little miss austin

Ivo was astonished, "Do you think so?"

"Isn't that true?" Alice asked.

He pursed his lips and stopped talking.It is impossible to say that he is not aware of the discrimination and oppression of women in this society, such as the dowry of older sisters, because parents must leave most of their property to him, and older sisters don’t get much dowry, so It is not easy to find a suitable husband.The eldest brother-in-law is a pastor, the second brother-in-law is a lawyer, and the third brother-in-law is a little better, probably because the third sister is more beautiful and married a small landlord with an annuity of 800 pounds.There are also three older sisters who are not married. Finding a husband has become the mother's top priority, but because the dowry is not much, it is also very difficult. Maybe there will be older sisters like Miss Austin who are celibate and never get married.

As for the others, he didn't have any personal experience and didn't know much, but money was enough to see.

Brother and sister Jacob are very well-behaved and don't interrupt when nothing happens.Several people walked quietly for a while, and then Ivo said: "I will..." Suddenly, he didn't know what to say, and he was so embarrassed that he stopped.

Alice took a few steps, only to realize that he hadn't followed, and turned to look at him, "What's wrong?"

He lowered his eyes slightly, "I can't tell - Alice, you are different from Elena and the others."

"Everyone is different, no two people are exactly alike."

"I mean—" He looked up at her quickly, "you don't think like them, maybe—" He remembered that his mother had said that Alice had learned nothing from Mr. Hastings "Serious" knowledge, girls don't need to learn too much knowledge, "education" is different from "knowledge", I think Alice is too wild, she knows what boys know, and she knows what boys don't, so she just Became an "atypical" girl.

This is actually quite attractive to her, because she is different from his older sisters. None of the older sisters are as good at thinking as Alice. They succumbed to their parents' teachings and obeyed their parents' will.Of course it is good for him, he will inherit most of the family property in the future, he understands this principle.Every family is like this, isn't it?

"Maybe what?"

"I can't tell. Alice, do you like me?"

"Huh? I like it. We have always been friends. Of course, friends like each other, otherwise they can't be called 'friends'."

"I like you too, Alice, not just the kind of liking between 'friends'." He suddenly felt his mouth dry, but he said it fluently.

After saying that, he immediately felt a little relieved, and he looked at her eagerly, looking forward to her answer.

Alice frowned, "You mean, like—Jane and Tom?"

"Correct."

"I can't tell. Did you learn anything about love at Oxford?"

"How can I compare you to summer? You are not only more lovely than it, but also more gentle than it; the wind tramples the tender buds that May loves, and the period of summer lease is too short; the eyes of the sky sometimes shine too fiercely. , Its shining golden face is often concealed; destroyed by chance or the impermanent way of heaven, no fragrance will not be crippled or destroyed at last. But your long summer will never be carved, nor will you lose your bright and pure Hongfang, or the god of death boasting that you drift in his shadow, when you grow with time in immortal poetry."

Alice smiled, "You only learned Shakespeare from this one?"

Ivo called out to her distressedly, "Alice!"

He sighed, "Why don't you look like other girls at all?"

"Have you read this poem to many girls?"

"—I didn't!" He continued to be distressed: Alice's reaction was beyond his expectation, and she was a little calm... as if she didn't understand what it meant.

"Let's go, it's too cold outside." Alice stomped her feet.

She continued to walk forward. Ivo stood still for a while, then suddenly reacted, trotted a few steps, caught up with her, reached out to hold her rabbit fur muff, opened the muff, and held her hands.

Her small, warm hand was held in the palm of her hand, and her heart suddenly felt numb, itchy and sweet.

Quickly she broke away from his grip, walked a little faster, and trotted past Sidney.Seeing her running to the front, Sydney didn't know why, and trotted along with her.

When Alice ran to the door, she stopped and took a short breath before saying loudly: "Jacob, tell Master Ivo to ride home from the stable, and he is not allowed to come in."

Although the initial confession seems to have failed, Ivo came to Austin's house again the next day, and Alice treated him no differently.

He came early and had breakfast with the Austin family, and Oliver was at the same table.

Mrs. Austen had no problem with the two boys having breakfast at home, and Oliver was pretty and Ivo was lovely, and she liked them all.

Oliver brought two pineapples, which the cook peeled and sliced, and the maid sent a plate of pineapple slices to the games room, where they played pool after breakfast.

