little miss austin

If he dared to mention selling the estate, Lady Catherine would be completely hysterical.

"I have to figure out how much I can give you. You have to figure out how much you owe."

"I have to ask Hugh about this." Byron called the valet, and Hugh quickly took out a small book, which recorded Byron's debts in detail.

"Drink money; meal money; outing expenses; clothes, shoes and hats; indescribable expenses and hotel room expenses, a little bit; the total——" Alice flipped through the account book, "more than 5000 pounds!"

She exclaimed: "You did spend a bit too much! This does not include the bills you have already settled! How much did you spend in 4 years? 7000? 8000?"

"Not sure. Hugh?"

"Less than 9000 pounds, MyLord."

In Alice's opinion, 9000 pounds is not much. After all, the average of 4 years is less than 2500 pounds a year, but the purchasing power of the pound is very amazing.

Alice raised her forehead, "I can give you 5000 pounds at once, but you have to write me an IOU. Ask Jacob and Hugh to go with you and get back all the IOUs you have from other people. You can do it yourself Go get some, and pay off all these debts."

Byron smiled and kissed her on the cheek, "Thank you, Alice, you are my angel!"

Alice looked disgusted, "You just changed from having many creditors to being the only creditor, and I don't know why you are so happy!"

After John Edelston was taken home by his family, a scandal began to circulate in London about Baron George Byron's affair with a choir boy.Brits don't mind that the Prince of Wales has lots of mistresses, but if a man likes another man, oh well, that's definitely a problem and should be locked up, or stoned to death.

As a result, Byron speeded up the preparations, and hurriedly took Hugh and Jacob to settle the foreign debts. After a few days of busy work, he finally got back all the IOUs.

The carriage for going out is also being prepared. The groom checks the health of the horses and horseshoes, and the coachman checks the condition of the carriage to ensure a smooth trip.

Alice ordered new suitcases for Ivo, Byron, and herself. Now that Edelston has canceled the trip, it becomes 5 people to travel again.

Grant knew that Alice was making preparations, and he also handed over some of his work. The reason was that his servants were all Americans and didn't understand these things.

Alice then ordered a suitcase for Grant as well.

A week before the trip, Evan Holmes came to Byron to say that he and Julian were going with them.

Byron was embarrassed, "You know Alice will go with us, she doesn't like you two."

"This shouldn't be a problem, right? Julian and I will visit her in the afternoon."

"Well, I hope Alice has forgotten the good things you did back then."

Evan said dissatisfiedly: "I'm the one who was severely whipped by her, okay?"

"How dare you say that?" Byron gave him an angry look, "Why did you go—what did you do? Cut her hair?"

"I don't remember why? When we were teenagers, we didn't know what was going on in our heads. I'm a cultivated adult now, and I'm not such a jerk anymore."

"Then I won't accompany you, you and Julian go here to find her." Byron gave him Alice's address.

Alice beat them up when she didn't see them. Of course, they are not children anymore.

The last time she saw them was at her father's funeral. They were the same age as Ivo, both born in 1786, Evan in January, Julian in February, and Ivo in December.When Alice lived in Daylesford, Oliver wouldn't let Evan and Julian play with Alice, but Alice didn't play with them every day, and when she wasn't there, the boys played by themselves.

Both of them are 23 years old now, they are serious adults, and they salute Alice very politely, and they are no longer the reckless teenagers in middle school.

"Are you going to travel abroad too? I thought you should have left last year."

"It was supposed to leave last year, but because—well, because Oliver ran to join the army, his father was extremely annoyed and said he couldn't lose two sons at the same time." Julian calmly narrated.

"How is the Baron? Married?"

Julian scratched his forehead, "Married."

"Where's your stepsister?"

"Marianna."

"How is Mariana?"

"Very well. Lives with her mother."

"Newton Park?"

"Yes."

"How is the Baroness?"

"Very good, very gentle. Maybe Oliver will have another brother or sister."

"Isn't that great? He only has a younger brother, not a younger sister."

"It's pretty good. Anyway, do you miss Oliver?"

"He hasn't written to me since he left Madeira."

"Oh!" Julian whispered: "Then he is really angry."

Evan said: "Anyway, we are going to drop by him this time. George said he is in Gibraltar."

"Father found someone. Oliver wanted to go to the French war zone, but his father was worried that he would die in France, so he sent him to another station, away from the war zone."

