little miss austin

So Cathy wrote to Anna asking if she could come to London and live with Mrs. Austen for a few years, but not in the same house, or with Alice, who wanted After moving out for a few years, I wrote a whole piece of paper before I knew it;

Alice wrote a letter to Henry's brother, asking him to look at the land deed of the house and to build two small villas next to Austin's house.

The construction of the new small villa started in early June, and the whole wooden building was built very quickly, and it was completed by the end of August, and then the interior decoration was also very fast.

Anna wrote back, saying that she would think about it, that she would not much like to live with Mrs. Austen, not even in the same house, but could live with Alice.Cathy wrote back quickly, saying that was fine.Anna wrote back, asking when they would return to London and if the house had been rented.

In fact, Alice already had her own house. She had just turned 16 years old. She secretly asked Wesley to help her buy a house in London. It was also a two-story building. Yue took Kate to take care of it, and Jacob followed her to Madeira Island. It was Wesley who sent people to check and clean it every month.She didn't tell Mrs. Austen, not even Brother Henry.

Alice wrote back to Cousin Anna, saying which street in London the house was in, and the area was not bad enough to accommodate the two of them and the servants.Anna expressed satisfaction and said that Claire still had to have a room, and she planned to send Claire to study after the New Year next year.

That's not a problem, it's easy to arrange.The two had a pleasant exchange, and it only took 2 or 3 letters to confirm all the details.

Alice felt that life was going well and she was very satisfied.

Wesley came to visit the Austin sisters early the next morning, and was pleasantly surprised to see that Alice was really much better than at the funeral. She had gained weight, her cheeks were flushed, and her blood was very good.He thought that this should be because she often did outdoor activities, riding horses and so on, and was very relieved.

"Seeing you like this now, I really believe that you are all right."

Alice said cheerfully, "Really? I thought you guys like slender and pale girls."

"How is it possible? That kind of girl who faints at every turn and wears smelling salts on her body, I will definitely run away when I see her."

Alice looked at Wesley: he is a few months older than Jane, he is 33 years old this year, he is in the golden age of a man in this era, his annual income is more than ten thousand, his expenses are not big, he has no bad habits, he is gentle and kind, he has no parents and no brothers and sisters It's nothing bad, it's simply the best husband candidate; William said that he hasn't been tempted by any lady until now, and quietly said that it was all because Jane rejected him back then, which made him lose his confidence.

Thinking about it now, it’s not that he has no confidence, but that if your sweetheart in childhood was Jane Austen, you really can’t fall in love with other girls.His mate selection criteria had been artificially raised a lot, so naturally he couldn't see other suitable candidates for his wife.

"Cathy will take me to two doctors for follow-up visits this week, and that's about it. I'm familiar with all the pulmonary doctors on the island, and they earn a lot of my consultation fees."

"It doesn't matter how much money you spend, as long as you get better."

"I'm all right now! Would you like to go out riding with me?"

"I haven't changed my riding clothes." He said in embarrassment.

"Oh! It's all right not to wear riding clothes now and then! Jacob, go get Ivo's horse."

She seemed to have grown a bit taller again, but because Wesley was so tall, it wasn't even noticeable that she had grown an inch.Just looking at her long legs hanging beside the horse's belly, I feel that she has grown taller.

She didn't wear a skirt, but men's riding clothes. The trousers were not the kind of men's trousers that reached the knees, and she didn't wear any men's stockings. They were the kind of trousers that reached to the ankles, made of thin wool material, the trouser legs narrow from the knee down and tuck into riding boots.

Women can only wear skirts, and they want to hide their legs under the long skirt, which will give people a sense of hidden mystery. It is very indecent to lift the skirt to let men see the underpants under the skirt, but she wears it directly Men's trousers, it seems... there is no problem.

What surprised Wesley was that if other girls were dressed like this, he might think that this girl was too indecent like other men, but if it was Alice, he thought it was perfectly normal.This may be what she said, the "filter effect", he never felt that there was anything wrong with Alice's actions, and he would think that she did everything right and well!

For example, this time, Mrs. Austen was forced to return to England first. When Henry Austen mentioned this matter, he had to say quietly that the three younger sisters in the family were not "good daughters" in the traditional sense. Marriage Jane rejected Wesley, Alice rejected Oliver and Ivo, the three daughters were far more difficult than the sons, the six Austin boys except the second George, and even the youngest Charles got married last year, his wife Fanny Francis Palmer was soon to be pregnant with news.

