gentleman's manor

In Quint Manor, Mrs. Jenny was trembling with confidence holding a letter.

"He didn't choose Catherine, he didn't choose her!"

Elizabeth grabbed the letter, glanced at it, opened her eyes and said, "He actually proposed to Claudia? That ugly monster?"

"Catherine said her sister Claudia stole the marriage," said Joseph.

"It's so useless! The ducks in my hand can fly, and Bai has a beautiful face." Mrs. Jane turned back and forth angrily: "I thought this girl was stupid at first, so I chose her because I was so stupid. I didn't expect to be so stupid. kind of level!"

"Then what should we do now? Go to Claudia?" Joseph asked anxiously.

"It's useless to look for her." Mrs. Jenny pondered for a while and said, "We have to work hard from her father."

A few days later, Vincent received an invitation from Quint Manor.

In fact, he didn't want to get involved in this matter at all. In his opinion, since the young Mr. Constantine is willing to marry her daughter and has a large manor that can grow cotton and linen crops, then it is a matter of whether he inherits Quint. It doesn't matter anymore.But this letter was written in an extremely ambiguous way, and there were some hints in it, which made Vincent a little worried...

Old Constantine was too sick to get out of bed, and he didn't have much time to wake up every day. Only Mrs. Jenny received him.Vincent actually admired this lady quite a bit. She was cunning and strategic. If she was a man, she would have accomplished a lot.But being a woman is not a failure. Doesn't this make old Constantine drive all three children of his ex-wife out of the house for her?If it weren't for the limited inheritance rights, this woman would have succeeded long ago.

"I really want to congratulate Mr. Vincent, you are so happy with your son-in-law." Mrs. Jenny said with a smile.

"Hehe." Vincent leaned on the sofa in a big way, but didn't speak.

"I'm afraid you don't remember our agreement now."

"Mr. Adam is unwilling to inherit the Quint Manor, what can I do?" Vincent shrugged and said.

"Quint Manor is hereditary land under the rule of England. How can those overseas manors that rely on redemption and lease can be compared. You should persuade him to come back and inherit the land." Mrs. Jenny said straight to the point.

"So you don't want the £5000?" Vincent asked.

"Haha, just kidding, of course we want to. The prerequisite for letting him inherit the land is that we have to get a reward of 5000 pounds." Mrs. Jenny said.

"You are just joking." Vincent said with a smile: "His manor in India can already meet the needs of my factory, why should I give you 5000 pounds for nothing to help him change to a manor that he doesn't want at all?" Woolen cloth?"

Mrs. Jenny looked at Vincent for a while, and suddenly smiled. Her smile was full of contempt and disdain: "I didn't want to do this at first. After all, we will cooperate in the future. But since you are so stubborn, I have no choice but to open it." Skylight has said the truth, how is your precious daughter Catherine doing recently?"

Vincent frowned and said, "She's fine, thank you for your concern."

"Oh? Didn't she tell you about her pregnancy? Silly child, how can you hide this kind of thing? It will be exposed in a few months. It can't be hidden at all." Mrs. Jenny laughed.

As soon as the words fell, Vincent's eyes widened immediately. He looked at the other party angrily, then picked up the black tea on the table and splashed it on Mrs. Jenny's face.

"I want to sue you for slander! You bitch! How dare you spread rumors!" Vincent cursed.

Mrs. Jenny took the tea calmly, then wiped her cheeks gracefully and said, "Slander? Your daughter wrote to my son herself that she was pregnant, and asked my son to marry her quickly, and asked me to show you the letter." see?"

"You're talking nonsense!" Vincent repeated in a panic, "You're talking nonsense!"

"Hehe." Now it was Madam Jenny's turn to do her best. She smiled and looked at this angry man quietly.

Vincent was panting heavily, and he wanted to curse loudly, but he seemed to suddenly lose his strength, and he couldn't even utter a word, because he knew that Mrs. Jeanne was telling the truth, so he couldn't help but accept it, and now he has Completely passive, the only thing he wants to do now is to strangle the idiot Catherine.

After a long time, he sat down on the sofa, took a deep breath and said, "What do you want?"

"I want you to persuade Adam to marry Catherine," said Lady Jenny.

