Chapter 1: First Arrival in London 1: Becoming the youngest daughter of the Gardner family...
A wealthy bachelor always has to marry a wife, and a wealthy widowed aunt always has to raise a nephew or niece to add some interest to their dull life.
Whether it is the former or the latter, it is a good thing worth striving for for families with multiple daughters and financially stretched.
Mrs. Bennet should have continued to dwell on the fact that Netherfield Hall had been let to a wealthy bachelor from the north of England for at least a whole week, without allowing any other subject to take precedence over it.
However, before she could persuade Mr. Bennett to visit the new tenant, a letter that Mrs. Helen brought back interrupted her thoughts.
The sender was Mrs. Bennett's brother, Mr. Gardner, who lived in London.
"Oh, didn't I send a letter just a few days ago? I hope your uncle hasn't run into any tough situations. My poor nerves can't stand any more irritation." Mrs. Bennet rubbed her temples and glared at Mr. Bennet. Mr. Bennet had always refused to agree to visit the new owner of Netherfield, which made her feel that the great opportunity to marry her daughter was slipping away.
Jane took Mr. Gardner's letter from Mrs. Helen and began to read it to everyone.
"Dear sister, two weeks after I sent my last greeting letter, an old friend whom I hadn't seen for many years suddenly visited me. I was overjoyed and overwhelmed with emotions. I wrote this letter hastily to send to you. I'm so excited that I have trouble organizing my words. I hope you understand. But once you know who it is, you'll surely feel the same way."
Just the beginning attracted the five young ladies of the Bennet family to gather around. Even Mary, who was reading in the corner, moved to the sofa next to Jane, waiting curiously for Jane to continue reading.
"Sister, Heather is back, our little sister Heather is back. Ever since she married Sir Lawrence of France and left England 12 years ago, we haven't been able to see her again, and even correspondence has been rare. Now, poor Heather has no children and lost her husband in the internal struggles of France. Now she can only come to us two relatives for refuge..."
Mrs. Bennett had already lowered her hand from her temples. Her expression went through a series of wonderful changes as Jane spoke, and after a mixture of daze, surprise, sadness, and entanglement, it finally settled into a strange look that seemed to be neither smiling nor crying.
No one interrupted, and Jane finished reading the letter smoothly.
Mr. Gardner said in the letter that his sister would settle in London in the future, but Heather was very eager to visit her sister's family and stay in Longbourn for a while to experience the fun of the countryside, to relax her nerves that had been under high pressure in the tense situation in France in the past few years, and to reconnect with her sister's family whom she had not seen for more than ten years.
"Mom, why don't I remember you mentioning Aunt Heather at all? Did she live in France before? Then she must know the most popular fashion styles in France now, right?" Lydia asked first.
Jane looked at Mrs. Bennet's face and considerately stopped Lydia from asking any more questions: "Lydia, let Mommy be quiet for a while. Aunt Heather must be feeling bad after losing her husband. Please be considerate of Mommy and Aunty's feelings."
"But when we were little, our mother seemed to have received letters from this aunt who lived in France. But then the correspondence stopped for some reason, so I guess only Jane and I remember it," Elizabeth added in a low voice.
Mrs. Bennet was in a very complicated mood and even ignored her favorite little daughter.
As sisters with a certain age gap, Mrs. Bennet and Heather were close friends and the most familiar family members before they got married. They both had the same shining looks and cheerful personalities. Like most ordinary girls in England, they loved to join in the fun, dress up, and look forward to getting married.
Even after Mrs. Bennett married and moved to Longbourn, they remained in close contact.
So when Mrs. Bennet learned that her sister had met the traveling French Count Sir Laurence in London and was successfully engaged to him, she was truly happy and proud of her sister's class leap. In the following years, all the respectable ladies in Longbourn had heard of Heather's name, as her sister tirelessly boasted about her sister's beauty, intelligence, and future, and claimed that the entire Bennet family would benefit from the Countess's glory.
However, within a few years the name had faded from the tea-parties of the Longbourn ladies.
Because after becoming a countess, Heather didn't send her sister who lived in the English countryside even a hat or a ribbon, and even letters were very rare. She wrote letters after Jane and Elizabeth were born, but she never received the blessing of her aunt after Mary.
Therefore, after being sad and angry, Mrs. Bennet swore that she would never mention Heather again. After the birth of her five daughters, Mrs. Bennet's mind was completely occupied with raising her daughters and marrying them off, and she had no time to think about her sister in a foreign country.
So when she heard the news about her sister more than ten years later, and learned that this sister who thought she had become a lady and forgotten her poor relatives had experienced such a displaced escape and even became a widow, Mrs. Bennet was overwhelmed by this great news.
