[Pride and Prejudice] Second Marriage

They arrived at Rosings Gardens in the morning.

Passing through beautifully laid out gardens, the magnificent Rosings Mansion appears in front of you. It is a typical Gothic building, far more magnificent than the elegant Bradley.

When Juliet walked into the living room, a lady dressed as luxuriously as the mansion was standing in front of the fireplace. When she heard the announcement from the butler, she immediately turned around, and the first thing she saw was Juliet. She went up and down expressionlessly. I looked at it for a while.She was tall, with a well-preserved complexion even in her old age--she looked a little like Darcy.It is a slightly exaggerated bun, decorated with a headdress made of feathers.

"Darcy, my dear nephew, it's been a long time again." After looking up and down at Juliet like this, Lady Catherine raised her head and walked towards Darcy, and stretched out her hand, "I always look forward to your coming to Rosings. "

Darcy stepped forward, took her hand and kissed it, got up and said, "Auntie, this is Juliet."

Juliet lowered her head and saluted Lady Catherine, "Hello, madam."

Madam Catherine gave a short ooh, then shifted her gaze to Juliet, and spit out a sentence like a reward, "Hello."

Everyone was silent for a moment, and Darcy felt strange for Mrs. Catherine's abnormality-whether it was the first time they met or not, she was always a person who talked and talked at length.

"Cousin Darcy!" A gentle voice sounded in the drawing room.A woman with a slightly plump figure——Ms. Annebrook leaned out half of her body from behind Mrs. Catherine. She held the back of the sofa apologetically, "Sorry, I was too close to the warm fireplace, and I accidentally leaned Fell asleep on the couch."

"You can rest a little longer, my dear, little George is too much of a fuss about his mother," said Lady Catherine. "No one here will accuse you of being rude." After she finished speaking, she glanced at Juliet.

"Of course not, ma'am." Juliet said immediately after receiving the cue, and she saw Mrs. Brook smiling at her apologetically.

The four of them sat down on the sofa again. At first, the atmosphere was not very enthusiastic, only Mrs. Brooke's gentle voice was heard asking about their itinerary along the way, and Mrs. Catherine occasionally inserted a sentence or two of her dissatisfaction with the stations along the way and the concerns of the relevant personnel. not dedicated.

until they had lunch.

"I invited Mr. and Mrs. Collins for afternoon tea—they are my helpful assistants in managing the diocese. I am always happy to maintain close and friendly contacts with them. This is very important for a diocese administrator." Mrs. Catherine paused Suddenly, he said to Juliet, "Miss Stocker, I noticed that you are young, and I'm afraid you have little experience in this field."

"Yes," replied Juliet honestly, "my father always took care of those things."

"Only relying on a careless man! Oh, this is completely unworkable," Madam Catherine raised her voice immediately, as if she had finally found the joy of chatting. She looked at Juliet and said, "This is what young girls usually do when they get married and head their own households. I have not realized that a gentle and careful woman plays a huge role in the management of the parish. I have to say, Miss Stocker, that I am better than your father in this regard. When I was not married, I often took her in a carriage in the village to listen to the troubles and misfortunes of some residents, let her watch and learn how to solve their problems, and mediate disputes between them-now Anne does It's fantastic and totally sets a good example for young wives."

Mrs. Brooke's face was so red that her mother praised her. She was different from Mrs. Catherine's bright and profound features. She was a quiet beauty. She didn't refute her mother's opinion, she knew it was all out of love for her child-when Mr. de Baubert, her father died, and her mother had only a sick girl like her, Mrs. Catherine owned His heart and soul were poured into her.

At this time, the butler informed the Collins couple to come to visit.

"They must know that I have guests here. Mr. Collins is always worried that after Anne gets married, I will be too tired to entertain guests by myself. Every time there are guests, Mrs. Collins will come to help me. I actually I have told them many times that I can handle it—always be so polite. This is also the reason I have such a good relationship with your helpers, they don’t want to repay you and help you all the time.” Mrs. Catherine seemed to be explaining to everyone, Why did they come an hour earlier than the stipulated afternoon tea time, "Ms. Collins is a qualified pastor's wife. She is strict and kind in her work. Miss Stock, you can't imagine that she was like you when she first got married." , a girl who knew nothing about parish affairs, but now she's smart and capable--except for a few trivial things, of course she's doing a good job. Everyone praises her."

Juliet smiled and complimented, "You must have made great contributions."

"I provided a little help, of course, maybe more than a little." Lady Catherine pursed her lips tightly, as if trying to hide her complacency—the expression of pursing her lips seemed to be similar to Darcy, so Juliet glanced at Darcy , after he was confused, he quickly looked away and showed a smile—it really looked alike.

