little miss austin

She added, "Besides, isn't it because we're in the cemetery?"

"Don't say such things." Ivo frowned, "You're only 23 years old, don't say such things in another 50 years."

"Oh! I was a wrinkled old lady then."

Byron first smiled, then frowned deeply, "I don't like to hear such words."

Whether you like it or not!

Alice gave him a blank look, and said to Chandos: "Let's go, let's go back."

The church is not very far from the manor, you can walk here.Several people walked back, followed by several servants.Some villagers in the distance saw these young masters and ladies from a distance, but no one came to speak.

"Look, your family isn't very popular in Stoneleigh."

"The landlord doesn't need to have any friendship with the tenants." Chandos said lightly: "As long as they can guarantee to pay the land rent on time, I have no problem with them. But it's hard to say whether they have any problem with our family. "

This is a simple contradiction between the possessing class and the proletariat, which is understandable.Class conflicts cannot be resolved. Landlords cannot be said to engage in communism. Rich people have no conscience—who doesn’t love money?

The journey back was relatively dull, and Chandos seemed a little annoyed; Byron was worried about the fact that Alice would grow old; as for Ivo, all he could think about was that Alice had already considered where she would be buried after death problem.

Alice was thinking about how the Lee family was so unpopular in Stoneleigh—most landowners would try their best to establish a good relationship with the local villagers. Brother Edward was the sheriff near Goldmusham. People in the parish have a good relationship, and many villagers know their landlords. When Elizabeth’s sister-in-law was alive, if the villagers’ children had any headaches, they would send maids to visit them, and sometimes they would visit them in person;

It was the same when the Austin family lived in Steventon. Leaving aside the pastor’s status as Pastor George, Mrs. Austin would often make clothes for the children of the villagers. The villagers see a doctor.Julia Judith seemed to have no interest in getting along with the villagers, and she liked to act like a landowner's mistress.

As a relative, her flamboyance and upstart self-satisfaction is not very annoying. Anyway, Alice is a guest and will leave after staying for a while, so she won't have much contact with her.

After returning to the manor, several young men from the neighborhood came to visit Chandos and Lord Byron, and the young men played cricket together for several hours.

Alice watched the cricket match for a while, felt bored, and took Kate and Jacob away.

There is a river called Avon near Stoneleigh Manor, and its tributaries are just behind the woods of the manor, and Alice passed the path in the woods to the river.The summer in England is not very hot, more than 20 degrees is considered normal. If it rains, it can only be more than ten degrees in August, so you have to wear a thick coat.It's only the end of June, so it's not the hottest time yet.

Alice was wearing a long velvet coat and a new home skirt, and the grass was thick by the river, with many wild flowers among them.

Kate picked some wild flowers, added foxtails, and wove them into a garland for Alice to wear.

Jacob took off his coat, spread it out on the grass, and made Alice sit down.

"Miss Alice, Stoneley is really a bit strange." Kate said.

"what happened?"

"People here are very cold."

"Did you hear anyone say anything?"

"—the servants at Stoneleigh Park, they say," whispered Kate in her ear, "that Master Chandos suffocated Reverend Thomas with a pillow in the middle of the night, and stoned Jack and Bean. ’” Jack and Binn were the two villagers who died in the river.

"Suffocating Reverend Thomas with a pillow, maybe. But lifting a big rock? Do you think that's possible? A few swings of his sword will do, but nothing more."

Jacob smiled, "The villagers have many legends, and they also say that Master Chandos is the son of the devil."

Alice Fue: These villagers are too good at fantasy.

"What else did you hear?"

"Of course, Master Chandos is not the orthodox heir, George Leigh is the heir."

"It's strange. Neither George Leigh nor Chandos grew up in Stoneley. Why do they think George Leigh is more suitable to be the master of the manor?"

"Perhaps George Leigh is poorer?"

Alice couldn't help laughing, "Probably so."

"Miss, did Master Chandos really kill someone?"

"It's hard to say. People's desires are endless. Now that they know the joy of being a rich man, how can they be willing to give up such a large property? George Leigh is destined to have no inheritance rights. They would rather spend money to manage the magistrates and judges , nor give George Leigh a penny."

"Isn't Master George too pitiful?"