Vincent's face froze and said: "This is impossible! He has already proposed to Claudia, you let him Catherine? You? Don't you want to!"

"That's right, it's what you think."

"Are you crazy?" Vincent said in disbelief.

"Hmph! I heard that you are a businessman with a lot of means? But now it seems that it is nothing more than that, you have no courage at all." Mrs. Jenny narrowed her eyes and said: "Think about it, when Catherine gives birth to an heir, Adam will be useless Let’s get rid of him, whether it’s the English manor or the Indian manor, they all belong to us, and how you want to use the manor at that time is not just a word.”

"But what if he doesn't agree?" Vincent said.

"Don't worry about it, you have no choice at all. Either agree to cooperate with me and we will share the benefits equally; or I will disclose your daughter's unmarried pregnancy, and you will never be able to climb into the upper class in your lifetime."

There was a thunderstorm at noon, and the road was muddy with pouring rain. On such a bad day, a man came to visit in spite of the wind and rain. This man was Mr. Vincent.

After he was welcomed in by the servant, he found that Edward was there, so he smiled and said to me, "So you have guests here."

"Oh! It's raining so much, how did you come here?" I hurriedly greeted him and said.

"Uh... I have something I want to discuss with you in detail." He glanced at Edward and said.

"Then please follow me to the study."

After I welcomed Vincent into the study, he immediately said, "I'm sorry, I know I've changed my mind once, but I can't marry Claudia to you, Claudia... She's not in good health, you'd better marry Catherine."

I frowned and said, "Mr. Vincent, I respect you as an honest businessman, but within three days, you have changed your mind twice, and it is such an important decision as marriage. You have disappointed me, I can pretend that you haven't been here today, and come to see me when you wake up."

Vincent gasped and pleaded: "My previous decision was too hasty. Catherine is countless times more beautiful than Claudia. You will be satisfied with her."

"Mr. Vincent, I feel very angry now. Can marriage be a joke? Besides, I am deeply in love with Miss Claudia, how can I change my mind and marry Catherine? If you insist on letting me give up Claudius Miss Claudia, then we have no choice but to terminate our cooperation, and you are not the only businessman who runs a textile factory in London, so please forgive me and see you off."

"No! You can't do this!" Vincent shouted, and then he said in a panic: "Claudia is seriously ill."

"Mr. Vincent, do you think I'm a three-year-old child? It's fine if you don't want to marry Miss Claudia to me, but you lied to my face. Please forgive me, I don't want to see you again, this door Just pretend I didn't mention the marriage." I rang the bell to summon the servant and said, "Please take Mr. Vincent out."

"No, no, I'm sorry, that's not what I meant." Vincent said hastily.

But the servant didn't listen to Vincent's explanation, and drove him out of the house directly.

Edward asked me: "You just kicked him out like that? Aren't you afraid to mess up your plans?"

I looked at the torrential rain outside the window and said: "The trap is called a trap because only greedy people will fall into it. Do you think those people will put such a large amount of wealth away? They will fall in by themselves sooner or later. We need it." Just waiting. If they really don't fall in, then... I'll wait for the heavens to clean up Dean, he doesn't have much time anyway..."

Vincent returned to Quint in a state of embarrassment, but within a day, his mood experienced several ups and downs.

He broke through the servant's block, went directly to Mrs. Jenny, and shouted at her with red eyes: "It's all your fault, you slut, now he doesn't plan to marry my daughter at all, he won't marry any of them, it's all because of you !"

Mrs. Jenny also panicked: "He won't marry? Why? Isn't he going to do business with you?"

"I'm not the only businessman who owns a textile factory. Why should he be picked by me!" Vincent walked up to Mrs. Jenny, slapped her across the face and said, "Your son hurt my daughter, and now you've made me lose everything I have." Son-in-law with money and status, I will not let you go, I will not let you go!"

The servants saw their mistress being beaten, and ran over in a panic to grab the angry Vincent.

Mrs. Jenny covered her cheeks, and said in disbelief: "You...you dare to hit me! Aren't you afraid that I will yell about your daughter?"

"Go and yell! I have lost my great opportunity because of you, and I will never be threatened by a poisonous woman like you again!" Vincent said: "If you are ridiculed by the upper class, you will laugh, anyway, they laugh at me It's not a day or two!"

