[Pride and Prejudice] Becoming Katherine Bennett

Catherine said: "Auntie, you have already said, he is so rich and powerful, how could he be with me?"

She repeated what she had said earlier when Elizabeth had asked Mr. Gordon about their incompatibility.

However, Catherine's words can convince Jane, but not Aunt Gardner.Although Aunt Gardner also agrees with the social rules of being well-matched, she thinks there is another possibility: "Perhaps some gentlemen are so rich that to them, the dowry of their wives is not important, at least not the most important. "

"That's right, but in this case, that lady must be very, very attractive. And I, even if I leave out the dowry, there is nothing outstanding that can attract the eyes of that gentleman. If I am as beautiful as Jane , Maybe I still have fantasies in my heart. But I don't have this kind of advantage. Besides, even if I am, with Mr. Gordon's conditions, will he see fewer beauties? He can't find any beautiful and rich ladies Come on, why are you looking for me?"

Jane softly said: "Because you are good, Kitty. When you praise me, you are always generous. Why do you always use negative words when you say yourself? Don't you realize that you are better than what you say?" Is it much, much better?"

"Jane, you don't have to comfort me. How can I afford such an evaluation? I admit that I have a little talent and can write a few books to make a little money, but you have all said that Mr. Gordon doesn't have money at all." I will put it in my eyes, maybe I have worked so hard to write all my life, and I don’t have as much dowry as those rich ladies have since they were born.”

"But my dear, how can you do that?" Mrs. Gardner was puzzled. "How can the inherited property be the same as your property? Your money is written and earned by you word by word. , cannot be discussed together at all.”

Catherine said: "Why not, isn't it the same British pound? Can my money be exchanged for a few more shillings? Besides, in the current ladies' standards, being able to make money is not a commendable advantage, everyone will just despise it. According to that Standard, I am completely unqualified, I am not beautiful enough, my personality is not gentle, my heart is not so kind, and my head seems too smart to be fooled. It can be said that I am the complete opposite of the wife that gentlemen desire.”

Aunt Gardner said: "But as long as there is one person who appreciates you from the heart, not according to society's standards, isn't that enough? After all, there is only one person who will spend the rest of your life with you. Gordon Perhaps, sir, it is such a man."

If the first half of Mrs. Gardner's words touched Catherine a little bit, the last sentence made her laugh and cry.

Willard Gordon, that gentleman likes himself?

how can that be.

Catherine: "I admit that if you only listen to the rumors, Mr. Gordon's behavior seems to be so special to me. But if you have dealt with him, you will know that he is..."

What kind of person is he?

Catherine found herself unable to find a suitable description.

From an emotional point of view, he is definitely not a scumbag compared to the hypocritical Wickham.Wickham may tell a lot of lies in order to achieve his goal, using all his rhetoric to deceive girls of money and feelings.

But Mr. Gordon must not even bother to cheat.When he likes you, he will tell you clearly.When he doesn't want you anymore, you also have no right to struggle.

She thought of the other party's face that always had a careless expression, making people unable to see through his thoughts, and his tone of voice that always seemed to be half a smile when he spoke, and he couldn't tell the truth from the fake.

Catherine thought, in fact, she could also feel the little bit of incomprehensible emotion that Mr. Gordon occasionally showed.But she was so stupid that she couldn't figure out which of his words was true.So she didn't believe it.

and……

Willard's dangerous and ruthless expression appeared before Catherine's eyes.

Could such a gentleman really fall in love with someone?

Mrs. Catherine's silence made Mrs. Gardner think that she was a little moved, and persuaded: "You always want to marry, don't you have to have a gentleman with very bad conditions to take special care of you, so that you will believe him?" Are the feelings real?"

Catherine hesitated for a moment, thought for a while, and finally said: "But why do I have to marry?"

This is the first time Catherine has told others that she has no intention of getting married.

Jane and Aunt Gardner were taken aback.

"You don't marry, you..." Aunt Gardner was going to say, if you don't marry, how can you live decently after Mr. Bennet's death?You don't even have a brother who can help you.

But before she finished speaking, she remembered that Catherine was different from other young ladies.She has a knack for living, not only has, but can live well on her own.

Catherine opened up to the two relatives: "It's fine if I don't get married. Aunt, Jane, I can make money, you know."

