aristocratic engagement

Annie let out a breath slowly, and the excitement of another village rose in her heart.She turned her head and greeted Du Li loudly, telling Du Li her new discovery. After getting a response, Anne tentatively stretched out her legs and stepped on the stairs.

The soles of the shoes made an empty echo when they collided on the stairs. Annie stepped on them tentatively and found that although the stairs were made of wood, they were very strong.She held the candle in her left hand, propped her right hand on the ground, and moved down carefully step by step.

This staircase is very long, and the front is empty in the darkness, making people unable to help but wonder if something will come out of it in the next second.

Annie just started to feel a little terrified at this moment.

Her heartbeat accelerated uncontrollably, she swallowed her saliva, and listened attentively, but there was no sound in the stairway.After exhaling, Annie quickened her pace and walked down the stairs.

Different from the winding passage above, this staircase extends straight and obliquely downward. After walking for a few minutes, Anne guessed that she might have left the range of the Earl's Mansion.

The unchanging darkness and the unchanging nothing happened made her no longer afraid at the moment, but instead felt full of interest, wondering what the earl was trying to trick?

When the candle in her hand burned to the last bar, Anne's feet finally landed on the solid ground.

There was another door in front of her, but this time it was no longer hidden in an invisible corner.This is an ordinary to simple small wooden door, which is ajar, and there is a faint dim light in the crack of the door - this is not the light of a candle.

Annie wiped the dagger at her waist with her right hand, and quietly walked to the door.

She leaned against the cold wall next to the door, let out a long breath, and pushed open the wooden door.

The candle went out with a "poof" at this moment.

There was no sound, and the only change was a faint light, allowing her to see the world clearly.Annie turned sideways, moved to the door, was shocked by the scene inside the door and couldn't speak.

There was nothing shabby in this spartan, undecorated room.

What caught the eye was coins all over the floor, all kinds of coins were displayed eloquently, as if not worried about the presence of thieves, they were spread from the entrance of the door to the tables, chairs and bookcases.Anne wanted to swim through the sea of ​​coins, but could hardly find a place to stay.

The dim brilliance came from the reflection of the metal coins, and there was a tiny hole in the corner above the head, from which oblique light penetrated into the secret room.

Holding her skirt, Annie groped hard and swayed from side to side to the desk. She saw that it was covered with thick ledgers, abacus, quill pens, ink bottles and notes, all placed in the most convenient positions, as if It's as if the person who sits here and counts his business dealings and his wealth has never left.Only the thick dust and the candlesticks burned to the root tell the visitors that no one has been here for a long time.

Annie looked at the familiar arrangement in front of her, and felt blessed. She bent down and opened the bottom drawer on the right hand side, and she took out a handful of candles and matches.She choked on the dust and sneezed twice, then lit the candle.

Now, this room is clearly displayed in front of my eyes.

Annie picked up the notes on the table, not daring to shake them, and flipped them lightly. The inside was almost completely blank, with only a vague inscription name left on the title page.

Annie blinked, and took a closer look at the candle.

"Louis de Bauer."

Anne woke up suddenly from her contemplation, and she suddenly remembered that she had told Du Li when she came down just now, if she hadn't gone up in half an hour, she should go to Darcy.She took out her pocket watch and found that it was almost the appointed time.

Annie glanced at the room with complicated eyes, and finally hugged the blank notebook in her arms in a hurry, and returned the same way holding the candle.

What she didn't know was that the moment she returned to the room, the large bookcase behind the desk was slowly pushed away.

A person walked into the room, looked at the taken notes and the table furnishings that had been moved, and smiled.

Annie returned to the room in disgrace, which frightened Du Li very much.Annie felt the shape of the object in her arms, and immediately sent Du Li to prepare bath water for her.

After watching Du Li leave the room, she quickly walked to the small study in the suite, put the notes in a locked box, and put them together with her books at the bottom of the drawer.

She thought for a while, then took out a stack of special letter paper with the Phoenix logo printed on it from the small box, and wrote a letter to the director of the Phoenix Textile Factory, Mr. and Mrs. Brown, under the pseudonym "Mr. Richter".

After Du Li arranged the bathroom, Annie handed the letter to her to post.

Annie soaked herself in the water, while washing away the dirt she had rubbed off in the secret room just now, while thinking about what happened after she came to London.In just one day, her mind was almost overwhelmed by new things.

She sent Allen back to the Duke's Mansion, and because of the new textile products, she was named by Mrs. Edgerton. In order to realize the whimsical idea of ​​the "club", she wrote a letter to the Browns. They got it right off the bat - it wasn't that difficult actually, there are men's clubs big and small in London, and likewise the ladies have their way of entertaining themselves.

Mrs. Brown has always been good at dealing with ladies and ladies, while Mr. Brown has a lot of experience in running factories, but at the same time, he may have neglected to keep secrets.

Annie still hasn't forgotten the cheating Mrs. Sterling she met at Rosings' ball. Starting from her father's factory, she followed the vines and found out the traitor who leaked the secret technology of the Phoenix factory.

Annie thought of the notes that she had dragged out of the box again, and she had a feeling that she seemed to be concealed by a huge secret, like a messy ball of wool.The Earl seemed to want to guide her to touch the truth, but he just put the thread in her hand, and the tangled knot made her clueless.

In such a dazed state, Anne lived in Earl Fitzwilliam's residence for nearly a month.

