beauty and money

Obviously, when she mentioned Kitty, Elizabeth's heavy and helpless face made her heart beat hard.Elizabeth suddenly took Mary's hand and said to her: "It's not your fault. Lord Menadius is very depressed, and Kitty is also very depressed. Their baby is diagnosed as very weak and may not live to adulthood. I don't Think he has reason to blame you, after all, the situation was very dangerous."

"I'm sorry, but I didn't have a choice at the time." Mary always believed that her choice was not wrong, but the result was not satisfactory.

"I know, but Lord Menadius refused to look at the child. He was worried that if the child died, he would be heartbroken. He wanted to send him to the country. Kitty cried for a long time." Elizabeth worried. The lingering look.

Mary, on the other hand, couldn't understand the way these aristocrats behaved. If she was worried that he would die, she should take better care of him instead of sending him away because she was afraid that she would be sad. What kind of logic is this? "Why? He should take good care of the child instead of sending him to fend for himself."

"Oh, Mary, you know Kitty's husband-in-law is more obstinate and more aristocratic than anyone else. It saddens Kitty, but I'm sure she'll recover soon of."

"I can't accept it. Even though I have meddled enough, I still can't stand by." Mary took her hand away from Elizabeth's hand, and she stood up excitedly.

"Of course, I can't accept it, but if I let you come forward, I would be too weak." It was Mr. Bennet who said this. Just now Mary was too excited and unconsciously raised her voice. Mr. Bennet said After waking up from a nap, his expression was very calm, obviously he already knew the plan of the fourth son-in-law. "Don't worry, Mary, little Edward will grow up in Longbourne. No one can hurt him." Mr. Bennet said with a smile. He has always had a wish that if he gave birth to an heir, he must be named Edward, Bennet Mrs. Te is very concerned about bringing her grandson, and she finally found other things to do besides complaining to her master.

"Father, it's very kind of you." Mary also smiled and kissed him on the cheek. Mr. Bennet was extremely proud. Although his family was not as good as the fourth son-in-law's, Lord Menadius could not let Lord Menadius do what he did. Traditionally, children come first in the Bennet family.

The father and daughter then had a good time, and Mary brought Elizabeth a pair of small ceramic turtledoves, which could be hung on the Christmas tree.There are many families in the world that are richer and nobler than the Bennets, but Mary feels that no one values ​​family members more than the Bennets.

After meeting Elizabeth in the morning, Mary made an appointment with Mr. Benest's debtor in the afternoon and asked him to bring the account book. She is not sensitive to numbers and has no talent for business, but she can still understand the basic accounts. Mr. Nestor's current condition.

In the afternoon, Britain is immersed in endless afternoon tea, which is people's favorite leisure time.Mr. Benest's debtor is not so leisurely and leisurely. That great gentleman always has a lot of scandals, and this time there is a lady who asked him to meet him. He despises this kind of person the most, and gets rich by relying on women.

After he finished processing the paperwork on the desk, the young lady came belatedly. She looked very young but was dressed in old-fashioned clothes. She did not look like a fashionable woman in London at all. . "You are Miss Mary, Benest's client?"

"Yes, can we start? How much does he owe you?" Mary didn't even bother to sit down, and the fat gentleman in front of her looked at her with contempt.

"One thousand pounds." Mr. Debtor said disdainfully, and he dared to bet that the lady would be scared out of her wits.

"Where's the ledger?" Mary was indeed surprised by the figure. Her sister's dowry was only £[-]. This Mr. Benest is really in debt.

"Are you sure you can understand?" The debtor held the ledger with his hand, he didn't want this woman to go crazy and tear up the ledger later.

Mary kept smiling and pulled away the chair opposite the desk. After she sat down, she said, "Is there something wrong with your account book?"

"How is it possible? I think you are worrying too much. I am just afraid that you will be too excited."

"I promise, I won't act too aggressively. It's not good for anyone." Mary's calmness and seriousness convinced the debtor, and in order to avoid suspicion, he handed over the ledger to Mary.

Mary, who received the ledger, looked through the pages and found that Mr. Benest owed the most money to the clothing store, followed by the shoe and hat store.The debtor watched impatiently as Mary flipped through the pages, pretending to understand.When Mary finished flipping all the pages, he said, "You've read it." He reached out to take back the ledger, but found a mocking smile on the corner of Mary's mouth, holding the ledger in her hand and not going to return it, just about to get angry, I saw Mary open the ledger and put it on the table.

"Sir, can you take a look here, Mr. Benest borrowed 95 pounds on August 22th, but repaid 22 pounds within the deadline on the 17nd, but from the 26nd until October No. 95 he borrowed again Before paying £[-], the interest is still calculated based on the principal of £[-], tell me, why is that?"

The debtor was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect that the lady actually read it and picked out the mistake.He immediately snatched back the ledger and withheld it himself.Seeing him like this, Mary smiled instead of anger: "Sir, you underestimate me too much. I have no other specialties, only a very good memory." She continued: "Besides, I remember that any interest should not be higher than five cents. , otherwise it is usury, although underground lending cannot be prohibited, but I remember that you are regular, and your method of calculating interest has improved a lot this year, is the law relaxed, or is it your negligence?"

