Pride and Prejudice of Jane Eyre

"Miss Eyre, we meet again." Mr. Briggs wore a newly bought overcoat and a high hat, and he had the image of a reliable and authoritative barrister.Although his dress was strict and neat, his expression was very gentle.After exchanging salutes, Mr. Robin led them into the small living room where the guests talked.

Mr. Briggs sat next to Jane Eyre, and the other two gentlemen each occupied a single armchair.Briggs took out the letter written by Mr. John Eyre to his niece from his leather bag, and Jane Eyre eagerly opened it by candlelight.Mr. Briggs watched her expression.

The letter is not very thick, only about three pages.The letter paper was folded in three and sealed with a seal.After Jane Eyre opened it, she held her breath after reading the first line. She controlled her breath, as if she was just reading an ordinary letter, so as not to let them see the shock in her heart.

Mr. John Eyre's writing is very sparse, after a brief greeting, there is no redundant nonsense, "Save the sensational words until we meet!" he wrote. "It's just that I have an unkind request, maybe this is very strange to you, please bring me a bottle of water from my hometown! I miss that taste all the time, especially the smell of iodine in the pharmacy, although It doesn't smell good, but it is the most familiar memory of your father and me in childhood."

At first glance, these nonsensical words seemed like the nonsense of an old man, but Jane Eyre immediately thought of the simplest text encryption method when she saw the word "iodine".What kind of words make uncle must encrypt it?Who is he guarding against?

Jane Eyre didn't have time to think, so she continued to read. The following words became more and more spaced, and the words became more and more scribbled. At first glance, people feel that the person who wrote the letter has become dizzy, unable to hold the pen, and the words are getting worse and worse. The more scribbled.

She folded the letter paper calmly, brewed for a while, squeezed out a tear, and said to Mr. Briggs affectionately: "Thank you so much for helping me bring this letter, uncle's words It touched me so much. I couldn't help but think of my father just now..."

"Your father is the most faithful believer in God. He has done so many good deeds for the poor, and now he must be happily by God's side. Miss Eyre, you don't need to be too sad." Mr. Briggs comforted.

Jane Eyre nodded, took out the handkerchief from her pocket, and rubbed her eyes red.Mr. Darcy hesitated to speak, as if trying to comfort her.But Mr. Rochester saw something was wrong. Based on his understanding of Jane Eyre, she was not such a person who easily expressed sadness.

After adjusting his mood, Mr. Briggs said the next arrangement.The ship departs the day after tomorrow, and there will be a whole day free tomorrow. He suggests that Jane Eyre go buy some light summer clothes. Jane Eyre agrees very much, and Mr. Rochester promptly asks Sophie to go with her.Jane Eyre proposed to visit the magazine, and she wanted to meet with the editor-in-chief and talk about the next arrangement.

"Miss Jane, I'm afraid his attitude will change immediately after seeing you. I think it's better for you not to come forward. I can talk to him for you." Mr. Rochester knew her ambition, and she once gave it to him In the last few pages of his manuscript, some plans were scattered in the last few pages, which moved him quite a bit.

Jane Eyre shook her head: "Sir, I understand your kindness. It's just that I don't want to hide it. Since he has affirmed my level, it's not so easy to deny it."

"You think too simply, Miss Jane."

"If you don't try, how will you know? Anyway, I will leave England, and I will face all the bad luck after I come back." Jane Eyre thought very openly, even if the editor-in-chief did not accept her female identity, even if he vigorously criticized her, She doesn't have to face the storm right away, either.Even if the United Kingdom does not accept it, is there no other country that can accept it?The world is so big.

Mr. Rochester disagreed with her idea, but he gave up after a few words of persuasion. This girl has always been stubborn and has her own ideas.Mr. Darcy, who had been silent all this time, spoke in a low voice instead: "I am willing to write a letter of recommendation for Miss Jane, at least through this letter, he must also meet you."

Jane Eyre was very pleasantly surprised and thanked her quickly.Mr. Briggs also expressed his opinion: "Miss Jane, I don't care about so many rules. In short, I am willing to help you! Although I am not good at copyright law, I can still show you some face. Please don't refuse me Your help!" With a lawyer following, it would be great!Jane Eyre gladly accepted his help.

