[Pride and Prejudice] Mary's Pride and Prejudice

Edwards Conservatory Gardens

The glass greenhouse of the Edwards house was huge, almost like a crystal palace. Mary had an intuitive impression of the wealth of Duke Edwards when she saw this greenhouse.

The price of glass these days is not as cheap as it is in later generations, and this thing is a one-time sale, and the tax is paid for life. The king collects taxes according to the amount of glass on the window, so many families with luxurious manors introduce their manors to others I always say this: "This manor has as many bedrooms and as many windows." More windows not only means that there are more rooms and a larger area, but also means that the owner has to bear a large sum of taxes every year. The side can reflect the wealth of the owner.

Because of this, not everyone with a little spare money at home can afford to build a glass greenhouse.

In addition to his eccentric and stubborn temper, the Duke of Edwards is also known for his love of gardening. His greenhouse is full of roses, rhododendrons, maple palmatum and some common or unusual flowers and plants. Mary walked into this greenhouse It's like stepping from the world of sketching into the world of oil painting, where there are colorful and fragrant birds and flowers. Mary is shocked by this magical world. She has seen all kinds of gardens since she came to this world, but from I have never seen such a beautiful garden in anyone's house. Of course, it may be because of her lack of knowledge, but even so, this garden is still beautiful.

The plants here are planted very compactly, and it looks crowded and very lively. At the same time, the contrast in color is particularly strong.In addition to all kinds of dense green leaves, big and small flowers, red, yellow, purple and white, all kinds of colors and types of flowers can be found here. This is simply a small botanical garden!

The area in front of Mary is just one of them. She can see a larger glass room in the distance, and there are even some tropical plants in it. The tall leaves are almost reaching the ceiling of the three-story building.

Duke Edwards also set up some models of Greek gods and the Parthenon in the garden, and the surrounding evergreen plants were pruned into various shapes, but Mary, who had fixed oriental aesthetics in her previous life, still didn't like it very much. The regular geometric shapes of these plants did not prevent her from admiring the rare scenery in winter.

Daphne and Kitty had already begun to stroll happily, and they separated and left after a while.Mary walked with Alfred, the path was very narrow, Mary held Alfred's arm, and the branches on the side of the road brushed her skirt from time to time.

"Is this little garden all right?" Mr. Alfred asked her.

"It is very beautiful, very very beautiful, sir." Mary praised.

"Which one do you like best?" Mr. Alfred looked sideways at her.

"These plants are very beautiful! But I like the design of the stream water the most." Mary pointed to a place where many long and short stone slabs were connected. I don't know where the source is, but the water quality is very clear. Both sides of it are planted with dense and low-hanging flowers and plants, and the meandering stream appears and disappears in the shade of flowers and plants. "I feel like this beautiful garden has a soul with this stream."

Mr. Alfred said to her very seriously: "People say that the design of this stream is very exquisite, but the soul of this garden is more generally believed to be the statue of Athena, because that is the favorite of the old Duke." statue."

"Of course the sculpture of the statue is beautiful, but I still prefer the creek. Its designer must be a sensitive and gentle person. This creek can double my joy. I have to thank this person Designer." Mary insisted on her own aesthetic proposition.

Mr. Alfred winked at her suddenly, and smiled mysteriously: "In fact, I also like this stream, and I firmly believe that it is the most outstanding work in this garden."

Mary looked at him, feeling that there was more to come. Sure enough, Alfred suddenly showed a proud look on his face, and he smiled at Mary and said, "Its great designer is standing in front of you, you Now I can thank him as much as I can.”

"Huh?" Mary was a little surprised, "You are the designer?"

Alfred held his head high and said, "Yes, miss, that's absolutely true."

Mary grabbed the hem of her skirt and saluted him seriously: "Thank you for allowing me to enjoy such a beautiful view."

Mr. Alfred bent down and said solemnly: "It is my duty to please you."

It's a pity that the road is a little narrow, which hinders the performance of the two young people. In order to salute each other, they almost fell into the flowers.

"Yeah—" Mary felt herself leaning back suddenly, waving her hands in the air in fright.

Alfred grabbed her arm tightly and shouted, "Be careful!"

The eyes of the two young men collided suddenly. At this moment, Mary's eyes were full of the image of this gentleman, and this gentleman seemed to be dumbfounded by this lady.

At this moment, Mary still had fantasies: "What a vulgar scene..."

Thinking of this, she suddenly burst out laughing, and the more she thought about it, the more she couldn't help laughing.

Mr. Alfred looked at her a little helplessly, thinking that this is really a silly girl who doesn't understand.

But seeing Mary laughing so happily, he finally realized that the laughter was like a stream hitting a rock, which was very pleasant, so he laughed too.

Mary finished laughing and asked him: "This style of creek is rare! Did you design it yourself?"

"Yeah, I only made the creek 45 feet long at first, but now it's over 70 feet long."

"It's very beautiful. Running water always doubles the charm of the scenery. This creek is really the finishing touch." Mary praised sincerely.

"Do you know where the water comes from?"

"Couldn't it be water from the Thames?"

"Of course not. It's a fountain. Come with me."

Alfred led Mary to spread the flowers and brush the branches. At the end of a path, there was a small wall-shaped fountain. The lush lantana flowers and ivy were hidden around the fountain, making it blend harmoniously with the surrounding scenery.

That is a very common shape of a little angel, and the uncommon one is the water outlet.

