The Sensory Animals of Ston Hill

The apples that have survived a winter in the cellar are picked out of them, still plump and juicy, but not eaten, but arranged on beautiful plates in the form common in still life paintings, and then placed on the table for decoration.

This luxury undoubtedly seemed to Grace like wearing silk on a pig.

He stopped using his panniers, which allowed him to regain his former flexibility.He has always been very good at this, dignified and nimble passing a basket, or a basket, maybe you have been looking at him, marveling that although his status is low, but his manners and temperament are like a high-class man, you still look at him after he leaves. From his back he praised, but he couldn't find the basket or what was missing from it.

Grace neatly put one apple into the pocket hidden under her skirt, and when she was about to steal the second one, he suddenly remembered that the count stopped him from stealing.He hesitated for a moment, then picked up the second and third apples from the plate.The placement of the apples on the plate became obviously unbalanced, but Grace held the two apples in her hands openly.

The Earl knew he would steal, Mr. Wales had tipped him off.

When he and Mr. Wales were locked in the bungalow, they were thirsty, hungry, and very cold. Mr. Wales said: "It would be nice if there was wine."

After the two were rescued by the earl, Grace sneaked back to the butler Ward's bedroom with the tools he made with pins when everyone was afraid of that room and dared not approach it. Take a bottle of wine.

The skill of using a pin to pick a lock was heard from the peddler Jerry. Like many things Grace learned, I didn’t understand it when I first heard it, so I wrote it down first, and I figured it out naturally when I needed it.

Guan's locker has the best wine in the whole village, which Orisa told him.

Grace brought the wine to Mr. Wales, but Mr. Wales said that he was not allowed to drink, even secretly.Grace still respected his loyalty at first, but who would have thought that he would tell the Earl of Arundel about it instead of complaining behind his back, but in front of him, which made Grace feel very ashamed.He thought he would be angry with Mr. Wales if the Earl had not reproached him.

Grace told the earl seriously that almost all servants steal, and a servant who can't steal is worthless.

I don't know which layer of meaning in this sentence made the Earl of Arundel find it very funny, so he couldn't stop laughing.When he had laughed enough, tell Grace to stop stealing from now on, and ask him or Mr. Wales for anything you want.

However, the bottle of wine was opened in the end, and the count took a sip and said with emotion: "Sure enough, all the good things went into the servant's cupboard."

Grace took the apples to the backyard. There were three apples in total, one for him, one for Anna, and one for the horse Haimi.

Haimi is an extremely strong black horse, and its fur is as shiny as oil.It bit the apple from Grace's palm, and took half of it in one bite. Seeing that it liked it, Grace gave it her own apple as well, and finished it in two bites.Haimi ate to her heart's content, and happily licked Grace's palm with her tongue, making Grace laugh out loud.

Anna watched Grace give the horse the apple and felt very disturbed, but she couldn't help being a little envious when she saw Grace smiling so happily.

Grace turned her head and said to Anna with a smile: "You see Haimido loves apples! Hey, Anna, why are you always so sad?"

Anna cautiously handed the apple in her hand to Grace, "You can eat this one..."

Grace pushed her hand back and said that she was always bullied because she was too honest. She would do the night duty, clean the milk barrels, and leave everything to her that others didn't like to do. Now everyone is going to be lazy. , just leave her here.

"I'll ask Mr. Wales to transfer you to the kitchen!" Grace's eyes lit up, but then she thought that the kitchen is the place with the most oil and water in the whole villa, and it is also the place with the fiercest competition. at a disadvantage.

"Let me think about it again...or you will become the adult's bedroom maid?"

Anna shook her head in fright, "The servants brought by the count look extraordinary, I can't do it!"

Grace thought about it too, and for a while she didn't know where Anna was suitable.But he didn't feel worried, and said to Anna: "I'll ask Mr. Wales, he must have a solution!"

Anna looked hesitant, as if she wanted to ask something but didn't dare to say it.

"What's wrong?" Grace asked proactively.

"...Grace," Anna asked cautiously, "Are you the master's bedroom maid now?"

Grace thought about it, and felt that it seemed right to say so, so she nodded and asked Anna, "Will this bother you?"

Anna shook her head quickly, and said again: "Adults are different from others, you and..." She was still a pure girl, and she blushed when she said this, and said falteringly: "Anyway, no one says bad things... and before No one said those words anymore."

Yeah, no one says that kind of thing anymore: Calling Grace a witch got two gentlemen jealous over him and cost one of them his life; and no one's keen to discuss what Grace wore that night , is it still complete; of course, no one is worried that Mr. Wales is a murderer.

Now they say Grace is the virtuous Susannah, and Mr. Wales is the brave and helpful Samaritan.

Last Sunday, the priest first told an anecdote about a beautiful woman named Suzanne in ancient Egypt who bathed in her garden. She was peeped by two lewd elders and tried to defile her, but Suzanne resisted fiercely. .