When the clock struck ten o'clock, Mr. Rochester got up and drank the cold black tea in the cup: "It's getting late, everyone, everyone!" He stretched out his hand to Jane Eyre, and Jane Eyre saw that he had When he wanted to say something, he put his left hand in his arms and said goodbye to the other two gentlemen.Mr. Darcy put out the cigar in his hand and left the living room first.

"I'll be here at eight o'clock tomorrow morning, Miss Eyre." Mr. Briggs saluted her good night.

The two of them were speechless along the way. When Mr. Rochester bid farewell to Jane Eyre at the door, he hesitated for a moment and then asked: "Do you need help? The letter just now - your complexion is really strange!"

Jane Eyre took a deep breath and looked around. There was no one in the corridor, so she said in a low voice, "Can you get me some iodine? Let Sophie bring it to me later!" Mr. Rochester said Without asking for details, she nodded and agreed: "Then, I wish you the best, Miss Jane."

After Jane Eyre saluted, she opened the door of her bedroom, and the candlelight in the room made her feel much more at ease.

Early the next morning, just after seven o'clock, there was a knock on Jane Eyre's door.

"Miss Eyre, Mr. Briggs has come." Sophie's voice came through the crack of the door, and Jane Eyre struggled to open her eyes. The window had not yet fully lit up, and the sky was still dark blue.She reached out and took out her pocket watch from the bedside table - it was only early seven o'clock!

'How did Mr. Briggs come so early! Jane Eyre murmured, and hurriedly shouted: "I'll come as soon as I pack up!" At midnight last night, Sophie brought iodine.Sure enough, Jane Eyre used iodine to reveal the encrypted text from the blank space of the letter. Because of the content of the letter, she did not fall asleep until after four o'clock.

After changing her dressing gown, Jane Eyre put on the brooch given to her by Mrs. Fairfax, gloves and hat, and went downstairs fully dressed. "You are so early! Mr. Briggs." Jane Eyre saw that Mr. Briggs was already drinking a cup of coffee, and he was holding a newspaper in his hand.

"I thought I was late! Miss Love." After hearing the noise, he immediately put down the things in his hands and got up to meet her.Jane Eyre also sat down at the round table and signaled the servant to bring her some breakfast.

"You came an hour early, sir."

"What?" He rolled up his cuffs and glanced at his watch, "It's quarter to eight!"

"Maybe your watch needs to be recalibrated, sir. It's only 07:30!" Jane Eyre opened her pocket watch and showed it to him, "Gentlemen haven't gotten up yet! Oh! Thank you!" The hotel maid sent Served with fried eggs and sausage, and a cup of black tea.

After finishing breakfast, the gentlemen went downstairs.After Jane Eyre met them, she took her small suitcase with Sophie and went out with Mr. Briggs.Mr. Briggs hailed a carriage skilfully. "Go to the XX newspaper first!" Jane Eyre said to the coachman, "You have no objection, sir?"

"I follow you entirely today, Miss Eyre," replied Mr. Briggs.

Although it is a public carriage, the driving level of the coachman is really good, and the ground in London is relatively flat, and the bumps are almost negligible.Soon after arriving at the newspaper office, Jane Eyre was about to get off the carriage, but Mr. Briggs stopped her: "Miss Eyre, I'll deliver Mr. Darcy's letter first. You wait in the carriage for a while. It's really cold outside." Jane Love thanked him for his kindness, and watched him cross the street, talking to the newspaper doorman.

Jane Eyre couldn't hear their conversation clearly, but seeing the doorman's face was indifferent at first, and after Mr. Briggs took out Mr. Darcy's letter of introduction, his face was full of flattering smiles, but Briggs The gentleman's face was not very gentle, but serious and eloquent, Jane Eyre could only see his lips fluttering, and the doorman could only nod his head and explain something.

After some negotiations, Mr. Briggs returned to the carriage, and Jane Eyre quickly opened the door.

