Rimbaud's girl

what can we do about it?It seems that there is no good way, it is best to pretend not to know or not to hear, this is a necessary cultivation for the masters.Even if those nobles knew that the servants were gossiping, did they care?not give a damn about.In essence, they are high above the people who make the rules and do not need to follow the rules.

The Orans haven't told her about this yet, but she's already made up her mind.

Of course there are benefits to being a "privileged class", otherwise why would everyone want to be a "privileged class"?Money and status are synchronized. If you have money, you will want to have a status that can protect your wealth. Just look at how the Jews of later generations have mastered the economic lifeline of the United States. The Jews who have been cut for more than 1000 years finally understand that they must master Only power can preserve the wealth of the entire group.

After more than a week of practice, Mrs. Oran took Vitaly out to meet guests.

When Mr. Oran explained the relationship before, he said that there was only one relative in the Oran family in England, and Mrs. Oran was neither far nor close to them; There will still be some social interaction.

In the carriage, Mrs. Orland said: "Today we are going to meet Gabriel's aunt, Albert's eldest sister. Albert has said about his brothers and sisters. Now, repeat it."

This is the quiz. "The earl has four children, the eldest daughter Elizabeth, the eldest son Douglas, the second daughter Louisa, and the second son Albert. Mr. Oran has a good relationship with Louisa, a very bad relationship with his brother, but a bad relationship with his sister-in-law, Mrs. Mary. Can."

Mrs. Orland was very satisfied, "You have to remember these relationships at home."

"But Mr. Oran didn't say whether Gabriel has a good relationship with his uncle and aunts."

"Didn't Gabriel tell you?"

"He rarely mentioned the Boldwood relatives."

"He didn't return to England until he was 15 years old, and he didn't have any deep feelings for the Boldwood family."

understandable.Feelings, of course, will only get deeper and deeper if we get along with each other.She herself is very touched, and the correspondence with Gabriel for several years is not as good as getting along with him for just a few days; the relationship between relatives is similar.

"What kind of person is Lady Elizabeth?"

"She's a pretentious woman," said Mrs. Orland with a look of disgust. "Vulgar, uneducated, talking about her son all day long."

"Her son? William Milton?"

"Yes. Her husband is an American. Milton's grandfather was the son of a Welsh baker. They made a fortune in New York. They built a construction business and had a million-dollar fortune. Therefore, his family must have a male heir."

"Gabriel mentioned that Elizabeth wanted William to marry an English girl, preferably a Lady." It's very common for one party to have money and the other party to have status; but speaking of it, William should find a nobleman without a male heir in the family daughter of the family, as in the case of Mrs. Orland's natal family, and William would then be a true nobleman.The daughter of a noble family can be called "Lady".

Vitaly thought for a while, then tentatively said, "So maybe the Boldwood family isn't very rich? Or at least Elizabeth can't say 'no' to money from the descendants of Welsh bakers."

Mrs. Orland covered her mouth with a fan very elegantly, and chuckled, "You're right."

"I know that the nobles all adopt the system of primogeniture, so Mr. Oran went to France because the property he will get in the future is limited, and he may not be able to maintain his usual standard of living."

"Yes. The earl can't give more dowry to his daughters, and Elizabeth can only marry foreign upstarts." The tone was a little contemptuous.

"And what about Louisa?"

"She was so beautiful that she married an heir of an earl."

This is also normal, if you don't have money, you must have good looks, and good looks can be said to be the most important natural condition for promotion.

"Is the relationship between Elizabeth and Louisa okay? Mr. Oran mentioned Louisa a lot, but he hardly said anything about Elizabeth."

Mrs. Orland snorted. "Obviously, it wouldn't be very nice. Elizabeth thought she should marry the earl or the son of the duke, if she had a little more dowry-perhaps ten times more-but Louisa's The dowry was larger, and Elizabeth had a big quarrel with the count before Louisa got married."

The rich family is also a mess, compared to the Rimbaud's family, it is really much simpler.Albert went to France after the Countess died of illness 22 years ago.The Boldwood family is a French immigrant. Speaking of which, they were relatives to the Oran family several generations ago, and they can be considered distant relatives now, but the relationship is indeed very distant.

Vitaly was quite active in learning about these kinship relationships, thinking that these were all material.Albert inherited the title and property of the Oran family. Although he can only be regarded as an exiled nobleman now, the title and most of the property are still there, and his life is almost the same as that in France, and he is still very comfortable.But for Mrs. Oran, there were suddenly a few more relatives who had to socialize, which made her very upset.