"What do you know? There are only so many interest rates." The debtor held on to the account book and refused to let go. He threatened with a ferocious face: "I can extend the time limit for you, but you have to think about it clearly. Social reputation does no good."

Mary smiled sincerely: "I won't go to court with you, I will report you, the London police will like you. They can make a lot of money from you, you know that very well, as for my debts, if you Got caught, who will pursue these books? When you come out? Are you sure Mr. Benest will return to London?"

"You can't..."

"I can, I'm not kidding, I'll come again, I hope your recalculated numbers are consistent with my calculated results, don't try to fool me, I'm not Mr. Benest who just signed without seeing clearly, you shouldn't want to I don't want to pursue your alleged fraud, but it requires your cooperation."

"Don't talk nonsense, I didn't..." The debtor stood up from his chair excitedly.

"I don't think a person would owe nine meals a day." Mary stood up and was about to leave. She bowed slightly and looked at the debtor, seeing the hair on the back of the debtor.

He did find that there was something wrong with the signed slip provided by the shop merchant, but as the person in charge of the debt, he was only responsible for the recovery. As for the verification, it was the debtor's own business, but now it was revealed that he and the merchant partnered to defraud Benest Mister money is the same.

After Mary went to the debtor's prison, she went to a few shops in the ledger because she thought the prices were outrageously high.So she decided to buy men's clothing for Mr. Bennet and herself, and she chose those shops so that she could find out the prices of various fabrics and handwork, and it was best to get receipts.

So at dusk, Mr. Bennet found that his daughter had a few more bills.She also told him that someone would come to deliver clothes in a few days.

"How did you think of buying men's clothing? Where did you get the money?"

"Oh, Daddy, I always wore those suits last term with the ripped cuffs. And I bring presents to all the sisters, but I'd be ashamed to get nothing for you and Mum. Before, I wrote some small articles for the newspaper to earn some pocket money, and you also gave me a lot of money, didn’t you?”

"Am I giving you enough money? I think I'm giving you sterling not gold. Wait, you write, oh great writer, do I have the honor to read it."

Mary said shyly, "Oh, no, please don't, I'll be shy."

"Well, everyone has secrets." Mr. Bennet said casually. He didn't think Mary could write anything other than jokes, essays, and fairy tales. The reason why he said this was entirely out of desire. Encourage the daughter, since Mary is ashamed to be watched by acquaintances, it is better for his daughter's self-esteem not to mention it.

After a few more days of delay in London, Mr. Bennet and Mary's custom-made clothes were finally ready. In the name of picking up the clothes, Mary made an appointment with the fat Mr. Debtor again.This time, Mr. Debtor was more polite. He had already checked Mr. Benest's accounts, and there were indeed omissions.

Mary, who heard the number, smiled mockingly, and she reported her own number: "520 a pound."

"What? You are talking nonsense!" The debtor stood up excitedly and patted his desk.

"Really? You have checked the omissions in the accounts, but do you know? These cunning merchants have raised the price by three times, or even five times. The price of an egg is sold for a bottle of wine. This kind of fraud, I think it will make the Metropolitan Police very rich."

"What are you talking about?" The debtor looked disbelieving.

Mary took out a few receipts from her small bag and showed them to the debtor. The prices on those receipts were very clear. "With the same workmanship, materials, tailoring and time, I don't know why Mr. Benest's order is so much higher than what I ordered. Maybe, the merchants didn't think of cheating Mr. Benest at the beginning, but Bennett Mr. Sturt is so confused, he never looks at the bills, slowly their greed tends to them to do so, I'm amazed how few businesses are honest. You know they don't want to go to jail, And I don't want to go to court."

"I can't be the master of this, I need to negotiate with the shop owner." The debtor slumped in the chair, damn it, they won't check the price at all, and the debtor will sign as much as he wants.

"Also, please tell those merchants who are unwilling to make concessions that some of the bills signed by Mr. Nesheng are double-counted and some are unreasonable, but in the integrity of a gentleman, he should be responsible for his signature, But not in a way that is several times higher than the market price. Moreover, I believe that the interest money has already made people a lot, far higher than the principal. You don’t want me to check all the accounts for other debtors, I don’t Noble, idle and impatient, and you don't want to be so troublesome, right? But if you don't want to take care of the two of us, I can only choose the worst way." Mary talked eloquently, making the debtor Speechless, his books are indeed flawed, but debtors are usually not aware of it, and he can also charge more interest and commission.This is the status quo of the industry, but if it is made public, it will cause a lot of trouble. Compared with Mr. Benest's money, social reputation is more important.

After talking with the debtor, Mary went to the prison again, but she didn't ask to see Mr. Benest. She didn't want to be fooled by that gentleman's beauty anymore, so she left a text message and asked the jailer to forward it on her behalf. .After finishing all this, Mary went back to the countryside with Mr. Bennet on the morning of the third day. She was eager to return to her home and missed the summer of Longbourne, and she didn't even wait for Mr. The debtor's reply, the former has nothing to say, it is probably gratitude, and the latter must be a compromise. After all, businessmen value reputation, and it is just a small amount of money, so there is no need to cause a scandal.