. In addition, the child marriage system of parental consent still existed until the 21st century. Edgar Allan Poe married his 1835-year-old cousin Virginia in 13.