Chapter 5: First Arrival in London 5: The Lady in the Mask

Evan's intuition was correct, Lancaster was indeed in a good mood today.

But it was not because of the heir whom he had never cared about, but because of the lady he met in the morning - Heather Lawrence.

She was a lady who was very conspicuous just by standing there.

As he stood by the window waiting for Westing, he saw her alight from the carriage. She was wearing a gown of deep violet silk and a matching hat with a white camellia pinned on it, a token of a recent family funeral.

Lancaster picked up the tea at hand and casually analyzed her identity.

She was obviously from an aristocratic family and could not be the lover of Westin, the poor boy who waited for pocket money every month.

Her skirt was a common London style, but the hem was decorated with layers of French lace, and the edge of the skirt was embroidered with intricate family crest patterns, highlighting her aristocratic status.

Lancaster had seen the family crests of most British nobles, but the pattern on her body was very unfamiliar to him, which meant that her family might come from abroad, perhaps France or Greece.

It must be France. The lady downstairs took off her hat and looked up. Her hair was not quite the same as that of an English lady, with a few strands of golden-brown curls deliberately falling down her neck. She was mature and beautiful, with deep features and delicate makeup that made her charming even from a few meters away.

Lancaster stepped back a little, making sure she didn't catch a glimpse of anyone behind the window as she surveyed the house.

He thought she would soon send her attendant to knock on the door, but she didn't.

She looked a little nervous. She took out a crumpled piece of paper from her handbag several times and lifted her skirt to go forward to check the house number in person. She seemed very surprised by the house.

Lancaster waited patiently for her to prepare herself mentally for ten minutes, then took a deep breath and asked her butler to knock on the door.

Five minutes later, the butler came in and told her that she was indeed a countess who had returned from France. Unfortunately, she was very unlucky and had to find Westin, a half-baked trainee lawyer, to solve her property problems.

Lancaster rarely felt a sense of guilt for not educating his heir well, which led to him going out to cheat people. So he asked his servant to invite her in and told her not to tell her that Westin was not there.

Her name is Heather.

In just over ten minutes, Lancaster noticed the contradictory and complex temperament of Heather.

Like many people, she maintained a perfectly curved social smile and an elegant posture. However, beneath the mask of dignity, nobility, and a certain affinity she put on, one could see at a glance her confusion and ignorance of the world.

Her keen intuition made her realize that the man in front of her did not match the Westin introduced by others, but she was easily deceived by the identity that Lancaster casually said, and trusted him without any doubt, and quickly entrusted everything to him.

She even secretly admired his face when there was no need to speak, and then blushed uncomfortably after coming back to her senses.

Lancaster suddenly found it extremely amusing.

He grew up among a group of people who were good at wearing masks, and he could easily see through anyone's disguise. He also saw through Heather's disguise easily, but he couldn't understand the contradiction between her true self and her identity.

A noblewoman who had been married abroad for over a decade, a gorgeous and charming beauty, yet beneath her mask she appeared simple, easy to understand, and easily satisfied. He could see that Heather didn't care much about the land and real estate, which were the most difficult to obtain and the most valuable. As long as she could successfully inherit a portion of the movable property, she would be content and relaxed.

After she was satisfied, she even forgot her disguise and looked like a bright girl full of expectations for a new life.

The good news is that the deceased family member is her husband, and her unskilled grief suggests that she doesn't care about him.

Lancaster decided to seize the opportunity to continue to contact her. He happily postponed his bedtime by an hour to play the role of her elite lawyer and help her inherit the property smoothly.

He wanted to slowly see what kind of person Heather Lawrence would become after she got the inheritance and became a single wealthy woman with no one to restrain her.

In contrast, Heather had no time to figure out what kind of person Lancaster was.

After finding a lawyer who looked reliable, she put the matter behind her. After all, Earl Lawrence had no other relatives in the UK, so getting the money in the bank would not be a problem. As for the rest, Heather felt that it was no big deal if she couldn't get it.

So Heather only described the lawyer to her brother and sister-in-law that night after the meeting, saying that he looked very capable and handsome, and then she never thought of Lancaster again.

The servant sent by her sister to pick up Heather has arrived at Gracechurch Street. If nothing unexpected happens, she will pack the necessary luggage and prepare gifts for the Bennett family within three days and head to Longbourn, which is about half a day's journey from London.

The entire Gardner family has been extremely busy these days.

There were so many boxes brought back from France that Heather still stored most of them at the Gardner family and asked her brother to help manage them.

Mr. Gardner runs a business and has warehouses and rooms at home for storing valuables. It is much more convenient to store them here than to rent another house and find someone to guard them.

