gentleman's manor

Edward's words woke me up. I looked at Anna with red eyes. I lost all my strength and turned around to hold Anna in my arms: "Don't be sad, I won't let those villains go."

"No! No! You don't do anything, you promise me." Anna cried and said, "You promise me, I don't want you to do anything impulsively, otherwise I won't be able to live."

I took a deep breath and said, "I won't be impulsive, don't worry."

Anna wiped away her tears and looked at me with a smile: "I'm fine, I'm really fine, no one will believe what they say. You promise me, you don't do anything, you promise me!"

Seeing Anna's forced smile, I felt extremely painful in my heart, so I stroked her cheek and said, "I won't do anything, I promise you."

Then I told Martha: "Help Miss back to her room and take good care of her."

After Anna left, Edward and I went into the study.There is no fireplace in the study, so it is a bit cold, the sky is gloomy, without a ray of sunshine, it seems that a snowstorm is about to usher.

"I'm not done with them! It's not over!" I said, pounding the table with my fist.

Edward sighed: "What are you thinking about? At present we have nothing to do with them. Anna has been slandered by them, and we can slander them, but do they have any reputation at all? They have long been like crossing the street. Like a mouse, you don’t care about your reputation at all. And if you get too involved with them, people outside will think you are the same, which will drag down the reputation of your brothers and sisters even more, so it is unwise to fight against them.”

I held my forehead, feeling powerless in my heart. What Edward said was right, we really have nothing to do with them. Could it be that we rushed to the door to argue with them, and then fought to the death?

"Don't be in a hurry to retaliate, impulsiveness will not lead to good results, we wait slowly, there will always be a chance to deal with them." Edward said a very meaningful sentence: "A gentleman never forgets others' humiliation to him, a gentleman always Reciprocate generously to all."

After saying this, Edward looked at me silently, as if waiting for my answer.

I looked at him for a while and said, "Well, I'm not going to do anything impulsive."

"That's good, leave everything to me, and I will give you a satisfactory answer in the end." Edward said.

"I should have listened to you earlier, that Laurent is beyond redemption." I said angrily.

"It's useless to say these things now. Don't blame yourself. Besides, it's not necessarily bad. Let us understand what kind of person Laurent is as soon as possible, so that Miss Anna won't regret it after marrying him. It is only a matter of time to re-select a gentleman with both integrity and ability, and anyone with a little brain will not believe that kind of deliberate slander." Edward said.

Perhaps to reassure me, Anna is full of energy every day, and she doesn't see any loss of emotion at all.But I know that all these are appearances. Martha told me that she often cried secretly at night.I couldn't comfort her because she never complained to me about anything other than a sticker on her face saying she was fine.And Mrs. Daisy has moved out of our house, because John has found a new job with the help of the viscount, and now there is not even a lady in the family who can talk to her.

One night when there was a light snowfall and the streets were muddy, an unexpected person appeared at my door.

Mr. Laurent stood on the steps outside the gate with a face of shame, bowed to me and said, "Mr. Constantine."

"What are you doing here! Are you here to ask for a fight!" I glared at him and said, "I hope you are not so stupid as to think that we can live in peace after doing such a thing. Get in your damn carriage and get out of my sight , from now on, you are not allowed to appear at my door!"

"Mr. Constantine, please forgive me, but I can't help it." Mr. Laurent said with a sad face: "I love Miss Anna deeply, and I don't believe your brother at all, but my father doesn't allow it. My family My reputation does not allow me to marry a woman whose reputation may be tainted, and my work cannot withstand any gossip. Besides, my father strongly opposes it, and I must obey him, so please forgive me."

"Get out! Get out now! I don't want to see you again!" I yelled at him.

"I don't want to appear in front of you to upset you, but... I received a letter, which is really embarrassing..." Laurent took out a letter and said, "Someone delivered this letter in the middle of the night yesterday , that Mr. Burns should ask me to a duel, which is really absurd! To have a duel!"

I took a glance at the letter, and said to Laurent with a sneer, "Since it's a dueling letter, you can go ahead, or report it to the sheriff, what are you doing here?"

Laurent said: "Please don't make fun of me. How can I go to the sheriff? It will be ugly if it gets out. I am not timid, but I am innocent. This Mr. Burns is really It's too barbaric, and I don't want things to develop to this point, but is it my fault that your family is so chaotic? Miss Anna's brother actually reported his sister's reputation, who wants to offend such a bad relative? "

"Enough! Don't force me to beat you! Get lost!" I grabbed Laurent by the collar and pushed him to the ground.

Laurent got up in embarrassment: "Then...the duel..."

"Get out!" I stepped down the stairs and kicked him.

Laurent climbed into the carriage in a panic, ordered the driver to leave, and shouted to me: "I'm sorry, please forgive me. You must persuade that Mr. Burns. I won't see you until he calms down." his."

I breathed out a bad breath and went back to the house. Anna was running down the stairs. She asked me anxiously, "Brother, is that Mr. Laurent? What did he say?"

This silly girl, do you still expect that Laurent will change his mind?I stuffed Mike's duel letter to Anna: "He was still in France when he sent this letter. The letter arrived first, and I think it will be soon. In order to prevent any duel from really happening, I have to go out."

Before Anna could say anything, I put on my cloak and hurried out.

I don't think anyone but Edward would have informed Mike about my family.

When I arrived at his house, he was talking to a gentleman in his study. I waited for a long time, and Edward didn't leave the study until the gentleman left.

"What's the matter? A look of restlessness?" he asked.

"Have you written to Mike yet?"

