[Comprehensive Classics] Detective Mary

Miss Bingley could hardly believe her ears.

Mr. Darcy is attracted to the plain Mary Bennet?

No joke could be more absurd than this--for God's sake, Miss Bingley was grateful to Mary Bennet for helping her brother catch the thief, but she was rude and presumptuous, bland and small Well, Miss Bingley despised her from the bottom of her heart.

In all fairness, except for the eldest and second daughters of the Bennet family, the other daughters are either mediocre in appearance or poor in cultivation, and they are indeed not worth dating.

However, Mr. Darcy even bluntly said that Mary Bennet "has a certain attraction".One must know that Miss Bingley admired Darcy for a long time, and when she heard him praise a country girl who was described as ordinary and could not stand the stage, the arrogant Miss Bingley suddenly felt uncomfortable.

"I didn't expect that," but on the surface, Miss Bingley still made a joke. "When can I congratulate you, Mr. Darcy?"

Naturally, Mr. Darcy was too lazy to talk to Miss Bingley. For the first time, he took the initiative to join the conversation between Miss Bennet and other gentlemen.This behavior made Miss Bingley secretly anxious, she gritted her teeth and followed.

As she got closer, she heard that their conversation was still about dancing and socializing.

Elizabeth was teasing Colonel Foster with a ball at Meryton.

Such teasing is very common in social life, so Colonel Foster didn't mind it, but smiled: "Of course I have no reason to refuse, Miss Elizabeth. Young ladies are always very energetic about the ball, aren't they?"

Elizabeth: "Most of the ladies are like that, but there are always exceptions."

Colonel Foster: "Oh?"

Elizabeth's beautiful eyes turned and fell on Mary: "There are also some ladies who prefer to study knowledge rather than dance, and just complained to me that women can't get into Oxford and Cambridge."

"Elizabeth!"

Reluctantly, Mary tugged at her sister's sleeves: "You made fun of me again. It's not that I don't like proms, but I'm not good at dancing, and I'm not outstanding in appearance. Instead of sitting on the bench, I might as well find something valuable to do."

"If it's meaningless social interaction," Mr. Darcy commented seriously, "it's really better to spend your time on more valuable things."

"...uh, thanks?" Mary was flattered.

"Then what valuable things does Miss Bennet do on weekdays?" Miss Bingley asked in a timely manner.

In her opinion, Mary's words were quite sensational. Balls and social gatherings were worthless, so wouldn't what they were doing was worthless?She did not believe that Mary Bennet could tell the truth.

Mary smiled indifferently: "My embroidery is not fine, so I just read books and practice the piano."

"It sounds like Miss Bennet is very good at playing the piano," Miss Bingley raised her chin haughtily, "then play a song for us."

"..."

Hey? ?

Hearing Miss Bingley's words, Mary was a little confused.

Where is she singing?Mary had not seen Miss Bingley again until today, since the last time she saw her at Netherfield Park.Even though Mary helped Mr. Bingley, his biological sister treated her indifferently, not paying attention to Mary at all.

The party is not over yet, why did he suddenly initiate a conversation and give her a chance to show off?

If you want to leave Mary in the original book, she will definitely seize this opportunity to perform her best.But Mary Bennet, who traveled over here, lacked interest in it.

It is good that she is diligent in practicing the piano, but it is entirely out of hobby, and her motivation is completely different from that of other ladies.

In the Victorian era, if a girl was proficient in piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and won the reputation of a "talented woman", it would add capital to herself in terms of marriage.The most common use of a good piano player is nothing more than to get compliments at a talent show when Miss Bingley asks for it.

Of course Mary was not interested in the limelight, and she had no intention of marrying one of the gentlemen present.

"Then I'll play the piano." Mary looked at Elizabeth. "Please Lizzie to sing for everyone. She has an amazing voice."

Elizabeth immediately burst out laughing.

"Okay," she teased, "Which of the guests here has never seen the skills of a first-class singer, you just want me to make a fool of myself."

"Even if you make a fool of yourself, I will accompany you." Mary replied with a smile.

Fortunately, Mary often did this on weekdays. When encountering such an opportunity to perform, she would often pull Jane or Elizabeth, or even her younger sister Lydia who had always been difficult to deal with.

She accompanied them, they sang, came and went, and now encountered the same situation, Elizabeth did not refuse.

In all fairness, Mary has a bit of confidence in her piano playing skills-not as good as a real talented woman, but more than enough for country parties.

As for Elizabeth, her singing voice is not perfect, but the two sisters cooperated seamlessly. When Mary's piano sounded, Elizabeth's singing followed closely.

At the end of the song, it was naturally full of applause.

"Surprise," said Mary to Miss Bingley. "You went to the private school in the city, miss, and must have seen some first-rate performances."

Miss Bingley raised her head and commented: "But Miss Mary's piano playing skills are not inferior to those who have studied, what do you think, Mr. Darcy?"

"That's right."