"That doesn't mean you don't need a gentleman to take care of you."

"But if I get married, can my husband really take care of me? I have seen many girls get married not because of anything else, but just to survive. They have no money, and society has blocked almost all ways for them to make money. Apart from marrying There is no choice. Like Charlotte, we all know what she is marrying Mr Collins for, but is she doing something wrong? She is so clever and Mr Collins is so stupid. But by worldly standards, Charlotte is the luckier person in this marriage. She is neither young nor beautiful, and has no dowry. Mr. Collins has a decent job, a good income, and a large fortune in the future. Although he is stupid, But so what? Girls have no choice, they can only regard their husbands as driftwood, and regard them as the only support for themselves who are about to drown, waiting for him to redeem them."

As she spoke, Catherine paused for a moment.At the very beginning, she was afraid that her words would be like preaching without shame. She didn't think she was qualified to do so, and her tone was a little hesitant. However, seeing the touched expressions of her relatives, her attitude became more and more firm.

"I can't do it. I can't entrust my future to another person and put all my hope and life on him. I can swim by myself, and I don't need anyone to save me."

"You've already planned it, haven't you?" Aunt Gardner recalled Catherine's recent arrangements one by one before she realized, "Since you bought a house?"

Catherine said: "No, aunt, it started when I existed in this world."

Aunt Gardner always felt that something was wrong, but she couldn't say anything about Catherine, so she couldn't help but sigh: "Kitty, in fact, marriage is the same as life, it can't be perfect, we shouldn't give it too many rules and expectations. Not to mention You should not want to get married because you can make money and don’t need your husband to support you.”

"Auntie, I don't want to get married because I can make money. In fact, whether I can get married and whether I can make money are independent and have nothing to do with each other. I never expected life to be a smooth sailing story. I don't have any requirements for marriage. I don't need the other party to come from a wealthy family, and I don't stipulate how much income he should have."

Catherine continued: "I just hope he loves me. It's not a simple hot-headed love, but loves all of me, not only seeing me now, but knowing everything about me, good me, bad me, The beautiful me, the ugly me, the noble me, and the despicable me. He knew me enough, and when he decided to be with me, he already thought that we might encounter many storms in the future."

"But he still loves me and is willing to take all the risks for me. He is ready for us to have a lot of problems. He knows that anyone's life will be full of twists and turns."

"That's why I said that my expectations for marriage are unrealistically high: I want to build a real home with him, a place where our hearts can rest no matter what winds and rains we encounter outside. "

"I don't want to get married because I know I can't find such a person. How can I have this kind of luck? If I marry for the sake of marriage, if I just find a gentleman, I don't dare to expect that he will be with me To bear the wind and rain, I have to constantly worry that the wind and rain of life will come because of him."

"I don't have to reject marriage, but if my husband who doesn't know where he is will never appear in my life, then I would rather never get married."

"People in the world think that girls are delicate flowers, objects that need to be carefully cared for. But I am not. I don't need anyone to put me in a greenhouse, I just need his respect, and I want him to treat me as an equal and opposite from the bottom of his heart. A rational animal, give me enough emotion to believe that I will always be worthy of his trust."

"Maybe the other girls are roses. And I'm steel."

After Catherine finished speaking, Aunt Gardner and Jane could no longer hide the expressions on their faces. They were shocked at first, and then they all became quiet thinking.

Catherine, who had just made a long speech just now, realized how much she was chattering. She quickly stopped talking, and said very embarrassedly: "I know this is bad, but it is my true thought."

"Why not?" Jane looked at Catherine with a full face of admiration, and her gentle tone was full of wonder from the heart, "Kitty, I was really shallow when I said hello before. I found that it was not enough. Please forgive me My vocabulary is poor, but I don't know what to say. All I can say is this: You are too good to be good. There is absolutely no lady in the world who can be better than you!"

"No, no," Catherine blushed from Jane's praise, she was calm when she said it before, but now she was completely shy and waved her hands in a panic, "I don't, Jane, don't praise me. "

Aunt Gardner was sitting aside, seeing Catherine like this, she laughed.

What Catherine said just now was so wonderful that she couldn't help but be full of admiration.Mrs. Gardner appreciates and agrees with her niece's persistence in herself and her thinking about marriage, and admires her for not just thinking about it, but actually putting it into action.

