[Comprehensive classics] Darcy or Brandon

When it got dark and the candles were lit in Barton Manor, the Dasherwood family finally came.Mrs. Dasherwood entered first, followed by Eleanor and Edward, and finally Marianne and Margaret.

"Good evening." The Dasherwood family saluted Edward, and then Mrs. Dasherwood introduced Edward to everyone. From her expression, it could be seen that she was very satisfied with Edward.

"Mr. Ferrars, I'm so glad that you can come to our dinner. Let me introduce my family and friends to you." Sir John said, and then began to introduce his big family one by one.

Anne and Lucy had been hiding behind the crowd before, and when Sir John introduced them, Anne pulled Lucy out from behind the Palmers and his wife.Annie twisted her thigh with one hand where no one else could see, trying to make herself look very painful.And Lucy had a bad expression when she saw Edward, and she couldn't hide the anger on her face at this moment.

"Love...Mr. Ferrars, good evening." Annie greeted Edward with a hoarse voice. Her face was pale and she bit her lip, looking like she was about to cry at any moment.

Edward's expression changed when he saw Sister Steele. He looked very surprised and embarrassed. If it wasn't for etiquette, everyone thought he would turn around and leave immediately.

"Edward, what's the matter with you, do you know Miss Steele and her sister?" Marianne asked.

"Yes... yes." Edward nodded, feeling extremely regretful in his heart. If he had known Annie and Lucy were here, he would never have come here.

"Edward, I've never heard you say that you and Ms. Steele are friends. How did you meet?" Eleanor felt a sense of crisis in an instant. She immediately looked at Edward and asked, ignoring her usual dignity. image.

"We, we met in Plymouth, and I stayed at their uncle's house." Edward said, and then he barely recovered his smile and saluted Anne and Lucy.

Plymouth!At this moment, Sir John's family felt that they knew something embarrassing. They all saw the expressions of Anne and the three of them just now, and after hearing what Edward said, they immediately understood that Edward was the suitor Anne mentioned just this afternoon. , but he clearly made a promise with Anne before, but now he appears as Eleanor's suitor. No wonder Anne and Lucy's faces are so ugly, and Edward's expression is so embarrassing.

But I really can't imagine that the love of the two eldest daughters of the Dasherwood family is so shameful. Marianne is like sticking to Willoughby all day long, while Eleanor seems to be well-educated, but she will do something to meddle in others. emotional matters.You really can't tell what you look like!

The Mrs. Jennings family looked at the Dasherwood family with complicated expressions. In the end, Sir John squeezed out a smile and welcomed the guests into the dining room.

Due to the embarrassment of the meeting, the atmosphere of the dinner became somewhat silent.Although the Dasherwood family didn't know what happened, they also tacitly speeded up their meal and didn't chat at the dinner table as usual.So this dinner ended in less than an hour, and everyone felt relieved.

After sitting in the living room, even if you don't want to chat, you can't do it.But Anne and Lucy had pale faces and angry faces, and Edward also had forced smiles on his face. No one knew how to speak.

Mrs. Middleton did not let the children play in the play-room, but sat on the rug by the fire, for the atmosphere is always lively where children are laughing.She asked the servants to bring some games again, and asked everyone to choose which ones they liked to play. When playing games, they could always talk less and avoid some embarrassment.

"Let's just play with these few people. Let's just play cards. It's convenient and fun." Mrs. Jennings said.

Willoughby was not there, only the annoying Colonel Brandon. Marianne felt that nothing was interesting, and she didn't want to play games with a bunch of people who made her annoying, so she stood up and said, "I'm not good at playing cards. Let's have some music!"

"Of course my dear, everybody loves to hear you play," said Mrs. Dasherwood.

In fact, everyone didn't really want to hear Marian play those sad and sad songs, but they couldn't object, so they all agreed to her proposal.Marianne smiled and went to the corner to play the piano.

"I'm not interested in playing cards either, don't call me." Mr. Palmer said, stood up and walked to the fireplace, picked up the book he had been reading for the past two days and read it.

"Oh, Mr. Palmer, you have to read again, and it's really no fun at all." Mrs. Palmer said helplessly.

"What about the others, do you play?" Sir John asked, looking at the few remaining people.

Anne and Lucy were naturally not in the mood to play games. The two of them felt very upset when they saw Edward. Where would they be in the mood to play, they shook their heads to express that they did not want to play, and sat in the corner.

"Miss Steele, you're the only lady left, do you want to play?" asked Sir John.

Eleanor has been feeling uneasy since entering the room. She felt that there was some entanglement between Edward and Sister Steele. She was eager to know what was going on, so she said, "No, I'm a little tired today. , stop playing. I don’t think the two Miss Steeles would mind if I go over and take a rest.”