"The editor-in-chief is not here yet, and they are going to notify you urgently! We will come back in the afternoon!" Mr. Briggs climbed into the carriage, with his cane slanted by his side, "Mr. Darcy's letter of recommendation is very useful, otherwise they would not be so He easily agreed to notify the editor-in-chief temporarily. Do you have any plans for today?"

"I want to go to the bank."

"Did you hear that! Little Jack! Go to Lloyd's Bank!" Briggs shouted to the coachman without asking any further questions. "Yes, sir!" cried Little Jack, too.

Mr Briggs respected her privacy very much and did not offer to follow her into the bank.So she took Sophie, who was carrying a small suitcase, into the bank to find the counter to handle business.She cashed Mr. Mason's compensation check, opened one-third of the account and stored it in it, and split the other two-thirds into smaller denomination banknotes, divided them into several pieces and put them in her body and box. There are many places to spend money in the future.

Jane Eyre, who had a huge sum of money, took Sophie to the market again, and bought several thin summer clothes—due to the tropical weather, she couldn't wear any of her current clothes.She also bought two well-made ready-to-wear silk dresses, one in royal blue with a generous cut, without exaggerated shoulder pads and bustle; Dress.Jane Eyre saw that the tights she wore could make people breathless, but Sophie told her with her French aesthetics that it was so beautiful!Jane Eyre looked at her thin and shriveled body with beautiful curves, and had to admire how women spared no effort to toss themselves for beauty.

After she bought a lot of clothes, Sophie's innate love for beauty from France burned in her body, and helped her choose many accessories that could perfectly match the clothes, which were small and exquisite but not expensive.Jane Eyre admired her all over the place.Sophie can even explain how to embellish and match all kinds of lace, and the owner's wife simply regards her as a confidant—this is cheaper for Jane Eyre, and she sent a lot of small things.

Jane Eyre did not forget to buy gifts for her uncle and Mr. Briggs.It happened that Mr. Briggs’s watch was broken, so Jane Eyre chose a simple and elegant pocket watch——Jane Eyre knew that watches were not popular at this time, and Mr. Briggs’s should be his belt. Remodeled by myself.Jane Eyre also bought her uncle a classic fountain pen from Way Sewart, which is a well-loved London brand, and John Eyre, who has traveled thousands of miles from his hometown, would not refuse it.

Mr. Briggs looked at the exquisite packing box in front of him, with a look of astonishment on his face: "You gave it to me...?" Jane Eyre smiled and motioned him to open it quickly: "I noticed that your watch has been No, and it's bruised, so I bought you a new one, I hope you don't mind!"

Mr. Briggs hurriedly thanked him, his hands were shaking with excitement.He immediately hung the pocket watch around his neck and stuffed it into his collar.Jane Eyre waved her hand to express that she didn't care about these vain gifts: "You have worked hard on this journey. I should be grateful."

She was very pleased to find that since then, Mr. Briggs has become more and more like an elder. Thinking of his uncle's letter, he secretly gave his own judgment—however, everything still needs time to test.

"You said, you are Mr. Kohler Bell?" The assistant at the door of the editor-in-chief's office exclaimed. He looked at the slender lady in front of him. Her face was hidden under the black net hat, and her pair of black pearl-like eyes were completely hidden. Looking at him without avoiding. "Wait a minute! I'm going to report to the editor-in-chief!"

The assistant got up in a hurry, bumped into the table, and the pen rolled down. He didn't have time to pick it up, so he walked to the door of the editor-in-chief's office and knocked hastily.After a while, the assistant poked his head out, "The editor-in-chief agrees to see you."

Briggs wanted to go in with Jane Eyre, but she stopped her. "If I can't handle it, please come forward. I want to try it myself." Although Mr. Briggs was worried, he was persuaded by her.

Jane Eyre stepped into the office, and Mr. Assistant walked out intimately and closed the door for her.This is the office of a standard editor-in-chief of a magazine. It is full of newspapers and books, and even the walls are covered with newspapers. If you look carefully, you will find that there are many news that shocked the world.

"You said you were Mr. Cole Bell?" A blunt old voice sounded from behind the pile of books. After Jane Eyre approached, she found a white-haired old man sitting on a chair. He was short in stature. The chin is pointed and thin, and a pair of sunken eyes reflect a sharp light.