That said, the baron still cherishes the eldest son very much.Oliver ran off to join the army, and Julian had to stay at home to comfort his father.Now it's time to see how the young officer Oliver is doing in the army, and whether he regrets it.

"Okay, you can go with us, but we are almost ready, you two have to prepare your own luggage." There is no difference between traveling with 5 people and traveling with 7 people. "You have to meet John Hobhouse, who is responsible for the travel itinerary. Since you are joining temporarily, he will not pay for the travel expenses of the two of you."

Julian hurriedly said: "The baron gave me enough travel expenses, so don't worry about it."

The next day, Julian sent someone to send a letter, saying that Hobhouse had made arrangements and bought the tickets for them, but because they added them temporarily, there was no first-class, only second-class tickets. not with them.

Another day, Calvin Percy came to visit her.

"Hello, Miss Austin."

"Hello, Mr. Percy."

"It's so hard to see you. I haven't seen you in London several times."

"You know where I live? I mean, I haven't lived at home these months."

"I went to visit Mrs. Austin, and she said that you are not in London and have something to do."

"Yes, I just came back from—from out of town. Have you been in London lately?"

"No, it's also outside London. I'm looking at a villa in Wokingham. It's not far from London. The location is good and the price is quite reasonable. This time, I brought money to sign a contract to buy a house."

"Are you really going to settle in England?" she was curious.

"Yeah, it's always going to be a land property. Maybe I'll get married and have kids and hopefully my kids will be educated in England."

"Can I ask which country you are from? Where you were born? Parents?"

He smiled, "I don't remember my parents. Parents are not important, and nationality is not important, but because I want to settle in the UK, I found a way to get a birth certificate in England. Now, I am a person born in the UK and a French citizen. grown-up citizen."

Alice nodded.

"I heard you're going to travel abroad," he added, "is it going to be a long time?"

"Go to many places, at least for a year."

"A year isn't too long." He smiled. "I'll visit you again when you come back. Maybe I can have time to live in London for a while, a few years."

He stood up, "I have to go, I will write you a letter and post it here. You know my address, and the reply can be sent to Madeira. If you travel to the Mediterranean, write to me in advance, I will provide ships for your use."

"We'll go to Madeira, and if you're on the island, we'll talk to you about the ship."

Byron almost failed to make it, and Lady Catherine came to London two days before departure, intending to take him back to Newstead.Byron told his mother about the rumors of his homosexuality, saying that he would go abroad to hide from the limelight and come back when no one mentioned it.Lady Catherine went hysterical again, scaring Ivo, who lived with Byron.

Since the two cousins ​​don't have much money now, before departure, Alice asked Jacob to send them 100 pounds in cash each. The man can't do without money.

Byron was used to Alice giving him pocket money, but Ivo was still a little awkward.

"You're so stupid!" Byron sighed, "Alice is not someone who cares about such a small amount of money at all. If you keep worrying about these things between friends, it will be boring."

"I know, but—"

"But what? You think Alice is a woman, and you shouldn't use women's money? Is she still your ex-girlfriend after breaking up? You are such an idiot!" Byron hugged his cousin's shoulder affectionately, "Think about it, we have to Play in Europe for one or two years, what does this mean? You can see her every day, two years! If you can't make her fall in love with you like this, then you are stupid and hopeless!"

Ivo thought about it carefully: Indeed, taking her money is a bit awkward, but Alice paid for his last year of Oxford University tuition and living expenses, and he has actually been using her money for a long time; the money can be repaid. Clearly, whether it is taking money from his father after reconciling with his parents in the future, or other money, he believes that he can afford the money, but the more precious thing is Alice's friendship; he always misses her. It's too unrestrained to hold the money, maybe she will laugh at her;

As for the love between them, he has always wanted her to truly fall in love with her, but he has never thought of a good way. Traveling abroad with her is indeed the best way so far. They can see each other every day. Any obstacle, if he can't even make good use of this opportunity, he is really a fool as Byron said.

According to the scheduled itinerary, Alice and her party embarked on the journey on the last day of June.

Her carriage is still the one that was remodeled when she was sick last time. She can sit comfortably and even take a nap.

Byron and Hobhouse in a carriage, Ivo and Grant in a carriage, Evan and Julian in a carriage, Alice with Sidney and Kate in a carriage; The luggage was placed on the roof of their respective carriages.