Mrs. Jenny really panicked now. She was afraid that Vincent would really ignore him. Not only would the manor be lost, but even the money would be gone. She planned to blackmail Vincent with a large dowry.Thinking of this, she hurriedly drove all the servants out, and then apologized to Vincent and said, "I was wrong, Mr. Vincent. We are friends, and there is no need to tear ourselves apart for such a thing. It will be a huge loss for both parties." .”

Vincent was actually just bluffing, and he didn't want to expose his daughter's affairs, so he took a deep breath and said, "I want your son to marry Catherine immediately."

"Okay." Mrs. Jenny said: "Then the dowry..."

"You still dare to mention the dowry to me!"

Mrs. Jenny was annoyed, this old thing doesn't want to give a penny of dowry!

"Mr. Vincent, my son will not marry your daughter for nothing." Mrs. Jenny turned her eyes and said, "I know you don't want to make things worse, so let's talk calmly, shall we? My son and I are just You want an industry that you can get close to. And you want your daughters to marry decently, and you also want land that can produce textile raw materials, we have common interests, and there is no need to fight with each other."

"Since Adam wants to marry Claudia, let him marry Claudia. When Claudia gives birth to an heir, we will kill him and divide his property. Then you will have a hereditary The grandson who inherits the manor, you have the final say on everything about him. Think about it, Quint Manor, a large pasture and river, where you can graze sheep and open a textile factory for nothing, how beneficial it will be."

Seeing that Vincent was a little moved, Mrs. Jenny insisted, "I will let my son marry Catherine in a glorious manner."

……

The next day, Vincent came to the door again, and he brought his daughter Claudia.

Claudia threw herself into my arms crying as soon as she entered the door: "Mr. Constantine, my father did something stupid, please forgive him for my sake. My father told me that you have fallen in love with me, I want to tell you now that I love you too, and I cannot live without you."

Vincent said to me with an apologetic face: "Please forgive me for the stupid things I did yesterday, I have a fever in my head."

Claudia said again: "Father just feels sorry for sister Catherine. She cried and made noise after you proposed to me. Father loves sister, so he said what he said yesterday. Please don't give up my marriage contract." .”

Vincent hurried to help: "I will satisfy you in terms of dowry. What do you think of 7000 pounds? I can add more."

I watched their father and daughter sing together, and I secretly mocked in my heart, but I said: "I planned to visit you at home, but I didn't expect you to come first, and it was just my impulse to break the engagement. I like Claudia. Miss, how could you give up on her?"

"Everyone is happy, everyone is happy." Vincent said with a sigh of relief.

It seemed that all the misunderstandings were resolved, and we sat and chatted together in harmony.

The two father and daughter chatted and flattered me constantly, and cooperated so tacitly, as if they had rehearsed in advance.When talking about the management of the manor, Vincent seemed to mention it inadvertently: "I have always had a question, why don't you want to inherit the Quint Manor? What a magnificent wealth it is! Having it represents generations They are all gentlemen, and overseas colonies like India are simply incomparable."

I pretended to sigh and said, "There are many painful memories of my youth there."

"It's really regrettable." Vincent shook his head and said, "I always think it's a pity for you to give up the inheritance of the manor. It is a hereditary manor and a symbol of status."

Then, he winked at Claudia quietly, and Claudia immediately whispered in my ear softly: "Mr. Adam, no matter what, that is your father. Since he has repented, why do you Why don't you try to forgive him? Christ always taught us to forgive, and you're a good pastor."

I pondered for a while and said, "Actually, I've been thinking about this too. My father begged me many times to go back and wrote me countless letters of apology. Maybe I should forgive him and agree to inherit the manor."

Claudia's eyes lit up, and she said excitedly: "As your future wife, please forgive me for interfering in your housework, but how I hope our future child will be a gentleman who can inherit an English manor hereditary, compared to renting and buying The Indian colony in India is countless times more dignified, are you willing to grant this little wish of your fiancée?"

"Do you want me to inherit the estate?" I asked her, smiling.

Claudia blushed and said, "Yes, if you don't think I'm too vain, I also hope to be the wife of the manor..."