"Yes." He said, "Before Mike left, he entrusted me that Miss Anna would send him a letter after she got married. He wanted to know if she was happy. But now that the marriage has been cancelled, I should also inform Mike. I'm afraid I can't confirm it for him."

"But now that Mike sent Mr. Laurent a duel letter, do you want to make things more complicated?"

Edward raised his eyebrows and said, "Duel letter? Isn't this very good? I was worried that you might have an accident on impulse. Now that someone will do it for you, I should feel at ease."

"This joke is not funny at all." I said dissatisfied.

Edward smiled and shook his head: "Don't worry, Mike is not that impulsive, he still expects to live a happy life with Miss Anna, how could he set himself up for a bastard, but a lesson is necessary..."

The next day, Mike, who had just rushed back to London, showed up at my house.

He looked very worried, and asked me about Anna's situation eagerly: "Is she okay? Can I see her?"

I looked at Martha, and Martha shook her head at us, it seemed that Anna didn't want to come out to see Mike.

"Don't worry, I'll go upstairs to see her." I said to Mike.

"I'm too impatient. I just want to visit Miss Anna to make sure she's okay. If she doesn't want to see me, I'll leave right away. I won't upset her." Mike said.

I went upstairs, knocked on Anna's door and said, "Anna, it's me, let me in."

The person inside hesitated for a moment, as if confirming that I was the only one outside the door, then she opened the door and said to me, "I...I'm not ready to meet Mr. Burns..."

As she spoke, Anna's big eyes were filled with tears. She wiped away her tears and said, "I'm embarrassed to see him. Did he come to laugh at me?"

"No, no, how can you think so." I hurriedly comforted her.

"I vowed to choose Mr. Laurent, and said that I would be happy, and then rudely rejected Mr. Burns. Now I have suffered the consequences. Of course he should come and laugh at my stupidity. I don't want to see him. I Don't want to see anyone," Anna cried.

For many days, the little girl had been pretending that nothing was wrong. Today, when she learned that Mike had come to visit her, she finally couldn't bear the pressure and cried out.

"Don't be cowardly, Anna. You are a gentleman's sister, a lady. You should hold your head high and face it bravely at any time." I patted her and said, "But if you are really afraid of seeing Mike, I will let you he is gone."

Anna stared at me blankly for a while, then sat down on the bed: "I don't know, brother Adam, I don't know what I should do. I feel ashamed to face Mr. Burns, why did he come to see me... ..."

"Anna, don't worry about this kind of thing. It doesn't mean that the marriage with Mr. Laurent fell through, and you have to accept Mike. No matter what choice you make, I will support you. Even if you don't get married, my brother can still take care of him. Your life. But when guests come to visit us, we can't be timid and hide in the bedroom without seeing anyone. Go and meet him, even if it's out of politeness..."

Ana hesitated for a moment, nodded to me, and left the room.

But when I went downstairs, Anna was alone in the living room.

"Where's Mike? Has he left? What did he say?" I asked Anna suspiciously.

Anna stood there blushing, and then stammered to me: "Wh... didn't say anything... Mr. Burns just said, said...he will come to visit tomorrow."

After speaking, before I could ask any more questions, she fled upstairs like a gust of wind.

I watched this scene in surprise, wondering what happened in this short period of time, why suddenly, she no longer rejected Mike.

From this day on, Mike came to visit every day, he only came for a short while, or gave Anna a small gift, or simply met, sometimes said a word or two and then left.But gradually, more and more smiles appeared on Anna's face.When spring came, we went back to Vernon, and Mike even rented a house in Vernon so he could commute frequently to and from London.

Until one day, Anna came to my study and told me coyly, "Mr. Burns proposed to me this morning..."

"Oh?" I looked at her and said, "So you said yes?"

Anna's blush turned into a big apple, she lowered her head and whispered, "I want my brother to agree first..."

"Actually, I don't have any opinion. As long as you say yes, I will say yes, and if you say no, I will say yes." I teased her and said, "Then what is your opinion?"

Anna pursed her lips and glanced at me. After a while, she finally said in a mosquito-like voice: "I...I am willing..."

I laughed, walked up to her and asked, "Have you really made a decision this time? I hope you can marry the person you like, instead of making a hasty decision again, and reluctantly agree to it even if you feel uneasy. .Although what happened to Mr. Laurent is very regrettable, but if you don't like Mike, we don't have to get married just to get married, do you understand?"

Anna looked up at me and said, "I've already made a decision, because Mr. Burns told me that he will wait for me until I feel at ease with him. If I keep not agreeing, he will wait for me forever."

She and I stared at each other, and I saw determination in Anna's eyes. She really made a decision this time, instead of being hesitant like last time.

I smiled and said to her, "Okay, go tell Mike that I'm waiting in the study for him to propose. It's such a pleasant thing to have a friend propose to me. I have to figure out how to make things difficult for him."

The author has something to say: In fact, when I read novels, I am also particularly annoyed by the plots in which the protagonist is suppressed and patient, and the best is jumping around and cannot be cleaned up.But when I wrote it myself, I always felt that it was unreasonable to open the golden finger too much, and I would unconsciously make the protagonist look like a white lotus.Acura will be dealt with severely, but there is a process.The article is not long, 10,000+ words, so it won't hold you back for too long.

Also, in this era, the criminal law was very heavy. Stealing property worth more than seven shillings was punishable by hanging, and even children had to be hanged.If you beat a gentleman, he can take him to court, maybe he will be sent to the United States if he is not careful, so gentlemen are gentlemen ==