little miss austin

"There aren't any pretty girls on board, so I won't go," Byron said.

"Alice?"

"Go ahead, there's nothing else to do anyway."

"I'll accompany you." Ivo said hastily.

She glanced at him, "I don't think you should go with us now, you should go with Julian and the others. Let's go separately when we get to Madeira."

He was wronged: "Why? I didn't do anything to annoy you, did I?"

"You don't have to walk around me all the time. Don't you have anything else to do?"

"Not yet."

Byron couldn't take it anymore, and pushed away the dinner plate, "Ivo, I think it's necessary to have a good talk with you."

"Talk about what?"

"Put down your bacon! You won't starve to death if you eat one less piece of bacon." Byron pulled Ivo away.

On the table were two tin cans, some tissue paper, a long pipe, and two whiskey glasses.

A pair of slender and well-proportioned hands squeezed out a pinch of shredded tobacco from the tin can, put it on the tissue paper, and carefully rolled a cigarette.

Byron handed the cigarette to Ivo, picked up the matchbox and lit the cigarette for him.Then he rolled another cigarette and smoked it by himself.

The brothers collapsed on the sofa.

drink, smoke.

"It seems like too much to start drinking so early," Ivo said.

"What the hell! Don't you think you're being too prudish?"

"what does that mean?"

"It means that Alice doesn't like people who are too boring."

Ivo didn't speak for a long time.

"You said about Percy, Alice is very interested in Percy, why? Because Percy is not a 'normal person', he doesn't have a good background like you, he doesn't follow the rules, he has many tricks, An incompetent man can't manage the sailors he takes—I dare say there must be pirates in those sailors."

"He's too complicated."

"Yes, it's too complicated, so Alice is only interested in him and won't fall in love with him. However, you can tell from her preferences that she herself is not a conformist person, and she will try her best Indulge yourself within the range, if you are too boring, she will only like your company, but will not fall in love with you."

"What you said is a bit complicated, I don't understand it." Ivo said distressedly.

"I can't tell you exactly what to do, but first of all, you can't always be around her."

"I don't even understand what you're saying. We travel together, and I'm sure I'll be by her side every day."

"I mean, what she does, you don't have to be with her all the time. Besides, you should have your own things to do."

"what does that mean?"

"You must have your own hobbies and careers, right? Look at Grant. He wants to be an explorer. He learns a lot of complicated things. He will go to the cockpit to observe on the spot during the day. He has his own business, and Alice likes it. Kind of people."

Ivo closed his eyes and thought for a while, "I probably understand. In fact, you, me, Oliver, and Julian don't need to have any real careers, just need to develop some hobbies, but Alice—"

"Or you can also consider entering the House of Commons in the future. Lefroy is a member of the House of Commons. The Austin family does not exclude her daughter's husband from being a politician. I am already a member of the House of Lords, and Hobhouse is very likely in the future In the House of Commons, Hamilton is also a member of the House of Lords, you want to go to the House of Commons, I don't think that's a problem. Pick your constituency, you can go to the House of Commons in less than two years."

"Then there must be a vacancy in the constituency?"

Byron raised his forehead, "You really don't understand this at all! But it doesn't matter, Hobhouse will help you analyze whether the constituency in Gloucestershire is suitable or the constituency in Hampshire is suitable."

Ivo thought, Alice really might not hate him being a member of parliament.She said that "politician" and "politician" are two different concepts. It is normal for politicians to seek their own interests, but at the same time they should speak out for the people. Only in this way can they be considered "politicians", not "politicians" .

Byron was right, and Alice would really look down on him if he had nothing to do all day, and only cared about eating and drinking, as other people did.It doesn't matter when you are a teenager, whoever plays well is the popular boy, but it's different when you grow up.She will appreciate people who can do practical things, such as Henry Austin, or people with rich experience, such as Percy.He thinks he has no business acumen, and the most suitable career for him is a member of parliament.As for literary creation, it is a hobby of gentlemen, not a profession.

For example, Byron has already published a collection of poems (although it was printed privately, not many were printed, and he later took it back), and this year he published a booklet, which satirizes some current phenomena in the British literary world, triggering Harsh criticism.But that was not a "profession," nor a "career," but a minor diversion, an inadequate expression of his overactive talent.

The evening dance, it turns out, is that Grant and Julian accompany Alice.The dance hall is not big, there are not many guests, but it is still lively.

At the ball she finally realized what Julian's hostility to Grant was all about.

