Pride and Prejudice Becoming Jane Bennet

When Kate was talking about Mr. Rushward, Jane noticed that her other sister, Elizabeth's expression was obviously not very natural, which made her suspicious, because she rarely saw Elizabeth just because others mentioned it. A person's name showed such a hesitant look.

In order to take care of her sister and prevent her from being restless because of this gentleman's affairs, Jane quickly diverted the matter away.But when she was going to bed at night, Elizabeth suddenly brought up the matter on her own initiative.

"Dear Jane," she said, "you know I've always been a straight-talking person... You may have wondered about my attitude to Mr. Rushward at dinner this evening... about this gentleman , I have actually been thinking about whether to tell you for a while, and now, I think it is time."

Jane looked at her sister in amazement for a long time before saying, "You really surprise me, Liz. I must admit that I have rarely seen you so indecisive. Mr. Rushward is Is there something wrong?"

"I can't tell!" Elizabeth frowned and said distressedly.

She was silent for a while before continuing: "I met that gentleman for the first time when I went to the Covent Garden Theater not long after I arrived in London. I was going to the lounge at that time, because it was not Chinese During the intermission, so I didn’t meet anyone along the way. Until I walked to the door of the lounge, I found a man standing against the wall with his arms around a very gorgeously dressed woman... That man was Mr. Rushward , and that woman is a star performer in another small theater."

Jane frowned slightly and said, "This is not unusual."

"Indeed." Elizabeth said, "especially when I came out of the lounge and found Mr. Rushward standing alone in the original place, staring at me...that look is really chilling!"

"Did he do anything?" Jane asked, taking Elizabeth's hand.

"It's nothing..." said Elizabeth. "He didn't even say a word—he just gave me that horrible look for a few seconds, then turned and walked away."

"So you didn't know him then?" Jane asked.

Elizabeth nodded.

"Maybe it's because you ran into his private affairs and made him hate you, so he looks at you like that?" Jane guessed.

"I think so too," said Elizabeth.

After a pause, she continued: "It was half a month later that I really met him. That time, I went to the museum with Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner, and I happened to meet him with his friends. Gardiner Mr. knew his friend--his friend was a regular client of Mr. Gardiner's, so the two sides introduced each other as it should be. The attitude of this Mr. Rushward at that time was very different from the last time I saw him. , His attitude is very gentle, and his behavior is very polite."

"You don't think it's normal for him to be so inconsistent, do you, Liz?" Jane asked.

"No," Elizabeth shook her head, but after thinking about it, she nodded again and said, "I didn't feel anything wrong at first, I just thought he didn't think of him anymore when I saw him and the actress in the theater. I took the matter of being together to my heart, but what happened later made me feel that he still held a grudge against me."

"How?" Jane asked.

Elizabeth looked at her, took a deep breath, and said, "Since I met him that time, he has almost always appeared around me every half a month, sometimes by visiting directly, and more often Encounters--the park, the library, the theater...Jane, I couldn't believe the coincidence of things, and I was all the more disturbed that I saw him give me that hard look again afterward..."

Her voice became softer and softer, and finally disappeared into the air. After a while, she continued: "I'm worried, Jane, I don't know if it's a good thing for him to save Mary and Lydia... … the way he strikes me — very abnormal.”

"He saved Mary and Lydia, which is a good thing for whatever reason," Jane said quickly.

She looked at Elizabeth, patted her hand, and said, "It's getting late, go to bed, Liz. We can only wait and see until this Mr. Rushward reveals his true purpose."

……

Jane and the Weston couple stayed in Longbourn for one night, and the next morning they set off for London.They hurried on, and arrived in London just before lunch.

Mr. Weston has a small house in London. They first went to his house to wash and clean up, and then hurried to Mr. Gardiner's house in Tennessee Street.

Mr. Gardiner and Mr. Bennet went out early in the morning to attend to business.Mrs. Gardiner and the children warmly welcomed the guests from afar. Jane noticed that although Mrs. Gardiner tried to be calm and cheerful, she looked extremely tired. The children seemed to realize that something had happened Things, not as lively as seeing Jane before.

Mary did not meet them at the door because she had just recovered, but as soon as Jane stepped into the living room door, she jumped up from the sofa and hugged her sister fiercely.The two sisters had been separated for many days, and there was another mob attack here. When they met at this time, they were naturally very emotional. Jane took Mary's hand, looked at her face carefully, and checked the injury on her arm before she let it go. Come with a half heart.

"Thank goodness," she said, "I'm glad you're safe and sound!"

Mary smiled, but the smile was fleeting, and she said regretfully, "I wish I could stop that vase! It's my fault that Lydia is like this..."

"It's not your fault!" Jane said immediately, "If you want to say whose fault it is, it can only be the fault of those mobs."

