Chapter 62 If it were any other time, Fanny…

At any other time, Fanny would have tried to persuade her family and friends to stay, but this time, she bid farewell to William, Mary, and Anne with her blessings.

Apart from Susan being somewhat disappointed that Mary left Mansfield so quickly, everyone else felt similarly to Fanny. Sir Thomas reminded William to remember to send a letter to Mansfield after the wedding.

On the afternoon William departed for Mansfield, Richard in London was in high spirits, having signed a contract with a French merchant and made a fortune. However, upon returning to St. James's Street, he learned from his servant that his brother Charles hadn't gone to work at the shop that day, and angrily reprimanded him.

At this time, John also got off work and, after understanding the situation, told Richard to calm down.

“John, I really don’t understand. When we were Charles’ age, we had already planned out our future paths. He doesn’t want to join the navy, nor does he want to study law. He thinks that making money in business is too hard and he can’t stand the hardship. He’d rather be an idle gentleman. The Price family doesn’t have a single piece of land for him to inherit!” Richard said angrily.

“Richard, don’t worry too much. In my opinion, Mom gave him too much pocket money this year. You and William should both write a letter to Mom telling her not to give him any more pocket money. After a while, he will understand that all the youngest sons who don’t have much inheritance to live on have to find their own way. The Price family doesn’t support idlers.”

John was in a good mood lately because he had received a bonus from the sewing machine company, which gave him some extra money. He then carefully prepared a gift for his boss.

In addition, thanks to Sir Thomas's connections, he was promoted and now earns about £300 a year. With the addition of dividends from his shares in the sewing machine company, his annual income is close to £500, which is quite good for a young man who is not yet twenty and is not in a hurry to get married.

The pragmatic John wouldn't compare himself to Richard; he was already quite content with his current income. Since moving to St. James's Street, he hardly needed to spend any money himself, so he planned to save it to buy property in London.

In his view, Charles's problem was simply that Mrs. Price had plenty of money and no one was disciplining the children, so he mistakenly thought that having money at home meant he could indulge himself.

“You’re right. I’ll write to my mother first, and then ask William to persuade her when he gets back.”

Charles's problem was a minor concern for the Price family, whose focus was now entirely on William and Miss Maxwell's marriage.

As Mary had expected, the general and his wife had returned to the city by the time they arrived in London. William had just dropped Anne off at Grosvenor Square, and the next day, with the general's permission, he happily went to the parish to request the priest to issue a marriage notice. As long as no one objected to the marriage, he and Anne could be married twenty-one days later.

The matter was handled very smoothly, and nothing brought William greater joy than it; he lingered in Grosvenor Place almost every day.

Another thing added to his joy: Richard sold the sewing machine to France, and his share of the profits increased accordingly. Before the end of the year, William bought the house on Harry Street that he had his eye on at the beginning of the year.

As for Anne, everything that needed to be prepared had been in place for over half a year, and she was now just waiting for the wedding. The wedding day happened to be a sunny day, and Anne, wearing a silver gown embroidered with gold and silver threads, looked as beautiful as an angel in the sunlight.

When Anne arrived at the church with her godparents, William's eyes followed her every step of the moment.

Such joyous news should naturally be shared immediately. On that day, General Maxwell commissioned The Times to publish the news: "Mr. William Price, nephew of Sir Thomas Bertram, and Miss Anne Maxwell, daughter of Sir Edward Maxwell, are married."

Newlywed Anne and William continue to live in their home, but the two young people plan to move in together once the house on Harry Street is repaired.

Anne advised William to bring Mrs. Price to live with them, as she was alone in Portsmouth and lacked any housekeeping skills, and might be manipulated by the servants.

“Oh, Anne, my dearest sister-in-law, your thoughtfulness makes Richard and me feel ashamed. We never considered this before, only thinking that Mother was used to the environment in Portsmouth and didn’t want to come. We didn’t even think about going to pick her up in the last six months.” Mary lowered her head in shame.

“That’s because you haven’t encountered servants who act on their own initiative. Besides, before, Mother had Charles to keep her company. Now she must feel lonely by herself. I found it a bit strange when William said she didn’t want to come to London last time,” Anne said gently.

Sure enough, when William went to Portsmouth to pick up Mrs. Price after the house was repaired in September, he discovered that Lily Jones, persuaded by her husband and also because she was afraid of losing her well-paid and lucrative job with the Price family, had conspired with the kitchen maid and the handywoman to not only spend a lot more money over the past year, but also to keep urging Mrs. Price not to leave the house.