"What should I pay attention to?" Vitaly obediently asked for advice.

"Don't flatter her. If she dares to laugh at you, I won't spare her. You just need to act like a good girl. You are a girl from a small town. You have to face this. If you don't care, others will Can't say crap that hurts you."

Vitaly nodded.

"Come on, smile. You are a cutie as sweet as the most beautiful rose, and no one will dislike you." She touched Vitaly's face, "William hasn't found a suitable bride yet, and I My Gabriel has a rose like you and is an artist. Gabriel has such a good eye."

Vitaly had no choice but to lower her head and smile shyly: Mrs. Oran is not getting along with her husband's sister. I don't know what kind of enmity they have. It may be because of money, or it may be because of the sons of the two families?

Complicated, but fun.

"Dear Elizabeth."

"Dear Charlotte."

As soon as the two women met, they both had delicate fake smiles on their faces and kissed each other's faces.

Elizabeth's appearance is ordinary, and she doesn't look much like her younger brother Albert. If there is any similarity, it is that the faces are relatively similar, and they all have long faces.A woman with a long face will indeed look harder, without a round face, she will look kind and lovely.

"Let me see, this is Vitaly? What a lovely girl." Elizabeth held Vitaly's hand affectionately.

"Hello, Mrs. Milton."

"How long have you been in London? How many years have you studied English? Why didn't Gabriel come back to London? Tell me what dessert you like, they have a delicious mousse cake with cherries on top - I don't Know how they keep cherries till winter, canned? Never mind that, you should try our British food."

Elizabeth was very talkative, while Charlotte Oran sat down with a relaxed expression.

"Vitale has eaten the best cake in Paris. Has Gabriel taken you to King's restaurant? His cocoa cake with fruit filling is delicious, the cream is thin and sweet, and gold leaf is sprinkled on it."

"He took me there, it was really delicious. It was the first time I had such a delicious cake."

Mrs. Oran smiled proudly, "When you get married, I will invite his pastry chef to come to London to make wedding cakes for you."

Elizabeth forcibly interjected, "Let me tell you, there are good pastry chefs in London, and you don't need to find anything from Paris."

"The pastry chefs in Paris know our French taste better."

Elizabeth said calmly: "I really hope that the British guests can adapt to your French tastes in time."

Vitaly wanted to laugh: Mrs. Orland never forgot that she was a real Frenchman, and Elizabeth probably just didn't like her French arrogance.It is said that the British and the French do not like each other. It is probably because of the contradictions before the Hundred Years War between Britain and France. It can be traced back to the Roman occupation era. At that time, France was still called "Gaul", and the Gauls followed Rome. In the Anglo-Saxon era, there were more and more contradictions between Britain and France. It can be said that it is true that there is a blood feud, but the number of naturalized French in the UK is also the largest, followed by It's German.

Afternoon tea was tit-for-tat, but whatever Mrs. Oran liked, Elizabeth could always find fault with it; similarly, what Elizabeth liked, Mrs. Oran could always find something unsatisfactory, but the two of them were just sarcasm, and they didn't make any progress. to personal attacks.It is unladylike and unrefined to yell directly.

Elizabeth has a British style of cold humor, and she can always say something that interrupts her heart suddenly and slowly; Mrs. Orland probably enjoys it, sometimes pretending not to understand and not answering the trick.

Regarding Vitaly, Elizabeth didn't say anything bad in person. Vitaly's manners and conversations are very suitable. Besides, Elizabeth is too talkative, and there is no room for her to intervene. She is happy to put on an appearance of a well-behaved girl, dignified eat and drink.

The afternoon tea was not without purpose just to show off Vitaly's beauty, the two of them still had business to talk about.Elizabeth also has four children, three daughters and one son. She lived in New York for more than 20 years before returning to London, mainly for the marriage of the third daughter and the eldest son. Her youngest daughter, Catherine Milton, is 23 years old. It's time to find a suitable husband quickly; William is 25 years old, and for a man, 30 is not too late to get married, and he can still find a suitable wife for a few more years.

Elizabeth was worried about her children's marriage all day long. She was envious and a little contemptuous of her little nephew Gabriel who had quickly found a beautiful fiancée for herself. The lower the better, anyway, she is not a mother-in-law; but Vitaly is really beautiful, so she is somewhat jealous.It’s not uncommon for noble girls to be beautiful, but it’s impossible for William to marry a noble girl with both status and beauty. She doesn’t look down on the noble families below the earl, especially the noble families that have not exceeded three generations. This has caused her range of choices extremely limited.