Mary smiled and didn't speak. Jane could see that she must still be complaining that she didn't stop the vase that was thrown at Lydia in time. She knew that Mary's knot might not be resolved until Lydia got better. .

"How is Lydia now?" Jane asked. "I heard from Mrs. Gardiner that she has returned from the hospital?"

"Yes," said Mary, "Papa and Mr. Gardiner brought her back from the hospital late yesterday afternoon, and she's much better than she was two days ago, but she's still awake and faint ..."

"Where is she now?" Jane asked, "Take me to see!"

"Yes!" said Mrs. Weston, who had just entered the drawing-room at this moment, and heard their conversation, "where is poor Lydia? Let us see how she is now?"

Mary naturally agreed to the request of Jane and Mrs. Weston. She took them up to the second floor and entered the bedroom of Jane's eldest cousin Alicia, which is now arranged as a ward for Lydia. ya use.

Alicia didn't go to the door to meet them before, because she was taking care of Lydia in the room. She was twisting a veil to wipe Lydia's lips when she heard the door open. When she looked up, she saw It was found that the eldest cousin who had not seen her for a long time was standing at the door and looking inside.

"Jane!" She immediately stood up happily.

"Alicia!" Jane walked over quickly and hugged her vigorously, "Thank you so much for taking care of Lydia like this."

As soon as she entered the room and saw the layout of the room, she knew that Mrs. Gardiner must have put a lot of thought into it. She arranged the ward in this way and let Lydia live alone, so that Lydia could recuperate well. Here Alicia was going to sleep in a bed with her other sisters.

"Taking care of Lydia is the task my mother entrusted to me!" Alicia said like an adult, "It's also my duty to take care of her—she is also my sister."

"You said it very well, Alicia." Jane smiled, hugged her again, and said, "Now your task has been completed, go downstairs quickly, we have brought a lot of What about presents!"

Alicia was very happy to hear that there was a gift brought to her, but she didn't go downstairs immediately, but pulled Jane to Lydia's bedside, told Jane what she was doing just now, and asked Jane to do it next .

"I know what to do." Jane looked at Alicia with a smile and said, "Alicia, don't worry about entrusting me with your task."

Hearing what Jane said, Alicia nodded, quickly kissed Jane on the face, thanked Mrs. Weston again, and quickly ran out of the room to see her gift, and now Jane has This is the chance to take a good look at my little sister.

Lydia was obviously seriously injured. She was lying on the hospital bed with a bloodless face, without the slightest vigor of the past. Her head was wrapped in thick gauze, and she looked extremely petite.

Jane touched her sister's face pitifully, put the handkerchief that Alicia gave her before into the basin on the shelf next to it, soaked it, then wrung it half dry, and put it on Lydia's lips little by little. printed.

As she did so, Lydia's lips moved, and Jane's whole heart rose.She looked at her sister without blinking, and finally, in her anticipation, Lydia slowly opened her eyes.

"My God!" Jane couldn't help crying, "Lydia, are you all right?"

She was so excited, and the other people in the room were no less happy than her. Mary and Mrs. Weston immediately gathered around the bed and looked at Lydia with concern.

"Jane?" Lydia looked at Jane with some doubts and asked, "Is that Jane? Where am I?"

"Yes, it's me!" said Jane, shaking her hand excitedly. "It's me! You're at Uncle Gardiner's now."

"Oh..." Lydia said slowly, "how did I get here?"

Jane was stunned when she heard her words, and couldn't help but look up at Mrs. Weston and Mary who were standing aside.

"Jane, aren't you in Kent?" Lydia continued. "Mary, why are you in Brighton?"

Jane finally realized where Mary had said "unclear" about Lydia, and her memory seemed to have a problem, and she went back to more than a month ago, but she didn't know if it was an occasional situation or it had always been like this.

"...It's good to see you, Jane." Lydia dragged her tone again at this time, "My head hurts..."

Having said this, she closed her eyes again, and fell asleep, leaving Jane and Mrs. and Mrs. Weston looking at each other.

"Lydia's memory?" Jane looked at Mary suspiciously and asked.

"As you can see," said Mary, "she always thought it was Brighton."

"Did you tell her before that this was at your uncle's in London?" Jane asked again.

"More than once," Mary said with a helpless sigh, "Lydia asks every time she wakes up, and we tell her, but the next time she wakes up, she won't remember what we told her last time." .”

"That's very strange," said Mrs. Weston.

"Does she remember the day when the riot happened?" Jane asked.

"I don't remember at all," said Mary.

"So her memory stayed in Brighton?" Mrs. Weston asked.

"I think so," Mary replied.

"Does she not remember anything that happened in the past month or so?" Jane asked.

"I doubt it," Mary said, "Lydia doesn't wake up often, and the time is short, Mrs Gardiner and I ask a few words occasionally, but sometimes she remembers, sometimes she doesn't. "