gentleman's manor

Miss Bonnie seemed very excited about Edward's arrival, she looked at him tenderly, spoke compliments to him, obviously trying to win his favor.But Edward did not have the corresponding enthusiasm for her, only "thank you", "you are welcome", "you appreciate the award", each sentence does not exceed a few words.

Instead, he handed Anna a package as soon as he entered the door, and said to her kindly: "This is a new hat, a new product just released by the tailor, and it's your holiday gift."

Since our two families are very familiar, Anna usually asks Edward, who often travels to and from London, to bring her some new books and popular items.We feel that there is nothing strange about it, but in the eyes of some people, it is as unbearable as eating a fly.

Miss Bonnie witnessed this scene, her eyes flickered, and her gaze swept back and forth between Edward and Anna, then she took a sip of the black tea in front of her, gently opened the fan and said, "Anna, you are not sure about my brother's engagement?" Have you heard?"

Anna put down the hat in her hand, nodded and said, "Yes, I haven't congratulated Mr. Carlos yet."

"Aren't you sorry?" asked Miss Bonnie softly.

Anna's face blushed when she heard this, and she murmured, "What... what..."

"Oh!" Miss Bonnie seemed to realize that she had made a slip of the tongue, and covered her mouth with her fan: "Sorry, Anna, I didn't mean it, I didn't mean it that way."

Mr. Laurent is also from Vernon Town, so he naturally knew Miss Bonnie, and asked her strangely: "What's wrong?"

Miss Bonnie ignored Mr. Laurent at all, stared closely at Edward and said: "Anna and I are good friends, and used to come to my house as a guest, and my brother Carlos is also very close, and is a very good friend. Now my brother is engaged, but his fiancée is a merchant's daughter with no dignity. But the marriage was ordered by my father, and my brother can't resist. Poor brother, he doesn't even have the chance to pursue the woman he loves. If my future sister-in-law is It would be nice to be a gentle, beautiful, decent woman like Anna, but it's a pity that things in the world don't always go as expected..."

The room was silent for a moment, only Mr. Laurent looked at Anna thoughtlessly, and asked anxiously, "Is it possible that Miss Anna also loves Mr. Carlos?"

Anna blushed, fidgeting and shaking her head: "No, no, there is no such thing."

"Hehe." Miss Bonnie covered her small mouth with a fan: "Mr. Laurent, what are you talking about, you are so careless, how can you ask a lady such a question."

Miss Bonnie had a skill of conversation that no ordinary girl could even match.I have to praise her, she really deserves to be a girl from the aristocratic circle, she doesn't leave any clues when she speaks, but she can easily hint what she wants to express, and induce people to act or think according to her hint.

Mr. Laurent realized that what he said just now was very inappropriate, and hurriedly apologized to Anna, saying, "I...I'm sorry."

Anna shook her head: "It's nothing, you don't have to worry about it."

I was dissatisfied with Miss Bonnie, and I was about to say something sarcastic about her, but I heard Mike say: "The hundred-eyed peacock has colorful feathers, but unfortunately, no matter how gorgeous its skin is, it can't cover up the fact that she feels inferior, otherwise, why bother to show her teeth and claws. There are many people in the world who hate peacocks, and they will not ignore the beauty of other birds just because the peacock spreads its tail to block other people's sight."

Mike's words were extremely blunt. Although he used the peacock as a metaphor, he was obviously blaming Miss Bonnie, so that her eyes were wide open, and she seemed to be about to jump up from the sofa.But the other party didn't name her, so she naturally couldn't argue with Mike. Mike wasn't afraid of bad reputation, but she was. She couldn't spread rumors about her bad temper just because of a few quarrels.

So Miss Bonnie calmed down quickly. She waved her fan leisurely and smiled: "Mr. Burns is talking nonsense. Why did the topic suddenly turn to peacocks?"

She pondered for a while, then looked at Anna and said, "Have you visited Mr. Constantine at Quint Manor recently?"

Anna shook her head in confusion: "No, you know, we haven't seen each other for a long time."

Miss Bonnie shook her head and sighed: "Poor Anna, I didn't mean to accuse Mr. Dean Constantine, but he was too unfair to you two brothers and sisters. According to my father, Mr. Constantine was very handsome when he was young , has nothing to do with that Mrs. Jenny, so it is still like this after marriage. Not only does it make your mother sad, but it is also so cruel to your brothers and sisters. It can be seen that handsome men are restless and unreliable at all. Madam chooses a partner When you are married, you should still choose an honest man with an ordinary appearance, so that the marriage will be more stable."

Then Miss Bonnie looked at Mike with sharp eyes: "I heard that the church presided over by Mr. Burns has the most young ladies, and there are also many married women who come and go every day. I don't know where the church is. Anna and I should also go there often. Participate in mass so that we can meet more girlfriends of our age."

After hearing this, Anna glanced at Mike unconsciously, then lowered her head, as if thinking about something.

However, in just one round trip, the living room changed from full of gunpowder to the end of the war, and Mr. Mike Pence fell down gloriously, powerless to fight back.He couldn't even argue for himself, what could he say?Said that although he was romantic and handsome, he would definitely not be like Dean Constantine?Don't be stupid, Miss Bonnie didn't say anything just now, she didn't name her, and she didn't push Anna, wouldn't it be stupid to argue with her.