Grace has always disliked the priest of their parish because he always speaks in one tone, and Grace gets sleepy when he speaks.Moreover, the priest and the housekeeper Ward are very good friends, and Grace thinks they are a kind of prudence.

Before this, Grace would never have imagined that their prudish priest would talk about female nudity in church.Apparently, the others didn't think of it either, and they all listened very carefully.

Suzanne, who was chaste and strong, refused to obey the threats of the two elders, but was falsely accused by the elders and sent to Pharaoh and sentenced to death.In the end, God told the truth through the mouth of a young man and returned Suzanne's innocence.

When Grace heard this story, she carefully compared it in her heart, and felt that her behavior of appearing in the butler Ward's bedroom in the middle of the night seemed to be better than Susanna's behavior of taking a bath in the yard during the day.Apparently the others thought of going with him again, looking at him with sympathy and understanding in their eyes.

Then the priest told the story of the Good Samaritan.

The stories in the Bible are indeed more shocking than the stories outside the Bible. After the service, a group of servants confessed to Grace and Mr. Wales at the door of the church. Feeling guilty for being as indifferent as the Levites, and promising to reform in the future.

Many people said this while crying.If it was before, Grace would probably cry with them, but now he can only try to imitate their expressions.

Not long after returning to the villa from the church, many large tenants and agents came to Mr. Wales with their accounts, and collectively expressed the hope that Mr. Wales could take over the duties of Ward, the previous housekeeper.They said it would be disturbing for them not to have a trustworthy person in charge of the land and business.

At that time, Grace understood that this was what the Earl said "Mr. Wales really needs."

Anna finally split the apple in two, and she and Grace each had half.Grace saw that she really wanted to be friends with herself, but Grace didn't want to make friends anymore for the time being, so she pretended not to see it, and she was leaving after eating apples with Anna.

"Grace." The count actually came to the backyard. He was concerned about the mud in the yard, and stopped at the end of the cobblestone path, waiting for his servant to lead the horse for him.

Grace ran over in surprise, stood in front of the earl, and asked, "Why are you here, my lord?"

"I can't find you in the house, so come here to have a look." The earl said while using a civilized stick to push Grace's skirt back a little, revealing two muddy bare feet, which made the earl frown .

Grace took a step back embarrassingly, and the Earl looked at him helplessly.He personally said not to let Grace ignore those rules, and it is not easy to go back on his word at this time.Fortunately, Grace was well-behaved and said, "I'll wash my feet right away and put on my shoes."

The earl was satisfied, and said to Grace: "I'll go out for a while." He has been going out recently, either to Maple Forest Villa or to further places, and sometimes he still spends the night outside.

At this time, the servant brought Haimi over. The count patted Haimi on the head, got on the horse, leaned over and patted Grace on the head, and then left.

Although it was impossible for the Earl to keep talking to him when he was in the villa, the adults always had a lot of things to do, but once the Earl of Arundel left, Grace would feel extremely bored.

He really has nothing to do now, and he actually understands why those ladies like to take a walk!It's just that he walked much farther than those ladies and ladies. He walked along the road outside the villa and arrived at the wilderness without knowing it.

The winter jasmine is almost finished, and now there are daisies all over the mountains and fields. Grace is tired from walking, so she squats on the side of the road and makes a wreath with daisies.

There was the sound of horseshoes in the distance, running fast.At first he wondered if the Count had returned.

But he soon realized that there was only one horse, and squatted back again, concentrating on fiddling with the wreath in his hand.

The horse passed him, stopped before going far, and came back again.Grace stood up and looked over.

This is the second time he has misidentified Alan Stone.

Alan Stone looked very different from when he left home half a year ago. He was wearing a military uniform and his shoulders were almost as broad as William Stone.He got off his horse and walked towards this side, and Grace realized that he was now so much taller than herself.

Grace wanted to run subconsciously, but she restrained herself rationally. Even if Alan Stone didn't have a horse, he couldn't possibly win.

Alan Stone walked this way, although he pretended to be indifferent, but Grace could see that he was actually very happy to meet her here.

He kept looking at Grace, and finally came closer and asked, "Why are you here?" Then, "I'm in a hurry to get home, everyone else is behind."

Oh, he doesn't know yet.Grace suddenly realized that he didn't know that he indirectly killed the butler Ward.

————— Note: "The good Samaritan" (The good Samaritan) is quoted from a well-known idiom and colloquial phrase in Christian culture, which means a good-hearted person and a brave person who stands up for justice.It comes from the parable told by Jesus in the Gospel of Luke: A Jew was robbed by robbers and was seriously injured.lying on the side of the road.Priests and Levites passed by but ignored them.Only a Samaritan passed by, regardless of the barrier, moved compassionately to take care of him.The story of putting a Jew in an inn at his own expense when he needs to leave.