Jane Eyre found a place in front of the desk and sat down: "Yes, I have a letter you wrote to me here. If you want to read it—"

"—I dare not say that I must have sent it to you, perhaps you 'taken' it from Mr. Bell!" His tone was contemptuous and ironic.

"What?" Jane Eyre suspected that she had heard it wrong, how could she say such slanderous words so easily? "I don't think you don't even have this discernment, sir." Jane Eyre was not angry, but she still calmly took out a few letters she had received from her suitcase, and Mr. The manuscript that Fei handed over to her—of course, it was just for self-certification, so it had to be returned to him.She pushed the evidence to the editor-in-chief, and met the editor-in-chief's questioning eyes.The editor-in-chief lowered his eyes and examined it carefully.

After a long while, Jane Eyre had finished a cup of tea before he put down the manuscript.

"I believe you are Mr. Bell, so what you said in your letter earlier that you can't meet me because of 'some private matters' is also because-you are a woman? Miss Bell?"

"Sir, my real name is Jane Eyre."

"So you're here to tell me—you want to publish under your real name?" His voice rose.

Jane Eyre nodded: "That's right."

"Don't even think about it! Bell—Miss Eyre! My strong heart can barely accept the fact that Mr. Bell is actually a woman, but the readers will not accept it! Even, you will ruin these books."

"Destroy? Are you saying, sir, that the fact that I'm a woman affects the quality of my work?"

The editor-in-chief sneered, and asked back: "Isn't it? Women—how can you tarnish literature! Especially Gothic, Miss Love, if you publish under your real name, our newspaper and publishing house will lose everything! No one Would love to buy a Gothic book written by a woman!"

Jane Eyre felt powerless for a while, although she had expected this a long time ago, she was still very angry. "Sir, if this is the case, I have to doubt your taste! The quality of a literary work has nothing to do with the gender of the author!"

"But sales and fame are related to the gender of the author!" The editor-in-chief threw her manuscript and letters back in front of her, "If a woman is going to publish-write some love stories!"

"Love story? I've got a feminist outline here—"

"Ha! Feminism?" He interrupted her bluntly, "Miss Eyre, you are getting more and more fantastic! Love stories! Surely you can write that kind of high-society love affair? That's the one What a woman should write! Many ladies shine in the social world with this kind of 'literary talent'!"

In this case, even good-tempered Jane Eyre couldn't bear it: "Sir, if you have a prejudice against women's literature, I really shouldn't know what words to refute you! Because it is simply absurd!"

"Women's literature is absurd!"

Jane Eyre looked at his contemptuous eyes, listened to his contemptuous words, and after being extremely angry, she felt a feeling of "it really is so".Mr. Rochester's support filled her with confidence, and Mr. Darcy never objected directly, and even wrote a letter of recommendation for herself, which made her take this matter too simply.She actually naively thought that everyone would accept it as a matter of course?

"Sir, what you said is already a personal attack." Jane Eyre turned cold, stood up, packed her things, and was about to leave, "I think our cooperation can come to an end here, my lawyer Follow-up matters will be dealt with. I will no longer contribute articles to your newspaper, and the professionals will come back to contact you about the copyright issues of the articles that have been published.”

"Wait!" Seeing that she was really going to leave, even taking away the previous copyright, the editor-in-chief became anxious again, "I can publish it for you under the name of Kohler Bell!" He had to admit that those works were really wonderful , once it is published, it will not only be worth a few hundred pounds!

Jane Eyre paused, looked back at him, and said firmly: "If it cannot be published under the name of Jane Eyre, I would rather not publish it for the rest of my life. Sir, I just want to say one last word to you - you will do it for Your arrogance and prejudice will pay the price!" After she finished speaking, she ignored how anxious and persuasive the editor-in-chief was, opened the door and went out.

As soon as Mr. Briggs saw her cold face, he knew that the conversation was not going well, and that it was time for him to come out.He stepped forward and separated the editor-in-chief who was trying to grab Jane Eyre's arm with his arm: "Please respect yourself, Mr. Editor-in-Chief! It is not a gentleman to embarrass a lady like this. I am Miss Eyre's lawyer, and I am responsible for all matters related to copyright I was going to talk to you."