This time I went to Portsmouth to take a boat. The plan was to go to Madeira Island first, then take a boat to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, across the Iberian Peninsula, to Madrid, the capital of Spain, and then go south from Madrid to Gibraltar. Gibraltar boarded the boat, went to Casablanca, and then walked all the way from the interior of North Africa, around the Sahara Desert, from the north of the Atlas Mountains, to Algiers, the capital of Algeria, and then to Tunisia.

Long-distance travel is a test of the ability of the entourage. There are always various problems every day, from the place where breakfast, lunch and dinner stay to the place to stay at night, the carriage is parked and guarded at night, the horses are fed and rested, luggage is moved up and down, and bits and pieces A laundry list of things.

7 hosts need to open at least 7 rooms, plus servants’ rooms and coachman’s rooms, a group of people can often occupy a whole small hotel, and usually, if the hotel is too small, there are not enough rooms—because There will always be other travelers - just have to live separately.

Hobhouse was the leader, and the servants asked him for anything they could not handle. Seven people brought three servants to go out, and they worked together. Jacob was assigned to the accommodation, and Hugh was in charge of the carriages. Hobhouse’s servants Ge Wen is in charge of others.

Embarked at Portsmouth, taking only Alice's carriage on board, and horses for the men to ride on the road, and the other carriages and coachmen returned to London.

Sailing on the sea is actually very boring, there is nothing to see, especially if you can't see land or islands in the front, back, left, and right. If there is no reference, it will be even more boring.

The boat departed at 3:3 in the afternoon, passed the White Island and stayed for 8 hours, and sailed again at [-]:[-] in the evening to Madeira Island.

A group of people had today's dinner on the Isle of Wight.There are many people and mixed conversations, it is always very lively, and there is no need to worry about having nothing to talk about.

Strictly speaking, Alice shouldn't be traveling with these men who are not relatives, but if there are enough people, there is no problem.After Mrs. Austen knew she was going abroad, she struggled a bit and let her go.

Both Cathy and Jane persuaded her. Alice had been thinking about going abroad for more than ten years, and now she was going out with Byron and the others. There were many people, and she was not afraid of anything happening to her.Although Byron's relationship between men and women is absurd and he spends a lot of money, another advantage is that he has strong social skills, is likable, handsome and easy to handle.

Tom told her about Alice's traveling companion: Ivo is sure to be fine. Although they broke up, their friendship remained, and they did not turn their backs; Hobhouse is old and stable, so there is nothing to worry about; The bear boy is a little skinny, and his personal ability is not bad. After all, he is a foreign child who survived and graduated from Oxford University (slightly exaggerated here); Julian and Evan, one is Oliver's younger brother, and the other is Oliver's cousin has nothing to worry about.

Mrs. Austen was a little more reassured, but still felt that it would be more reassuring if one of them was older.

Alice didn't know that her mother was very worried about her, and she was only thinking about going abroad!Happy!

There is no need to worry about money. Hobhouse will definitely bring at least twice as much money. She also brings 1 pounds, some cash, and bank drafts. Capitals of various countries can go to the bank to exchange local currency.

The advantage of traveling with the competent Hobhouse is also obvious, and she basically doesn't have to worry about anything.Byron was spoiled a bit too much by his mother, his living ability was low, and he had problems with food, clothing, housing and transportation without his servants; the others were similar, and the best one was Ivo who had escaped experience, but he also said that traveling was too annoying. More, it is better not to worry about yourself or not to worry about yourself.

The first-class cabin was very spacious, with a living room. The men all went to Hobhouse's room to play cards. Alice didn't go, saying that it was time to go to bed after going back to the room to wash up.

But it turned out that she didn't lie down and go to sleep soon, but went to the deck.

The sea is calm, and there is a little light in the distance, probably other ships.

The sea breeze blows on the face, very cool.After cutting her hair short, she felt that the world was different. The short hair was refreshing, and the scalp would not be sore from the thick hair, but it was inevitable that the hair would be blown into a mess when blowing the wind.

Sidney put a woolen scarf on her and touched her face, "Be careful not to catch a cold."

"I'll be back in a while."

The sky at night is indistinguishable from the distant view of the sea, they are both dark and deep, and the only thing that can be distinguished is that there are stars on the sky.

After staring aimlessly for a while, she told Sidney to get out the binoculars they had brought.