This guy is no different from when he was a teenager, the difference is that he doesn't say "you can't do that" now, but takes action directly.He didn't let Grant dance with her, it would be best if Grant sprained his feet and got out; he disliked Grant as a savage from a savage land, and laughed at him for wearing a gentleman's clothes and a top hat, and he didn't look like a civilized world gentleman.

At first, Alice thought it was his young master's arrogant temper, looking down on others, but it didn't take long to find out that he looked down on Ivo besides Grant.

In fact, the Gordon family is the same as the Leigh family. They all have titles in their ancestors. The Ivo family is a collateral line, but they have always been rich. The lower one belongs to the uppermost class of the country gentry. Now the patriarch is actually not the eldest brother James, but the fourth brother Henry, who belongs to the emerging bourgeoisie.

So in terms of family background, Ivo and Alice are the closest match, and Oliver actually belongs to the aristocratic class, just like Hamilton.

But what Julian means is that it is normal for the man's social class to be slightly higher, so Alice should belong to Oliver.

This kind of male chauvinism is not busy criticizing.

"So you're spying on me on behalf of Oliver?"

Julian snorted, "Oliver is a coward!" Then he said: "What is 'surveillance'? Surveillance is sneaky, and I am aboveboard."

This kid's arrogant temperament has not changed at all.

"How do you know what Oliver thinks? He probably hates me as hell by now!"

"He hates you?" Julian looked sideways. "Where do you want to go?"

"He didn't write to me or tell me he went to the Army."

"He's crazy. It's all your fault!" He glared at her. "Father was so angry at home that he threatened to cancel his inheritance, but he ignored it and ran away."

"Huh? He has no inheritance rights, so the title and property are all yours?"

"If my father really decides to cancel his inheritance, then of course I'm happy, but my father just used this to scare him," he resented, "he's not afraid at all."

The relationship between the father and son is really good.

"The baron... does he blame me?"

"What are you blaming you for? It's not you who encouraged him to join the army." Julian looked at her strangely, "Don't worry, father actually likes you very much. If he blames you, then he is a bad old man! He has already done something Foolish things, and it would be even more foolish to blame you for Oliver."

Alice felt a little relieved.

The Baron is more open-minded than Mrs. Gordon, and he will not vent his anger casually. This is due to the level of education and the different ways of thinking about issues between the sexes.On Madeira Island, Ivo wrote a letter to his parents, explaining his recent situation, and reassuring them that neither he nor Alice died, and he arrived in Madeira Island smoothly; the Gordons did not reply; Waugh wrote to his three older sisters who were married, and the older sister wrote back that although Mr. Gordon was angry, he was more worried about his life outside, knowing that he had no money, and afraid that he would be wronged; Mrs. Gordon was very angry with Ellie. Si became angry, thinking that she had seduced her good son, so that the good son became bad.

In the next few days, Ivo often stayed with Hobhouse, and the two quickly got to know each other.Hobhouse is not yet a member of Parliament, but he is already an active member of the Whig Party. He has a clear mind and has planned his life. He plans to seek a seat in the House of Commons after returning to England from Europe.

Since it may be a colleague in the future, it is necessary to carefully examine the political views of the other party.Fortunately, Ivo has been Byron's best friend since he was a child. Their three views are similar, and their views on some social issues are also quite close. Since Byron can become friends with Hobhouse, his political views are also similar to those of Hobhouse. House is close, and was heavily influenced by Hobhouse.

After arriving in Madeira Island, the group stayed in the hotel.

The next day, Julian and Evan went to the British military camp on Madeira Island to get Oliver's letter from home. There are more than 600 British troops on the island, mainly responsible for the security of the port of Funchal.

On the surface, it is stated that active military officers are not allowed to disclose their stationed places in their letters home, but people with higher education hinted a little in the letter, and the recipients basically understood it. That's how Byron knew that Oliver was in Gibraltar now.

British army officers are recruited voluntarily, but most of them are the sons of gentry families like Henry Austin, who have received a certain education; or the offspring of noble families, without titles; the composition of naval officers is roughly the same , the vast majority are of origin like Francis and Charles.

The British Army had about 1809 people in 20, and only 1804 people in 13. In the past five years, due to the drastic reduction of the British Army in the Napoleonic Wars, the Army has been continuously recruiting more soldiers, and the troops have expanded and the establishment has also increased. up.

But until 1809, there were only 140 officers of nobles and sons of nobles in the army, and Oliver was one of them.