"What are your plans for today? Are you going out?" Oliver asked.

"Don't go out, Susan will come over later, we are trying on new dance dresses at home today."

Oliver was also very interested, "That's just right." He looked up at Ivo who was impatient at the side, "I haven't seen you in a dance dress yet."

"No. Cathy said that you can't let you see the dance dress first, so there will be no surprises on the day of the dance."

Ivo immediately said, "You agreed to draw a portrait of me."

"Didn't you say you're not free today?"

"What portrait?" Oliver asked immediately, smelling something different from the past.

"Alice Xia Tian drew a portrait of me, but I don't know who stole it. She promised to draw another one for me." Ivo looked smug.

"Stolen by someone? Then you are really careless."

"Alice, I didn't misplace it. It really disappeared suddenly. I wouldn't feel bad if I lost the purse, but I'm still sad that the portrait you drew for me was lost." Ivo made A pitiful look.

Oliver cursed secretly in his heart: This kid really knows how to pretend to be pitiful.

He is the eldest son, and he has to behave like the eldest son at home and outside, and he lost his mother when he was young, so he doesn't understand and doesn't know how to act like a baby.And Ivo, who has 6 older sisters and is much loved, knows when to pretend to be pitiful and act like a baby.

He resentfully said: This kid is really annoying!

He was distressed that he didn't have the opportunity to be alone with Alice, so he never knew whether she didn't understand or pretended not to understand.But considering her intelligence, it is unlikely that she could not understand, so just pretend not to understand.

Maybe she is really too young, and he shouldn't be too anxious, but if there are other kids watching over her, then he can't help but not be anxious.

Susan Beckford arrived at 10 o'clock, and the delivery man from the tailor's shop had delivered the new dance dress to Austin's home. A maid took the carton upstairs and put it in the living room.

There was no dedicated living room on the second floor, and a spare bedroom was used as the living room for Alice and Cathy, but Alice used it most of the time.In the living room, there are a dressing table, a large full-length mirror, a desk, a small bookshelf against the wall, three single sofa chairs, and a long storage table.

Twelve cardboard boxes containing dance skirts are placed on the storage table, and Sidney and Susan's personal maids are busy taking out the dance skirts and hanging them on hangers.The cartons are all the same light pink, tied with ribbons of different colors to show the difference.

Susan brought her jewelry box, and a different set of dresses required a different set of jewelry; Alice also asked Sidney to bring her jewelry box, and the two girls chattered to each other to check each other's jewelry boxes and put forward matching suggestions.What girl doesn't love beautiful dresses and shiny jewelry.

Susan picked up a pair of earrings to put on for her, only to be surprised to find that Alice didn't have her ears pierced.

"Why don't you have pierced ears? How do you wear earrings?!" she yelled.

"I fear pain."

"Ear piercing doesn't hurt very much when I'm very young, it only hurts a little bit." Susan made a gesture, indicating how insignificant this little bit is.

"Just wear something else. The necklace looks good. I like necklaces." She picked out some of the gemstones that Francis brought back, and used some of them to make jewelry. Among them was a ruby ​​pendant, which was as bright as a pigeon Blood red, hung with a not-so-thin gold necklace, just hanging on the chest, against the snow-white skin, it is so beautiful.

The eldest daughter and the second daughter of the Austin family are both like their mother, not too fair, while Alice is like an aunt. Like cousin Eliza, they both have beautiful fair skin.

"Look, you can't get a tan!" Susan annoyed, "You can't do it like me. I get tanned after a while in the sun, so I have to not go out during the day in summer, or I have to go out, and I must wear a parasol .”

Alice is very proud, "I really can't get tanned!" She really likes outdoor activities, and she doesn't go out on horseback until the winter is very cold all year round. The wind and sun are not good for the skin, but this is Genes, tanned skin in summer will turn white in winter.

Susan muttered for a while, then suddenly said of her teenage playmates, "Why are they here so early?"

"Who are you talking about?"

"Still pretending?!" Susan held her down and scratched her waist. "Master Oliver and Master Ivo, of course."

Alice hiccupped with laughter, "What's wrong with him?"

"Say, are they both pursuing you?"

"Nothing! They have been like this since they were young, and they often come to my house."

"Liar! I saw it at a glance!"

"Is it so easy to see?"

