little miss austin

He looked haggard and sad, "I think about you every day, and how sad you must be if you don't see me—they, they don't let me read your letters, and they don't give me anyone's letters Look, you burned your letter in front of me, even if I cried and begged them, it won't work... Mother said you were going to die, and she didn't allow me to see you. If I got tuberculosis because of you, you still didn't die , she will kill you and your whole family too."

Alice rolled her eyes suddenly: who is Mrs. Gordon frightening? !

"and then?"

"They sent me to relatives in Wales and I ran away twice on the way, but was caught back each time. After two weeks in Wales, I ran away again and this time they simply sent me to Ireland. There's nothing to eat there, and I'm always thinking about you, and I'm going crazy if I haven't got any money back!"

Alice imagined how he would look like when he tried to abscond secretly late at night and was caught back. She thought it was very funny and couldn't help laughing.

"You're still laughing! You don't know how I got here in those few months, I can't go anywhere without money," Ivo sighed, "I finally know this time, why do you always say 'no money, absolutely no' .I have no money, so I can't take a carriage to the port, and I can't buy a ticket to go back to England."

"Then how did you get the money?"

"I sold the clothes, and the belt! Last time you taught me to sew a few gold coins on the inside of each belt, and it really came in handy!" Now he was beaming again, "But I paid the boat fare I don't have much money for bread, so I'm saving."

"Yeah, you've lost so much weight!" she sighed. "I was pissed that you didn't even write me a parting letter. But you—and now that you're out of Ireland, what will happen to your parents?" to you?"

She beckoned to him, "Come on, get in the car, and I'll take you to the hotel. You have to take a good shower, then eat something delicious, and buy some decent clothes."

Ivo was worried about her coming to pick up Oliver, but he was wise not to question her now, and got into the carriage obediently.

"Go to the Queen Anne Hotel." Alice told Kate.Then he smiled evilly at Ivo, "It's the hotel where Oliver lives. He didn't rent a villa, and has been living in the hotel."

He lowered his head, "Oliver...he's been with you all the time, so you like him, don't you?" His voice was low and a little choked.

"Let's not talk about him now, okay?" She said softly, "Tell me about you, did your parents send someone to arrest you again?"

"Yeah, I didn't dare to go straight to London. I went to Cambridge first to find George—no, I passed by Oxford first, but Julian was not at Oxford, and then I went to Cambridge. I borrowed some from Mr. Hastings." Money, he gave me £500, which I spent carefully, but George took another £200 from me."

"Don't always give him money, he always spends money randomly."

"Then George said, Oliver accompanied you to the Isle of Wight, and then to Madeira. My heart... I was in a mess. I wrote you right away and told you to wait for me, I I will go to you soon. But... I waited for three passenger ships in Southampton and couldn't get on the ship. I was so anxious. I can only go to Le Havre first, and then come from Le Havre." Le Havre is a French seaport directly across the English Channel from the Isle of Wight.

Alice said nothing.

What he said was very simple, but one can imagine what he has experienced in the past six months since he was placed under house arrest by his parents.As a well-loved child, he never thought of rebelling against his parents when he was 20 years old, because there was no need for him; , She was the one who brought down her good son.

The more Ivo resisted, the more Mrs. Gordon loathed her.

Ivo was thinking about her too.Since she was going to pick up Oliver, then Oliver must have gone back to England, and Julian was not at school, maybe something important happened at home, and he went home to deal with it.

He was very confused.Ever since George Byron told about Alice and Oliver, he has been in a state of confusion.On the one hand, he thought that Alice would not give up their relationship easily. On the other hand, he knew very clearly that she had a disease that might kill her, and Oliver was not afraid of being infected, and stayed with her all the time. A true love can make him lose in a mess.Alice may not love him or Oliver, but if she had to choose, she would probably choose Oliver who was always with her.

Just thinking about it made him so sad that he couldn't breathe.

"Did Mr. Gordon not threaten to disinherit you?"

"He has canceled my inheritance rights only for my son. Should he be asked to give the property to other people whose surname is not Gordon? He won't!"

"It can be given to George." Alice was still in the mood to joke.

Ivo snorted, "Mother doesn't like George."

"Mrs. Gordon likes no one but her own children."

He sighed, "Yes. She doesn't like you either, she always... doesn't like you very much."

"She must hate me very much now." She said lightly.