When Oliver joined the army, the Iberian Peninsula War broke out. The Peninsula War began in July 1807. Napoleon I was extremely dissatisfied with the trade between Portugal and Britain and asked Portugal to declare war on Britain. Portugal did not agree, so France The Allied Forces with Spain invaded Portugal. The military operation began on November 7 and ended on November 11. The Portuguese regent abandoned Lisbon and fled to colonial Brazil with the royal family members.

The royal family fled so hastily that they dropped 14 carriages full of jewels on the pier.

Britain began to intervene in the Peninsula War in July 1808, when Oliver was studying command courses at the Royal Military Academy;

Then, due to the rebellion in Spain, among other things, France and Spain turned against each other, the alliance was dissolved and immediately became an enemy, the French army invaded Spain in November, and Madrid surrendered on December 11;

A month later, in January 1809, 1 British troops encountered 2 French troops in what became known as the Battle of Corunna.The commander of the British army, John Moore, wanted to withdraw the original 6 troops from the peninsula battlefield. The battle of the British army was extremely difficult; the British army retreated all the way to the port of Corunna, leaving more than 8 wounded and sick on the way; but because the logistics dispatch did not keep up, the British army waited for two days in the port of Corunna, and there were no transport ships. Arrived so that they were forced to engage in a frontal battle with the pursuing French army;

The battle was very fierce, the British army killed 900 people, and was forced to kill 2000 horses that could not be taken away, destroyed hundreds of artillery, and left hundreds of soldiers who were too sick. However, in the early stage of the battle, they managed to send away more than 4000 wounded and sick soldiers;

It was a fierce battle and an ignominious retreat, the greatest battle loss being Commander John Moore, who was hit by shell fragments during the battle and was mortally wounded, with broken ribs and massive left shoulder and chest The doctor tried to bandage the wound; a few hours later, Moore learned that the British army had maintained the advantage of the battle, and he swallowed his last breath.

After the Battle of Corunna, it was not surprising that there were two different views in the UK. One side believed that Moore had retreated disgracefully, which seriously affected the overall morale of the British army and made the relationship between Spain and the UK tense. As a result, the remaining Spanish troops in southern Spain were transferred to Gibraltar, trying to find opportunities to retake Gibraltar when the morale of the British army plummeted and Gibraltar became a backup base;

The other side believes that Moore withdrew 2 troops in time and preserved the troops to the maximum extent, which enabled Britain to have available troops to replenish other battlefields in time, and the merit outweighed the demerit.

The British troops in Spain withdrew from the battlefield, but there was still an army of 2 in Portugal. After the death of John Moore, the British army in Portugal had a new commander in April, General Arthur Wesley.

Oliver had just been stationed in Madeira when the French invaded Spain; he was transferred to Gibraltar in April of the following year.

When they were in London, they paid close attention to the peninsula war; when they arrived in Madeira, Julian also tried to find out about Gibraltar.The current news is that almost all the Spanish troops on the border of Gibraltar have withdrawn to support the central battlefield; the increased British troops in Gibraltar have not been withdrawn, and now there are more than 3000 British troops stationed in the small Gibraltar, which is more than the garrison on Madeira Island out nearly 4 times.For the time being, Gibraltar is not in danger yet. The French army mainly focuses on the rich areas in northern and central Spain, and has no time to pay attention to Gibraltar.

Several people were relieved.

Byron didn't have to worry about his friends anymore, so he started wandering around the island.He likes to ride horses, and he rides everywhere all day; he is also quite casual with men and women, and soon finds new lovers among young women on vacation on the island;

Grant regretted that Madeira Island had long been developed by the Portuguese and lost its natural wildness. The arrival of the British exacerbated the island's modernization process, making it unbearably vulgar; however, the area outside Funchal is still a bit Visibility;

Because Alice has lived on Madeira Island for more than a year, she has little interest and only wanders around, spending these two weeks very leisurely.

Calvin Percy returned to Madeira a week after them and invited them to his villa.

As Alice expected, Byron immediately fell in love with Percy, finding him mysterious and interesting, and even had a friendly boxing match with Percy.

Boxing was also a popular activity among fashionable young men in London, even Grant.Relatively speaking, the boxing skills of British young men are all routines, and Bossy's boxing skills are very wild.

And it can be seen that Bo Xi left room and did not attack with all his strength. In the end, the two subtly drew.

Byron also saw that Bossy had released the water, but because he enjoyed the game so much, he didn't care about him releasing the water.

The next day, he came to discuss with Bossy about the ship. Bossy said that they could be sent to Lisbon, but because of the peninsula war, they had better bypass the war zone.