"who do you like?"

"like it all."

"I'm not talking about a friend's liking."

"If you're in a relationship, any one is fine. But you know, no matter who it is, it will eventually develop to propose to me." Alice lazily collapsed into the sofa chair, and Susan collapsed on another sofa beside her chair.

"I really envy you. They are both very nice. I have known you since I was a child. You are very familiar with them."

"Why do you talk like my mother?"

Susan patted her arm reproachfully, "It's all my father's fault, he didn't let me know any neighbor boys earlier." But she also knew that she was different from Alice.Oliver and Ivo are very suitable for Alice in terms of family background and economy, and Oliver's conditions are slightly better.As for her, it was difficult to get acquainted with any suitable husband candidates near Fengshan.

"Marriage is annoying. Enjoy your unmarried time as much as possible. After you get married, you have to start having children. I'm scared to death just thinking about it."

Susan felt the same way.Her mother died of puerperal fever, and she lost her mother less than a month after she was born. When she grows up to understand why her mother died, she must have a great fear of childbirth.

"Indeed. But a woman always has children, unless she never gets married." Susan asked in a low voice, "What does Cathy think? Does she really love Mr. Fall?"

"They also grew up together, and they love each other very much. But you also know that my family was not very rich at that time, and Cathy was always very sad. If my family had a little money at that time, then Foer would No need to go to Santo Domingo."

Susan sighed, "I feel so sorry for Cathy. People in love should never separate over money."

"But it's absolutely impossible without money."

"I'm tired of hearing you say that."

"That's because you were born with a lot of money waiting for you to spend, and you never know what it's like to have no money."

Susan pouted, "You don't know what 'no money' is."

"Well, I don't know what it means to have no money." Alice admitted, "Probably enough to have enough food and clothing, but no spare money, but at that time my family lived in a small village like Steventon, and I just wanted to buy something. There's nowhere to buy it."

"Well, don't talk about it. If you have no money in the future, I can give it to you. Anyway, if I don't spend it, my father will spend all our money. If you get engaged next year, I will send you a lot of engagements Gifts, you're welcome, my father has a lot of collections, and he doesn't even remember how many pieces I took away."

"You'd better keep those as your dowry in the future."

The two girls didn't go downstairs until lunch time. They didn't take a nap in the afternoon and went shopping in a carriage.Oliver and Ivo went out with them.The girl went out to buy, buy, buy, bought a lot of useful and useless things, and the roof of the carriage was full of cardboard boxes.

After shopping in the street, I went to the tea room to drink tea and have snacks.

The pretty girl and the handsome boy really matched each other so well that everyone in the tea room thought they were two young couples.

After that, Oliver and Ivo came almost every day, but they were staggered. Ivo came in the morning and stayed for two hours after breakfast. Alice spent 3 days redrawing a pencil sketch portrait for him; Oliver came in the afternoon. , and only two hours, downstairs in the housekeeping, Cathy embroidering pillowcases, Alice embroidering purses, and he reads to them, sometimes Pride and Prejudice, sometimes Season of the Witch .

The second volume of "The Season of the Witch" continues after Margaret faints.

The mountain where the gods lived was flattened overnight and turned into a pile of rocks. Someone passed by and took Margaret away.Margaret has been in a coma, and in her dream, she "sees" a pair of runaway lovers, the girl is a witch and the boy is a knight, who was sent to kill the witch but fell in love with her , took her away secretly, and hid in Tibet since then; they had a girl, and when the girl was 12 years old, one night, the knight and the witch died unexpectedly, and the girl disappeared without a trace;

After Margaret woke up, she found that she had been raped, so she killed the man very calmly; she returned to the disappearing mountain, and summoned the god again; Especially for his bride, saying that he existed in the distant era before human beings produced language. Humans in the old world worship him, and his temples are everywhere on the earth, but because of this, his divine power is also divided into many shares, In the age of the gods in the new world, he could not get sacrifices, so he became weaker and weaker. As long as Margaret fits with him, he can become a super evil god again and rule the earth again; Margaret said, I Not your bride, I am your nightmare, I sacrificed myself just to kill you.

This is the female version of the saga, an extremely rare version of the female savior. Margaret pursues herself with the nature of an innocent girl, looking for the answer to "who am I", and finally sacrifices herself in order to kill the villain and evil god. "Witch" is actually a reference to intellectual women.