He said irritably: "It doesn't matter if she likes it or not! As long as I like you. Alice, I love you, I have always loved you. In the six months since I haven't seen you, I love you more every day than the day before." you."

"Maybe you should think about whether you really love me."

Ivo was shocked: "What do you mean? You think I don't love you, so you fell in love with Oliver, don't you?!"

"Don't mention him now, okay?"

"I'm going to mention it!" he said angrily.

Sidney sat beside Alice, her face turned pale with fright: I have never seen Ivo get so angry!He has always been good-tempered, always smiling, very happy, and brings happiness to others.

"You betrayed me!" He yelled sadly.

"Don't say that."

"The truth is! I can't eat or sleep well, and I miss you all day long, but what about you? You forgot me in just two months!" He raised his hand in embarrassment and wiped away his tears.

"I haven't forgotten you." Alice frowned, and said impatiently, "You're not a child, don't cry."

"I'm going to cry! You hurt me, you broke my heart, and you don't want to see my tears? It's impossible!" With tears in his eyes, he stared at her fiercely, "You kissed me When you see Oliver, will you think of how I kissed you?"

"Don't talk nonsense, my illness is still not cured, how can I kiss him?"

The carriage stopped in time and arrived at the hotel.

"Okay, wipe away your tears and go to rest quickly. Do you have any money with you? Or you—well, ask Oliver's servant to take you to a tailor's shop to buy clothes, and hang them on his account." She stepped down got the carriage.

Ivo followed her out of the carriage.

"Wait a minute, your face is dirty, I'll wipe it for you." Alice took out a handkerchief from the handbag on her wrist, and wiped the stains on his face carefully.

The subtropical winter sun shone on his face, which was stained with gray stains, tears, and dirty, but because of this, he had a hasty and cute expression, stubborn and wronged, and pitiful.

"Then what are you going to do in the future? What if Mr. Gordon says he won't give you money until you go home? You won't be able to go back and finish college."

"They put me on leave."

"One more year, right?"

"Correct."

"I can lend you money to finish your last year of study, but you have to think about whether you really want to sever ties with your parents, which means that you are no longer their heir, you understand?"

He looked panicked and helpless, "Is this going to happen?"

"What do you think? If you don't listen to them and have to come to see me, they won't like me." She refolded the handkerchief, changed a clean corner, and wiped the corners of his eyes. "If you are not financially independent, you have to listen to them. They may have just wanted you to wait for a year to see whether my illness will improve or die, but you must have been refusing to listen to them and have been resisting. Yes or no?"

He nodded in bewilderment and bewilderment, "How do you know?"

"That's what parents do. Have you got your room ready, Sidney?"

"It's ready, it's next to Master Oliver's room." Sidney handed over the room key.

"You go upstairs first, ask someone to prepare hot water for you, take a shower, and wash your hair. I'm going to buy you some shirts now, and I'll be back in a while."

"Don't forget me again." He looked pitiful.

"Come on up."

爱丽丝在衬衫店里买了20件衬衫、20件内衬的针织背心、20条全棉四角内裤、20双袜子、20条手帕；又去成衣店买了5件长外套、10条长裤、5根皮带；再去毛衣店买了5件长袖毛衣、5件毛线背心；去鞋店买了5双皮鞋、3双皮拖鞋，都是叫店家直接送去旅馆伊沃的房间。

I did the math and almost bought everything, so I went back to the hotel.

Thinking all the way, since Ivo said he wrote a letter, it must have been sent by a letter, and he didn't have to lie about it.

So what about letters?It must be that her mother didn't give it to her, and she didn't let her know that Ivo was really locked up by his parents.As for Byron's letter, it must have been withheld by my mother, because Byron's letter was not received every week, so sometimes she didn't find it strange that there was no letter from him.

She was a little angry: Mom shouldn't have withheld the letter to me!

But if you're going to talk to Mrs. Austin about basic human rights and privacy rights, she won't talk to you at all.

This is the tragedy of the times!

Alice was annoyed, but there was nothing she could do.Mrs. Austin's idea is also very simple. She just doesn't want any obstacles between her and Oliver. No matter how bloody the plot of the Bundfield family is, the actual problem is not big, and it will not affect Oliver's inheritance rights; while the Gordon family does not. Same thing, Mrs. Gordon doesn't like Alice, and the conflict between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law will be very sharp. A mother certainly doesn't want her daughter to live under the eyes of such a mother-in-law all day long-although in fact she doesn't need and can't look at Gordon. The face of the wife is life, but life, who doesn't want to be happy and simple?