Mrs. Orland thought it ridiculous that Elizabeth wanted a daughter-in-law of beauty and status.Nobility above earl -->>

There is a limit on the amount, and the daughters of high-ranking noble families are very expensive, and the nouveau riche from the United States will not be considered in the marriage, Elizabeth daydreams.

But for Catherine, Elizabeth's requirements are not very high. The family should not be too poor, as long as she is the heir to the title.According to the dowry she can give, Catherine is still very likely to find a suitable husband.Their plan was to invite some suitable young aristocrats, regardless of nationality, to Gabriel's engagement banquet and introduce them to Catherine.

This is an invisible blind date.

Vitaly was very curious. According to the relationship between Mrs. Oran and Elizabeth, she had to do this favor, and Elizabeth should pay some corresponding price.But she didn't hear about the terms of the exchange of benefits during the tea time, so maybe the terms of the exchange have been determined in advance?

On the return carriage, Vitaly asked this question, and Mrs. Oran replied indifferently: "That's because Catherine is much better than her mother, and she is a pretty good girl. She is not very good-looking, like Milton , Elizabeth does not have high requirements for the man. Girls still need a husband after all, even if the husband dies on the day of marriage, it doesn't matter."

Vitaly thinks, ahem, the fiancé's mother is quite interesting.

Mrs. Oran’s thinking is in line with the standard thinking of ordinary women in this era. She believes that women need a husband, but the husband may be more like a tool man. The purpose may be to allow women to use their husband’s surname, and then they can play around.Not to mention, this kind of thinking was once very popular in France. For example, the king found a long-term mistress. In order to deceive others, he would find a husband for the mistress, and the husband was usually a close aide of the king.

Although, Vitaly felt that it was not good to speculate on the private life of her future mother-in-law, but she still had a sneaky interest. She wanted to know if there was really a scandal between Mrs. Oran and Napoleon III—it is said that the emperor’s mistress She was a beauty. Before the Franco-Prussian War, newspapers occasionally published photos of the emperor's mistresses. There were quite a few of the emperor's mistresses, and indeed many of them were beauties. Mrs. Orlan was not considered a beauty, so maybe she really wasn't?

Everyone loves gossip, and she is no exception, but... it is best not to let Gabriel know.

Speaking of her husband's relatives, Mrs. Orland liked Catherine, but not so much William, who felt that William was spoiled; for the sons of the Douglas family, Douglas Jr., and Albert, Thomas, and Philip Jr., generally; for the daughters of the Louisa family Louise and son Arthur, okay.

This means that the Earl of Boldwood has 11 grandchildren, counting only the descendants of his son, and has 5 grandchildren, Gabriel being the youngest of the grandchildren.

When Mr. Oran introduced his relatives, he simply introduced their names and ages. Douglas Boldwood’s wife, Mrs. Mary, gave birth to six children at a rate of about one every two years, and all four sons survived. Both daughters died of illness around the age of 6.

More gossip can only be heard from Mrs. Orland: Thomas may not be Douglas's biological son; Little Albert (the same name as his uncle) has not been seen for several years. Relatives, so they were sent to other places to recuperate and wait to die; Douglas Jr. had a secret mistress and had several illegitimate children. Douglas was so angry that he threatened to sever the relationship between father and son, cancel the right of inheritance, and not pay living expenses. He bowed his head and dismissed his mistress.

It's a pretty rough family, Vitaly thought, and it's no wonder that Mrs. Orlan has such a disdain for her husband's nephews.

She compared it in her heart, don't say, compared to her cousins, Gabriel is really a good baby.

"Dear Gabriel:

I have met your two aunts and Mrs. Mary in the past few days. They are very kind to me, and they are both well-bred ladies. Catherine and Louise are also very good, and they are both very lovely girls.It's just that Mrs. Oran said that I won't see your cousins ​​until the engagement party. I don't know why.

The Earl's family relationship is very interesting, more interesting than my novel, I am thinking about using some of these stories in my novel, I just heard about some things that nobles would do before, but I didn't realize it These things are so close to me one day.I can look at those things objectively, as long as they don't happen to me.

You should know what I mean.

Miss you, when can you come back?I have a lot to tell you.