Henry drank too much that day, so he said a lot of words carelessly. When it came to Alice not wanting to get married, let alone have children, Mrs. Austin was very troubled by this, but she couldn't tie Alice up and beat her hard. Revising her view of marriage and family, Alice might run away from home.

Weiss imagined for a while, maybe Alice would really run away from home, he handled her small secret room in London, Henry didn't know about it, he didn't worry about her having no place to go, whether it was in compliance with the rules for her to live alone In fact, he didn't take it too seriously, and he didn't think there was anything wrong with her not wanting to get married or have children, as long as she thought it would make her happy.

"Happiness" is actually a scarce item. In decades of life, troubles often exist, but real happiness does not often exist.

Alice’s horse riding is not fast, it’s just an ordinary speed. After all, she doesn’t have a sports bra to wear. There are many problems caused by galloping horses. She may fall off the horse and be injured, or her thighs may be worn out, but the most important thing is The problem is breasts, so women in this era can only jog even if they ride a horse.

Wesley also felt that this speed was very good, neither too fast nor too slow.

They ran in a long circle and went to the outskirts of Funchal.

Alice showed him Calvin Percy's villa.This Mr. Percy, he has also heard Henry mention it. Henry was worried that the "young and ignorant" Alice would be cheated by the experienced Percy, so William said that he would go to Madeira Island for vacation, and Henry asked him to watch it. Point to Alice.

"Calvin just came back from the sea last month. It is not convenient for Cathy and I to treat guests at home. I will send someone to deliver a letter to him later, asking him to send you an invitation and invite you to be a guest. He is very interesting and has a lot of experience , you must like him. William likes him very much."

Wesley smiled, "Do you meet Mr. Percy often?"

"Did Mrs. Austen ask you to be a spy?" She tilted her head at him.

"That's it."

"Not too much, he visits two or three times a week."

"Isn't that much?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Not too much, Ivo comes here every day."

"So, you and Gordon—"

"We're still friends. If we just play together, he's still fun."

Wesley was a little confused, "But is that any different from before?"

"Yes," Alice nodded confidently, "he won't kiss me now."

Hey, there seems to be no problem at all.

"So, what about Percy?"

"He can be considered a friend. However, just as my mother, Henry, and Tom worried, Calvin is too mysterious. Henry and Tom have inquired about it in Funchal, and people only know what happened after he bought the Percy. Nobody knows where he came from, which means he probably came from something bad, maybe a pirate."

"Then you still dare to let him visit you?" He was a little uneasy, "in case he is really a pirate—"

"My God! You are more worried than Henry!" Alice laughed heartily, "Don't forget, my two older brothers are naval officers. If he dares to do anything to me, Francis will guarantee him a seven-sea pursuit." Kill. He also asked Francis and Charles, he dare not."

Wesley also laughed, "I forgot about that." No matter how powerful the pirates are, it is impossible to fight against the regular army. The navies of various countries are also very experienced in chasing down pirates. Most of the time, they don’t care much about pirates because of input and output issues. If the economic loss is not large, the encirclement and suppression of pirates will not get a lot of money or medals. The navy usually doesn’t care much about small groups of pirates’ harassment.

"You've grown up." He couldn't help but say.

"Huh? I've grown up. I'm already 18, and I'll be 19 in a few months."

"I mean, you're very thoughtful. Mrs. Austin's worries don't seem to be necessary. You can take care of yourself."

"Of course! I'm smart, and Jacob will protect me."

"Well, Jacob is fine, he's very capable."

"I'm also very good to him. His siblings are now working, they don't have to worry about food and clothing, and they even have money to buy real estate. I think it's very good."

He thought, Jacob must be her future treasurer, Alice doesn't need to actually manage the servants below, she just needs to ensure Jacob's loyalty to her, Jacob can naturally restrain the servants in a good way, Managing servants is also a science, and it takes a lot of energy. She doesn't spend her time on how to manage servants.

Alice started to walk back, riding a little faster on the way back.He still followed her.

Calvin Percy is very funny.

Also shrewd.

He can talk to anyone, he is very gentle with Alice, and he answers every question, even if it is a question that cannot be answered, he is very serious. I don't know, I have to ask others.

He said what he was doing, shipwreck salvage, this profession is very unpopular, it belongs to high-investment, high-risk and high-reward, and only bold, cautious and fanatical people are suitable for this profession.