The little angel holds a water bottle aloft, and the water from many fountains is designed to flow out of the water bottle, and then collect into the small oval pool below, and then flow from the outlet to the distance.But this is not, the water is sprayed from the mouth of the little angel, which reminds Mary of the animal head fountain in Yuanmingyuan that she saw before.

Alfred said briskly: "At that time, my grandfather wanted to reset the water outlet, and Adrian and I designed this angel shape. After seeing the design drawing, Andrew laughed at us and said it was really old-fashioned, so we put it on The place where the water came out was changed to the angel's mouth, think about it, the brook in the garden that you praised turned out to be the saliva of the angel, and Andrew used to drink it rudely when he was tired from playing."

Mary didn't have this association at all, but she couldn't help laughing out loud when he reminded her like this. She felt like she covered her mouth: "I never thought you would be so naughty and naive."

Alfred winked at Mary: "Andrew has never been aware of this, and Adrian and I have been keeping silent about it. Speaking of which, if Adrian didn't agree, I would have designed the fountain as an angel." pee..."

When Mary heard him say this, she laughed even louder, wondering how Colonel Edwards would feel when he knew that his brother once wanted him to drink the little angel's piss.

However, Alfred felt a little annoyed after saying this. He thought it would be disrespectful to talk about such a topic with a lady, so he pulled his scarf and coughed twice.

"Lord Adrian doesn't look like such a naughty person, he would play pranks with you!" After laughing, Mary thoughtfully brought up another topic.

Alfred saw that Mary seemed to have a good impression of Adrian, and reminded him kindly: "His fiancée is also very beautiful. I just introduced you to each other."

"Ah?" Mary didn't know what the gentleman beside her was thinking. She echoed, "Miss Woodhouse is very beautiful, and she has outstanding education and manners. They are a good couple."

Seeing that Mary didn't seem to have any other intentions for Adrian, Alfred breathed a sigh of relief, although the most famous flower in the Edwards family

The son is Andrew, but in fact there are many ladies who like Adrian, and most of them will be overwhelmed by his gentle demeanor. Fortunately, this second brother has always been obsessed with art, but he rarely accepts olive branches from women.

At this time, a pleasant bell rang in their ears, and Alfred said to Mary: "It seems that it's time for afternoon tea, let's go there."

While walking on the road, he suddenly asked her: "Do you know what the purpose of today's garden party is?"

Mary didn't know, so, did Miss Edwards hold the garden party for other purposes besides entertainment?

"What is it?"

Alfred sighed and said: "Olivia joined the Women's Federation not long ago, today she invited many members, in addition to some famous people, there may be some charity publicity, but I'm afraid that Ollie Via will take the opportunity to give some radical speeches, and if you don't like listening to them you can go back to the garden."

Huh?Was Miss Edwards a women's campaigner!This is what surprised Mary the most today.

She asked, "Why don't I like to hear it? Don't you agree that women should have the same rights as men?"

Alfred looked at her and said seriously: "No, I never thought so. Women have shown greater and nobler sentiments than men in many things, but this society will not be able to do so in a short time. Allowing women to do this will not achieve equality between men and women for at least 50 years."

That is, even after 200 years, society will not be able to achieve true equality between men and women.

"However, many of Olivia's views are too extreme. I think things should be done step by step, especially the so-called women's movement they have developed. This will never happen overnight."

Mary really didn't see Miss Edwards as an extreme person at all, she always looked bright and energetic.

At this time, the guests had already arrived, and there were some small tables in the hall, with some biscuits, puddings and drinks on them, and many people were sitting or standing.Mary glanced and saw that Kitty and Daphne were here too, but she could not find Lydia and Colonel Edwards.

Mary frowned. She grabbed a passing servant and asked, "How can I find Colonel Edwards?"

This servant wore a silver-white wig and a well-fitting uniform. He glanced at the young lady in front of him with a very polite look. Mary knew that she was being looked at by this man, but she couldn't give birth strangely. Feeling disgusted, she didn't know that this servant had already regarded her as Colonel Edwards' love debt.They have dealt with this kind of thing many times. He said with a serious and sincere face: "Colonel Edwards should not be here now. He has just left. If you want to catch up with him, you should hurry up, miss."

Mary believed it, and her attitude suddenly became anxious. Could it be that Lydia also left with him?

It was Mr. Alfred who stepped forward. He held Mary by the shoulder and said to the servant: "Carl, have you seen Andrew? I'm looking for him. This lady is with me."

"He's still in the conservatory, sir," blurted out the servant.

Before Mary realized what was going on, Alfred pulled her away, and he said as he walked, "He may have misunderstood, Karl watched us grow up, if any young and beautiful lady comes to look She will be taken away by him."

When Mary heard this, she didn't blame the servant named Carl. Instead, she became even more anxious that Lydia was still with Colonel Edwards. She thought that she must find Lydia and Edwards quickly, and then separate the two of them. .

Alfred was still comforting her: "Many people didn't come in the garden, and they should just be late."

They found two happy people in the garden. Lydia and Colonel Edwards were splashing water by the creek. This picture of a handsome man and a beautiful woman is so beautiful that it can be used as an opening or promotional video for any TV series with a little retouching and special effects. But Mary didn't feel at ease when she saw this classic shot.

"Lydia, the banquet is about to start, let's hurry over."

Lydia didn't want to finish, she tried to stay here: "It doesn't matter if we don't go."

"Of course you have to go, it's polite."

Mary eventually dragged the reluctant sister away.

Colonel Edwards and Mr. Alfred followed in whispers.