Chapter 41 Return to London 3 A Chance Encounter

This time, the carriage arrived safely at No. 12 Paddington Townhouse, a cream-colored Georgian villa.

"God, this is definitely my dream room," Heather muttered, looking up.

The villas in this row all have nearly identical exteriors and floor plans. According to the property manager who greeted us, they were all built in the same building. They are three stories high, with south-facing bay windows and spacious balconies ensuring all-day sunlight.

"This house is obviously very suitable for growing plants." Heather pointed to the house next door and said, "Look at that house. My God, all the balconies are filled with various plants. Let me see, there are hardy hollies and kale, and some Christmas roses. I bet our neighbor must be a plant lover, maybe a romantic and lovely young lady. This whole wall of plants is a good example of the owner's taste."

Heather could already imagine how she would plan the balconies on each floor when she moved in. Besides, she insisted to her two nieces that a neighbor who loved plants couldn't be a bad person.

After entering the house, Heather found that the whole house was cleaned very tidy, as if someone was responsible for its maintenance every day, and there was not a trace of dirt.

However, Hinds' assistant said that this is a necessary requirement for selling houses in London for more than 1,000 pounds. Unless they are old antiques, most houses that can be sold at this price can guarantee that buyers can move in at any time.

Perhaps it was because of preconceived notions, but the more Heather walked around the house, the more she liked it. Compared to those luxurious and gloomy old houses, she felt that this new house with fresh colors and no background was more to her liking.

The house was so big that it took them a while to find each other.

"Mary, what do you think of this house?"

"The light green walls in the living room are very pleasing to the eye, and the light in the study is exceptionally good. Since the house isn't very large, the upkeep shouldn't be too high." Mary reached out and pulled Heather toward the east window. "Also, I noticed this house is the easternmost in the row, and the view here is amazing! There's absolutely no obstruction!"

Heather looked in the direction of her finger and couldn't help but exclaim in amazement. Across the Paddington Canal, which was already covered with thin ice, standing here, she could see the treetops of Hyde Park not far away.

"I've almost fallen in love with this place," Heather exclaimed.

Of course, the decision to buy a house cannot be made on the same day. After touring the entire building, Heather told the administrator that she would give an answer as soon as possible.

After getting in the carriage, Mary asked, "Aunt, do we need to go see a third house? The one in Mayfair. I remember the brochure describing it as: the place with the highest concentration of aristocrats in London, the center of social entertainment. However, the house prices there are also very expensive, four times as much as the one in Paddington."

"Four times!" Heather was dumbfounded. "How much is that?"

"The house itself is about £8,000, and the one in Paddington is less than £2,000."

In comparison, the one just now is really good value for money, I like it more!

Heather made the decision: "This £8,000 house is something you might not even have the chance to enter normally. It's only a twenty-minute walk away, so let's go see what a truly luxurious house looks like!"

Upon entering Mayfair, everyone immediately noticed something different. The streets were much less crowded, and at first glance, they were mostly servants of the nobility. Assistant Hinds explained that the streets here were often filled with noble carriages at night, but during the day, when the nobility rested, they were less likely to be seen.

Finally they arrived. Although it had only taken twenty minutes, it felt like they had arrived in another city. They stood on the street and looked up. 58 Bond Street was like a proud lady looking down at the tiny humans at her feet.

"Uh... I'm feeling a bit uncomfortable already." Mary glanced around furtively. A puppy, being walked by a servant not far away, was looking over her shoulder repeatedly. "The puppies here all seem to be dressed more swankily than me. Maybe it was barking at me just now because it despised me."

The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel was wearing a colorful Indian cotton outfit with a red chest and a string of bells hanging around its neck. It did look much more fashionable than Mary and Jane's everyday clothes.

Jane also felt a little embarrassed for once, and whispered, "The puppy may not despise us, but the servant who walked it just now looked at us with his nose turned up."

Fortunately, the temporary housekeeper of this residence came out to greet us quickly. The housekeeper had received strict training and treated every customer who viewed the house with the same respectful attitude.

They came in smoothly.

This house certainly looks like it could be worth nearly £10,000, with its thick scarlet carpets, wall-to-wall portraits, and classic European mansion furniture. The lighting inside the house is limited, and the curtains are mostly drawn, giving you the feeling of being in a stale movie.

"Bond Street, Bond Street." Heather couldn't help but repeat it several times. Both the place name and the architectural style looked very familiar to her. "Ah! So this is where the lawyer Westin used to live."