Annie was eager for Eleanor to come over so that she could talk about life with her, and she immediately expressed that she welcomed Eleanor to come and talk to them together.

"Well, we don't have a lady now, so there shouldn't be anyone else who doesn't want to play?" Sir John asked again.

Edward didn't really want to play, but he was a guest. After so many people refused the game, he didn't like to refuse the game, so he didn't say anything, so everyone else sat down at the card table and started playing cards.

Eleanor is not a person who is good at talking, but for the sake of her own feelings, she took the lead to go to Annie and said: "Miss Steele, because of Margaret's illness, I couldn't get along with you last time. It's a pity to have a chat. We don't know any young ladies in Barton, and I hope we can become good friends."

"Of course we are friends, Miss Dasherwood." Anne said not very enthusiastically.

Eleanor pursed her lower lip. She and Marianne didn't like Sister Steele very much from the beginning. She believed that Sister Steele felt the same way. In the past, she would never have bothered to talk to Anne, but Now she can only take the initiative. "Miss Steele, since we are friends, please call me Eleanor, can I call you Anne?"

"Of course, Eleanor, please call me Annie." Annie nodded, still not very enthusiastic.

"Anne, I heard from Mrs. Jennings that you and Lucy will live here for a while, so you are welcome to find me at Barton Cottage at any time." Eleanor said.

"Thank you, I will definitely go." Annie replied briefly.

Annie didn't seem to want to talk very much, Eleanor had no choice but to look at her and said tentatively: "Annie, you and Edward have known each other for a long time, Edward is a very easy person to get along with, I think you must be very good friends friend."

When Annie heard this, she knew that the topic was coming, she immediately lowered her head and stirred her hands uneasily, and said, "Eleanor, we just became friends, maybe I shouldn't take the liberty of saying this, but I've always been very frank with my friends, so I don't care about it." I don't want to lie to you. But I need you to promise like God that you will never tell anyone about our conversation, or you will get retribution. I know you should not make this promise, but I really don't want others to know it thing."

Now as long as Eleanor knows the relationship between Anne and Edward, it doesn't matter what guarantees are made, so Eleanor said: "I promise to God that I will never tell anyone about our conversation today, otherwise I will get retribution."

"Okay, then I'll tell you!" Annie closed her eyes, as if she had made up her mind, and said, "Actually... Actually, Edward and I are in a relationship."

"What?" Eleanor asked with wide-eyed eyes. She restrained her volume and tried not to let others hear her, but her expression could not conceal her surprise at all.

"Eleanor, we have known each other for four years and have been living in a manor. We were good friends at first, and then he began to pursue me. Of course I am very happy, but I know that his mother is unlikely to He promised our marriage, so he has been rejecting him."

Eleanor is flustered now, she knows that she should trust Edward, but she also feels that Annie has no reason to tell such a lie that can be easily exposed, so now she doesn't know which one to believe.When Annie said that she had rejected Edward, Eleanor felt relieved and asked, "So it's okay with you now?"

"I don't know. Last year when he left Plymouth after graduating from university, he went to express his love to me. Of course I still refused, but Edward gave me something very important to him. As for what it is without him Sorry, I can’t tell you before agreeing. Anyway, Edward said that he would come to me after he settled his family affairs. Of course, he gave me some time to think about our affairs. I thought we would meet at least this summer, I didn't expect to meet him here. I don't know how to answer him now, but I think I will probably agree to him, if he still loves me as before." Annie said.

Eleanor breathed a sigh of relief. Just now she almost thought that Edward was cheating on her. Now after hearing what Annie said, Eleanor knew that Edward had not cheated on her. His behavior of pursuing her in Nolan Manor had already shown that he was no longer He loved Anne no more, he loved her now.Eleanor felt a little proud in her heart, because Edward finally chose her.As for such an important token, it is estimated that Edward will ask Annie to go back in the next few days.Thinking of this, Eleanor glanced at Anne sympathetically, how sad she must be when she knew that Edward had another love.

Although the sympathy and pride in Eleanor's eyes just flashed, Annie saw it clearly, she snorted coldly in her heart, stood up and said to Eleanor: "Eleanor, let's stand up and walk .”

"Okay." Eleanor nodded, then stood up and took Anne's hand and started walking in the living room.

Annie had Edward's pocket watch around her wrist. When they walked to the card table, Annie took out the pocket watch and looked at it casually. quick."

As soon as Edward looked up, he saw his pocket watch, and the action of playing cards in his hand paused. He didn't know what Annie meant by taking out this pocket watch now, but he knew that Annie definitely didn't intend to return it to him.Edward was puzzled, so he became cautious in his actions. He was afraid that he would accidentally do something to annoy Annie, and in the end it would take longer for the pocket watch to return to him.