I sighed and said, "Okay, since you like it, then I agree to inherit the manor, if it makes my fiancée happy." Then, I showed a helpless but doting look, as if I was really a fallen man. A young man who falls in love makes compromises for the woman he likes.

Vincent glanced at his daughter with praise, and Claudia also raised her chin proudly.

"Then, you should act quickly, old Constantine can't hold on for too long." Vincent encouraged me.

"Okay, I will rush to Quint Manor as soon as possible." I smiled.

Mrs. Jenny received me with unprecedented enthusiasm. She cried and said, "Dean has been waiting for you. He is dying. He is just dragging his breath and waiting for you to agree to inherit the manor."

I went upstairs and saw Dean again, he was so sick that he couldn't even sit up, he could only wheeze and wheeze.

"Is...is it Adam?" He trembled.

"It's me, hello."

"You're here, have you agreed?" He said out of breath, as if every word he said took a lot of energy.

Mrs. Jenny sat on the edge of the bed, keeping her eyes on me.

I sighed and said, "I promise you, I will inherit the manor, but the person I am in love with is Mr. Vincent's youngest daughter, Claudia."

Dean said: "Any daughter is fine, as long as it is Mr. Vincent's daughter, then you should get married as soon as possible. After you get married, I... I will sign the agreement to inherit the estate with you."

"Yes, we're getting married in a month," I said.

Mrs. Jenny exclaimed: "One month later! Dean doesn't even know if he can live for one month. Can't you get married right away?"

"My friends overseas are coming to my wedding, and I'm still waiting for their boat, which will take at least a month," I said.

"Dear Adam, Dean is dying. His only wish is to see you get married. Can't you fulfill the dying wish of an old man..."

"Please forgive me, my friends are very important to me. To put it bluntly, they are more important than the gentleman on the bed. If you can't accept it, then I can't help it. In fact, whether to inherit Quint Manor is very important to me. It doesn't matter what you say, let's be honest, I agreed to inherit the manor just to make my fiancée happy."

Dean seemed to want to say something, but was stopped by Mrs. Jenny. She showed a frustrated look and said, "It's fine if you don't want to. Even if Dean can't see your marriage with his own eyes, he will bless you. Wait until tomorrow , we will send someone to hire a lawyer.”

"In that case, I'll take my leave first." I bowed and left the room.

The moment the door closed, Dean coughed violently, and then said weakly, "They... have to get married first. If they don't get married after signing the agreement, you will have nothing."

At this time, Mrs. Jenny's mind is full of plans to seize Adam's property after marriage, and she has already made a new agreement with Vincent, so she doesn't take her husband's thoughts to heart, so she comforted him and said: " Don't worry, they will get married, Adam is very fond of that Miss Claudia."

The next day I went to Quint with my lawyer and the local government clerk, and Mrs. Jenny brought in Dean's property lawyer.

In the hot and dark room, Dean was helped to sit up. He looked very tired and skinny.

"What's going on here? We're about to sign a contract, why is there a woman here?" the clerk said dissatisfied.

Mrs. Jenny said with a sad face: "My lord, my husband is dying, let me take care of him here."

"Nonsense! This is not a place for women to stay. Please go out now and don't waste my time." The clerk scolded.

Mrs. Jenny looked at me with displeasure: "Who is this gentleman?"

"He is the clerk of Kent County. The inheritance of the manor owner is not a simple transfer. A government notary must be present." I said.

Mrs. Jenny hesitated for a moment, but she withdrew anyway. Anyway, all her husband's current assets were transferred to her son Joseph's name, so she was very relieved.

The clerk didn't bother to talk nonsense to Mrs. Jenny, and directly ordered the servant to close the door.

At this time, there were five people in the room, except for the two parties involved, the remaining three were all bribed by me in advance.

The lawyer began to read the agreement document: "...Mr. Adam Constantine inherited Quint Manor according to the agreement..."

Then he put the document in front of Dean: "Sir, would you like to confirm the content?"

Dean tried his best to read the document, but after reading it for a long time, he turned to his lawyer again: "Just confirm it for me, I can't see clearly."

"Yes sir, then you sign here, and here ..." said the lawyer.