I looked at the furious Mike, afraid that if he really didn't care about arguing with a woman, he would be charged with bullying a woman regardless of whether he won or lost.So I hurriedly gave Mrs. Daisy a wink, and Mrs. Daisy immediately smoothed things over with a bright smile and said: "I heard that you have a lot of precious paintings in your family. I don't know if you have this honor. Work review one or two?"

It's time to get into talking about art, and lame advice or not is better than staring at each other like black-eyed chickens.Miss Bonnie smiled slightly and said, "You are too modest, I am very much looking forward to seeing your husband's masterpiece."

So that afternoon, we turned around some of John's oil paintings, and no one realized the far-reaching impact of this conversation at the time.

At a dance a few days later, Mike came to invite Anna to dance as usual, but the little girl leaned against me and curtseyed to him: "Excuse me, I don't feel like dancing right now."

Mike didn't care at first, and asked worriedly, "Are you okay? Are you feeling unwell?"

Anna shook her head and whispered, "I'm very fine, please don't worry."

However, Mike soon discovered that Anna just made an excuse to deliberately alienate him. When Mr. Laurent came to invite her to dance, she agreed without hesitation.

Mike stood on the edge of the dance floor with an ugly face, staring closely at Anna and Mr. Laurent.And he also had doubts on his face, as if wondering why he was suddenly hated.

Early the next morning, Mike came to visit, but Anna didn't leave the bedroom at all, and told Martha that she was not feeling well and couldn't see the guests, and asked the guests for their understanding.It was like this for a few days, and Mike couldn't help but came to me and asked me: "What happened to Miss Anna? Why didn't she want to see me? Did I do something wrong?"

Looking at Mike with an anxious expression, I remembered the conversation I heard yesterday.

In fact, it is not only Mike who looks sad every day, Anna also expresses a lot of preoccupation.She is just like a girl trapped in love, she has no appetite, and she has no energy to do anything.Once I saw her embroidering, but when I looked carefully, she was poking around with only one needle, and there was not even a thread on the needle.His eyes were also dull, and he didn't know what he was thinking at all.

She can't go on like this, so I asked Mrs. Daisy to ask her, after all, it is easier for women to communicate.Mrs. Daisy not only accepted my request, but also helped me hide in the cubicle and eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Anna, have you been worrying about Mr. Burns and Mr. Laurent lately?" Mrs. Daisy went straight to the point as soon as she came up.

"...Yes..." Anna hesitated for a moment before admitting directly.

I sighed from the side, and sure enough, the family still needed an older woman to accompany Anna. Mrs. Daisy asked as soon as she asked, and Anna would tell her generously.If I ask her, I don't know how embarrassing it will be.

"I was going to tell my brother that Mr. Laurent proposed to me yesterday." Anna threw a cannonball at me in her gentle and pleasant voice, almost knocking me out.

"Oh, dear! What a joyous event!" shrieked Mrs. Daisy, her voice uncontained with joy.

It's a real joy for a young girl to be proposed, especially after she's only been out in society for three months.

"Did you agree? Did you agree?" Mrs. Daisy asked her eagerly.

"I...I'm going to agree, but I have to tell my brother first. As long as my brother nods, I will agree to Mr. Laurent." She said.

"Mr. Laurent's family has an income of [-] pounds a year, and he is a respected pastor. If you ask me, this marriage is really good." Mrs. Daisy first praised, and then she changed the topic: "But you Why do you always show a sad face? This is not like a lady who has just accepted a gentleman's marriage proposal. Do you have any hesitation? Let me guess, it is because of that handsome and extraordinary Mr. Burns?"

"... Mr. Burns... also confessed to me that he likes me..." Anna said.

"My God! So you accepted the marriage proposal of two gentlemen at once!" Mrs. Daisy said in surprise.

Anna paused and said, "Yes, they all expressed their willingness to propose to me."

"Then you chose Mr. Laurent? Why? I mean Mr. Burns seemed... more respectable, and I don't see any obvious affection for Mr. Laurent. Do you really want to?" Got it? Decided to choose Mr. Laurent?"

"I didn't make an impulsive decision, it was the result of my deliberation." Anna said.

Mrs. Daisy sighed, and asked her solemnly: "Anna, do you love Mr. Laurent? Tell me."

Anna didn't answer immediately, she was silent, and it was a long time before I heard her say: "...Mr. Laurent is the most suitable person for me, he will be a good husband."

"Anna, you don't love Mr. Laurent at all, do you? I should have known earlier. No woman would look at Mr. Laurent with Mr. Burns by his side." Mrs. Daisy said sharply.

"No, Daisy, this has nothing to do with love. I don't think marriage and love are equivalent. No one says that you have to be married if you are in love. But I know that Mr. Laurent likes me, so he proposed to me. I I am grateful to him and very happy. When we get married, we will become relatives. Marriage will bring us a deeper relationship than the superficial love between a man and a woman. I will love my husband, love our children, love us family and we will have a very happy marriage."

The little girl's remarks shocked me completely. I simply don't know how this silly girl came up with such a strange idea. She actually called the love between a man and a woman a superficial thing. What made her have it? Such pessimistic thinking?