[Comprehensive Classics] Different Jane

As soon as she arrived at the church, Mrs. Bennet couldn't wait to drag Mr. Bennet to show off. Without saying a word, Lydia grabbed Mrs. Bennet's skirt and wanted to go together.The remaining Miss Bennet looked at each other in blank dismay, and had no choice but to find the pastor with their baskets.

Everyone's belongings are temporarily placed in a room at the back of the church, and the pastor will let the two children be responsible for registering and sorting.

But today the Miss Bennets felt like something was wrong, a few volunteer wives were whispering, and the children were nowhere to be seen.

Seeing the Misses Bennet coming in, Mrs. Long came over and said, "Oh, Jane, are you back? I heard Mrs. Bennet say that you went to live with your aunt. Is this true?"

Jane smiled and didn't talk to her. Elizabeth didn't like other people talking about Jane. She took the first step, raised the basket and asked, "Where are these going to be put, Mrs. Lange, it's killing me."

"Uh, put it there, I'll register." Mrs. Long took out the book from the drawer.

"Where did Eiger go, why did you come to do this kind of thing?" Mary and Catherine put another basket on the table.

Mrs. Meany stepped forward mysteriously and said, "You don't know, do you? Those poor kids stole Pastor Tom's silver cross."

"Hmph, I've long seen that those children are unreliable. If you ask me, Mr. Pastor shouldn't be so kind. He took them in because they were orphans." Mrs. Anderson walked over with her arms folded.

"Yes, yes." The other two wives echoed together.

"What's going on?" Mary was very curious.

The three wives have been staying here and are in urgent need of sharing their gossip, which is not impossible to tell, and probably everyone who comes to Mass will know soon.

The cause was a silver cross of old Tom, which was awarded to Tom by the church more than ten years ago in recognition of his work, and it is a symbol of honor.Many people know about this incident, and it is also something Mr. Pastor is proud of in his life.

Old Tom carries this cross every day, and usually likes to wrap it around his right hand. If it can arouse questions from uninformed people, Old Tom will take the opportunity to explain the origin of this cross again.

There were a lot of people attending the mass today, and a lot of things were sent. Old Tom worried that if things were not sorted out before the mass, it would affect the time, so he came to help.At that time, he casually untied the cross and placed it on the small table, but when he turned around after tidying up, he found that the cross was gone.

These three wives and three other children were in the room at that time, except for old Tom.Although Old Tom didn't want to make a big deal out of it, the three wives couldn't stand the theft, and there were so many supplies here, who would be responsible if they were missing?At their insistence, Old Tom had to let the three children go.

This is indeed a very bad incident. The silver cross is worthless in the eyes of ordinary people. It is not heavy. Who doesn't have a silver table knife and fork?But the meaning it represents is different, not to mention that Pastor Tom has always been respected by everyone, who would steal something from him?

But those three children, Miss Bennet, also know each other. Because Jane learned Latin from old Tom, Elizabeth and Mary often come to help take care of these orphans. These three children are not the kind of people who can steal things. .

So the crux of the problem is, where did that cross go?

Jane suddenly became interested. She asked Mrs. Lange where old Tom had put the cross just now. Mrs. Lange pointed to a small high table. It's all washed, but still smells weird.

Jane checked that there were no cracks in the table, so the cross would not fall out of sight.The area around the table was very clean, and Jane touched the table again, but it was impossible to check fingerprints or something.There were a few crows calling outside, and Jane thought of a classic story. She looked up and saw that the upper window was very small, and it was unlikely that a crow would fly in without the seven people inside noticing it.

"Have these things been placed here since just now?" Jane asked.

"No, it's not," said Mrs. Meany, who was helping out the basket. "Those kids bundled clothes all over the place, and we just piled them up in the corner."

Jane carefully distinguished, and sure enough, there were very slight traces of dragging on the ground.

Ok……

Elizabeth came over quietly and asked Jane in a low voice: "Jane, are you looking for that cross?"

"Well... I have some ideas, but I'd better go and see Tom now." Jane picked up a tin box, which contained a gift she was going to give to the pastor.

Jane stood in the pastor's lounge and knocked on the door. After a while, a voice came from inside, "Please come in," said the pastor.Jane opened the door and went in, and there stood Tom, in his best priestly robes, with another cross on his breast.

"It's you, Miss Bennet. I heard you went to Cambridge. How was it there? Are you still practicing Latin?" Seeing that he was an acquaintance, Old Tom obviously relaxed a little.

