Chapter 35 (Reverse V) That day Mary was...

That day, Mary was reading in the living room when Mrs. Norris suddenly brought up the topic with Sir Thomas. Mrs. Bertram was playing with her dog, Fanny was reading poetry to her second aunt, and Susan was busy arranging flowers in her aunt's vase.

"Sir Thomas, when are you going to bring Maria back to Mansfield? This girl has suffered such misfortune, and now is the time when she needs the care and comfort of her family." Mrs. Norris, who always doted on this niece, didn't even consider that there were several other young girls in the living room, and abruptly persuaded Sir Thomas to bring his eldest daughter home to live.

A moment of silence fell over the living room. Sir Thomas was increasingly convinced that he had misjudged Mrs. Norris. If she had any sense at all, she wouldn't have brought up the disgraced Maria in such a setting. This matter should have been discussed properly in his study.

He felt it necessary to immediately shatter Mrs. Norris's illusions, lest she make any more absurd suggestions: "Mrs. Norris, I have always considered you a thoughtful person. You should realize that after what happened to Maria, she certainly cannot return to live in Mansfield."

Mrs. Norris was taken aback by the Sir's words. She turned her attention to Fanny: "I know you're against this because you have a young girl in the house, because Fanny lives here. I knew she was a nuisance. It's completely unreasonable of you to shut your own daughter out for your niece. Maria living in the mansion won't bother her. If necessary, she can stay in my White House. I dare say she won't cause any trouble for anyone else. She's so beautiful, she can easily remarry."

Mrs. Norris's words were incoherent and vicious when she spoke of Fanny, showing no regard for the others present, to the point that Mary and Susan looked at their aunt with shock.

Mrs. Bertram defended Fanny, saying, "Sister, this has nothing to do with Fanny!" Fanny was used to not being treated favorably by Aunt Norris and didn't react much to her insults, but she was even more moved after Aunt Bertram spoke up for her.

Sir Thomas, whose expression was already stern, grew even more serious upon hearing Mrs. Norris's words. He retorted, "This has nothing to do with Fanny. She has done nothing wrong and deserves everyone's praise. What I mean is, even if there were no young girls left in Mansfield, I would not agree to Maria continuing to live in the house, nor in this parish. As her father, I would be willing to provide my daughter with a comfortable place elsewhere so that she can learn her lesson and repent; but I cannot pretend that nothing happened after she made a mistake, tolerate her bringing bad influences here, let alone allow her to marry another man to cover up her wrongdoing."

In the end, his discussion with Mrs. Norris surprisingly ended happily. Mrs. Norris accused Sir Thomas of being heartless and decided to leave Mansfield to care for poor Maria in a foreign land. No one was unhappy about her departure; no one tried to stop her. Her two nieces, who had only recently arrived in Mansfield, were thoroughly disgusted by their meddlesome and gossipy aunt, and even Fanny could no longer repay her aunt's kindness with evil.

Mary was surprised by Mrs. Norris's affection for her eldest cousin, a trait quite different from her two sisters. Mrs. Bertram understood the gravity of Maria's situation and did not plead with Sir Thomas for her. She knew she would lose her daughter forever; her grief stemmed mostly from the tarnishing of the Bertram family's reputation, not so much from her own deep affection for her daughter.

Like Mrs. Price, the sisters valued their own comfort and always considered things from their own perspective. As long as it didn't affect their interests, no matter how serious the matter was, it wouldn't cause them any distress.

Mary silently wished her older cousin, whom she had never met, well, hoping that she and Mrs. Norris could find peace together. She felt that her cousin's crime was truly undeserved; both had betrayed morality, yet the man who deserved more punishment received far too little condemnation. Society was so unfair; clearly, the man's mistakes were far more serious, yet in the end, the woman bore all the consequences.

Sir Thomas felt refreshed by Mrs. Norris's departure, and Mary could even occasionally catch a glimpse of a smile on his face after his aunt's passing. Mary and Susan also felt much more relaxed; there would no longer be anyone in the house watching them with a watchful eye, especially since Mary needed to keep in touch with Charlotte.

During their absence from Portsmouth, Charlotte, with her popularity among the ladies, hyped up the new hats at Taylor's tailor shop, and Mary's sales, boosted by the popularity of "Ladies' Magazine," did not decline much over time.