Wesley found that although Alice was very interested in salvaging sunken ships, she was absolutely unwilling to be left floating at sea for several months without fresh water and inconvenient bathing.She is used to a life where someone waits for her to take a bath every day, let alone a bunch of stinking toothless sailors on board, she will never live that kind of life.

Since it is impossible for her to run away with Percy in a daze, and it is impossible for Percy to sneak away with her in a daze, it can be said that Percy is out of danger.Wesley relaxed, and talked with Calvin Percy about some famous shipwrecks that people often talked about when they were in the United States.

Calvin said that he also thought about going to the coastline of the United States, and he was still in the stage of collecting information. He had to start planning, determine goals, and collect as much information as possible before he could actually start work.It often takes several years to salvage a sunken ship, and even though the location of the sunken ship has been determined, it cannot be salvaged because the seabed is too deep, so success is not guaranteed every time.He was relatively lucky and successfully salvaged a very valuable sunken ship.

After dinner, the guests take their leave.

Calvin stood under the carriage, talked to Alice for a while, and asked her if she had time before she left. He took her to the bottom of the sea to see the sunken ship, not far away, just beside another island, Porto Santo Island.Madeira Island is actually an archipelago. Madeira Island is the largest main island, and there are several small islands nearby. Porto Santo Island is one of the larger islands and is also inhabited by people.

"Do you want to go into the water?"

"Of course, it's fun to be in the water. Do you want to?"

"I want to go." She nodded, "but you know I can't play with you alone, you have to invite others." She looked at Wesley beside him.

Calvin immediately invited Wesley.

The shipwreck tour of Porto Santo Island is fun.

In fact, still a whole lot went: Alice, Cathy, Wesley, William, Sally would have liked to go too, but little Charles was still too young for the dangerous waters, so she had to stay.

Cathy didn't go into the water, but Wesley, William, and Calvin took Alice into the water.

Two sailors led the way. The sunken ship was not far from the sea, about half a nautical mile away. They took a small boat to the wreck site, then turned over from the small boat, and Cathy stayed on board.

The water is very clear, the seabed is shallow, and there are many rocks. Calvin introduced on the small boat that this boat was one of the Portuguese fleet. It sank when it hit a rock. I dropped it, but it's still interesting.

Because it is not deep sea, and there are no dangerous aquatic animals, the wooden hull is covered with seaweed and shelled molluscs attached to the wooden boards.

In this era, there are no diving oxygen cylinders, and not everyone can hold their breath underwater for several minutes. The process of visiting the sunken ship is quite frustrating, and you have to float up frequently to take a breath, but overall it is still an interesting experience.

The most frustrating thing is that there is no swimsuit. The men are okay. It doesn’t matter if they wear a jumpsuit that shows their thighs. Alice can only go into the water in canvas trousers, but the canvas is too heavy when it is wet. When she gets on the boat, Cathy To her surprise, she had cut off her pant legs.

Cathy nearly fainted, and hastily wrapped her cloak over her legs.Originally, she didn't approve of Alice going into the water, after all, it was too inconvenient, she had to take off her skirt and put on men's clothes, but she couldn't refuse Alice, so she could only let her go into the water, unexpectedly——

Her skin is very fair, and her two white thighs are too dazzling.This is not a lady at all, the main reason is that there are three big men watching, not counting the sailors!

Cathy was going to die.

On the contrary, Alice didn't feel anything, but felt that the clothes were sticking to her body, which was very wet and uncomfortable.

The boat quickly returned to the Bossy, and Cathy asked Sidney to quickly change Alice's wet clothes into a dry skirt.

After returning to the villa, Cathy began to question her, "What on earth are you thinking? Who told you to show your legs?"

"What's wrong with my leg?" Alice was still a little puzzled.

"A lady shouldn't let anyone but her husband see your...thighs!" Cathy whispered.

"Oh! You're talking about this." Only then did Alice realize, "The trousers were too heavy after entering the water, so I asked Calvin for a dagger and cut off the trouser legs, so that I could swim more smoothly, otherwise I would Could have drowned because the trousers were too heavy."

"Just talk nonsense! I shouldn't have allowed you to go into the water! What's so good about a sunken ship?" Cathy nagging was also terrible, very motherly.

"It's very interesting! It will be even more interesting if you can dive in."

"I don't think it's interesting at all." Cathy said disgustedly: "You know the virtues of men, girls' bodies can't be seen casually."