Darcy tried to figure out the meaning of Juliet's smile, but before he could see clearly, Mrs. Brooke whispered to him, "Cousin Darcy? Can you accompany me outside?"

"Oh, go, go," overheard Lady Catherine, looking lovingly at her. "It's a good idea to get some fresh air, but don't go out, it's too cold for you. Darcy, dear." Yes, you must watch her, just stand by the corridor window for a moment. I happen to be calling Mr. Collins to tell Miss Stoke how to run a parish well. You are all very good, and you don't need to listen once."

The Collinses came right in.

"Okay, mom, don't worry." Mrs. Brook said in a hurry. She felt a little headache when she heard Mr. Collins' various compliments.

Darcy seemed to want to say something, but he glanced at Juliet who had no sense of crisis, and swallowed his words silently. During the limited time with Lady Catherine, he found that if he talked more, Then there are many places where his wife is likely to be picked on.He decided that he was better off saying nothing as usual.

"Dear Madam, I can't imagine why your complexion is so good. I must learn from you so that my dear Charlotte can also have your demeanor." Mr. Collins said after saluting Immediately complimented.

"It's not a big deal, as long as you keep doing what I say," Lady Catherine replied. "This is my nephew Darcy's fiancée, Miss Stoke. She's an Earl of high birth." Miss."

"This can be seen from the cultivation of this lady's temperament. I didn't expect that I would meet another noble woman after meeting you and the distinguished Mrs. Brooke." Mr. Collins said happily, as if he could To see a countess alive was a matter of great joy to him.

Mrs. Catherine nodded reservedly, and she said to the woman sitting next to this gentleman with a serious expression but an exaggerated tone, "Oh, Mrs. Collins, would you like to guide the cook to make some small snacks you sent last time? Annie likes it very much, but the cook couldn't make it after several attempts, I know you are ingenious, and you have always been outstanding in this aspect."

"Certainly, my pleasure, ma'am." Mrs. Collins stood up.

Juliet didn't know if she had given herself a quick glance the moment she got up, but she was a small woman, and every movement she made was as nimble as a leaping white dove.

"Mr. Collins, you have come at a good time. I hope you can teach Miss Stocker. You can tell her some parish affairs."

Listening to the conversation behind her, Mrs. Collins walked towards the kitchen with her own thoughts in mind. When she was about to turn a corner ahead, a low voice jumped into her ears because of a familiar name, making her Can't help but stop.

"...I know that mentioning Cousin Fitzwilliam in this way will inevitably make you think of sad things, but we are all relatives. Although my mother didn't say it, she really felt sad for him in her heart. She has never had a good impression of India. I'm afraid he'll get some messy illness there—but there's been no news about him..." The voice was soft and gentle, as if full of compassion, and Mrs. Collins knew it was the least offensive voice. She sometimes subconsciously imitated the owner of this voice when visiting the poor in need in the parish.

"He's not in India." Another deep male voice sounded, "He didn't actually go to India."

"Oh!" Madam Brook's voice was full of surprise, "Then he..."

"He went to the United States." Darcy's voice was low and his speech was very fast, "He sent me a letter after he arrived in the United States, telling me that this was his decision after thinking day and night. His sudden unknown behavior changed the lives of many people. There was no reason for him to return to India as if nothing had happened. He decided to use his limited property to create his own wealth in another more free arena and married A girl who was also hurt by it."

Mrs. Collins didn't react for a while, but she heard Mrs. Brooke ask hurriedly, "You mean Elizabeth is also in the United States?"

Mrs. Collins put her hand over her mouth in surprise, and it was a moment before Darcy's voice replied, "Yes. He has met her."

Mrs. Collins suppressed her excitement for her friend, and made her eavesdropping more cautious.

"It never occurred to me," said Mrs. Brooke, "that your tolerance astonished me—of course, you have this gift of forgiveness from childhood. I couldn't imagine it at all." She seemed to be a little incoherent, thinking for a long time before continuing Said, "Now it seems that you deserve more sympathy. You know, our family, including myself, did not like your original wife-forgive my directness, but I always feel that it is because of her attitude towards us. Not pleasing. When a person doesn't like you, and she is not good at hiding, you can easily see it. Oh, let's not mention whether Fitzwilliam's approach is reasonable or not, just thinking of Elizabeth, I Can't imagine her being entangled with our family now. I have to blame Cousin Fitzwilliam for trying to make up for Elizabeth - someone who made the same mistakes as he did and ignored yours Feeling—you're such a victim. Don't you mind at all?"

