[Pride and Prejudice] First impressions

"What? You can only go to Meryton once a week?"

After breakfast the next day, when Mr. Bennett announced to his daughters the decision he had made after careful consideration last night, Mrs. Bennett and the two youngest daughters couldn't believe their ears and exploded pot.

"Mr. Bennet, did I hear you right? What did you say to the girls?"

Mrs. Bennet cried out.

"My wife, you heard me right. Starting today, my daughters are only allowed to go to town after attending church on Sunday! The rest of the time, I must stay at home honestly!" Bennett Mr. said with a straight face.

"My God, Mr. Bennet, the girls will be suffocated!"

"Nonsense! The daughters of the Brown family follow such rules. When I greeted me in the church last week, the ladies were so energetic! I thought about it carefully, and there is no lady in the family who is like this for dozens of miles. Our family runs to Meryton almost every day. Listen, the income of the farm this year is less than in previous years. Let the daughters stay at home honestly, buy two less hair ties, and save a few pairs of worn out shoes. Embroidery, reading, I really have nothing to do, let Alice take you to the farm to milk the cows!"

When Mr. Bennet said this, not only Kitty and Lydia were so frightened that they cried, but even Mary, who had just ignored it at first, opened her eyes wide.

Jane was also taken aback by Mr. Bennet's words at the beginning. Thinking about it again, it might have something to do with Elizabeth looking for her father last night. Looking at Elizabeth, seeing her calm expression and a slight smile at the corner of her mouth, she finally relaxed a little. .

Mrs. Bennet's eyes were so wide that they were about to fall out, and she kept shaking her head desperately.

"My God, you must be crazy! How can you let your daughter do such a disgraceful thing! Oh my God! I'm going to faint! Jane, Lizzie, quick, quick, get my smelling salts, I I'm going to faint..."

Jane hurried to the cupboard to get smelling salts, and together with Elizabeth, she supported Mrs. Bennet and fanned her vigorously.

Today, Mr. Bennet was unmoved, and regardless of the chaos in the family, he still said seriously: "I would rather be told behind my back that I drove my daughters to milk the cows, than let you go out like this every day to shame yourself! So it's decided!"

Kitty and Lydia cried harder, and Mrs. Bennet became more agitated under the stimulation of the smelling salts, and several servants in the house were frightened to look around the door. Mr. Bennet finally changed his words and said: "Then Just change it to twice a week! This is the biggest concession I can make!"

Kitty and Lydia, who were already in despair, finally breathed a sigh of relief. Mrs. Bennet also stabilized her mood, and sat back, muttering non-stop.

"Do you think that's all there is?" Mr. Bennet didn't finish, and began to announce: "I thought about it last night and formulated a set of behavior standards for ladies of the Bei family to attend the ball. First, except for Jane and Lizzie , you little ones, don’t flirt with the young man, no matter how handsome the young man is, if I find out, I will fight him immediately, and either let me kill him or let him kill me! Of course, In this case, the house you live in now will belong to someone else! Second, don’t make noise in the dance hall, otherwise I will give you horse muzzles that smell like horse dung! Third..."

Mr. Bennet talked on and on, and Mrs. Bennet was really going to faint now-she had always been very taboo about the ownership of the house after her husband died, and she would not listen to a word.

Elizabeth and Jane could not help being a little surprised, too, as they busied themselves comforting their mother.

Considering that the militia regiment that had brought endless troubles to the Bennet family will be stationed in Meryton soon, so last night, Elizabeth went to Mr. Bennet to have a sincere talk.In order to achieve the effect, she simply borrowed what Darcy said about herself.

"Father, Mr. Darcy is not the first outsider to look at our family in this way, and if you leave him alone, he will never be the last. The only reason why he is mentioned is that others talk about it behind his back, and he is outspoken to the face That's all! I think it's not that you don't know what outsiders say about our family, but no one has said it in front of you, so you can just muddle along and pretend it's nothing! Now let me tell you, you are living up to it responsible!"

Freezing three feet is not a one-day cold, and the various habits that have been indulged for many years cannot be corrected overnight, so Elizabeth only strongly asked her father to limit the frequency of going out of the few younger sisters from now on, and not to let them go out again. Hanging out almost every day like before.Unexpectedly, Mr. Bennet suddenly announced so many rules by himself early in the morning, which surprised Elizabeth.

Kitty and Lydia were weeping again before Mr. Bennet had finished declaring the exacting standards he had set for himself.Mary pushed her glasses, and was about to leave this noisy place that had nothing to do with her, so that she could go back to do research on music and life by herself, when Mr. Bennet turned to his third daughter.

"And you, Mary, although everyone knows that you are a versatile lady, but as a father, I have to be stricter with you. In the future dance, once I find that you play the piano for more than two dances in succession If you give up the stool to other young ladies who need to show off their talents, in the future..."

He paused for a moment, obviously not thinking about punishment yet.

Elizabeth began to want to laugh a little.

This is being stimulated to a high point, why don't you do it at all?

"Don't you ever think I'll admit how much smarter you are than silly girls Kitty and Lydia!"

Finally, he announced so solemnly.

Mary was stunned for a while, then abruptly closed the book of poetry on her lap, bowed her head and went out.

Mr. Bennet was obviously satisfied with the effect of his display of power. After casting a smug look at Elizabeth, he turned and left majestically.

