[Comprehensive Book] A Rose for Catherine

The two gold coins mentioned at the end of the third paragraph of this long letter are the postage attached to the letter by Mr. Pen Pal.Catherine carefully figured out the sentences in the letter, and it took a long time to rely on the sensitivity of second-rate novelists to words, and barely guessed that Mr. Pen Pal might have taken her jokes seriously, thinking that she was a poor girl whose financial situation was so embarrassing that she couldn't afford the postage .

In order to take care of her feelings and not hurt her self-esteem, Mr. Pen Pal sent these two gold coins with the reason that "a lady should not pay the postage for his talkative".

Catherine was a little dumbfounded, and made up her mind to stick the two gold coins in the envelope and send it back when she wrote the reply.

Mr. Bennet is not harsh on the girls' money, and tries to make them as comfortable as possible before they get married.They don't have much money to spend, especially Catherine doesn't like to buy clothes, hats and other gadgets like Lydia. Food and accommodation are provided at home, so there is really no "poverty" that even pays for postage Sorry.On the contrary, she lived a well-off life for most Brits struggling to make a living.

As she read on, Mr. Pen Pal talked about some of his thoughts on Catherine's new novel.He is probably a real gentleman with a gentle and generous temperament. He did not criticize Catherine sharply for choosing a prostitute as the protagonist, but praised her for her ingenious conception of the whole story.

He looked forward to the day when Catherine's story was published.

She lifted the corners of her mouth happily, and it took a long time to flatten the curved lips.A little complacently wrote the first sentence of the reply letter: "Dear sir, thank you for your compliment..."

A few days later, Mr. Bingley had to decline an invitation to dine at the Bennet's because he was going back to London.Rumors began in the Longborn neighborhood that Mr. Bingley was bringing a dozen fine young men and women to the ball, but the number soon dwindled so much that only Mr. Bingley himself knew who he had invited to the ball.

Elizabeth felt sorry for Mr. Bingley's failure to visit Bennet's house again, and talked about it with Jane and Catherine at home.Jane also felt a little regretful.Catherine raised her eyes from the manuscript, "My dear, you will always see him at the ball. I believe that there is no one at the ball who is not attracted by Miss Bennet's beauty, and Mr. Bingley will not be immune." ①

A bit of shyness appeared on Jane's rosy cheeks. She didn't like to argue with others by nature. Facing her younger sister's teasing, she couldn't go back with a joke like Elizabeth.

When Jane went upstairs, Elizabeth leaned in - she was the only one in the family who knew what Catherine was doing.After all, under the same roof, it is not difficult to hide Mr. Bennet, who is indifferent, Mrs. Bennet, who is obsessed with her daughter's marriage, and several other sisters, but it is not difficult to hide Elizabeth, who has always been smart and sensitive. It's not easy either.Not to mention that Catherine had to buy paper and ink from time to time.

She didn't deliberately hide it, and simply regarded Elizabeth as a realistic "material library", and got a lot of creative inspiration from the conversation with Elizabeth.

"I always feel that you don't seem to like Mr. Bingley very much?" Elizabeth thought.

Catherine blinked: "Is there?"

"It's not that I don't like it, but your reaction is too flat."

"If I easily fell in love with a stranger I've never met, I might be the one who should cry secretly under the quilt in the future." Catherine put down the quill and turned to look at Elizabeth.This is her respect for the interlocutor.

After making this joke, Catherine's face turned serious: "Lizzie, you have to believe that I don't dislike him, it's just that it's hard for me to have a good impression of someone I'm completely unfamiliar with. If he is willing to be one of my brother-in-laws, I will I will definitely like him more. The premise is that he must be a qualified brother-in-law."

Catherine couldn't help smiling as she spoke.

"Kitty, the man who will win your heart must be a real gentleman."

Elizabeth said.

"Let's talk about this issue when the 'real gentleman' shows up." Catherine dismissed it without a trace.

She hasn't shared her thoughts on marriage with anyone for a while because she can't be sure if her thoughts will change over time.

Because she is really too young.

When she is really sure of her thoughts, if she is too out of line, she will have a good talk with her parents and sisters, and try to persuade them to accept her thoughts and not worry about herself.Especially Mrs. Bennet.

On the day of the ball, the Bennet family had dinner early, and Catherine wore a humble white Schumitz dress and went to the dinner with several sisters. ②

It was originally rumored that Mr. Bingley would bring six sisters to the ball, but in fact there were only six people including Mr. Bingley at the ball that night——Mr. Bingley and his two sisters, one Miss Caroline Bingley , a Mrs. Hurst.Mrs. Hurst's husband also attended the banquet with him. He looked like a standard gentleman, but he didn't attract too much attention from the young ladies present.Finally, there are two handsome young men. ③

Less than 5 minutes after the ball started, the reputation of these gentlemen and ladies from London spread throughout the ball.

Even Catherine, who stayed in a secluded corner, listened to the gossip. People praised the Bingley family, saying that they were all gentlemen and ladies, but the friend of Mr. Bingley who came with them, Fitzwilliam Dar Xi's reputation fell to the bottom less than half of the dance.

—He was arrogant, cold, and self-important, and not even his large estate, which was said to have an annual income of more than ten thousand pounds, could not restore the image of this gentleman.

As for the other Mr. Knightley, it was rumored that he was Mr. Darcy's business partner, whom he had met in the north of England, and this time came to Meryton just at the invitation of Mr. Bingley.

