gentleman's manor

That night, Edward still invited many young women to dance in a very gentlemanly manner, but they danced one by one, and did not invite Miss Bonnie who was standing on the side full of expectations.

I found Edward much more popular when I got back to England.The gentlemen's daughters apparently cared little about Edward's past reputation, much less whether he was disfigured.They are very kind to him, and they will show the same fascination when they stared at Mr. Carlos.

Old-fashioned gentlemen don't like to divide their property. Some people don't even give a penny to their younger sons, let alone their daughters, so there are actually a lot of ladies without dowry.Why is there such a shortage of gentlemen at almost all balls, but full of young girls?As long as the girl was born in the upper class, no one would be willing to leave this circle. If she has no dowry but refuses to marry at a low price, then she can only fight to the death for the limited resources.It doesn't matter even if the resource is an old man who is dying, let alone a young and promising gentleman like Edward, who is also extremely rich.

However, they are still very measured. Even if the competition is fierce, the undercurrent cannot be seen on the surface.Because they only use one or two close-fitting objects to play a good role in communication, but they don't leave any clues.

For example, fan code words.

Slow fan means "I'm engaged", fast fan means "I'm single"; holding the fan in the right hand, fanning in front of the face means "come with me", holding the fan in the left hand, fanning in front of the face means "go away"; holding the fan gently Swipe across the forehead means "someone is watching us"; put the fan on the right cheek is "OK", put the fan on the left cheek is "no"; open and close the fan means "kiss me"; The fan is fully opened and pasted on the mouth to express "love".Every gentleman and lady must understand these lingoes as a compulsory course for stepping into the social world.

So there were so many young women who were winking and fanning at Edward that evening, and I guess the story of his three thousand pounds a year was already widely circulated.

And I met Miss Lidis, who appeared with Mr. Carlos, and they seemed to have confirmed their engagement.

Edward looked like he was facing an enemy, and he said to me sourly: "You should stay away from her."

"God, what are you worrying about all day long? I only met her once, and we are totally strangers." I said helplessly.

"Hmph! You talked so vigorously when we met for the first time. You have never been so familiar with other women." He said dissatisfied.

"Okay, you cheapskate, I promise to stay away from her, you can rest assured."

But during the group dance, this Miss Lidis stood in front of me abruptly. I seriously doubted that she forcibly pushed the girl next to her away. This exaggerated behavior made me dumbfounded.

"What? Surprised to see me? Won't you dance with me?" she said playfully.

"Of course..." I said so, but I looked up at Edward and found him staring at me displeased.

"I'm engaged." She raised her chin and said, "It's the most famous Mr. Carlos, I stole the dream lover of all the women at the ball, am I amazing?"

"Uh..." I didn't know how to answer her, this young lady was too frank, she dared to say such words casually to a stranger like me.

"I know what they're saying about me, 'That rich upstart daughter, who's ugly, took over Mr. Carlos'." She imitated a coy tone, and then laughed, but the smile was only A bleak irony that makes one feel sad.

"Don't be unhappy." I comforted her and said, "Mr. Carlos is a man of talent and integrity. This is a good marriage."

"Who says I'm not happy, I'm very happy, don't think that if I give you a good face, you can pretend to understand me." She snorted, and then laughed: "You are really an honest person. "

I curled my lips secretly, what an honest man, Edward has commented this way, even a little girl like you dare to say that.

"Mr. Adam, elope with me, I have a dowry of ten thousand pounds," she whispered.

"Cough! Cough cough cough..." I almost choked on my own saliva.

"Hahaha, you are so stupid, you can't take a joke." She said with a smile: "Don't take it seriously, I am not a girl from your upper class, I don't have much education, I like to make jokes."

"You...you shouldn't be joking like this." I scolded her.

"Why can't you be joking? Just because I'm engaged? What a baroness, I don't think it's worth much, and everything that can be bought with money is worthless, don't you think?" said Miss Liddice.

"You're so cynical, I don't agree with you, but I think money is important." I said, "I'm a big layman."

"So, Mr. Laity, why spend your money in vain helping the poor?" she said with a smile.

"You..." I suddenly remembered that she called me Mr. Adam just now, how did she know my name?Has she inquired about me?

At this time, a dance is over.

Miss Liddice looked at me for a while, then said quietly: "Just kidding, I don't have a dowry of [-] pounds. My father has the money. Even if you elope with me, you won't get a penny."

She looked serious and flushed as she said this.

I froze for a moment, and said in a low voice, "Please don't make fun of me anymore."

"Okay, I'm not kidding." She looked at me and said, "Goodbye, Mr. Adam, then."

"Goodbye." I bowed slightly to her.