If you don’t have to carry your own luggage, of course you can bring a lot of things, such as typewriters and binoculars.

British mirror makers have been able to make telescopes with large diameters. Earlier, white crystal lenses were used. After the glass manufacturing process has improved, glass lenses are now used. In the early days, many astronomers would grind the lenses by hand to meet their own observation requirements. telescope.Now that the manufacturing process is more standardized, it is much easier to order a good telescope than before. It also has a wooden movable tripod to meet the requirements of observing the sky anytime and anywhere.

Her astronomy knowledge was taught by William Beckford, not very profound, just the level of distinguishing constellations. Different stars have different brightness, color and size, which indicates their distance, life span, and the fascinating beauty of the starry sky. The problem is that they have no boundaries.

Time passed imperceptibly from star to star, constellation to constellation, until she felt someone walk behind her and stop.

She glanced back: it was Grant.

He smiled at her, "The stars are charming, aren't they?"

She didn't speak, just nodded.

"I almost wanted to switch to astronomy, but if I had to look at the night sky through a telescope every night, I would get bored after a few days."

She laughed: This guy is just a child who can't sit still, and an explorer is really a career that suits his temperament very well.

"Didn't you play cards?" Six people couldn't afford two tables of cards.

"I'm not very good at whist," he admitted bravely.

"Then what cards do you play?"

"They are not very good at playing. They can play, but they are not proficient."

"I've only played with Ivo and George, not the others, and I'm guessing - Hobhouse must be pretty good, Evan might be pretty good, Julian's not so good, probably with you Pretty much. So Julian probably isn't playing cards anymore?"

Grant was surprised, "How do you know? You are so accurate, are you sure you haven't played with them?"

"No. You don't need to lie about it. Your card skills depend on your personality. You don't like playing cards. You may prefer simple and direct sports. You should be good at billiards. You don't like cricket very much. Golf may be more suitable for you. .”

Grant smiled and nodded, "I prefer badminton, but there are still more people playing cricket in Oxford."

"Badminton is not a fierce confrontational sport. It can only be played by four people at most. Colleges where all men are boys will definitely only be popular in group sports that require teamwork and strong physical confrontation."

"Oops! You're right! I really don't like crowded sports."

"So if you play chess, you should be pretty good."

"How do you know everything!"

Alice raised an eyebrow at him, "Because I'm smart!"

"Alice." Julian came from the other side of the deck, "What are you talking about?"

"Talking about sports." It seemed that it was impossible to continue observing the night sky, so she called Sidney and put away the telescope.

"Sports? What sport?"

"Say you all like to play cricket, Grant isn't very good at it."

Julian asked, "You have been in Oxford for four years, but you haven't learned how to play cricket?"

"I was too busy studying at Oxford to play cricket."

"Cricket needs a lot of time to practice. If you don't practice, you can't play well." Julian began to discuss how to play cricket in a serious manner.

"Let's talk, I'm going back to sleep." Alice yawned and left the deck.

After she left, the two young men glanced at each other with expressionless faces.

Julian sneered and walked away first.

In the morning, Alice went to the restaurant and took the plate for the food.

Byron just sat down at the table, "Come on, sit here." He motioned to the seat beside him.

"What do you want to drink?" She saw that he didn't have a drink.

"Coffee, thanks."

Alice brought him a cup of coffee, took a glass of milk herself, and put it on the table.Going to get food again, I grabbed two slices of bacon, a boiled egg, two slices of bread, a small bowl of steamed pumpkin, some fresh yellow peaches, and half an orange, and sat next to Byron.

"I don't know what's for lunch, I want to eat grilled fish." Byron said.

The most common question in life is not life and death, who am I, do you love me or not, but three meals a day.

"I want oysters, or scallops, and grapes."

"Let the servant go to the kitchen to ask later. Did you sleep well last night?"

"Slept well. How about you? Your first time at sea?"

"Well. I haven't really spent the night at sea from Southampton to the Isle of Wight before. I thought I would be too excited to fall asleep, but I fell asleep as soon as I lay down."

Ivo came in, "George, Alice."

"There is a dance on the boat tonight, do you want to attend?" Ivo quickly took a plate of food and sat beside Alice.

The author has something to say:

*Speaking of what Oxford University is like, the drama series "Discovery of Witches" starring Matthew Goode last year was filmed at Oxford University, which is beautiful.