"He is not pitiful. He also has desires, desires for money, but he should think about relying on his own efforts to obtain money, relying on unproven blood relationship, the risk is too great. After all, Chandos does not need Do it yourself, a person like him will never get other people's blood on his hands, he will hire others, it is best not to show up by himself. Well... I can't say, if it is true, it is actually very Terrible, it means the family will do anything for money."

Kate frowned worriedly, "That has nothing to do with you, Miss?"

"It doesn't matter." Alice shook her head. "My wife has no inheritance rights, so our family has no interest in Stoneley Manor. If Chandos has no sons, his wife's brothers have the right to inherit. In short, it has nothing to do with our Austin family. "

"The world of rich people is really complicated." Kate shook her head.

"If you don't have money, you can't do it, but if you have more money, you will have more troubles."

"Having money can still bring a lot of happiness."

"Yes."

"It's better to have money. At least, if you have money, you can eat whatever you want."

"What?" Alice pretended to be shocked, "Didn't I make you full? Or do you want to eat something so rare that I have never eaten it?"

"My lady! That's not what I meant!"

Jacob came back from not far away, holding a handkerchief in his hand, knelt down beside Alice, opened the handkerchief, and inside was a small handful of raspberries as red as jewels.

Kate took out the kettle and washed the raspberries, and the two of them finished the raspberries.

The sweet and sour berries burst when you bite into them, the skin is so tender that it doesn't exist, the juice is fresh, and the taste is excellent.

Just after eating raspberries, I heard young men screaming and running from the other side of the woods, took off their clothes by the river, and jumped into the river to have fun.

Not too far from Alice, they didn't see her at first, and no one saw her sitting by the river until they almost jumped into the river. Ivo said something, and the young men swam away. up.

Jacob saw seven or eight naked men running out of the woods, and quickly blocked Alice from seeing them.

Ivo sometimes played around with Byron and Chandos, and sometimes walked around with Alice.Byron occasionally joined them.

Alice noticed that Ivo sometimes disappeared for a few hours, even if he took her out to some tavern, he would not see anyone for half an hour.She guessed that he probably went to inquire about the news, but the villagers knew that he was a guest of the Li family and a young master, would they still tell him the truth?Besides, how much water is in the "truth"?

She wouldn't defend the Chandos family, but the murder charge was so serious that one should be more cautious, and there must be evidence.

But because Christopher's tombstone, the most important evidence, is missing, the only thing that can be found is witnesses, and if witnesses, whether the villagers' testimony will be accepted by the judge is the biggest problem.Just like Oliver’s private marriage before, if you have the testimony of the pastor officiant and passer-by witnesses, it is almost certain that you will be judged to be married when you go to court, and you don’t even need a marriage certificate. This is because the pastor, the pastor The testimony of the witness is the most important; if the priest is not involved, the social status of the witness will be the judge's consideration standard. The higher the social status of the witness, the higher the credibility of the testimony, because the society generally agrees that the higher the social status, the richer Humans are hard to buy—

This is definitely a false proposition, but this is the unspoken rule of this era.Therefore, the Chandos family removed Christopher's tombstone, and it was basically impossible for George Leigh to get Stoneley.

So Alice's conclusion is that there must be something to remove the tombstone, and George Leigh has always wanted to find the missing tombstone, but whether it was Henry Lie who did it, or Chandos, or Julia - Judith did it, can't be sure.There is a big difference in whether one person in a family of three did these things, or whether everyone knew each other and participated in it all, or whether they knew each other but acted separately.Removing the tombstone is a trivial matter. It is to protect the inheritance and property rights. It is reasonable. Strictly speaking, it is not a big problem, but the problem of killing people and killing people afterwards is a big problem.

What Alice never understood was how could so many stonemasons be killed at once?There were a lot of masons, were they killed separately or all at once?Did all the stonemasons suddenly disappear, or did they disappear one by one?After all, a murder case must have a corpse. In fact, no one has found the bodies of the masons, only the bodies of the two insiders who fell into the water later, but they can also fall into the water by themselves.As for threatening and intimidating the villagers and not allowing them to spread rumors, this is also reasonable, and guilt cannot be presumed because of this.

If we adhere to the concept of "there is no doubt about the evidence", it is difficult for the Chandos family to say that they really committed the murder.

Ivo basically agrees with the concept of "no doubt". "Otherwise, false accusations will not be easy, and society will be in chaos."