Cathy doesn't like the part where Margaret is raped so much, and Oliver can't read it, so he skips it.Mom didn't like this part either, but she didn't say anything.

William Beckford thinks this paragraph represents the fact that women are oppressed by patriarchal society, and thinks it is a subtle metaphor.

Of course, Ivo also understood this passage. Classical literature is not learned in vain, and he felt a little uneasy about this form of expression.

The two hadn't discussed it since the day he shook Alice's hand and she shook her off.

At least Sidney would be with Alice when she painted his portrait, and he never found an opportunity to be alone with her to ask her what she thought.This made him anxious, seeing that Christmas was coming, and he had to go back to Winchester's house for the holiday.

Finally, the day before he left London, he came to Austin's house again, looking for excuses to send Sidney away.Alice didn't pay attention, and there were only the two of them in the room.

In the residences of this era, if it is not an important room and bedroom, it is generally not locked; in the Austin family, there is no man at home except for the father all the year round, so the bedrooms of the sisters are only closed but not locked, and there is no door in the living room. Only maids are allowed to go upstairs, and male servants are not allowed to go upstairs except for moving furniture.

Ivo closed the door carefully. At this time, no one else should go upstairs except Sidney.He wasn't really supposed to be alone with Alice without the Austen's consent, but he had to ask her privately.

"Alice." He walked slowly towards her.

Alice seemed a little nervous, but also a little curious.

"Last time... why did you suddenly run away last time?"

"Which time?"

Ivo stretched out his hand and pressed it on the back of her hand.

She looked down at his hand: the boy's hand, the palm is not too big, probably because he is not too tall and has a slender frame, with slender fingers, very cute boy's hand.

Then he took her hand and kissed it lightly on the back of her hand.

Then he took another bite.

"Hey! Who did you learn from?!" She withdrew her hand.

He rubbed his nose, and suddenly kissed her cheek quickly.

Alice was startled at this moment, "Hello!"

"I don't say 'hello'."

"Ivo Gordon!" This kid is fat!She pushed him away, "Stay away from me."

"Do you not like it?"

"You'll have to ask my mother," she replied.

"Mrs. Austen probably won't say anything," he said solemnly.

Alice smiled at him.

He felt a sudden jump in his heart, and jumped several times eagerly.

He tentatively approached her again, carefully kissing her soft lips.

During the Christmas period, Oliver and Ivo were not in London.

Grant also returned to London two weeks before Christmas, but was taken to the country by William, and did not return until two days before Christmas.When he returned to London, he hurried to find Alice and strongly demanded to be her dance partner at the first social ball.

"No, my brother Francis is back, he is my dance partner." Alice refused.

"How can my brother be your dance partner?" Grant's eyes widened in confusion, "It's not like this in America."

"This is England."

He refused, "A tall, handsome boy like me is a good choice to be your dance partner."

He had a pretty good idea of ​​his own appearance.

"You can dance two dances with me, or three, and no more."

"First dance!"

"No, I have to dance the first dance with Francis."

"Then, one last dance."

"No, I have to dance with my father for the last dance."

Grant suddenly became dissatisfied, "Then do you still want to distribute some of your dances to Oliver, Ivo, and George?"

"of course."

"I won't allow it!"

"What did you say?!" Alice glared at him dissatisfied.

"I like you and I don't want to see people dancing with you if their last name isn't Austin."

You can go away!

"Then I won't dance a single dance with you. You grew up in the United States, and you haven't learned English social dance, and even if you learned it, you can't dance well. Maybe you will keep stepping on my feet."

"I can't! William taught me how to dance, and I can dance very well!" In fact, they had attended a dance together before, in Bath, when Eliza fainted because of pregnancy.

"Then go find someone else to dance with, just Susan, who's pretty too, and Lucinda."

Grant yelled, "I don't even want to know any Susan, or any Lucinda. Can I kiss you?"

"No." Alice quickly replied, "Sydney, come here." She hid behind Sydney.

He looked impatient, "Sidney, get out of the way."

"I want to tell my mother that you don't obey the rules, and you will not be allowed to come here in the future."

"I like you, you know that."

"I don't know. Sidney, take Mr. Temple out."

The author has something to say:

*Ivo's poem reads from Shakespeare's sonnets.

*Next chapter, Alice's first ball.