"The Widow" Bertha

Rochester's mansion in London is located in a wealthy area of ​​London. As far as Bertha's limited memory of the past is concerned, this property belonged to his father, and it was probably inherited by the old Rochester after his death.

It is said that the friends that Edward invited are still the ones from Thornfield Manor.After a joint "conspiracy" murder case, several superficial friends actually formed a real friendship because of the close communication in business, which is actually an unexpected harvest.

Bertha and Jane arrived earlier, and the other guests had not yet arrived.As soon as the two ladies entered, the servant said, "Miss Marple, Mr. Rochester would like you to sit in the study."

"I'm not going."

Jane said in time: "The antique paintings hanging in the room are very good, I'll go and have a look."

Bertha curled her lips, "Okay."

Although Mr. Rochester did not invite Miss Jane Eyre to go with him, Bertha thought he would not mind.Jane took the initiative to avoid it entirely because she still felt a little embarrassed to face Mr. Rochester.

Bertha was not embarrassed, because Bertha knew why he called her to the study.

"This is the remaining £[-] owed." Rochester handed the check to Bertha with a blank expression. "In this way, all the money for this year will be paid off."

"All of it?"

Bertha couldn't help being surprised, but according to the rules of the contract, Rochester had to pay Bertha £[-] a year, which was not a small sum!

Knowing that Rochester was indeed rich after accepting Bertha Mason's dowry and inheriting his father's brother's inheritance, Bertha never expected that he would be so rich.

"You don't have to work so hard," Bertha couldn't help admonishing, "This year is only halfway through, and it doesn't matter if you pay off the rest at the end of the year."

"I won't be brave in this regard, so don't worry." Rochester's tone was not very good, but he was telling the truth, "If I don't have the ability, I won't make a promise to pay it off within three years. I have to thank you Introduced Barclays to me, and the person in charge has invested in many useful projects for me, and I have made a lot of money this year.”

Fine.

Even if you are the male protagonist of a romance novel, you still have the halo of the protagonist.

Since he said so, Bertha accepted it happily.

It wasn't that she was blinded by money, but that such a large amount of income fell out of thin air, and anyone would be in a cheerful mood.She put away the check, and the smile on her gorgeous face naturally felt a little more genuine. Bertha asked with a smile, "How are you and Jane going?"

Rochester: "..."

The debtor gave Bertha a not particularly friendly look.

This is what it means that progress is not going well. Bertha didn't mind Rochester's vigilance, and she said to herself: "At Mr. Lancaster's manor, you did a good job in saving the beauty. You didn't say anything excessive afterwards, right? ?”

"...I really want to know, what kind of image do I have in your eyes?" Rochester was rather helpless.

"It's good that you know it yourself," Bertha smiled, "I just think that you saved Jane in a hurry, and there shouldn't be such embarrassment between the two of you."

"I just thanked her afterwards and asked her how she was doing in London."

Although Rochester really didn't like Bertha's behavior, as a former husband and wife, they didn't say that there was any hostility between them. Even Bertha actually helped Rochester with a lot of ideas, so she took the initiative to ask, and Rochester also agreed. Willing to inform her about the situation.

"As you say," said he, "she is doing very well in London. Although we have had little private conversation at Mr. Lancaster's party, it can be seen with the naked eye, Miss Jane Eyre. Now that life is full and refreshed, I have nothing to worry about."

"That's it?" Bertha asked in disbelief.

"What do you mean?" Rochester raised his eyebrows.

It's not interesting, I just think...you are too late!

Berthaton couldn't laugh or cry. Although she reminded Rochester to pay attention to social distance many times, she couldn't just greet her and finish it!Is there anyone who chases girls like this, not to mention that Miss Jane Eyre is now the favorite of Mrs. Fisher. It is estimated that the ladies who organize women's magazines want to introduce handsome and simple young men to her.

It really doesn't work if you don't think about it.

She didn't necessarily want to match Edward and Jane, but right now they clearly liked each other, yet they were separated by thousands of feet from each other. Bertha felt that she could do whatever she could.

So she thought for a while: "How about this, the private girls' school where Jane works often has social activities. If there is a chance next time, I will ask you to go with me. You can learn about her work and life, so you can find topics in the future. "

Rochester showed some surprise when he heard the words, as if he didn't expect Bertha to do this for himself.

"Don't look like that, Edward," Bertha said lightly, "I don't want to make Jane sad, and it has nothing to do with you."

"Thank you anyway, Bertha."

In the end, Rochester sighed and thanked him sincerely: "Perhaps...if it weren't for you and I who have experienced the past ten years, maybe we would have become very good friends."

Bertha tilted her head pretending to be confused: "What ten years? I was on a farm in Louisiana, USA ten years ago. I don't know what you're talking about."