He was a little older than Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley, but he was not inferior to them in appearance at all, and he was gentle and steady.Although he did not dance with the ladies at the ball, the attitude did not arouse everyone's disgust.

In addition, Miss Caroline Bingley revealed in a conversation that Mr. Knightley was a magistrate.But those who cared did not find out the annual income of this gentleman from Miss Bingley.

Perhaps Miss Bingley could not know more than she could reveal to outsiders.

A magistrate who may be very wealthy is still no more attractive than the known "five thousand pounds" and "ten thousand pounds". ④

But her father was very interested in Mr. Knightley.This may be because they both held the post of magistrate. ⑤

Catherine sat on a bench at the ball, carefully smoothing out the folds of her skirt, her eyes wandering aimlessly.

She is so boring.

But she doesn't want to go dancing.Dancing is a much more boring thing.

Catherine refused a young man's invitation to dance, slowly waving the sandalwood satin fan decorated with white feathers, and kept an eye on the movements of the Bennet sisters.

Lydia agreed to the invitation of the youngest son of the Lucas family to dance; Mary sat at the piano; Jane met Mr. Bingley under the introduction of the master of ceremonies, and Catherine could almost see the real love between them as love at first sight; Elizabeth After the dance music was over, she pushed aside the noisy crowd and walked towards Catherine. ⑥

Charlotte Lucas sat down beside Catherine before Elizabeth approached.She is a close friend of Elizabeth's boudoir, and has a good relationship with the Bennet sisters.

"Kitty, won't you go dancing?"

"Didn't you go too?" Catherine asked casually.Charlotte shook her head: "There are too few young men at the ball. But Kitty, if it were you, there must be many gentlemen willing to invite you to dance."

Catherine knew why she said that. Most single men and women went to the ball to seek a marriage. Compared with the beautiful girls in the Bennet family, 27-year-old Charlotte Lucas was ordinary in appearance. However, the dowry is not generous, and it is obviously not the best object for gentlemen to talk about marriage - the world's evaluation of the value of an unmarried woman depends almost entirely on her face and dowry.

"I'd rather see them dance." Catherine blinked. "But if dear Miss Lucas says so, I'd like to dance. I wonder if I have the honor of asking you to dance with me?"⑦

Charlotte is clever and sensible, and she immediately understands Catherine's intentions in doing this-to avoid the embarrassment of her being alone at the ball.

"Let's go, let me and those gentlemen see Miss Lucas' demeanor."

Catherine held out her hand as an inviting gesture.

Elizabeth saw her sister holding the hand of her close friend and walking to the end of the ball line, she shook her head with a little helplessness and amused, and sat on the bench during the break.

Catherine and Charlotte's behavior caused a little commotion at the ball, but it didn't take long for the two ladies to be warmly welcomed to join in the dance.

The movement was also noticed by two gentlemen who were discussing the law.

"Two striking ladies."

Mr. Knightley glanced toward the center of the ball, and smiled mildly.

"That's Charlotte, the eldest daughter of the Lucas family, and my daughter, Catherine."

Mr. Bennet replied.

Mr. Knightley had heard about the five daughters of the Bennet family, but he had no intention of looking for a suitable wife at the ball, so he did not pay attention.

At this moment, he praised Mr. Bennet sincerely: "All of your daughters are outstanding."

Mr. Bennet was noncommittal about this, but Mrs. Bennet who came over took this as a compliment and smiled happily: "Mr. Knightley, you are so discerning! My precious girls are not seen in Meryton Don't like them!"

"If you wish to make the acquaintance of one of them, I shall be glad to introduce you."

Mr. Bennet is accustomed to his wife's rashness and absurdity.

Mr. Knightley did not show any dislike. He politely rejected Mrs. Bennet, saying that it was not a matter of a few girls, but that he thought he could not get into the topic of young girls. Don't let young girls It's hard to get along with someone like him.

Mrs. Bennet said something regretful, and then tried to inquire about Mr. Knightley's worth, to see if he had enough pounds to match one of her favorites.

Mr. Bennet stopped her.

"Mrs. Bennet, it's time for you to go back to the ball. I think Mrs. Long would like to have a word with you."

Mrs. Bennet came from Mrs. Long. When the child’s father reminded her, she immediately remembered her reason for coming and complained: “Mr. Bennet, look at your daughter! She would rather dance with Charlotte than Would not accept an invitation from a gentleman!"

"She's a real headache for me!"

Elizabeth was sitting not far away, listening to the movements of the three of them thoroughly.She was ashamed from the bottom of her heart that her mother could not wait to marry off her daughters.

As soon as she looked up, she could see Mr. Darcy standing on the other side. He was arrogant and cold, and he was very disgusted with Mrs. Bennet's words.

At the end of a dance song, Mr. Bingley got out of the dance floor and walked to Darcy's side.

On the other side, Catherine also ended the dance with Charlotte. She held Charlotte's arm and waved her white feather satin fan with the other hand, chatted with Charlotte, and walked towards Elizabeth. go.

Before she reached Elizabeth, Mr. Darcy, who was out of tune with the whole ball, said coldly: "She is passable, but not beautiful enough to impress my heart. At present, I am not in the mood to flatter her." Those young ladies who are neglected by others."⑧

He was speaking of none other than Elizabeth.

Catherine let go of Charlotte's hand, closed the satin fan, and the smile on her face faded a bit.

"Sir, a lady's neglect is not determined by your flattery."