Darcy still looked as if nothing had happened: "But I think that without Miss Elizabeth's singing, no matter how beautiful the performance is, it would be nothing."

"That couldn't be better."

Miss Bingley smiled intentionally, and continued to speak to Mr. Darcy with a gesture that I understand you: "Since the two Miss Bennets have brought us such wonderful playing and singing, in order to express our gratitude, It's up to you to ask Miss Mary to dance, Mr Darcy."

Mary:? ? ? ?

what's the situation!

This turning point made Mary feel a little dazed.She looked at Miss Bingley, who was smiling and smiling, and was a little confused about her plan.

I wish the whole Longbourn district knew that Miss Mary Bennet was not a dancer or pretty, and that she often sat out the night at balls.

In order to avoid similar embarrassing things from happening again, this time Lucas invited guests, but Mary had no intention of going to the hall at all.And it is also very clear to everyone that Mr. Darcy is an arrogant man who has no dignity and looks down on any ladies present. He can't dance with Mary.

How did she offend Miss Bingley? She has to humiliate herself like this?

But fortunately, Mary's mind turned quickly.

With the kind reminder just now, Mr. Darcy would not refuse on the spot if he wanted to come, and it would hurt Mary's face.She smiled and said first: "If you want to say thank you, can you thank me alone? Elizabeth also sang, what should you say, Miss Bingley."

"This..." Miss Bingley blinked, unable to react for a moment.

"I'm not good at dancing," said Mary generously. "How about asking Mr. Darcy to invite Elizabeth to a dance, and thanking us both?"

Elizabeth glared at Mary immediately.

Her meaning is clear: Elizabeth does not want to dance with Darcy!

But Mary knew Elizabeth's weakness. She, the second sister with strong self-esteem, always took the soft but not the strong, so Mary secretly tugged on Elizabeth's sleeve, and begged pitifully in a low voice: "Good Lizzie, just help me!" , who knows how I offended Miss Bingley, she sincerely let me down."

Well, Elizabeth is also a smart girl. In her opinion, Miss Bingley's sudden invitation really made Mary feel uncomfortable.

It's true that she hates Darcy, but she can't just watch her sister being bullied, can she?

"I don't think," she said dryly, "that Mr. Darcy would not want to dance with me."

"On the contrary."

Mr. Darcy has already walked in front of Elizabeth: "I really want to ask you to dance, Miss Elizabeth."

Mary, who was standing aside, let out a long sigh of relief.

Isn't this a very simple matter!She even smiled encouragingly at Mr. Darcy before he turned around——take this opportunity to apologize to Elizabeth sincerely, and don't let the misunderstanding of the first meeting continue to deepen.

Successfully avoiding the embarrassing prom session, Mary spent tonight's party relaxed and happy.

Although in the eyes of most people, the plain Miss Mary Bennet sat on the bench for another night, no one was invited to dance, so she had to sit in front of the piano and perform hard, which looked very pitiful.

But Mary wished no one would talk to her.

It wasn't until after the party that Mr. Darcy stopped Mary who was about to leave with her sisters again.

The tall gentleman stood in front of her, and said calmly but sincerely: "Thank you for giving me the opportunity to apologize to your sister, Miss Mary."

"Elizabeth is my sister," Mary responded, "and it is my duty to defend her dignity."

Mr. Darcy nodded approvingly.

He had a young sister, who knew very well that Mary's words were from the bottom of her heart.After going through this incident, he changed a lot towards the rude and reckless Third Miss Bennet.

A man can disregard etiquette and tradition, just as he knew Mr. Holmes.But you can't have a sincere heart.

"I know you have a special interest in the Meryton thief, Miss Mary," said Mr. Darcy, "and as a token of my gratitude I can inform you of my further inquiries with Bentley."

Mary's eyes lit up suddenly.

"Little Geoffrey was indeed on orders, wasn't he?" she asked.

"……Yes."

Regardless of Mr. Darcy's surprised expression, Mary sighed heavily: "I knew that if no one instigated it, it would be impossible for a first-time offender to challenge such a difficult theft...Who is it?"

"I don't know for the time being, but Little Jeffrey's mother said that a stranger bought him a glass of wine that day."

"In Meryton?"

"Yes."

Mary's thoughts turned and she suddenly had an idea.

"I see, thank you sir," she said earnestly, "have a nice day."

Speaking of which, she hurriedly caught up with Elizabeth who was waiting for her. The latter naturally saw Mr. Darcy's behavior of stopping Mary, and she was still full of displeasure: "I knew it, I shouldn't dance with him."

Hey, don't you all apologize?I am quite happy to see Mr. Darcy's expression, what's going on.

Mary blinked blankly: "What happened?"

"He actually said to me," began Elizabeth indignantly, "that now I had a chance to dance with him--by God, how could there be such an insolent and repulsive fellow in the world!"

"..."

God, Mary is completely speechless.She really shouldn't think highly of the straight man's EQ!