"That's right. Have you heard anything definite?"

"I found out a little bit." Ivo looked at her and smiled, "Don't you mind? Li's family is your cousin."

"It's the fourth generation, so it doesn't matter. Besides, isn't what we're after the 'truth'? The truth is more important."

"Okay then. First of all, the focus of this incident is Christopher Leigh's tombstone, right? The tombstone is gone. We went to the cemetery to see it the other day. No one usually goes to the cemetery, but boys are always naughty." , They will run to the cemetery just to prove that they are brave and not afraid of ghosts. Therefore, many villagers have seen tombstones when they were young."

Alice nodded.

"But the problem is that many villagers have limited education and were young at the time. They may not be sure that the tombstone belongs to Christopher, nor can they remember whose name is written on it."

Well, indeed.

"As long as they go to court and the judge asks a few more questions, they will find that their memory is not so clear, so it is useless in this regard."

Alice nodded again.

"Needless to say, the witnesses back then are all dead, and there is no one alive. If you want to find witnesses, the most reliable way is to find the pastor of Stoneleigh Diocese. But you know that the pastor is basically a lifelong system. You will retire when you are old, and you will die within a few years of retirement, and Stoneley's current pastor is only 30 years old, and he has never been to a cemetery."

"Even if he has been there, Chandos's house is the owner now, and he will pretend that he doesn't remember, that he hasn't seen it."

Ivo laughed straight, "Yes. If George Leigh can't get the pastor to tell the truth, he has no chance of winning."

"So the focus is on the pastor?"

"It's better to be a pastor. The testimony of the villagers is likely to be inadmissible in court."

She shook her head, "I think it's very difficult. First, he can't prove that he is Christopher's legal descendant; second, the tombstone is gone, and he still can't find any witnesses."

"Yes, basically if there is no miracle, George Leigh's request for inheritance will be impossible. Then look at the murder suspicion of the Li family. This is after the removal of the tombstone. It can be proved that the tombstone does exist, and it is true. It was removed. We are not judges. We don’t need conclusive evidence. The fact we can judge now is that the tombstone was indeed hidden by the Li family, and it was more likely destroyed. Is the tombstone a copper plate? Just melt it, what? No evidence will remain."

"But there are no dead bodies. A homicide must have a dead body."

"Yes, the corpse is the most important evidence. Without the corpse, you can only say that the masons are 'missing'."

"Have you ever been to the stonemasons' house?"

"I've been to all 9 of them. Half of the wives said that it's okay if they don't come back. Probably because Stoneley's wages have just been settled, the wives are not short of money for the time being, and there is no male master at home. not a problem."

"You should ask them why they don't want their husbands home."

"I know this without asking. It must be because the husband often beats his wife." Regarding domestic violence, he only learned about it in the past few years. He was very surprised at the prevalence of domestic violence among men in the working class. Most men think that "Wife can't do without beating", women should be beaten hard, and they will be obedient if they are honest, and because men have legal rights to their wives' property rights and personal rights, they will not be sentenced even if they beat their wives to death in many cases, as long as the husband can The judge will forgive their crimes if they prove their wives' shortcomings such as "delicious, lazy, spending money and stealing men".

In the past few years, Ivo has really seen many flaws and evils of human nature, and his young and innocent heart has been shocked.

"So the disappearance of the stonemason cannot be considered a homicide. Then there are the two insiders who fell into the water and died. The cause of their death was that they were hit by heavy objects, fell into the water and drowned. The key point is not falling into the water, but the stone."

"Chandos doesn't have that much strength."

They all went to watch that stone. It was somewhere by the river, and there was a bridge across the river next to it. The incoming boulder hit them and both fell into the water.There is blood on the stone, and it is still by the bridge. It is not very big, but it is definitely a weight that a pampered young master cannot lift.

Of course, it's impossible to kill someone with your own hands, but it's possible to buy someone to kill someone.

"Chandos doesn't have such great strength, but if he is a mason and blacksmith who is used to manual work, he should be fine."

"It's very possible to pay for murder, but you also have to find the murderer who committed the crime, right?"

Ivo was helpless, "I just can't find this person, or two people. There won't be too many people involved in this kind of thing. The more people involved, the harder it is to keep a secret. Someone will always drink too much and speak out. So either there is only one People, they may be locals or outsiders, and they left after killing those two people, and there is no way to find them.”

