[Comprehensive Classics] Detective Mary

Mary was still in a daze until the coachman took the three Bennet sisters to the Hale family mansion.

The young doctor who just acted out of righteousness turned out to be Dr. John Watson?

The suddenness of the incident caused Mary to feel as if she was in a dream when she recalled the scene just now.

Because the unloading worker's wound needed to be treated, Dr. Watson, who claimed to be from the family, did not have time to talk to Mary.After learning that Mary lived in the local Mr. Hale's house, Dr. Watson hurriedly followed a few kind-hearted people to bandage the wound of the unloading worker.

The two people may not meet for 5 minutes, not to mention that [-]% of the time is spent on urgent wound treatment.Thinking back carefully...Mary is not quite sure that she remembers Dr. Watson's appearance, but only remembers that his voice is very nice, with convincing firmness and gentleness.

That's Dr. Watson!

Sherlock Holmes' most trusted lifelong friend and his most capable assistant. In the original book "The Collection of Sherlock Holmes", Dr. Watson has been in a state of idleness after he was injured and retired from Afghanistan. After he recovered from his injuries, he met the detective through a friend's introduction.

But he didn't mention it in the story, and he had been to Milton himself.

When Miss Margaret Hale opened the door, Mary hadn't recovered from the shock of "seeing Dr. Watson".

Fortunately, she was not the only one who was confused this time.

Having encountered such a bloody accident when they left the train station, Catherine and Lydia were also in a daze, completely terrified.

As soon as Margaret opened the door, she saw three young ladies with surprised and embarrassed expressions.

She looked Mary up and down, and saw bloodstains on Mary's hands that were not wiped clean, and the skirt was also stained with mud and mottled stains.

Miss Hale's expression changed at once.

The heroine of "North and South", Margaret Hale, has a beautiful appearance, but she is different from the gentle Jane and the charming Elizabeth.She has a round face, plump but exquisite body, not only has the delicate and docile characteristics of southern girls, but also has a bit of stubbornness and boldness between her eyebrows and eyes.

She stepped forward and stopped the three Miss Bennet: "Wait!"

Mary:? !

Mary was taken aback by being directly blocked from the door by her, but she finally came to her senses.

Miss Margaret Hale walked out of the porch with her skirt in her hands, and she stopped in front of Mary: "Are you the three ladies of the Bennet family?"

"Yes." Seeing her anxious tone, Mary was slightly vigilant, "I am Mary Bennet, and this is my sisters Catherine and Lydia. Are you Miss Margaret?"

"What's going on with you guys?!"

When Margaret heard Mary's confirmation, she directly grabbed Mary's hand regardless of the etiquette she first met.

Hey?

At first Mary thought that Margaret was going to reprimand, but soon she realized that the expression on Miss Stranger's face was anything but anger or contempt.

Mary was bewildered.She allowed Margaret to look herself up and down nervously, and Miss Hale looked terrified: "I'm taking you to the doctor, have workers attacked you? That's what I'm worried about, they're now— —”

"Etc., etc!"

Well, Mary probably gets it.

Her whole body was covered in blood, and the corners of her skirt were still stained with mud. Margaret might have misunderstood that they had been attacked on the road.

Mary had to interrupt Margaret: "We were not attacked by anyone, Miss Margaret, please calm down, it's just that when we walked out of the train station, we saw a unloading worker was injured by the cargo , I stepped forward to help."

Margaret: "...really?"

The lady of the Hale family looked at Catherine and Lydia. Catherine reacted quickly and nodded desperately: "Yes, Mary is amazing, and she is not afraid. She will help the unloader stop the bleeding and wait until the doctor arrives."

Margaret: "Thank goodness!"

Hearing this, Margaret let out a long sigh of relief.

"I'm sorry," she felt relieved, "I saw blood on your body, and I thought... it's fine, it's fine! Come in quickly, and let the maid change you into clean clothes, Mary."

She didn't call Mary "Miss".

A short episode invisibly narrowed the distance between Margaret and the three Miss Bennets. Perhaps she didn't even notice that she omitted unnecessary titles.

Margaret's sincere care and nervousness made Mary quickly fall in love with this Miss Hale. She smiled and said, "Please, Margaret."

After changing her clothes, Mary went to see Mr. and Mrs. Hale.