But she showed a playful smile again: "Actually, there is no need to say goodbye. I heard that you are the pastor of Vernon Township. After I marry Mr. Carlos, we can still meet often, right?"

"Mr. Pastor is very busy every day, I'm afraid I don't have time to meet with you, the future baroness." Edward came over at some point, and he directly intervened in our conversation very impolitely.

Miss Liddice gave Edward a look, knowing that he had overheard our conversation just now.So although she was angry, she didn't dare to show it. She held up her skirt and bowed to us, and then quickly retreated.

Seeing Edward's angry expression, I knew he was really angry. To appease him, I whispered, "I'll go to your place tonight, don't be angry."

"You didn't intend to elope with her, did you?" He said coldly.

"God help me, don't you talk nonsense all day long, even children don't take jokes seriously," I said.

He was silent for a while, then he said, "Sorry, I'm too sensitive, but she has a crush on you, and I can tell, I don't like her near you. I can't control it, I'm just angry, sometimes I even want to lock you up , so that no one can see you."

"You can see that she is infatuated with me, so can you see who I am infatuated with?" In the noisy dance scene, I looked at him deeply.

He looked at me, and then smiled slowly: "Of course, of course I know who you have a crush on."

"So... tonight... are you coming?" he asked.

"No, I've changed my mind now." I laughed angrily at him.

Edward stared at me incredulously: "You can't! You are a gentleman, how can you backtrack on your promise?"

"You can be willful and moody, and of course I can go back and forth. I think tonight is fine, tomorrow night."

Edward stopped talking, he looked at the dance floor, after a long time, I heard him whisper happily: "Tomorrow night is tomorrow night, I will wait for you."

At this ball, the gentlemen who invited Anna to dance one after another.Every time Anna danced with other gentlemen, Mike stared at each other. Fortunately, the partners had to be exchanged, otherwise I really don't know what troubles would arise.

And I finally got a chance to talk to Mike.

"My dear friend, are you finally not busy today?" I said sarcastically.

Mike didn't seem to be in the mood for joking, he stared at me with a serious expression: "I'm sorry, Adam, please forgive my intentional avoidance, but I'm afraid you won't allow Miss Anna to associate with me, I know you don't like the misbehavior of my youth. But I want to tell you today, I am in love with Miss Anna, I am completely in love with her! Please allow me to pursue her, I swear to make her happy!"

I looked at him stupidly, and couldn't believe that this stunned guy was the Mike I knew.

"Wait...wait." I pressed my temples and said, "Did you drink too much? This sounds like asking me to allow you to get married. Is it because I have auditory hallucinations, or are you out of your mind?"

"You heard me right. I am indeed asking for a marriage. I want to marry Miss Anna. I want her to be my wife." He said eagerly.

I widened my eyes, looked at him speechless, and said for a long time: "This... this is too abrupt... Did Anna agree to your marriage proposal? But I didn't find anything unusual about her. If you already Proposed to her, she would have told me, but she never said anything."

If a gentleman wants to marry a lady, he must propose to the lady first. After the lady agrees, he can propose to the guardian of the lady. This order must not be reversed.

Mike looked at Anna on the dance floor with gentle eyes: "I haven't proposed to her yet, because she seems to have only respect for me but no admiration. I originally planned to wait for her to understand slowly, but Miss Anna has so many suitors. I can't wait any longer."

"Mr. Mike Pence! I don't even know what to say about you. Don't you know that you must get Anna's consent before you can propose marriage?" I looked at him sternly.

"So, do you agree with me pursuing Miss Anna?" He excitedly answered the question.

I was so weak by him that I could only say: "Listen, I don't care what you think, Anna is my treasure, and I will only marry her to a man who can make her happy. If not, stay away from her Far away, otherwise I will definitely not let that person go."

"Of course I'll make her happy, I swear to God," he said, holding up his hand.

"You are not the only one who pursues Anna, and the final choice is also in Anna's hands." I said to him dissatisfied, "You just said that Anna has no love for you, so you dare to come to me to propose marriage! I think you are crazy!"

"I will make her fall in love with me, I will!" He said with bright eyes.

So the next day, I found that Anna was a little out of her mind.

We were having lunch at the time, and Anna stared down at the plate, fiddling with the poor food aimlessly with the knife and fork in her hand, but she just refused to put it in her mouth.Occasionally, he would be stunned, and then he would let out a long sigh. After a while, he would continue to fiddle with his face flushed.John and I looked at each other, staring at the sighing girl, but she didn't notice that we were all looking at her, her eyes were dazed.

"Did you not like today's lunch?" Daisy asked her.

Anna's expression didn't change at all, as if she didn't hear anyone talking to her at all.