After several of Mary's new articles were published in the magazine, Charlotte's reputation for the mysterious designer grew even stronger, and the clothing designs featured in the magazine also boosted Aunt Taylor's tailoring business.

For Mary now, the most important thing isn't to continue tapping into the sales potential of hats, because that's already minimal, but to find a new product—something everyone needs like hats, ideally one that's easy for her to sell behind the scenes without requiring too much of her effort. Handkerchiefs? That's too ordinary; every girl can make her own at home. Except for the wealthy, the average middle-class person isn't willing to waste that money on handkerchiefs.

One morning, her aunt Bertram's maid, Emma, ​​reminded her. Emma had been serving the two Miss Price for over three months and had gradually become familiar with their personalities, sometimes even chatting with them.

That day, while helping Miss Mary get dressed, she initiated a conversation: "Miss Mary, your waist is so slender, no wonder you don't need to choose a corset with support."

Mary also wore corsets, or tight-fitting bras and waist trainers, which most 21st-century women would consider oppressive.

One common misconception about the Regency era is that women of that time did not need to wear corsets because the high waistline of the Regency skirts made it impossible to see their waists. In reality, this is a typical misunderstanding.

In the eyes of people living in this era, loose clothing symbolized loose morality. In order to reflect the virtue of female chastity, corsets became an essential item for every woman, even more important than modern underwear (in this respect, many women in the early 19th century did not wear underwear, but Mary always wore homemade underwear).

At least in conservative Britain, if any woman dared not wear a corset, she would face social death; everyone would regard her as a promiscuous woman. Even working-class women wore corsets! However, their corsets were loose and flexible, making them more suitable for the needs of labor.

Of course, corsets during the Regency era were much looser than those of the 18th century and later the Victorian era. People viewed them more as shaping underwear and didn't intentionally constrict themselves to the point of feeling suffocated. The Victorian pursuit of a small waist was partly due to changing social attitudes and partly due to the technological advancements brought about by the Industrial Revolution that allowed for tighter corsets.

Corsets at this time were not as terrible as they later became, with all children wearing them to maintain a good figure. The form of corsets was also not fixed; as mentioned earlier, the corsets worn by lower-class women and aristocratic women were almost entirely different. Generally speaking, there were corsets with whalebone support and metal inserts as traditionally perceived, as well as those with a semi-support structure, and those using inlay cords and quilting techniques.

Mary usually wears the last type. The corset she wears has two shoulder straps and mainly relies on inlay rope and quilting to achieve the shaping effect. The tightness can be adjusted by tying the straps. It is quite comfortable for her and is more like wearing a tight-fitting bra than a waist cincher.

It was Emma's casual conversation that suddenly made Mary think: why not make the corset, which every woman wears, into a new product? It certainly wouldn't work now, because Aunt Taylor wasn't a craftswoman who specialized in making corsets, and handmade corsets didn't have any advantage over others. Only by relying on sewing machines to achieve mass production could they have a price advantage.

Mary kept this idea in mind for the time being. She didn't plan to stay in Mansfield forever. She would wait until Fanny and Edmund got married, by which time Richard would probably be back from India.

When he came back last time, he said that using his status as a crew member to smuggle goods wasn't a long-term solution. He planned to go a few more times, and once he had saved enough money, he would start their sewing machine project. Recently, she received a letter from Richard, so perhaps he's already on a ship returning home.

Edmund and Fanny have grown closer over this time. They've always been good friends, but it's become especially noticeable lately. Even Susan, besides the oblivious Mrs. Bertram, has noticed something different.

Since Fanny returned to Mansfield, they walked and chatted together almost every day throughout the summer. At some point, Edmund began to see a different kind of charm in his cousin Fanny. He began to realize that love that grows over time is more reliable than love at first sight. He never needed to doubt the girl's morality and intelligence; on the contrary, he worried that he was not good enough for her.

Mary had always maintained that Fanny was merely Edmund's second choice, and that the couple was not as worthy of praise as Elizabeth and Darcy. However, after witnessing her cousin's attitude towards her sister, she suddenly realized that love in the world comes in many forms, and Edmund had simply missed out on someone; what else was wrong with that? She was just the younger sister; helping her sister avoid a bad man was fine, but she didn't need to readily offer opinions on her sister's romantic relationships.