Mary looked at the housekeeper walking in front and whispered, "Is this the place where you first met Mr. Lancaster, as you mentioned before, Auntie?"

"Yes, it should be on this street. But it was still summer, so there were more people on the street during the day. In winter, the nobles probably get up later, so I didn't recognize it just now."

"But does Mr. Lancaster live nearby? I still don't understand how far he lives." Hazel asked Cinders casually.

Hinds answered every question, but never said a word unless asked. "No, Mr. Lancaster doesn't live here at the moment. But it's not too far away, east of Hyde Park."

"Hyde Park? Wouldn't that be very close to the building we just looked at?"

Hinds hesitated. "The various boroughs of central London are all very close together. Hyde Park is administratively part of Kensington, but it's very close to Mayfair and Westminster. Hyde Park is very large, and it takes twenty minutes to ride east and west."

That's right. However, if these areas are so close together, then public resources can be easily shared. This makes Paddington a much better value choice, as you can reach many other places with several times the price in just 20 minutes for a quarter of the price.

After a quick tour of the house, they said goodbye to the butler, who was apparently quite receptive to customers who were only looking but not buying. After all, it was rare to find someone who could afford £10,000 and still have the confidence to join the social circle of this street.

Since they didn't get off the car to visit the first house, it was only 12 o'clock when they finished their trip today. They still had time to rush back to Gracechurch Street for lunch. So Heather happily said goodbye to Assistant Hinds who declined the lunch invitation, and told the driver to go back.

The mission was successfully completed, and now she had seen the house she liked. Heather couldn't wait to go home and think carefully about whether there were any factors that needed to be examined. The pedestrians blocking the road ahead moved away, and the carriage slowly started.

"Wait! Please wait a moment!" Jane suddenly said loudly.

"What's the matter, Jane? Did you leave anything behind?"

"No, I seem to see..." Jane wiped the fog on the glass window with her gloves: "I seem to see the person I want to see."

"Ah?" Mary also pressed against the glass window and looked out. "Really? Is that Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy at the door of the house up ahead? They seem to be waiting for someone."

Yes, it was indeed Bingley and Darcy, standing in front of a house about a dozen blocks away from House 58, which Heather had just visited. Mr. Bingley was communicating intensely with the butler at the door, while Mr. Darcy waited silently behind him, obviously just there to accompany Mr. Bingley.

The carriage slowly stopped not far away, and Jane immediately jumped down impatiently. However, she did not move forward, but just stood there and looked at the distance.

Bentley has had a bad time recently. It can be said that this is probably the biggest hurdle he has encountered in his smooth life.

Two weeks ago, the landowner in charge of the land he had purchased last year suddenly came to tell him that the land had been inexplicably seized by the government. Initially, the officials offered no explanation, leaving only a seizure order stating that the land was temporarily under official control due to suspected collusion between the buyer and seller, resulting in the outflow of national wealth. If the investigation confirms the allegations, the owner could face prosecution, so he was advised to hire a lawyer immediately.

The housekeeper secretly bribed one of the deputies before he found out the whole story. Without wasting a second, he immediately reported it to the master.

Mr. Bentley never imagined that the property he spent nearly 10,000 pounds to buy not only failed to meet the expectations of his ancestors, but also brought him into huge trouble.

The land was of average quality, neither a mature aristocratic estate nor the highly productive fertile black soil. Its only advantage was that it was not too far from London. Although it would take two generations to build it to the level of Pemberley Manor, the price of ten thousand pounds was slightly below the market price, which initially made Mr. Bingley feel complacent about his good fortune.

But now, the butler told Mr. Bingley that he had been cheated. Before the land was transferred to him, it had been mortgaged to a private bank in London for a loan of 5,000 pounds. Due to the lack of a strict and universal system of land registration at the time, the original owner forged a title deed and sold it to Mr. Bingley.

Of course, if the original owner could repay the bank loan on time, the court would not stand on his side even if he maliciously blackmailed Mr. Bentley later.

The problem was that he had used a £5,000 bank loan and £10,000 of his house money to invest in a high-risk project. Now, his investment has reportedly failed, and he's been jailed. His scheme was finally exposed when the bank and the relevant authorities, acting in accordance with their contract, jointly approached him.

But even so, as the biggest victim of this incident, why did Mr. Bentley not only fail to obtain compensation but also be sued by the court?

This is exactly why Bentley himself was puzzled and spent two weeks searching for someone who knew the inside story in London.