The external identity of "Miss Marple" is the young lady of the farm who returned to her hometown in London from Louisiana after her father's death.When Bertha said this, the implication was that she no longer recognized the ten years of staying in the attic.

Rochester twitched the corners of his mouth with a sense of amusement and sarcasm, and then shook his head: "Go back to the hall if you have nothing to do."

"Please."

"Ladies first, Miss Marple."

When they returned to the hall, almost all the guests invited by Rochester had arrived.

After working in London for half a year, Miss Jane Eyre has made rapid progress. She is no longer the governess who always hides behind the curtain and tries her best to kill her sense of existence. Now, even if she faces Miss Mary Ingram directly, she can Can sit on the sofa and talk softly with it.

Seeing Bertha coming back with Rochester, she just nodded her head, looking completely at ease.

Mr. Ashton, who hadn't seen him for a long time, was even more excited.

The middle-aged official met Bertha's sight, stood up almost immediately, and greeted with great enthusiasm: "Long time no see, Miss Marple!"

Rochester tilted his head, and whispered to Bertha, "He heard about your affair with Mr. Holmes."

Bertha: "..."

Fine!

No wonder they were so enthusiastic, for Mr. Ashton had revealed his inclination to ask Mycroft as early as at Thornfield Park.

Therefore, after greeting the other guests, Bertha went straight to Mr. Ashton who was pacing back and forth by the window without making any detours.

"Long time no see, sir," Bertha said politely. "Farewell to Thornfield before, you said you had a case and wanted to ask me for help. Forgive me for being too busy after I came to London. Now your Is the problem solved?"

"It's solved, it's solved. I'm sorry to trouble you, Miss." Mr. Ashton replied beamingly, "I just have other questions I want to ask you."

"Tell me," Bertha nodded, "what do you have to do with Mike?"

"..."

Seeing the sudden embarrassment on Mr. Ashton's face, it was rare for Bertha to persuade him: "I don't like those twists and turns, sir. It's troublesome enough to track down the case on weekdays, why don't we just go straight."

"Also... that's fine," Mr. Ashton's joy turned into bitterness, and he laughed dryly, "It's nothing in fact, you know, miss, we small officials always have to rely on other seniors and teachers for guidance. .And my teacher...just happened to have some disagreements with Mr. Holmes."

"Discord?"

"A year ago, he was confused for a while and made some mistakes, and Mr. Holmes knew about it."

All right, let's make it clear that Mr. Ashton has a backer behind him, and the backer has something to fall into the hands of Mycroft.

This is not something that Bertha can decide. She tilted her head nonchalantly, and then said, "And then?"

Mr. Ashton: "I'm not begging you to speak nicely, Miss Marple! I'm just asking, what's the solution."

Bertha wanted to know too.

That is to say, she was as frank as a newborn baby in front of Mycroft Holmes, otherwise even she herself would be a part of the kidnapping.The eldest son of the Sherlock Holmes family has countless "hands" in his hands. It's okay if he can't use it, but if he can use it... Isn't Bertha also the representative of his reaping results?

"It's very simple," Bertha replied, "Either prove that your teacher is of great value, so important that Mike wouldn't dare to touch him; or, you are more useful than your teacher."

"……I understand."

Mr. Ashton showed some serious understanding: "Thank you, Miss Marple."

Bertha smiled: "It's nothing, it should be."

In fact, even she is one of them.Bertha's handle is nothing more than that she is Rochester's ex-wife, and the status of "lover" is more important than the handle to Holmes right now.The two have always maintained a friendly cooperative relationship, which is also based on the two conditions Bertha said.

These words can be regarded as heartfelt to Mr. Ashton.

It's just that Mr. Ashton didn't understand yet, so he said, "Speaking of which, Mr. Holmes hasn't arrived yet?"

Bertha: "He'll be right here."

……

Such an "immediately", just before dinner.

Mycroft was stuck at a pretty good time: not too early, when he had to condescend to the guests, and not too late, when the host of the party felt disrespectful.Arriving just half an hour before dinner shows you're really busy without being obtrusive.

The tall and straight gentleman entered the door with the simple cane without any decorations or carvings, well-dressed, polite, with an apologetic smile on his face.

No matter in terms of temperament or appearance, the gentleman nodded politely to Rochester: "Sorry, I'm busy with work, I hope I don't miss the important dinner time."

"Of course not, Mr. Holmes."

"Bertha must have arrived."

"..."

As soon as he entered the door, he asked his lover, he was really a man who pampered his sweetheart with due diligence.

Bertha, who was sitting on the sofa, leaned lazily on the armrest: "Here it is, Mike."

Mycroft followed the sound.

His smiling gaze met Bertha's dark golden eyes, and his eyes met with affection.

At last Bertha and Mycroft saw each other again after their last lukewarm parting.