"If it were me, I would hire outsiders. There are many forests here. Set up a tent in any forest and wait for those two people. Find a chance to kill them. After confirming that the other party is dead, leave immediately. No one will be found."

"Yes, quite possibly. But you can't prove it."

It's really hard to prove.Reality is not a detective. Put all the parties involved in one scene, love and hatred can be seen in just a few days and nights.Under the conditions of this era, if you hire a killer in another place, you can leave with one vote, unless the killer is arrested for other cases and implicated in previous cases, basically you will not be able to find the murderer.Even in later generations, criminal investigation methods can be regarded as advanced, and there are also a lot of unsolved murders every year.

Perfect crimes do not exist, but with objective conditions, there will be many unbreakable crimes.

Alice was silent for a while, and asked, "Do you still want to write this investigation report?"

Ivo hesitated, "Write."

"Chandos is going to hate you."

He raised his eyebrows and said nothing.

After a while, he asked, "Why did you come to Stoneley Manor?"

"Probably the same reason as you."

"It's too dangerous," he said softly, "Just let me do it. Well, I know you can do it, but I don't want you to take the risk."

"Chandos can't do anything to me. Will he kill me?"

"You are a relative of his family, so don't get involved in the troubles of your relative's family."

This seems to be right, but there seems to be something wrong.

After Alice arrived at Stoneley Manor, she realized that she couldn't go out to do investigations, so she should sneak in dressed as someone's maid, but the problem is, she had been to Stoneley before, and the servants in the manor Some of them knew her, and many of the villagers also knew her. Her range of activities and what she could find out were very limited.Kate can help her find out some information, but it is also very limited.

She realized sullenly that it might be very difficult to be an investigative reporter in the future, but Ivo did it brilliantly, and he also liked being an investigative reporter very much.He is a man, and it is really inconvenient for a woman to do many things. For example, she can't say that she went to the villagers' homes to ask questions.For another example, what the villagers would tell Ivo might not necessarily tell her.

"Don't think too much, think I will say, oh you are a woman, you shouldn't do this job. It's not like this, I'm thinking about your safety. For example, if I can dress up and go down the coal mine, you can't, how can you It doesn't look like a woman who can do rough work. Besides, if you go to a place where there are many men to interview, you know what those people will look like, and they may regard you as those-prostitutes." He frowned.

"Do you have backup?"

"Have."

"Your servant?"

"Yes. Can you tell who it is?"

"I can't tell, your servants are very unfamiliar, and I don't even know them."

"Anyway, don't worry, I take my own safety very seriously."

She sighed, "I may not be able to be an investigative reporter in the future."

"Aren't you working on a magazine now?"

"Making a magazine is boring, you can do it with your eyes closed."

"Did Oliver write to you?"

"Yes, I wrote to me when I first arrived in Southampton, and now it's about two letters a week."

"Is he—okay?"

"It's okay. He is now transferred to General Wesley as a military secretary, and he has not led the troops for the time being."

Ivo looked at the woods in the distance, lost his mind for a while.

They were walking outside, the sky was already dark, and the setting sun was slanting, painting a golden-red border on the woods.

The summer in England is not as hot as the summer in the Mediterranean Sea. When she returned home, she seldom even showed her arms.He thought of their night swims by the sea in Sintra, her slender and beautiful body, her white arms and thighs, her swimming underwater, her happy laughter, the good times, the precious memories.

He thought sadly, it was because that kind of time was too little and too short that he could never forget it.

He suddenly said: "In a few months, I may have to go on a long trip to the United States."

Alice was taken aback, "Huh? What? What are you doing in the United States? Isn't Britain going to war with the United States?"

"Yeah, so I want to go. I want to go and see the war with my own eyes."

"Then why don't you go to Spain?"

He smiled. "I don't want to see Oliver."

"Spain is so big, if you don't want to see him, of course you can't see him."

"The United States is better. I can write about why the United States insists on going to war with our country. I can also write about those 'noble savages'."

She hurriedly said, "I wouldn't be afraid if you stayed on a British warship, but don't go west of the Mississippi! They'll scalp you!"

"No, I'm probably going to fight with the Army. I've heard that the Americans are very cruel to the British, and they are no more kind than the Indians. During the Revolutionary War, they hanged British officials on trees or gallows. superior."