When Mrs. Price was struggling financially, she would try to save money by being harsh on her servants, but even then, she couldn't control them. Now that she was well-off, she was naturally kind to her servants, and she believed everything they said to her.

It seemed impossible for Mrs. Price to learn how to discipline servants in this lifetime, so William simply dismissed the three maids and took his mother back to Harley Street in London. As for the house in Portsmouth, he didn't plan to sell it for the time being, but intended to keep it as a place for him and Sam to stay when they returned from sea voyages.

After learning these things from William, Mary couldn't help but think of the shy girl who had just arrived at the Price family. People change so unpredictably; if either she or Susan had stayed with Mrs. Price, perhaps Lily would still be a reliable girl; if Kate hadn't left, perhaps Lily wouldn't have changed, or perhaps both of them would have changed.

But life doesn't offer "what ifs." Kate, who left Portsmouth, remained Mary's maid, while Lily, who stayed in Portsmouth, lost her job forever. After all, the Price family firing three maids at once would attract the attention of the neighbors.

Mary comforted Mrs. Price, saying, "Mom, you can rest assured and live in the city from now on. Anne will take care of everything. I'll be staying here for a while too."

Mrs. Price looked at her eldest son's luxurious house and had long forgotten what the servants had told her before—such as "It's convenient to communicate with the neighbors in Portsmouth," "It's more comfortable to live alone," and "You'll definitely be restricted in London," etc. She no longer thought Portsmouth was so great; on the contrary, she regretted not coming sooner.

"I need to write to Mrs. Gregory to see if Lucy and Captain Thompson have a house in town. Mary, you don't know, I haven't had a chance to write to you yet, but Jane's marriage is not as good as her sister's. She married her brother-in-law's colleague, also a naval captain, but because he was retired shortly after the marriage, his income is much less than Captain Thompson's."

Well, this is the Mrs. Price that Mary knows, always so eager to show off to the neighbors.

After William visited several neighbors, Anne, the lady of the house, also visited several neighbors on Harley Street. In accordance with the principle of reciprocity, the neighbors naturally had to visit the newlywed Mrs. Price (to distinguish Anne from Mrs. Price).

Although Captain Price's rank is not high yet, he is already a handsome young man with an annual income of over a thousand pounds. Therefore, he attracted everyone's attention when he bought the house on Harry Street. When he moved in, everyone found out that he was already married, which naturally disappointed the mothers-in-law on the street.

When the neighbors learned that Mrs. Price was the daughter of a knight, they unanimously agreed that she was elegant, witty, and lively, a perfect match for Captain Price. The fact that she had a dowry of £50,000 and was the sole heir to her father's estate further amplified their respect, and the men began to envy Captain Price.

In short, although the residents were all high-society figures, none of the ladies or young women possessed the same refined taste as Anne, and Mary made no new friends. However, one lady did catch her eye.

“Mary, you’ve been observing Mrs. Dashwood who came to visit all day. What is it about her that attracts you?” Anne knew her friend well; a woman as intellectually deficient and narrow-minded as Mrs. Dashwood could never be appreciated by Mary.

“Oh, Anne, to think that Mrs. Darshwood is also named Fanny, she is simply unworthy of the name. I thought a woman who has just given birth would be gentler, but how mean she was when she mentioned how much her husband’s stepmother’s sisters were!” Mary replied with an excuse.

Anne smiled and said, “Not every pair of sisters-in-law are as harmonious as we are. After all, we’ve been friends since childhood, haven’t we? Fortunately, they don’t live together, so this lady’s meanness doesn’t affect the Misses of Dashwood much.”

That's not necessarily true. Who would have thought that Miss Dashwood's father would die so young, leaving a will that his son should take care of his stepmother and sisters, only to be persuaded by Mrs. Dashwood with just a few words and not given a single penny more? Just like Mary never expected that she would encounter characters from "Sense and Sensibility".

Then she thought of Colonel Brandon, whom she knew before. He didn't look like Alan Rickman at all. Compared to Mary's handsome brothers and cousins, Colonel Brandon's appearance was rather ordinary, which explained why he couldn't attract the attention of the sentimental Marianne. When she was reading the book, she secretly hoped that the Colonel would end up with Eleanor.