Love you, Vitaly. "

Gabriel was eager to return home, and he boarded the train with Arthur on Friday afternoon, returning to London.

"Miss! The young master is back!" Leila went upstairs to report first.

Vitaly was writing at the desk, when she heard this, she immediately put down her pen, and hurried out and downstairs.Remember, don't run, just take a long walk.

But when I got to the stairs, I still forgot, I jumped down the stairs like a bunny, and threw myself into the arms of Gabriel who was going upstairs.

"Gabriel!"

Fortunately, Arthur pushed him behind him, otherwise Gabriel might be knocked down by her.

He hugged her, "Be careful!"

"Oh! Sorry!" She grinned.

"You're not afraid of falling!" said Arthur.

"Isn't it all right?"

Gabriel said, "You really fell, you should be crying now." He pulled her upstairs, "Have you ever been to my room?"

"No. You'll be offended if Mrs. Orland says you can't come into your room when you're not home."

He whispered in her ear: "It's your words, it doesn't matter." He scratched gently in her palm, "Are you going to my room now?"

"No. Mrs. Orland says you can't go to your room until you're engaged."

He sighed, "You don't have to listen to her."

How naive! "You are her son, of course you don't have to listen to her in everything. I can't, I have to listen to her."

He thought for a while, "That's true. So, I can't go to your room either?"

Arthur really wanted to roll his eyes: what are you thinking about, kid?

"No way," Vitaly said seriously, "after the formal engagement."

"Then let's go to the study? Father doesn't use the study very much."

Arthur had to fake a cough to show "I'm still here and you talk carefully".

She quickly said, "No. But you can talk to me at the door of my room for a while."

Well, Gabriel reluctantly agreed.

There were many servants in the house, and it was approaching dinner time, and the servants came and went.

Gabriel went back to his room first, changed his clothes, washed his face, and went downstairs to the living room.

Vitaly changed into a dress and went downstairs after a while.

The two sat side by side on the sofa, and Gabriel was busy asking her how she was doing at home, whether she was used to it, and telling how much she missed her in a new way.As they spoke, their faces were pressed together.

Arthur went downstairs and saw the two children so close to each other. He wanted to tell them to sit down and not get tired of it. After thinking about it, he felt sorry that they didn't have much time to see each other. Forget it, just put up with it for a while.

The seats for dinner were still the Oran and his wife took the master seat, Gabriel and Vitaly sat side by side on Mrs. Oran's side, and Arthur sat on Mr. Oran's side.

Mrs. Orlan didn't say much to her son, except to mention that they would take him and the Rimbauds to see the Earl of Boldwood on Sunday.

Gabriel frowned, "Do I have to go?"

"You're getting engaged, so you have to bring your fiancée to meet your grandfather no matter what."

He was impatient. "I'm engaged. What does it matter to him? Will he give Vitaly his grandmother's jewelry?"

"It's just a little antique jewelry, who cares?"

There is a story!Vitaly hastened to listen to the conversation between mother and child.

"What jewelry?" she asked quietly.

"Grandma's jewelry should be left for my father, but my father never got it. Later we went to England, and my mother never got it either."

Understood.Generally speaking, a father loves the eldest son because the eldest son is the heir and needs to be nurtured emphatically. The younger son is considered a good boy as long as he is not too prodigal. A mother's will devote all her attention to the youngest child.After the countess passed away, it is reasonable to say that she should distribute her own jewels to her children. This is the case in ordinary families. Even Mrs. Rimbaud intends to distribute her property as evenly as possible to her children.

So, the earl withheld all the jewels from his dead wife and didn't give them to his youngest son?Then when Albert would go to France, it was not just a matter of finding a suitable rich wife.

It's complicated, and rich people really make troubles.

The Orlans have not told her how much property they have in their family, and Gabriel is also very vague. He only said that he will inherit a lot of property in the future, real estate plus cash; Mrs. Oran has never worried about money, so they care about it. What matters is not the jewelry left by the countess, but the inheritance that Albert, his son, should receive.

After dinner, Gabriel still secretly took Vitaly to the study.

After closing the door and carefully locking it, he breathed a sigh of relief and whispered, "We can stay in the study for half an hour, or an hour."

There was a sneaky pleasure, and she also whispered: "Is it all right?"

"Don't worry, servants usually don't go into the study." He smiled and kissed her on the cheek, "You haven't said, do you miss me the same?"