"Oh yeah? So they see women's thighs and they want to go to bed, don't they?"

"Is not it?"

"I can't say that. How about you ask Wesley tomorrow? Or Percy?"

"Forget it. When we returned to England, we never saw Mr. Percy again. You have to remember that Percy's origin is unknown, even if he piled gold coins into a mountain, you are not allowed to promise him."

"Oh, I know! He's too complicated, I just like his story, not him as a person. And his gold teeth are too ugly, I don't like it. If he changed his dentures with ivory, he would be reluctant." Can."

Cathy was amused by her, "Then maybe he'll get a new tooth."

Wesley spent 10 days in Madeira, accompanying Alice to follow-up visits at different clinics, and received the same diagnosis: she was cured.

So he booked a boat ticket at the end of September, and he will soon return to England.

The servants began to pack their bags.The old skirts I had when I was sick were too fat to wear, so they were all burned on the spot.I threw away a lot of useful and useless things, and sold the carriages and horses bought on the island on the spot. After a few days of busy work, it finally came to the day of sailing.

Both William and Calvin went to the pier to see them off.

Calvin did not hide from people, and told Alice generously that he would go to England in a few months, and he would visit Mrs. Austin and her then, and asked her not to turn him away.

Alice says you have to get your teeth replaced first, gold teeth don't look good.

Wesley felt that she spoke very easily and directly to Percy, as if she didn't care whether he would mind or not.Bossy is also very interesting, he actually agreed, saying that the ivory is also good, strong enough and nice in color.

William wishes them all the best of luck.

Alice got on board quickly, and went to her own room.

The first-class cabin is very spacious, it is a suite, and the maid can sleep on the sofa in the living room outside, which is much more comfortable than the third-class cabin below.

After the passenger ship set sail, she got out of the cabin and went to the deck, looking back at Madeira Island: from last year to this year, she lived for more than a year, and now she is finally going back.

I disembarked from Southampton and went to Francis's house first.

Francis happened to be on vacation at home, enjoying himself with his wife and daughter.He was very happy to see his older sister and recovered younger sister, and stayed with them for a week, saying that he would send the sisters home, so Wesley returned to London first.

Francis' daughter, Mary Jane, is just one and a half years old. She is a lovely little girl. She can already walk, and she walks very steadily. very small.

Such a young child doesn't have much needs, just eating and drinking.

The brothers and sisters in the Austin family have a very good relationship and are closely related to each other.Alice lives on Madeira and hears from her family every week.Because Francis is often at sea, he has been married for more than two years and has only one child; the third brother Edward is a typical figure who strives to increase production and serve the country. The third sister-in-law Elizabeth is pregnant again and will give birth in early October.

The fifth sister-in-law, Mary Gibson, said that she has not received a letter from Goethe Musham, and she does not know if she has given birth yet.Speaking of which, Elizabeth had already had 10 children, and she was only a few months younger than Cathy - Cathy was born in January 1773, and Elizabeth was born in October 1.

This means that Cathy is still a single woman and Elizabeth is about to have her 11th child...

The two sisters had already discussed this issue when they were on Madeira Island. The two sisters agreed that they could never bear the life of constantly having children, so if they refer to Elizabeth, Cathy can understand Alice. About the fear of having a baby.

And Francis sent the sisters back to London, but found that Mrs. Austen was not at home-she left a letter asking them to go to Goldmusham Manor in Kent immediately after they arrived in London. died.

The two sisters drove to Kent with Francis again.

A large family of 10 children is quite amazing, the newborn baby is crying, the oldest child Fanny is only 15 and a half years old, not yet old enough to go to social dances.The children were born one and a half to two years apart. Except for little Henry who was adopted, there are now 5 girls and 5 boys in the family. There are several nannies alone, plus servants and servants. The child is really impressive.

Also messy.

Because of the sudden death of the hostess, no one could make up their minds about the family affairs at once, and the housekeeper was too busy at all. After Mrs. Austin arrived, she took over the family affairs.

Henry also came with little Henry.Elizabeth was little Henry's biological mother, and of course he had to come back.Little Henry didn't see his biological mother much in recent years, but a child is a child, and when his mother passed away, he cried very sadly.

The author has something to say:

*The third sister-in-law Elizabeth is the second daughter-in-law of Austin's family who died in childbirth.In the future, Charles' wife Palmer also died because of giving birth to a child, and both mother and daughter died.