I looked at the old man in front of me, and couldn't help but sneer in my heart.That's why I procrastinated until the last moment, he's not going to live for a few more days, and now he can't even see his eyes.It was the same in the previous life, he was almost blind in the last few days of his life.

Dean and I finished signing the papers, and the lawyers and clerks signed their names on the papers.

Then the clerk put away one of the documents, leaving only one document on the table, which was the previous agreement to abandon the inheritance of the manor.

After that, Mrs. Jenny held this document like a treasure, because it was 5000 pounds.

Dean finally made arrangements for his funeral. Once he let go of the burden on his heart, he was about to die. He was lying on the bed breathing in more air than exhaling, and the doctor just shook his head.

After a day of coma, he suddenly woke up, like a flashback, he closed the door with Mrs. Jenny and said a lot, and then sent someone to call me in alone.

He was leaning against the head of the bed, his eyes were wide open, and his breathing was extremely rapid, to the point where he was out of breath.

"You are a priest...you will pray for me..." he said tremblingly.

As a priest, I have said goodbye to many people and heard the confession of many people before death, but to hear the confession of this man in front of me, I have obviously been looking forward to it for a long time.

"The mercy of God is boundless, please read the Confession with me: I confess to Almighty God... I confess to the chaste Virgin Mary..." I said slowly so that the dying could follow.

"I...I repent to the Almighty God...to the chaste...Mary..." He looked at me short of breath, his eyes were empty, and he just said intermittently, "I'm sorry father, I violated his Instruction, my wife Margaret...I left her alone...William...and you and Anna...I kicked you out of the house, forgive me, I have repented...for my dying sake Go... take care of your stepmother and siblings...they are good people..."

I stood by the bed and looked down at him.repent?This is his regret?It's ridiculous!What is the use of a dying person saying a few nice words to a living person?Could it be that if he repents to God, God will forgive the countless sins he committed during his lifetime, and then welcome him into heaven?There are no such simple things in the world...

Seeing that I was speechless, he said anxiously, "You...why didn't you say...God...will forgive me..."

I leaned over to his ear and gritted my teeth: "God will not forgive you, you murderer who killed his own son! You sent someone to kill William, do you think that a person like you can enter heaven! Anna sold to a bastard and conspired with your step-wife to kill me! People like you will be tortured by fire in hell forever. As God’s messenger, I represent God’s will and will never forgive you! Never forgive you!"

Dean's eyes widened, the veins on his neck popped out, he shook violently and said, "No...no...I didn't kill William...I didn't..."

"William was poisoned to death with opium cream forced into his mouth. Except for you, who is afraid that he will sue him for smuggling, who else would kill him? Are you a devil? You actually killed your own son! Are we your enemies? It’s okay if you don’t ask, why kill us! He is my brother, he is your son, he will kill us for a Mrs. Jenny! I tell you, I will not make you pay What you want, you want the best for her? Want to leave everything to her? I will let her have nothing, let her and her children have nothing, let them taste the pain we have suffered, they You will pay for what you have done!"

Dean stretched out his two hands to me with difficulty. He cried, with big drops of tears rolling down on his deeply sunken cheeks. His voice was hoarse, as if he wanted to call someone, but in the end his hands were powerless. fell on the bed.

"Don't... don't do this... I didn't kill William... don't... hurt them..." Dean was breathing fast, faster than the people who had just finished running, he couldn't even count, and it was inaudible .

I looked at him, and tears rolled down my cheeks. At the last moment, he still only remembered to protect those people, and he didn't have any intention of repenting...

"You have never really repented, so I don't have to forgive you, go...my father...I will not look at you for the last time..."

Dean stared straight at me with fear in his eyes: "God...forgive me...I don't want to go to hell..."

Suddenly, he shivered, as if he saw something through me.In an instant, his whole body trembled, and then he said in a hoarse voice, "Father...William...don't...I don't want to die...I don't want to die...I didn't kill you...Who killed you?" Are you... are you Jenny... are you Jenny..."

After that, his eyes slowly closed like oil lamps being extinguished.He was dead, lying motionless with a terrified look on his face.

Time passed slowly, I stood in front of the bed, facing him, tears kept pouring out, I don't know why, I couldn't stop myself from crying, and I didn't know who I was crying for...