Mr. Hale saw the three Miss Bennets, first asked about the Bennets, and then couldn't stop praising them.As for Mrs. Hale, perhaps because she moved away from her hometown all of a sudden and came to the north, she looked a little unhappy.

But she was also very happy when the three young girls from the south stood in front of her. After talking several times, finally someone could accompany Margaret.

Margaret scolded, and then called the maids to go upstairs to find the residence of the three ladies.

Because of Mrs. Hale's poor health, Margaret has always been in charge of the housework of the Hale family.Mary talked to her for a few more words, and immediately understood why Mr. Thornton in the original "South and North" could love her to the bone.

Reasonable, neat and generous, easy-going and honest, and such a good-looking young lady, who doesn't like it?

"The house in Milton is not as good as in the south," Margaret said shyly to Mary, "I can only wrong you to live in the same room with me, and let Miss Catherine and Miss Lydia share the same room."

"It's ok."

Mary is not that particular about food and lodging: "At home, the two of them and I sleep in a room together. I have to thank you for saving me, otherwise I will quarrel with Lydia again."

Margaret laughed when she heard the words: "You can really talk, Mary."

Tell the truth.

But when we were at home, it was not because there were too few rooms or the place was too small that we crowded together.Rather, Mrs. Bennet gave birth to either one more or one less, but she gave birth to five.

Unless each of the five Miss Bennets shared a room, there would always be an extra daughter and three of them would have to share a room.

Anyway, now that Lydia has just lost her love, Mary doesn't intend to make fun of herself, and hangs in front of her every day to remind her of those sad things.

"Although the climate in Milton is not as pleasant as that in the south, the people here are nice," Margaret said. "It's just that the streets are not peaceful recently. If you want to go out, you must be very careful."

Uneasy?

What can be so unsettling in a small town?It's not the virtual world where Philip Luther lived in Mary's writing. When detectives go on vacation, serial killers come to the door.

Moreover, as soon as Margaret saw the blood on Mary's body, she preliminarily judged that the person who attacked her was a worker... Mary thought about it and got a rough answer.

"Have any workers gone on strike recently?" She asked directly, "Or gathered a crowd to parade or make trouble?"

Margaret was extremely surprised: "How do you know?"

The workers gave up the jobs they depended on to survive, walked out of the factory during working hours, and became potential attackers in the mouth of the unmarried lady.Such a situation can only be explained by the strike tour.

"How is the situation now?" Mary asked without answering, "Didn't it escalate into violence?"

"Not yet."

Margaret looked a little worried: "Fortunately, the people in the labor union did not allow them to use violence to appeal to demand, but the major factories have been shut down for five days. They said that the factory owners will not work unless they raise their wages. If this continues, What do the workers eat?"

It would be nice to have a trade union.

Mary felt a little relieved.

Mrs. Gaskell, who created "South and North", was an era later than Jane Austen, and she was a step further than her. Mrs. Gaskell's creation directly depicted the most acute social contradiction in the Victorian era, that is, capitalists Labor conflicts with workers.

Many of her works even reflected the chart movement that was vigorously carried out in Britain in the 40s and [-]s.In comparison, "South and North", which takes place in Milton, a small northern town, is already a novel with relatively moderate conflicts.

"The workers went on strike for two reasons," Mary explained, "either bad treatment or bad wages. The problem will always be solved, don't worry, Margaret, there is a trade union organization, I believe No one is stupid enough to attack innocent people."

"yes……?"

Margaret looked skeptical, but she responded immediately: "It sounds like you've done a lot of research on this, Mary."

Mary curled her lips, "That's why I'm here."

Margaret: "Huh?"

When Mr. Bennet contacted Mr. Hale, he only said that he hoped that his three daughters would visit his distant relatives whom he had not seen for a long time instead of him, but he did not tell them the purpose of Mary's visit.

Originally, Mary didn't intend to say anything. She didn't tell the Gardners when she was in London.

But listening to what Margaret said just now, she has a good understanding of the strike situation. An unmarried lady can actually know how the union organizes the workers to strike. It seems that Margaret should also know many workers and care about them. life, otherwise her news would be so well-informed.

So Mary thought about it, and briefly told Margaret about her experience in London and the real meaning of coming to Milton.