But she couldn't help being very worried about the calmness and discouragement in Catherine's tone, and felt that her thoughts were really too pessimistic.Mrs. Gardner tried to open her mouth several times to find something to persuade, but found that her words were very thin and powerless compared with Catherine's thinking.

Seeing Catherine's blushing face now, Mrs. Gardner's worries were much reduced. She felt that she was deceived by Catherine's wise remarks just now, and she was thinking a little too much.

No matter how clever and wise Kitty is, she is just a child who has never experienced love. She imagined many rules for herself according to what she thought.

But one day she will understand that if she can really meet a man who can be firm and persistent, excellent and affectionate, and will impress her with a lot of love and tolerance, then by then, her pessimism and restraint, those reserved and Reason will disappear without a trace.

Love is the most unreasonable thing in this world.

The sun is rising, and the sky in London is not yet fully bright in the early morning. The warm yellow sun peeks out a little bit of light from among the clouds.

Cole the valet came out the door and took the Daily Telegraph from the newsboy.He took the newspaper and walked to the study room, planning to read the latest issue of "Blood Return" before the master got up, and then fold the newspaper so that no one had touched it.

Cole recalled yesterday's episode.Antonio was in a desperate situation because of the death of the maid, and was taken into prison by the police who rushed to the scene.

Flynn's mood has not been so good for many days. Although he just lost his biological mother, such a victory was bought by the other party.

But so what?It can only be said that the maid was unlucky and raised a son like Antonio who wanted to kill her for the sake of wealth.In Flynn's heart, only the Duchess is his mother.

Flynn got out of bed, dressed and washed under the service of the servants, and just as he was about to enjoy a beautiful day, the butler brought in a letter.Strangely, there was no postmark or address on the letter.Flynn opened the letter with a frown, and after only a few glances, he was shocked.

The person who wrote the letter did not leave his name, but just spelled out a letter with newspaper clippings, saying that if Flynn wanted to keep his secret from everyone, he would send a letter at East Ford Street at three o'clock in the morning three days later. Put [-] ounces of gold into the three garbage cans from south to north on the side road. If it is less or later, he will publicize all the secrets that Flynn has been covering up.

Flynn suddenly squeezed the letter tightly, a vicious expression appeared on her face.

……

Cole's emotions were affected, and he kept thinking, who sent the letter?Does it have something to do with Antonio?What was the secret he was talking about?

Cole wants to know the answer.However, when he opened the newspaper and couldn't wait to turn to the eighth page, he found that there was such a line in the place where it was usually published: "Blood Return" will be released tomorrow, priced at 20 shillings and 3 pence, available in bookstores in London sale.

Cole was dumbfounded.It was not the first time he saw the serialization, but it was the first time he had seen such a thing: someone actually serialized the exciting part in the newspaper, and it was not published!

Is this legal?

Mrs. Karl picked up a knife and spread butter on the bread, and wanted to feed it to her youngest son. At this moment, the husband sitting across from him suddenly slapped the table and shouted, "It's unreasonable!"

Mrs. Carl was startled, and the knife fell on the table. The youngest son stared at him blankly, and then began to cry loudly.

Mrs. Karl quickly put down the bread to coax her son, and at the same time she did not forget to stare at her husband angrily. Mr. Karl felt very sorry, but he still defended himself, thinking that it was someone else's fault: "Oh Maria, don't stare at me, you Let me explain. You know "Blood Return"?"

"Of course, you haven't been watching it every day recently, and you insist on telling me the story inside." Mrs. Carl said angrily.

"Yes, because it's so exciting, I can't help but want to read the follow-up every day, but what did I wait for today?" Mr. Carl angrily opened the newspaper to his wife, "It is no longer serialized!!"

Mrs. Karl smiled happily when she saw the description of book publishing and sales and her husband's angry look.

"Maria, stop laughing! Damn, I'm really angry. I've never seen such a person! What's wrong with this author, how can he use such a thing," Mr. Carl was so angry that he couldn't think of the right words, " Such an excessive method!"

"Isn't that good? Compared to reading one issue at a time, if you buy a copy tomorrow, won't you be able to see everything?"

Mr. Carl froze.He had only been annoyed that he hadn't read the new story, and then he suddenly realized that his wife was right.He will be able to read all the stories tomorrow.