----

In the next few days, no matter how much Mrs. Bennet pleaded and threatened, Mr. Bennet remained unmoved, and ordered the horseman Mike to use the horses strictly according to the rules. Except for the prescribed two days, the horses were not allowed to be used in For the purpose of taking the girls to Meryton in a car—and if the two girls were found to have slipped out by themselves but were not reported, Jane and Elizabeth, who were in charge of teaching the younger sister, would be reprimanded by their father, so even if they were blamed by the younger sister, The two eldest sisters will also take them to make lace, study flower arrangements, drink afternoon tea, or go for a walk in the field behind the house. It can be said that they are doing their best.

Although Mr. Bennet didn't care about things in the past, he was the head of the family after all. Although Mrs. Bennet was erratic and her voice was much louder than him, once the husband got serious, the wife could only obey.

After a few days of quarreling between Kitty and Lydia, it was settled, and she could only stay at home facing her two sisters every day, waiting like years for the two days of going out for a walk in the week.It was finally quiet for two days. Following the news brought by Aunt Phillips about the militia being stationed in Meryton, the Bennet family could no longer be peaceful, not only Lydia and Kitty, but even Bennet Mrs. Te couldn't help being eager to move, and often recalled her youth in front of her daughters, and complained that Mr. Bennet had blocked the daughters' great opportunity to enjoy happiness.

Mrs. Bennet's attitude towards the upbringing of her daughters is somewhat similar to the controversial "stocking" in modern times.In Elizabeth's view, the first condition to be a free-ranging child is that the roots are upright, so that they are eligible to consider allowing them to develop freely.It's not that we insist on dividing people into grades, but it's true that some children are precocious and don't need to be bothered by adults, while others are stubborn and need to be nurtured.Applying it to the current family, with the lessons learned from the original book, how could Elizabeth rest assured that Lydia would continue to follow her instincts?Therefore, she responded positively to Mr. Bennet's current prestige, and even gradually made Mrs. Bennet suspicious. Whenever she was troubled by Lydia, she would vent her anger on Elizabeth and scold her for being inconsiderate of herself. He wholeheartedly helped his father.

This period of dark days for Kitty and Lydia was a happy time for Jane.

Jane's "friendship" with Sister Bingley was developing rapidly, and she had been invited to Netherfield two or three times, always in the absence of Mr. Bingley, of course.Every time she received an invitation, Mrs. Bennet must be full of anticipation. When Jane came back, she heard that she hadn't seen their brother, and immediately changed her face, complaining that Mr. Bingley's sisters were not authentic enough, and even deliberately made Jane Stagger with their brothers.

For most of the first half of her life that has passed, Mrs. Bennet has lived in a daze, but she has a surprisingly clear understanding of this point.The Bingley sisters thought they would always be on the same side as Mr. Darcy, so they naturally looked down on the Bennet family from the bottom of their hearts. It is barely possible to make friends, as a playmate to pass the time when you are bored, it is natural, when you invite her to come, you must not let her have the opportunity to get close to your brother.It's just a pity that although Mrs. Bennet has a good guess about their thoughts, she is not only reluctant to refuse these opportunities, but every time she receives an invitation, she has to be full of hope.Although I was disappointed again and again, and my dissatisfaction with Sister Bingley was increasing day by day, but it was by no means desperate to the point of no longer looking forward to it.

Of course Elizabeth knew what the Bingley sisters were thinking.Frankly, she was very, very reluctant to let Jane develop such a so-called "friendship."But at least, the Bingley sisters have done a good job on the surface, and Jane feels very happy when she gets along with them-after all, they are the family members of people she has a crush on, and Jane is born to think of people in a good way Because of her ability, she herself seems to be looking forward to such a relationship.So Elizabeth didn't stop her very much at first. After all, everyone lives their own life, and some things are not necessary, and she can't make decisions for others. Mrs. Te thought it was the greatest and wisest decision she had ever made in her life—when Jane was allowed to ride alone across the field to Netherfield on a cloudy day, Elizabeth resolutely stopped her.

Although it is very possible that this will be a good opportunity for Jane and Bingley to develop a relationship by leaps and bounds, Elizabeth feels that it is very irresponsible and stupid to let Jane know that she is likely to catch a cold and have a fever .After all, this was an era when vaccination was still highly controversial, and she didn't dare to gamble with Jane's health.

"It's going to rain heavily, and it's not an important date. Jane, I don't think it's necessary for you to go there. If you rush there alone in such weather, I think the master will not be happy, but will feel strange. After all, the letter is It was delivered in the morning, when the weather was fine. When I write to-morrow or come over in person to apologize, I don't think the two good ladies will have a problem."

Elizabeth said so.

Jane thought it made sense, so she immediately rejected Mrs. Bennet's suggestion, and Mrs. Bennet jumped her feet in anger, calling Elizabeth out of jealousy, which ruined such a good opportunity, and waited until dark to start It was raining heavily, and Mrs. Bennet's complaints had almost buried Elizabeth alive-but at eight or nine o'clock in the evening, the whole family got up from the living room to go to their respective rooms to sleep, when the doorbell was rang, and the footman reported that When the unexpected guest arrived, Mrs. Bennet, who had been depressed all night, was so excited that she almost jumped up and hugged her second daughter.

"Dear me! Lizzie, did you hear that Mr. Bingley and his friend were passing the neighborhood on their way back from the officer's, and because it was dark and the road was slippery, he fell off his horse and broke his leg! Oh, what in the world Is there anything more beautiful than this?"