Chapter 10 Country Life 4 Fitzwilliam Darcy

Mrs. Lucas came back to her senses, and taking Mrs. Bennet's hand, she looked behind her.

"Who is that lady? I don't think I've seen her before."

Elizabeth was the quickest to react, but before she could stop her mother, Mrs. Bennet blurted out her answer completely unconsciously.

She told Mrs. Lucas loudly: "Hey, she's not some lady, that's my sister Heather. I mentioned her to you before, don't you remember? She's the sister who married a French count and came back to England when her husband died."

As she finished speaking, the buzz of conversation in the hall slowly began to rise.

Heather felt her scalp tingling for a moment. She could feel that everyone in the audience was looking at her and might even be talking about her.

God knows how much an invisible social phobic who hasn't even run for class monitor wants to find a hole to crawl into when faced with so many people's gazes.

A path was made through the crowd, and Hazel, drawn by Mary, followed Mrs. Bennett and Mrs. Lucas towards their acquaintances.

She gritted her teeth and maintained her image as a lady, giving a faint smile to those who were watching them leave.

When she finally reached the viewing area next to the railing on the second floor, Heather breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that her psychological endurance had been tested once again.

It was not until Bingley and Jane slowly entered the hall and the first dance officially began downstairs that Heather felt that the gazes that made her feel uneasy finally dissipated.

When the song ended, the young men and women who had just finished dancing dispersed and began to look for their next dance partners.

Only then did Bentley take a cocktail, politely declined the girls who came up to him, and came to his sisters.

He noticed that his sisters were all looking at a place on the second floor, where a strange young lady was particularly popular and was being courted by a group of men.

She stood out among the other middle-aged ladies who weren't dancing. She wore a simple silver-gray dress, a long moon-white pearl necklace dangling from her chest. Her neatly tied up hair, secured with a black onyx comb, gave her a sense of nobility and aloofness.

She looked like she should be dancing at Carlton House, not sitting at a lively country ball being stared at.

Bentley asked his sister curiously, "Whose lady is that? I don't think I've seen her before."

His sister Caroline replied dissatisfiedly: "Dear brother, didn't you just come in with Miss Bennett and dance the first dance? Didn't she tell you who it was?"

Bentley felt puzzled and turned to his friend for an explanation.

Darcy told him, "That should be Miss Bennet's aunt, her mother's sister, who later went to live with her relatives after her husband died. But didn't you see her when you were welcoming guests at the door just now?"

Bingley asked in bewilderment, "Is she Mrs. Bennet's sister? Her real sister? Why have I never heard of Mrs. Bennet having a sister?"

His sister, Mrs. Hurst, added, "She is absolutely Mrs. Bennet's sister, and I have to say they have nothing in common. I have heard that she was married to a French count in her early years, but her husband died unexpectedly, and that is why she came to this remote place."

Caroline agreed. "She looks so noble. She obviously doesn't want to pay any attention to any of the country men around her. Her husband's family must be very prominent, and perhaps even left a large inheritance. Charles, out of respect, you really should go over and greet her formally."

Bentley agreed.

But before he could go over, Heather couldn't bear it anymore and slipped away without even glancing at the beauties with flying skirts in the middle of the hall.

Even if she only had to nod occasionally like a puppet and those men could talk to each other without her answering, she really couldn't stand being watched here.

Taking the opportunity to go to the dressing room, Heather quietly slipped to the curtains in the corner of the second floor. Behind the curtains was a protruding balcony that could only accommodate one person. She could enjoy the night breeze and keep an eye on the movements in the hall from a distance.

It seems that being the focus of the crowd is not an easy thing.

Heather was too lazy to go back, so she took out the letter she had received in the morning from her sleeve and read it while it was quiet. It was a greeting letter from her lawyer, Mr. Lancaster, sent back from London.

Mr. Lancaster is truly an excellent lawyer who goes out of his way to provide advice to his employer.

The letter was posted yesterday afternoon and arrived at Longbourn this morning, so Mr. Lancaster must have paid a high price for the carriage, perhaps having it delivered by special horseman.

Is there any new progress in the inheritance matter so soon?

In the letter, Mr. Lancaster first asked whether Heather had settled in Longbourn, and then he told Heather an unexpected news.

"When I was verifying my assets at the bank, I discovered a regular inflow of funds from dividends from the original shares of the Manchester-Liverpool Canal. It just so happened that I had received news that the construction of the new Birmingham-Liverpool Canal was about to begin, and now is the critical time to raise funds."

Suddenly, the curtains in front of Heather were pulled open, and a gloomy-looking man flashed in.

Heather almost shuddered and threw the letter in her hand off the balcony. It was obvious that the man opposite was also stunned by the situation.

Heather looked at the handsome and respectable gentleman in front of her and thought that he must have been rejected by the lady he liked, which was why his face looked so ugly.

She reacted, pointed to the next door, and said, "There is an identical balcony on the left. Maybe you can lift the curtain next to it."

The gentleman reacted, apologized quickly, and then quickly moved to the small balcony next door without saying a word.

From the inside of the hall, these two balconies are connected by a large curtain. If viewed from the outside of the building, they are two independent arc-shaped balconies less than two meters apart, which is within the distance for direct conversation.

However, neither side had the intention to talk, and they were quietly immersed in their own world.

Heather continued to look down at the letter.

Mr. Lancaster meant that this was a great investment opportunity, with no loss and perhaps even an excess return. The Birmingham Canal Company, which operated the canal, only raised funds from large landowners who owned more than 1,000 acres of land or bonds of equivalent value.

This is actually not a harsh condition, because according to the generally accepted standards today, anyone who owns 200-1000 acres of land is just considered a middle-class gentry.

Therefore, land is only the most basic entry threshold. To really grab the original shares of the new canal, the rich and powerful nobles need to show their magical powers.

Heather obviously had no magical powers, but she had something that many nobles coveted - an original share in the Manchester-Liverpool Canal.

This canal, which issued its original shares fifteen years ago, is now the most profitable canal in the whole of Britain. However, in the beginning, like other earliest canals built, not many people were interested in it.

The late Earl Lawrence was in England at the time. It is not known whether he had an unknown investment talent or was simply fooled, but in any case, he did hold a not-so-small stake.

Now, the operator of the new canal has stated that the original shareholders of the Manchester Line Canal can get an unconditional opportunity to purchase shares in the new canal, but to actually buy the shares they need to meet minimum land conditions.

The latter sentence is just nonsense that most of the original shareholders don’t need to care about, but Heather is different. She can get the previous shares to obtain the purchase rights before the sale is stopped, but she can’t get the land in a short time!

Now Hessel couldn't even come up with an acre of land, let alone a thousand acres.

Lancaster gave Hessel a brilliant suggestion, which was to use the subscription rights to find a person who had land but no connections to cooperate with.

Lancaster wrote in the letter a detailed account of the profits and a feasible cooperation plan, which made a lazy person like Heather, who did not have much ambition, very tempted.

As long as you can find a suitable partner, this is a great deal that will make you a lot of money. It's like pie in the sky.

Heather felt that this opportunity could not be missed, but where could she find a suitable collaborator?

Heather paced on the balcony for a few steps and unexpectedly met the eyes of the gentleman next door.

He seemed to have almost comforted himself, and his face was no longer as gloomy as before.

Now that we've looked at each other, it's hard to pretend not to see.

The gentleman next door seemed to think the same way. He hesitated for a moment and then spoke.

"You must be Mrs. Lawrence. Nice to meet you. I am Fitzwilliam Darcy, currently residing at Netherfield Manor."

Wow, it’s Mr. Darcy, what a coincidence!