Mom said today that Oliver would propose when he came back, and she couldn't just say: No, I don't want to get married yet.I had to express it tactfully, but my mother directly thought that she was reluctant to leave home, and said very happily that she would get engaged first, and the marriage could be delayed a few years.well!This is also a difficult thing to do!If she dared to tell her mother that she would not consider marriage for the time being, even Oliver would not consider it, her mother might make her cry, make trouble and hang herself, forcing her to agree.

Until she arrived at the hotel and got off the carriage, she still hadn't figured out how to go back to face Mrs. Austin.

Jacob helped her out of the car, and she was still a little strange, "Why are you here? Where's Oliver?" She left Jacob on the pier waiting for the passenger ship from Southampton to arrive.

"Master Oliver is upstairs."

Kate whispered on the side: "Will Master Oliver fight with Master Ivo?"

Sidney glared at her: This silly girl is full of gossip!

"You go upstairs and ask Master Oliver to come down."

Jacob went upstairs.

Alice sat in the lounge area of ​​the hotel lobby, Sidney brought her rose water and poured it into the glass she brought.

Just finished drinking a glass of water, Oliver came down.

"Alice." He called him calmly.

I haven't seen him for a month, he has hardly changed, he is still gentle and elegant.

Ivo followed closely behind him, "Alice!"

Well, fortunately, the two of them had no injuries on their faces and their clothes were not messed up. It doesn't look like they just had a fight.

With a clean shirt and a new coat, Ivo no longer looks like a dockworker, but is still the cute and sunny boy and the young master.

Alice stood up, "Let's go for a walk, Oliver, Ivo."

She got into the carriage first.Then came Ivo and Oliver.

Sidney wanted to follow her into the car, but Alice waved her hand to signal her to get off.

"Jacob follows. You and Kate go home first and tell Mistress I'm not going back for dinner."

"But--"

"It's nothing but I can take care of myself. Jacob, go to the place where I painted last time."

Jacob nodded and sat next to the coachman.

The sea breeze blows from the sea, it is winter, and it is still a bit cold.

Oliver got out of the carriage first and helped Alice down, and Ivo then jumped out of the carriage.

"It's cold, where is your scarf?" Oliver got into the carriage again, found a large woolen scarf from the bag hanging at the back of the carriage, and put it on her.

She smiled at Oliver.

Ivo suddenly became uneasy: he really couldn't think of these little things.

"Have you been painting here lately?" Oliver asked.

"Yes, I painted for a few days."

"The view here is nice."

"I was going to pick you up at the pier."

"I know."

"Ivo suddenly appeared."

"Well, I already know that."

Ivo called her nervously, "Alice."

She also smiled at him, "Ivo, I once thought that you might fall off the carriage and break your leg in order to escape."

Ivo's eyes widened.

"A lot of things happened while you were away. For example, Oliver followed me to the Isle of Wight and then to Madeira."

Ivo lowered his head.

"Mrs. Gordon doesn't like me, and even hates me very much now, just as Mrs. Austen would like Oliver more."

Ivo raised his head sharply, "What did you say?! But that's, that's not my fault! I told you, I ran away whenever I had the chance, and it took me half a year to actually escape successfully! I love you! I don't care Everything wants to come back to you!"

"But you used the wrong method! Can't you pretend to be obedient to Mrs. Gordon? Just like me, my mother always tells me to get engaged early. I obviously don't want to get engaged, let alone get married, but I will tell her, good mother, as long as Somebody came to propose to me—”

Oliver and Ivo were shocked: "What? Someone proposed to you?!"

Then I was shocked again: "What? You don't want to get married?!"

"I told you, I don't want to get married now, why? Your memory is not so bad, right?" She was very impatient, "I'm not saying that what you did is wrong, but there are obviously more gentle ways to achieve your goal, You—you only think about yourself, you don't even think about me! Well, let's say, you propose, and I say yes, and we get married, and your mother doesn't like me, although we won't I live in the same house with her, but if she wants to make me unhappy, she can have a hundred ways, then I can't bear it, I will cry, I will blame you, and the relationship between us will be very fast It's over! Have you thought about it? You haven't! I will be very miserable, and before we can divorce, I will separate from you, and then find ten or eight lovers, just to make Mrs. Gordon unhappy!"