Within a month, the earl seemed to have forgotten the instruction about the "invisible secret", and pretended to be deaf and dumb despite Anne's express hints.Lawrence always followed his father to do things during the day, while Lance liked to walk in and out behind Darcy, and the family didn't have time to get together to talk until after dinner.

Anne was detained by the countess in the mansion, and her contact with the outside world was not interrupted.The letter brought back by Du Li told her that Mrs. Brown had followed her instructions and attached the "VIP card" of the Phoenix Club when sending the new gift boxes to the ladies this time, and expressed her sincere apology in the letter. It was neglected last time.The same gift box was also sent to the Duke of Bridgewater's mansion.

The countess fully kept her promise to Lady Catherine, and found a famous tutor in London to teach Anne-mainly etiquette courses.

Anne found it strange that she had already learned those things when she was in Rosings, and the countess had to measure the distance of each curtsy and the distance of each stride with precision time and time again.

She didn't know the answer until this night.

The countess handed her an invitation letter: "This is the invitation letter for Mrs. Edgerton's tea party. I plan to take you there tomorrow."

"Mrs. Edgerton? Ellen's mother?"

"Yes, you should have met her?"

Annie nodded. The lady left a bad impression on her, but Mrs. Edgerton didn't try to please her, and she took advantage of her instead.

"She used to be a half-invisible person in the aristocratic circle of London City. The root cause is that her background is not good. Now the Duke and Duchess of Bridgewater are not young. I heard that she had a serious illness before Christmas last year. Her The husband may take over the position of the old Duke at any time, and Lady Edgerton is slowly able to speak." The countess explained.

"This is the first time she has issued an invitation letter, and it is specifically stated that each wife can bring an underage lady to participate, so it is not a particularly formal social occasion. Your mother handed you over to me, probably for the sake of Such activities." The countess did not hide it, "For a lady like you who is not in London at all, every social interaction is a good opportunity to meet friends, especially..."

Especially those aristocratic wives who have unmarried sons at home can be known.

Although ladies can only dance with gentlemen and choose husbands from them when they are adults, no lady will let her daughter stay at home foolishly until she becomes an adult, and give up any possible opportunities to others.

The Countess of Fitzwilliam understood Lady Catherine's plan, but she didn't think that Anne had to hang herself from that tree—judging from her observations of how the pair of cousins ​​got along these days, there was more than politeness, but not enough intimacy.

Anne was still young, and it was normal not to have such a mind; and Darcy, no matter whether he knew the existence of the verbal marriage contract, did not show special concern, neither strongly opposed nor accepted it.

As far as the countess is concerned, she is not optimistic about the "marriage contract" between the two nephews and nieces.

Anne didn't know that the Countess had already had so many twists and turns in her heart, so she nodded and agreed without thinking much.She even felt that Mrs. Egerton invited her this time probably because of the Phoenix Club.

Seeing her indifferent and ignorant expression, the Countess only sighed inwardly.

Annie often stayed in that gloomy room for a long time in the past month, sorting out the randomly placed ledgers according to the chronological order on the title page.

In order to find out the direction of the room, she lit a candle and groped around the wall inch by inch, and finally found another door behind the bookcase.She put her ear on the door and listened carefully to the movement outside, and found that it was probably a deserted old street behind the Earl's Mansion.

Anne understood that it should be the secret base of Sir Louis when he was young. He could not only concentrate on planning his "business empire" in an isolated place, but also pass news to the outside world at any time.

The handwriting on the ledger left on the table was almost exactly the same as the posthumous handwriting she had seen at Lady Catherine's, the only difference was that it was more chic and elegant.

From this, it may be inferred that when Sir Louis met Lady Catherine, he was already friends with Earl Fitzwilliam?

In the afternoon, Annie crawled out from the passage in the closet. She had already experienced a lot and wore the same men's clothes every time—in case the secret room was discovered by outsiders, she would be much safer in men's clothes than skirts—from Immediately after coming out of the passage, change back to the lady's dress, leave the dusty men's clothing at the entrance of the passage and seal the mechanism.

But this will inevitably make her face gray. Du Li was arranged by her to deliver letters today, and there was no one to send her. Annie looked down at her pocket watch and saw that it was time, so she hurriedly wiped her face and put on her coat , "Boom boom boom" ran downstairs.

A figure suddenly appeared at the stairs.It was too late for Annie to brake, and she bumped her head.

"Hiss—" Annie's nose bumped into the sterling silver button on the man's chest, the pain made her eyes and nose ache sharply, and physiological tears welled up immediately.

Her two arms were firmly grasped, and she was easily lifted up, and she stood firmly on the stairs.

Darcy stood at the bottom of the steps and handed her a royal blue check handkerchief dumbfounded.

"Wipe your face, little cat." He pointed to Anne's cheek.

TBC.

The author has something to say: *At first I wanted to write more today, but I went to the dentist for the third root canal treatment in the afternoon. Due to practical factors, I changed the follow-up plan, and it took a long time to do it_(:зゝ∠ )_

I'll be in the trap tomorrow, and I'll try my best to make [-] a day (at least [-]), and post it after eleven o'clock in the evening.

*I don’t know if it’s because the code words are too cramped and I stare at the computer for too long every day, and now my eyes are numb and hurt when I face the screen for more than an hour.The sister who is a doctor said that it may be the cause of the stroboscopic... We don't know, and we dare not ask.But I plan to try voice input (?).

*A lottery of 2333 Jinjiang coins was held, and only one person was drawn to see which little angel is Ouhuang [-] (I also give out red envelopes quite frequently in the comment area, so I don’t want to split them up and share them equally)