"It's not bad, but of course it's not as good as at home." Jane took out the tin box, "Look at this, I brought you a present."

"Oh, is that so?" Old Tom tried his best. He took the box and glanced at Jane. Then he opened the box and found Turkish Delight inside. "Oh, this is really a good gift." The British can't refuse sweets. Old Tom likes candy, but candies like Turkish Delight are not sold in Meryton. He carefully picked up a piece Put it in your mouth, "Oh, it's so delicious, it's been many years since I last had Turkish Delight, thank you, Jane, you're still thinking of me."

"Of course I won't forget you, Tom. When my sister and I came to deliver bread, you used to give us candy and lemonade, remember? Oh, yes, this box is double-layered. "Jane deliberately said excitedly, "Open it quickly."

"Okay." Old Tom opened the second layer. The color of the second layer of candy was very strange, dark brown, with small pieces and crushed nuts on it.

"I made this myself, milk and chocolate." Jane shook her eyebrows quickly, "Try it."

"Chocolate is a good thing." Old Tom picked up a small piece and put it in his mouth. After a while, his eyes widened. "It tastes weird, but it's very, very delicious. Did you make it yourself?" ?” He sighed, “You are so amazing! Jane.”

Jane showed a big smile. She stepped forward to give old Tom a hug and let go quickly. "I hope the candy can make you feel better." She said, "I heard about the cross."

"Oh." Old Tom sighed, he was depressed when he mentioned this, Old Tom put the lid on the box, put it on the table, and sat down by himself, "I didn't expect that the cross has been with me for so many years gone."

"Tom." Jane also walked over and sat down, "Can I ask, who was around the table at that time?"

"I know what you're trying to say, Jane, but everyone works around the table, and this year we've got a lot of old clothes, old skirts and even old woolen socks and scarves, and we need to keep that all separate, three ladies We also need to mend the broken place, so everyone is very busy."

"So it's mainly the kids who do the binding, eh?"

The pastor was silent for a while, "Yes, but we checked the children's clothes and pockets, and they didn't take the things." This is also a kind of harm to the children. Now that I think about it, the pastor actually regrets it.

"Will it be in those clothes?" Jane asked again.

"I don't know." Old Tom thought for a while and said, "But we shook all the clothes around there, and there was a long chain on the cross. If it fell into the clothes, at least there would be a sound when shaking." , but we heard no sound."

"However, if someone wraps the cross and the chain tightly with cloth strips or woolen socks and then fastens it inside the clothes, it will neither fall nor rattle when shaken."

Old Tom looked at Jane in surprise, "Oh." He quickly thought of the key point, "Oh...Jane, you mean that a certain child stole the cross on purpose?"

"No, I'm just talking about the facts. Unless you really find your cross, you can't be sure." Even so, this possibility is the greatest.

At last old Tom decided to follow Jane's advice, and he sent the three wives out first.

"It's almost there. I don't think there will be many people coming later. Let Miss Bennet do the finishing work. You must give the children some opportunities to exercise. Thank you very much, Mrs. Lange, Mrs. Meany, Anderson Ma'am, but I hope you don't tell what happened today, God will not let His devout believers down today, I think the cross will be found." Old Tom fooled the three wives with a few words.

The three ladies looked at each other without saying that they had already told everyone who came in.

Old Tom and Jane untied the bundled old clothes and searched again. Jane thought that the things were most likely in the skirt or trousers pile, so they picked up each of them in those two piles.

Jane picked up a gray thick cloth skirt and shook it. She felt a slight drop at the waist of the skirt. Her heart moved, and she reached in and fumbled for a while. If she couldn't pull it, she simply flipped over the skirt.It turned out that the skirt had a concealed belt wrapped around it by a tarnished silver chain, through which the cross went.

"Tom, I think you need to see this." Jane beckoned, and old Tom came over and saw his cross.

"My God, it's here." Old Tom was surprised and disappointed, because such a cross couldn't comfort himself that he hung it on his clothes by accident.

"Great, I found it, now I can catch up with Mass." Jane said pretending not to know, she took off the cross and handed it to Old Tom.

Old Tom took off the cross on his neck and put it in his pocket, and then slowly put the cross on his neck. He breathed a sigh of relief and felt that everything had recovered.

"I'll have a good talk with them." Old Tom said gratefully to Jane, "Thank you so much, Jane."

"You'll always be my friend, Tom."