Ivo was shocked: "What are you talking about?!"

Oliver stroked his forehead, "Alice, has anyone proposed to you?"

"not yet."

"Then let's go now. I'll meet Mrs. Austin and propose to you."

"No."

"What did you say?" Oliver frowned, "Didn't you already reject Ivo? Since you won't choose him, then I will definitely propose to you."

"I don't want to get married now," she said simply: "Marriage is the most boring thing. Marriage is just because I want to reproduce. I don't want to have children, so I won't get married. I told you before, yes Bar?"

Oliver nodded with a heavy heart, "You said it, but I thought...you weren't so sure."

"I originally thought being in love would make me happy, but now it seems that I haven't gotten any happiness at all, so the time and affection I have invested in it is too much, and the ratio of input to output is not proportional, so I don't want to continue."

Oliver was in a state of confusion, "You're crazy—all women want children, you say you don't want children now, it's because you are still young, you don't know—"

"I've thought about it, I don't like children, I wouldn't be a good mother, I don't want to have children, then I don't have the basic value of a woman to you. You all want to have children, yes Right? Am I right?"

Oliver nodded casually.

Ivo neither nodded nor spoke.

"So that's it. The premise of my willingness to get married is that I don't have children. If you or Ivo agree, then I can marry whoever I want."

Oliver's face gradually turned pale, "Alice!"

He was hesitant and painful: "You know me—that's impossible!" He grabbed her shoulders, "You are so heartless! You don't love me at all! I thought... I always thought that you should have a little bit of love Me, but you don't."

"You are willing to stay with me, and you are not afraid of my illness. I am very moved, but moving does not necessarily turn into love. Jane said that if I want to make sure I love you, I have to love someone before I can marry him, but in fact, If you can make me happy, I don’t have to love you, or I can pretend to love you. In short, I don’t love you now, but if I am willing to marry you and pretend to love you, you won’t be able to detect it. But I can't lie to you, I have to tell you the truth. Now, would you still want to propose to me?"

"Damn it! What love is he!" Oliver shook her viciously, "You strange girl! I don't care if you love me or not, and whether you will have children for me in the future, I just want to marry you!"

He tugged at her wrist, "We're going to Mrs. Austen now, no, hell! I don't have to ask her permission--hasn't she always liked me? You see, I have a ring, and I will return this time." Bought in London, I surreptitiously measured your fingers, it must fit—”

He frantically took out the ring box from his coat pocket, opened the box with trembling hands, took out the ring, and put it on her ring finger in a flustered and clumsy manner.

Ivo finally recovered from the state of "extremely shocked and stunned", and hurried forward to pull Oliver away, "What are you doing? She's crying, let her go!"

Then he received a blow to the face so violently that it knocked him out of the head.

Then, another punch, and another punch.

The ring of the ring was still a little smaller, and Oliver used a lot of strength to stuff her finger knuckles into the ring, causing her to cry out in pain.

Oliver, who had always been gentle, was finally driven crazy by her. She was a little scared, crying and calling his name, wanting him to let go.

The two fought and rolled around on the grass, Jacob hurriedly took her away.

"Go and separate the two," she cried.

Someone walks past her, and with Jacob, separates Oliver from Ivo in the tussle.

Mrs. Austin, who had been waiting anxiously in the villa, was surprised to see Alice's eyes were red and swollen, and she entered the living room.

"Alice? What are you—why are you crying?!"

"Mom! Why did you hide Ivo's letter?" Alice looked at her sadly.

Mrs. Austin suddenly felt guilty, "I don't want you to think of Ivo again."

Then she saw Ivo enter the living room with a bruised eye socket.

Shock!

Oliver, who came in later, was not doing well either, his face was red and swollen.

Mrs. Austin felt a little distressed, "Sidney, go get the medicine box."

"Leave them alone!" Alice said angrily, "Go and bring me a basin of warm water and a piece of soap first."

"Kate's going to get warm water and soap," said Mrs. Austen.

Sidney and Kate ran away like flying.

This is not over yet!

Jacob came in and said Mr Percy was visiting Miss Alice.

Mrs. Austen has a headache: what the hell is this? !

"Mr. Bossy, please go back, Miss is not feeling well today."

"Mr. Bossy helped me pull the two young masters away." Jacob immediately introduced the situation.

Mrs. Austin's headache got worse.