After staying on the island for two weeks, the group took the Bossi to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal.

After General Wesley arrived in Portugal, he quickly fought a second battle of Porto in May, which drove the French army out of Portugal, and Lisbon is now quite peaceful.

They lived in Lisbon for less than a week and soon moved to Sintra, a coastal city near Lisbon.

In addition to being a resort, Sintra also has many medieval and even earlier buildings. William Beckford also lived in Sintra for a while, and he was picky about Sintra; the Portuguese royal family The summer palace in Sintra is also in Sintra, and the royal family likes to spend summer in Sintra in summer.

They rented a large beach house, but it was still too crowded; three weeks later Alice moved with Byron and Ivo to a smaller one nearby.

The Portuguese royal family is still in Brazil and has not returned. Portugal has no monarch, only agents. It is actually under military control, and the army has great power.

Like all countries at war, the business of military supplies is very good. Portugal is a coastal country. There is no shortage of fish and other aquatic products at any time, and there is no shortage of fruits. What is lacking is beef, sheep, pigs and other meat and wheat flour. Trade with Portugal was booming.Calvin Percy bought another merchant ship and started a second-hand trade business.

Alice, Byron, and Ivo all suspect that Percy is smuggling, but it has nothing to do with them, so let's pretend they don't know.

Bossy secretly sent them some bacon and the like. Jacob said it should be a French military offering, so the French army plundered food in Portugal and Spain, but the military supplies in the rear were resold by unscrupulous businessmen...

"Isn't it just unscrupulous businessmen and smugglers who make money?" Alice pondered.

"correct."

"Is there any in England?"

"There should be, but even if they resell it, they will only resell it to Portugal and Spain, and it is unlikely to resell it to France." As for the feud between Britain and France, I don't know when it was forged. The two countries would fight if nothing happened. Well, the people of the two countries also dislike each other, but the British don't reject the French fashion.

"That's right, as long as there is a 50% profit, some people will take risks. If they can make double the profit, it's no problem to ask them to sell their mother. Businessmen just ignore their profits."

"Isn't Percy right?"

"Anyway, he's making money from the Portuguese and the French, don't care about him." Alice waved her hand, expressing her indifference.

"He might be caught by the French and have his head chopped off," Ivo said.

"That's out of the question. Since he dared to do smuggling business, he should be aware of it. He might be caught and beheaded anytime."

Byron said excitedly, "I want to take a trip on his boat."

"You?" Alice looked at him, "Forget it, there are no servants on board to serve you. They are in the business of licking blood with the tip of a knife. What are you going to do?"

"How interesting that is! I've never seen smuggling!"

"That's not fun!" Alice rolled her eyes angrily, "Aren't you doing nothing, go swimming, so that in case the French come back, we can swim back to England." Lisbon is nowhere near England. But far away, of course she is talking nonsense.

They hired two local servants, went out to buy vegetables every day, and also asked for news. The local newspaper in Lisbon updated the current situation of the Peninsula War every day, saying where General Wesley's army was, where was the French army, and where was the Spanish army. .The Portuguese army is currently a coalition with the British army, but it is said that General Wesley does not get along with the commander of the Portuguese army. The Portuguese commander always wants to preserve the strength of his army and refuses to fight hard.

They were very concerned about the situation of General Wesley, and nothing else, except the news of Gibraltar.On Madeira, Julian received a reply from Oliver, who was still in Gibraltar, not knowing how long he would stay.He wanted to go to Spain to join General Wesley's army, but he couldn't just leave without transfer.

For this reason, Julian hurriedly wrote a letter to his father in London, telling him to pay attention to Oliver's transfer, and it is best to continue to transfer him to North Africa, away from the battlefield.

The author has something to say:

*I checked again and found that Byron's right foot was disabled. Some said it was equinus, others said it was caused by polio, and others thought it was bone dysplasia.Equinus is an inversion of the foot, one foot or two feet. Chinese people are relatively less affected, and men are more affected than women, which is related to genes.Modern surgery can be corrected in infancy.

*The hero of "Perfume: A Murderer's Story" is equinus.

*Byron set off for a tour of Europe on June 1809, 6.First went to Lisbon, then passed through Spain, I don’t know if he went to Madrid, then passed through Gibraltar, headed for the Mediterranean, arrived in Greece at the end of the year, arrived in Constantinople, Turkey in March 11, and returned to London in July 1810, because he The mother was seriously ill, and Lady Catherine died on August 3st.

* Arthur Wesley was the future Duke of Wellington.