I sighed and tapped the glass with my fork.

'Dangdangdang', the crisp sound finally brought her back to her senses.She looked at me strangely, as if asking me why I knocked on the glass.

I wiped my forehead and said, "Anna, concentrate on eating."

Her ears turned red in an instant, and she hurriedly lowered her head to eat.

Mrs. Daisy pursed her lips and smiled, and asked me, "When is the next dance?"

John finally obeyed Daisy's advice and went back to admit his mistake to Mr. Martin, but in the end he went home dejected.Mr. Martin refused to see him at all. The family servants said that Mr. Martin took his nephew and said that he would train him as an heir and leave all the inheritance to his nephew.

John and Daisy were gloomy for a while, and life was so unsustainable that Daisy had to go out and find a job.Luckily for her, a Viscount happened to be looking for a governess for his daughter and hired Daisy.Moreover, the viscount was very generous. Knowing John's plight, he said that if he had the opportunity, he would help John resume his position as a lawyer.The two finally got out of the haze, so they planned to participate in social life again.

"I've been too tired recently, we need to take a break." I glanced at Anna and said, "I'm staying at home these few days, not going anywhere."

But two days later, a large carriage stopped in front of my house. Since we met, Miss Bonnie came to visit my house for the first time.

She was wearing a black plush cloak and a light lavender dress underneath, looking graceful, luxurious and elegant.She greeted Anna politely and thoughtfully for a while, and then talked about trivial gossip with her.

Just when I was wondering why she made a sudden visit, the lady finally got to the point.

"I heard that Mr. Constantine and Mr. Fairmont are old friends. You must know a lot about him." Miss Bonnie asked me.

"Yes, we are classmates at Locke School." I said.

"Although I shouldn't inquire about a gentleman's past, I see Mr. Fairmont always has a sad face. Maybe he is still entangled in the past. What a poor gentleman." Miss Bonnie said with a look of regret.

"I agree with your point of view." I didn't understand what she meant when she said this, so I had to go along with her first.

"What a poor sir, friends would be able to enlighten him if they knew his sad past," she sighed.

I could hear the girl's implication. She wanted to ask me about Edward's past, but it's really hard to tell the outside world about this kind of thing, so I just pretended not to understand.It's a pity that this young lady was a little determined not to give up until she reached her goal. Seeing that I didn't understand her hint, she asked directly: "Mr. Constantine must know what happened to Mr. Femont in the past, can you tell me about it? "

I was stunned, so I had to lie and said: "Actually, Edward never talked to me about it."

"Oh..." Miss Bonnie nodded: "Poor man, he must have been hurt so badly that he refused to talk to his friends. He armed his heart and refused to accept other people's friendship easily. And help. At the Duchess's ball, he invited me to dance all night, but then... Maybe he was too inferior, too deep in the pain of the past, and we didn't care about his disrepute and Damaged appearance, let alone look down on him, he doesn't have to be so inferior, I really want to help him, poor man..."

When I heard Miss Bonnie say 'poor man' on the left and 'poor man' on the right, I suddenly had the urge to twitch my face.

Anna, who saw Edward all day long, naturally knew that he was not a sentimental person. On the contrary, Edward stayed at our house every day, not only talking and laughing every day, but also showing a cheeky posture.So Anna said very sincerely: "In fact, Mr. Edward is a very cheerful person. He likes to chat and laugh."

Miss Bonnie immediately gave Anna a sharp look, then smiled and said, "Really? Miss Constantine seems to be very familiar with Mr. Fairmont."

"Yes, he lives next door to my house, so he often visits us. But Mr. Edward doesn't like people calling him Fermont. He said that his surname is now Gary." Anna said unconsciously.

"I'm not sure about this, after all, we've only just met." Miss Bonnie pointed out.

I was taken aback by this weird development before me, but it wasn't over yet, and soon someone came to visit my house again.The first person to come was Mike. He kissed Anna's hand under my disapproving gaze. The affectionate gaze and chanting praise made my skin crawl.

He went through the door, and Mr. Laurent was behind him.

"Pastor Constantine, long time no see, I'm here to disturb you again." He said honestly.

"My dear friend, welcome, please come in." I warmly hugged Mr. Laurent, and then welcomed him into the door.Of course my favoritism earned Mike a dissatisfied stare.

Before we were seated together, Mr. Edward, who knew the way well, came in without us having to stand up to greet him. He took off his hat and said with a smile: "Today is really a good day, even Mr. Constantine has a party here. Why didn't you notify me in advance?"

I almost had the urge to put my hand on my forehead. This group of people plus their accompanying servants and grooms made this small rented house of mine almost burst.