Mrs. Johnson took Lena to pack her luggage at home, while Mrs. Gardner took Heather and her two daughters to the street to buy gifts for the Bennett family.

Heather originally planned to find some jewelry or hats from her own box to give to her nieces, but she was afraid of appearing perfunctory, so she dragged Mrs. Gardner to buy some London-specific snacks and fashion magazines that were not available in Longbourn. She also bought some high-quality Chinese tea to give to Mr. Bennett.

Time was tight, and Heather didn't have time to pick out gifts for her brother's family separately. She just rushed to pay all the bills while shopping, and promised to prepare gifts for her brother's nephews and nieces after returning from Christmas.

Heather did not accept the money from her brother. Although her brother's family was relatively wealthy and had few children, when Heather got married, in addition to the 4,000 pounds dowry her father gave to each of his two daughters, her brother and sister-in-law also gave her another 1,000 pounds, fearing that she would need money urgently in France.

The money in the bank could not be withdrawn yet, and most of the money brought back from France was in francs that were difficult to exchange. After deducting the expenses on the road, Heather had less than 2,500 pounds in his hands.

However, this amount of money is not a small sum. You have to know that Mr. Bennett's annual income is only 2,000 pounds. The original book mentions that his family has basically no savings. It can be seen that the annual expenses of a family of six are less than 2,000 pounds, and the dowries of the five Bennett sisters are only 1,000 pounds each.

Heather decided to give her sister 800 pounds as living expenses. This amount was not too high and could also shut her sister up, so that she would not start to feel stingy about the money after the joy of reunion passed.

Since she had given it to her sister, she naturally had to be fair and give 800 pounds to her brother's family as well. Heather decided to put it in an envelope under her pillow before leaving so that her brother would not refuse it.

Everything was ready, and it was the day before leaving London. The Gardners planned to hold a small luncheon at their home, inviting some neighbors and friends to say goodbye to Heather.

During his time living on Church Street, Heather got to know quite a few of the neighbors. The street was mostly populated by businesspeople, many of whom were business partners with Mr. Gardner. So even though Mr. and Mrs. Gardner preferred to stay quiet as a family, they couldn't avoid some necessary socializing.

However, Heather really likes talking to these ladies. In modern times, she was often invisible in the class. After traveling to the 19th century, she no longer has to worry about her livelihood or take exams, and her mentality has become much more relaxed and lively. In addition, everything here is so novel and interesting, so Heather is happy to listen to anyone talk.

The food at the luncheon was as unremarkable as usual. It was hard to come up with anything fancy with the British cold meat platter and various pies. Fortunately, the focus of the luncheon was not on the meal, but on the post-meal chat.

After dinner, the men stayed in the dining room to drink wine and smoke cigars, while the women and children moved to the living room.

The wives and children all loved to be around Heather. Having lived in France, a country that leads the fashion trends, for more than a decade, she was naturally popular with the wives and children, and her brief descriptions of Parisian scenery were also welcomed by the children. After all, most people would never set foot outside of British territory in their entire lives.

Although Heather mostly listened quietly, her experience was so legendary among the merchant class that even if she spoke occasionally, she would become the focus of the whole audience.

Lancaster saw this scene when he arrived at the Gardner residence. Heather Lawrence, wearing a light green silk dress that was even simpler and more casual than the day they first met, sat upright on the sofa in the center of the living room, surrounded by a group of ladies. She maintained her friendly yet distant aristocratic smile, naturally becoming the focus of the crowd.

In the past few days, Lancaster squeezed out his spare time to work overtime to draft a preliminary application to the ecclesiastical court. This was actually easy for him, but he still revised it several times, striving to make his words sincere and his attitude firm.

As soon as he finished writing, he couldn't wait to go to the big client's house to report the new progress in person. When the carriage stopped in front of Gardner's house, Lancaster realized belatedly that he was like a young man who was in a hurry to propose marriage. He came uninvited without even sending a visiting card.

Lancaster finally realized that something was wrong with him.

For the past forty years he had shown no interest in any woman, or man for that matter.

It can be said that he has nothing that can be called hobbies after he became an adult. He is used to filling his life with intensive work. Apart from that, perhaps only observing and exposing people's true faces can make him feel a little excited.

And now, after only meeting Heather Lawrence once, he became deeply interested in her.

Before Lancaster turned around and left, the Gardner family's doorman called the host over enthusiastically.

As soon as Mr. Gardner saw Lancaster, he felt that he was no ordinary person. When he heard that he was the lawyer hired by Heather, he immediately invited him into the house.

As he passed the living room, Lancaster saw Heather in the crowd at a glance.

He noticed that she had put on the Countess's mask again, and this time she looked much more skilled.