But obviously, the pity for the sister who grew up with him and a little sense of superiority easily overcame the long-standing resentment. Time proved that the sister who was recognized as smarter at the time did not have his own good luck.
At the dinner table, Mrs. Bennet solemnly announced that she would write to invite Heather to live in Longbourn for a while. She would personally comfort her poor sister and try to find a new marriage partner for her.
Mrs. Bennett said after careful consideration: "Heather is ten years older than Jane. She will not compete with you for the young bachelors of Netherfield. I just hope that she will still have someone to accompany her in her later years."
Mr. Bennett agreed. After all, Mr. Gardner had made it clear that his sister-in-law would return to London in the future and would not need him to support her. Moreover, he clearly had a good impression of Heather Lawrence. Even though he had only had a brief interaction with her in the first few years of their marriage, Mr. Bennett always believed that she was more shrewd and better at managing relationships than her sister.
"Otherwise, she wouldn't have succeeded in seizing the opportunity to marry the earl, while her sister only married a squire." Mr. Bennett whispered to his second daughter, "But little Lizzie is worthy of any good man's pursuit, because you are smarter than these silly girls."
"Oh, Dad, thank you." Elizabeth winked at Mr. Bennett and ran to catch up with her sister who was returning to her room. The topic of their conversation tonight would definitely be the mysterious Aunt Heather. They would light candles and carefully discuss and speculate about the aunt's experience and temperament, and began to look forward to her arrival.
Kitty and Lydia also held hands and pestered Mrs. Bennett to continue asking questions. Mary thought for a while, found a thick book on French art, and returned to her room.
It remains to be seen what impact the new owner of Netherfield and the aunt who has come from afar will have on the lives of the five sisters, but it is undeniable that their presence has begun to bring new fun to the dull country life.
As the night bells rang, the Gardner family on Gracechurch Street in London finally returned to their former tranquility.
With the help of her maid, Lena, Heather Lawrence changed out of her complicated long dress for entertaining guests and threw all her low-key yet exquisite jewelry on the dressing table.
Heather couldn't wait to urge: "Lena, you've been busy all day. Go wash up and go to bed. We can clean up here tomorrow. I'm so sleepy that I'm about to fall asleep. Good night."
Reina glanced helplessly at her master, who had quickly climbed onto the bed and feigned sleep. Then she glanced at the dresses, hats, accessories, and exquisite glass bottles that filled the small room to the brim. She resolved to sort everything out tomorrow. The journey from France to England seemed to have transformed the once sophisticated, sophisticated lady into a carefree, cheerful young woman. Her beautiful face, once veiled in heavy makeup, had taken on a new lease of life.
After hearing the soft sound of the door closing, Heather opened her eyes, groped her way barefoot in the dark to the window, and opened the heavy velvet curtains.
Outside the window was London in the early 19th century. A few scattered gas street lamps outlined the vague outline of Gracechurch Street in the night. Even though she had lived here for two weeks, this scene still made Heather feel novel and happy.
That's right, because two weeks ago, Heather was a graduate of a plant protection program at a mid-tier university in a 21st-century Eastern nation. During an economic downturn, it was difficult to find a job in an unpopular field like botany without further study.
At three o'clock in the morning, when Heather finished sending out her 200th resume, her eyes went dark and when she opened her eyes again, she turned into the 19th-century earl's widow, Heather Lawrence.
When Heather, a college graduate with "flexible employment", opened her eyes, the carriage just drove into the territory of London, England. The real Heather was overwhelmed by the sudden panic and days of running around, and fell into a deep sleep forever when she saw her hometown relax.
At the age of eighteen, Heather Gardner successfully realized her dream with her outstanding beauty, excellent emotional intelligence and inquisitive mind, and married John Lawrence, Earl of France, who was visiting London at the time.
Earl Lawrence was not an important person holding a high position, nor did he have any special personal charm. Soon after his marriage, he quickly became addicted to his hobbies again and forgot about the Countess.
Fortunately, Earl Lawrence was very rich and was not keen on managing money.
He loved spending money and often spent time and money collecting all kinds of rare treasures to display in his study, such as plant seeds brought back by overseas explorers, exquisite antiques, and priceless jewelry. He was buried in his study all year round, and Heather almost never figured out how much he had bought.
It was not until this idle earl visited his old friend on a whim one day and died in a brief street riot during the turbulent times that the study where wealth was accumulated by successive heirs of the Lawrence family was completely opened.
The merchant girl who had married from England twelve years ago hurriedly packed up all her collections and set out on her journey home with her last servants and huge unknown wealth before the deadline when Lawrence's old house and the land in France were to be divided and reclaimed.
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