But even so, "That's still too much!" Mr. Carl said angrily.

He threw the newspaper aside and began to wonder which of the servants was the best rider.He had to let that person go out early, preferably the first one, so that he could bring the book back early, otherwise he would have to wait in line for a long time.

Compared with Mr. Carl's words, the Duke of Burke who lives in Mount Street is not so polite.

Holding the newspaper, he was so angry that he kept cursing: "Shameless! Cunning! Despicable villain!"

"Father, you don't have to be so angry about this book." His eldest son Ali persuaded.

"Am I so angry? Of course not! I'm so angry that he is despicable! I stopped writing halfway through the serialization, especially when it ended at that place yesterday. He must at least tell me who sent this letter!"

"Then you are not angry about a book?"

"I'm not!" Mr. Duke resolutely refused to admit it, "I'm angry at such an ungentlemanly way! He's actually stuck here, is the author out of money and out of his mind?"

Catherine, of course, failed to hear the nobleman's question.If she heard it, she would nod honestly: Yes, she is indeed crazy.

The place where "Blood Return" stops serialization is the prelude to the last high point of the plot.Here, the answers to the mysteries are about to be revealed one by one, and the plight of the protagonist is all resolved. The suppression and torture that Antonio has suffered have all become flowers and praises for him on his journey to the title of knighthood. Killing, officially opened the glorious pinnacle of his life.

Of course Catherine knows that the sudden stop of the plot here will make the readers of this book itch.But she can't help it, literature is noble and priceless, but writers have to eat.

Mrs. Gardner was sitting across from her, and had forcibly taken the finished book brought back by Catherine, and was reading it with relish. Catherine wanted to share her writing experience with her several times, but she asked her to be quiet.

In a mansion in Bolton, Tina walked into the study with Willard's obviously unwelcoming expression.

"Why are you here again, Tina?" Willard considered whether it was necessary to nail some hooks on the ground in front of the study door in the future. It didn't have to be too sharp, as long as it could break the hem of the lady's skirt.In this way, he may lose some money, but at least he can get a clean place.

"You think I'm willing to find you," Tina scanned the table inch by inch, "hand over the book."

"what book?"

"What kind of book is there, "Blood Return"! If you didn't publish half of it, I wouldn't bother looking for you. I went to the newspaper office just now, and my uncle said that you are managing the publication of this book. Involved, he didn't have the book, he didn't even see the follow-up."

Willard frowned.He didn't expect Tina to go to her uncle.Uncle knows Catherine's true identity.

Of course Willard had told him to keep it a secret.After "Blood Return" was published and caused a huge sensation, many booksellers have come to inquire about the news.Some people even bribed the staff of the newspaper office in order to extract the author's information.Fortunately, Willard kept it strictly confidential, and only their uncle and nephew knew about it in the whole newspaper.

Willard took out the beautifully printed "Blood Return" from the bookcase and handed it to her: "The world's first copy. I borrow it from you and remember to return it to me."

Tina happily took the book, turned and walked out the door.

Willard breathed a sigh of relief.

It seems that the uncle did not tell Tina the identity of the author.It made him feel at ease.Otherwise he wouldn't know how to deal with his energetic and enthusiastic sister-in-law.

"By the way, there is one more thing." Tina turned around suddenly.

Willard suddenly had a bad premonition, and he didn't even intend to ask: "I remember I have something to do and I'm going out, we can talk about it next time."

"Oh, it's okay, I just want to inform you that next Saturday night, I will have a dance at home."

It turned out to be this matter, Willard frowned slightly.

He shrugged and said indifferently: "I have something to do, and I may not be in London by then. Unfortunately, I can't participate."

"It's up to you, you can go or not." Tina looked indifferent, she raised her fingers, looked at her well-polished nails, and said casually as if chatting about the weather, "By the way, Catherine Where does Miss Bennet live? I intend to pay a visit myself."

Willard's smile suddenly widened, and his lips were raised at a nice angle, as if he couldn't hear what the other party was saying, he said in confusion, "What are you talking about, Tina."

"I'm talking about Catherine Bennett, you can also call her Addison Fitch, or," Tina put down her hand and looked at him with bright eyes, "Where does your Miss Rose live. "