Darcy was silent for a moment before saying, "I'm not a victim, you don't need to put sympathy and pity on me at all, except for the loss of Pemberley's reputation for a certain period of time, everything else is fine, and this The matter was also settled very well. I hope she can be happy - which is actually one of the reasons why I insisted on divorcing her. If she bears the name Darcy forever, she will have to hide because of this incident. Depressed all her life in the manor. She is a good girl, kind and innocent, with delicate and sensitive feelings, and yearns for freedom." He paused, "You know that regret can ruin a person's life, and I don't want Pemberley to be buried The grave of her positive emotions. As for Jim, he made amends to me, the so-called victim, by saying that he would never appear in front of me in his life.--that's why I didn't tell you, and I hope you are equally conservative You don’t need to tell your mother about this matter, or wait for him to marry Li Qi—she is now Mrs. Will, a pseudonym, and it’s easy to do with some effort and money.”

"Poor Cousin Fitzwilliam." Mrs. Brooke said sadly, she paused for a moment, and asked softly, "Do you still love her?"

"No," replied Darcy quickly, "she will be my friend, not my lover."

"I should be glad of your remark," said Mrs. Brooke, "otherwise the girl in the drawing-room should be more pitiable. Miss Stocker is a rather young girl."

Darcy smiled softly, "Annie, put your sympathy on those who really need it! She is different from Elizabeth, do you know the biggest difference—she is not kind at all." He said Inexplicably, I added another sentence in my heart, maybe this is also one of her fascinating places.

"Oh!" Mrs. Brook was inexplicably surprised, "I have no idea what you are referring to..."

"She's calm and thoughtful—although she often comes late after she's done something impulsive, even so, her sense is the best for a girl her age, and some thoughts would scare me " Darcy hooked the corners of her lips, and his eyes looked out the window, "She has a clear direction, and she has no illusions about love. She thinks we can be good marriage partners——I had always hoped to say to Elizabeth Knows that. But Juliet knows it, she knows it from the beginning."

"It seems that you know her very well." Mrs. Brook felt a pitiful sour smell from his words, she looked at him with some thoughts and said, "Cousin Darcy, my sympathy must be given to One. I sincerely hope that you will win the heart of your future wife some day." She put her hand on his arm. "Now let us go back, Miss Stocker is being taught by her mother--hope She has been patient."

In fact, Darcy was also worried about this, and he returned to the drawing room with Mrs. Brooke without any objection. —At the same time, Mrs. Collins deftly slipped into a side cubicle.

When they returned to the drawing-room, Mr. Collins was in the midst of a discourse, and a good deal of what he was doing at the parish to promote the kindness of the neighbourhood, and it was by his conscientiousness that he kept the inhabitants on good terms.

There was a slight smile on Juliet's face, and she seemed to be listening carefully-but Darcy knew that her expression was hollow, and she was completely distracted.

Lady Catherine was very satisfied with this, and she had affectionately called her "Juliet" at afternoon tea, and in the next two weeks, she even took Juliet in a carriage as she did with Lady Brooke. Tour the parish like a queen.

When their visit at Rosings was over, Lady Catherine said to Darcy, "Juliet is a good girl, gentle, patient, and respectful--not at all of that absurd self-respect that is repulsive to look at. Of course, she is far from being impeccable, and her talents are far from Miss Metcal's. I would have liked her to be your wife. However, her pretty face makes up for that-I can totally Expecting the future Miss Darcy to be more talented than her mother while inheriting her looks, I must start looking for a good governess now - I have always been good at this, Miss Metcal's new family I found the teacher for her a few years ago, and look how much better she is than before."

"I didn't expect you to get Lady Catherine's favor at all." Darcy said on the return carriage.

"It's actually very simple," Juliet smiled slightly. "She is an elder. As long as I never talk back, I will answer what she says. You are right, madam."

Darcy sarcastically said, "You have always been such an open-minded and studious student, but sometimes you are not so obedient when facing your mentor in life."

"Oh yes," she replied.

"Since you have realized your mistake, you should correct it humbly."

"You are right, sir."

Darcy hesitated and said, "Are you answering me with the answer to Lady Catherine?"

"Yes, sir, you have already seen this." She blinked her eyes and said solemnly.

Darcy turned his head out of the carriage window angrily. He felt that sometimes it was not a good thing for her to talk back to him, and it was much better than her perfunctory attitude.

The author has something to say: ***

Today's 5000-word update, although not as much as the double update... Forecast in advance, tomorrow is the wedding.

Thanks to Xiumijiang for mine, and also to Dhaka, jane, pumpkin, brain-damaged fourth master fan, Yasmine, neko, Manman, Xiaoye, drink a cup of scented tea, flowers, flowers, grape seeds... and many other girls Support~~ What a group~~