Jane Eyre straightened her back, hugged her suitcase, and walked out of the gate of the newspaper office.

"I have taken back Miss Love's copyright, and the XX newspaper will never be qualified to use the name 'Kole Bell' for any gimmicks." Mr. Briggs sat in the living room and asked the two gentlemen After describing today's situation, Jane Eyre sat aside, pouring herself iced tea cup after cup.

Seeing that Jane Eyre was really angry and depressed, the two gentlemen really didn't know how to comfort her.After Jane Eyre recovered, she sighed: "Actually, I had expected it, but I didn't expect his words to be so insulting! He—forget it, it's not something worthy of praise for a queen to speak ill of him."

For a while, everyone fell into silence.Mr. Darcy pinched the teacup with his fingertips and mosuo vigorously, his gray-blue eyes turned dark blue under the not-so-bright light.Mr. Rochester irritatedly lit his cigar again, smoking one mouthful at a time.Seeing that they were even more depressed than herself, Jane Eyre comforted them in turn.

"All in all, I will not give up and continue to write. This is not the only newspaper and publishing house in the world. But I still want to thank Mr. Darcy. If it weren't for your letter of recommendation, I might not even see the face of the editor-in-chief. "

Mr. Darcy's eyes grew darker.

One night, Jane Eyre didn't sleep well.Just entered the dream, and was awakened by Sophie again.It was time for them to set off for the steamer.Jane Eyre hurriedly settled the breakfast with the gentlemen in the dining room, and the servants were busy packing their luggage.Her luggage has become three big boxes!Obviously, there is no way to carry it by myself.Mr. Briggs doesn't think it's a big problem. Mr. Love will send someone to pick him up when he disembarks.No matter what, Miss Ai would never let Miss Ai walk alone with her luggage under the hot sun in a foreign land.

The pier was full of people who were about to board the ship or see off passengers. Even the restrained British couldn't help but kiss goodbye when they parted.Big and small boxes were piled up all over the floor, rich gentlemen and ladies stood talking together in twos and threes, and the servants were busy moving around, moving boxes one by one to the ship.

This grand occasion reminded Jane Eyre of the movie she had seen in her previous life - "Titanic".

Perhaps it was because they had waited a long time for this day, and the group of them seemed very restrained.Mr. Rochester handed him a farewell present—a thick notebook with a beautiful cover.

"Miss Jane, although I went through something like that yesterday - but I still support your creation as always, your talent should not be overwhelmed. Maybe traveling will give you new inspiration, I often travel around, and I feel very impressed Deep." Mr. Rochester's voice changed a bit, Jane Eyre nodded vigorously, and couldn't help explaining Adela's matters to him.

Mr. Darcy stepped forward and stopped Jane Eyre when they finally finished talking and Jane Eyre was about to turn around and board the boat.His eyes showed a clear gray-blue color in the sunlight, but his brows were tightly furrowed, and his right hand unconsciously loosened and grasped.

"Sir?" Seeing that he didn't say anything, Jane Eyre hurriedly called out to him when she heard the voice of the boatman urging to get on board.

Mr. Darcy finally came back to his senses, he waved his hand, and the servant presented a beautifully wrapped gift: "...This is my gift, I hope you will like it! I wish you a safe journey." He said quickly in a flat tone This sentence is over.

Jane Eyre took the gift and was about to unpack it, but the boatman's voice interrupted her: "Gentlemen, ladies! Get on the boat, the boat is about to sail! If you have any thoughts, please engrave them in your heart! "

Jane Eyre was pushed by the people behind and staggered up the stairs.

"Goodbye! England!" Holding the gift, she shouted silently in her heart, and followed the flow of people to board the giant ship that was about to sail to the new world.

TBC.

The author has something to say: *From the manuscript deposit box at a high altitude~ I finished writing the update volume on the 12th before catching the plane, exciting!Go home for the Chinese New Year~ The update on the 13th can be written in China!

*Is this one particularly thick and long! !I really don't have a drop.JPG