"The price of raw cotton in Liverpool has risen quite a bit recently," explained Mary, "and the mill owners have had to cut wages for their workers in order to maintain profits. Now both Mr. Bingley and Mr. Thornton are suspecting that someone is manipulating the cotton overseas." The raw material market, entrusted by them, I came to Milton just to investigate this matter."

"So you're a private detective!" Margaret said in surprise.

"Uh... let's just say so."

Mary did not consider herself to be Holmes' assistant, more so than the author who created the character of the private eye.

But it would be much more convenient to claim to the public that he was investigating the case.So Mary didn't deny it either.

"That's great," Margaret relaxed. "You must solve this matter as soon as possible, Mary, the current workers have no salary, and their life is really difficult."

"I'll do my best." Mary nodded.

"You really are a kind-hearted person," Margaret finally smiled a bit on her sad face, "I was afraid that I wouldn't get along with you, but I heard from Catherine that you would help me as soon as you got out of the train station." I'm relieved to have a stevedorer--if it hadn't been for the kind lady, she wouldn't have rushed to help the poor. How is he? Shall we go and see?"

"I think it's better to go and have a look."

Although he has been treated, he still needs to recuperate and heal.The workers didn't have so much time to lie down and rest. Mary felt that although she couldn't save all the poor, she was the one who helped the unloader, so she had to see what else she could do.

"However," she thought for a while, "I remember Mr. Thornton's surname was printed on the truck, so why don't we just go to Mr. Thornton?"

"Mr. Thornton."

Margaret's complexion immediately became subtle.

"What?" Mary asked.

"It's nothing," she shook her head. "It's just that we were a little unhappy when we first met. I went to visit him in the factory and saw him... beating the workers."

"..."

It seems that Mr. Thornton still has a bad impression of Margaret.

"Beat the workers, why?"

"I heard that he was smoking in the factory," Margaret said, "I think it's wrong to violate the rules, but it's fine to fire him, and beating someone is too much!"

is not right.

But smoking in a cotton mill... that's a hell of a lot of life.

Before Mary could express her opinion, Margaret shook her head: "Stop talking, I'll take you to see Mr. Thornton tomorrow."

Her fair attitude reassured Mary a little. It seems that Miss Margaret's character is exactly between Jane and Elizabeth. She is not as good-tempered as Jane and has no bottom line. It's much easier to talk.

Although she did not like Mr. Thornton, she did not delay the matter because of her own dislike.

The next day, Margaret performed her duties as a master and led Mary to Mr. Thornton's factory.

As soon as they walked to the gate, they saw a neatly dressed gentleman approaching. His eyes lit up when he saw Mary: "Miss Mary, I didn't expect such a coincidence!"

Mary was taken aback, and after blinking, she realized that this was Dr. John Watson who had a quick meeting yesterday.

This time Mary finally saw what John Watson looked like.The young doctor is gentle and handsome, and the resolute expression written on his face and his upright figure are enough to prove that he has a military background.Mary didn't notice that she was in a hurry before, but when Dr. Watson walked towards her today, Mary realized that he was walking with a limp.

It is clearly stated in the original book that Dr. Watson's leg was injured. Looking at him like this, it is obvious that the leg injury has not yet healed.

Mary suddenly had a general idea: It seems that Dr. Watson should have just been injured and retired from Afghanistan.

He walked up to the two ladies and said politely, "Are you also here to see Mr. Thornton?"

The author has something to say: I misremembered the pronunciation of the heroine Margaret's surname in "South and North" before. It was Hale, not Hill. After you Jiang Hua studied a second foreign language, your spoken English is really the same..._(: 3∠)_The previous article has been revised, sorry!

Let me talk about how hot it is, the daily update time is between [-]:[-] and [-]:[-], if I modify it, it will be later.The rest of the time update is to catch bugs, correct mistakes and fix bugs. If I ask for leave, I will explain it in the chat and comment area. Girls, it’s so hot to read it every night before going to bed~

There are a lot of typos recently, please bear with me, Jiang Hua is really busy in three dimensions, it’s not that I don’t want to add more, who doesn’t want to make money if they have money! !But I was so busy that I couldn't find the north, and I wrote it in a hurry.It will be fine after the end of the year. I will definitely add more updates in January. During this period, please be tolerant, girls. If you see typos and bugs, please leave a message to point them out.Jiang Hua saw it and revised it in time, I love you >1