Chapter 30: Country Life 24 The progress bar moves forward rapidly
Heather slept for a very long time. She dreamed of a pair of determined eyes, a large black skirt fluttering as she ran, the crisp clicking sound of high heels on the marble floor, the roaring of horses, fierce arguments and the dull sound of a large wooden box falling to the ground.
It was not until she was awakened by the sound of rain and thunder in reality that she suddenly sat up from the bed, her hair disheveled, and tried to calm her rapidly beating heart.
The door was gently pushed open, and it was Reina who walked in with a tray. She took two steps before she found Heather sitting motionless on the bed, and quickly put the tray on the bedside table.
"Madam, are you awake yet? The weather is so bad today. Mrs. Bennett and the other girls haven't gotten up yet."
She quickly poured a cup of black tea, and Heather took it and took a sip, then she completely woke up.
"Good morning, Reina. Please open the curtains. What time is it now?"
Lena pulled open the dark, heavy curtains, and the room only became slightly brighter. Outside the window, it was gloomy, and the mountains in the distance were almost invisible under the thick rain and fog.
"It's nearly ten o'clock, and Lucy has already swept all the stairs. Oh, and Mr. Lancaster and Mr. Darcy have left, too."
"Has Lancaster left already? He was here this morning?!" Hazel quickly brushed aside her loose hair and asked in surprise, "I thought he was going to have lunch before leaving."
"Mr. Lancaster came at eight o'clock, when it wasn't raining much. He said he knew you must not have gotten up yet, so he left a note and left in a long-distance carriage." Lena picked up the palm-sized envelope from the tray and handed it to Heather.
Heather opened it and found a piece of paper inside with only a short sentence on it.
"See you in London. —Lancaster"
She turned the note over. The handwriting on the back was a little blurry. It was written in pencil: "Almost no alcohol tolerance. It is recommended to drink less. Rum-flavored ice cream also counts."
Heather laughed softly, and she shook the envelope, and a silver-gray leaf fell out of it.
After the grand hunt and the ball, everyone entered a psychological refractory period, and even Mrs. Bennett was too lazy to go out and visit friends. However, this was not the only reason for her exhaustion.
"So Mr. Collins hasn't had breakfast with us for three days in a row?" Hazel was so sleepy sitting at the dining table every morning that she didn't notice that there was one less person at the table for several consecutive days.
Mary flicked her quill. "And not just breakfast! He's hardly ever seen at lunch or dinner, and he's never even in the living room."
Lydia hadn't been to Meryton these days. She was leaning on the sofa, playing with her hair boredly. This topic finally piqued her interest.
"I know that Mr. Collins has gone to Sir Lucas's, where he spends most of the day. Annebrook told me her mother told her that Mr. Collins has taken a fancy to Charlotte. But has not Mr. Collins been paying attention to Lizzie?"
Mrs. Bennett put down her cup with a bang and shouted angrily, "Mrs. Brooke is the most petty person! She said so many mean things when she saw Mr. Bingley pursuing Jane. She just doesn't want to be happy that our family will have two daughters who marry well."
She added, "Charlotte has certainly looked much prettier lately, but she is still far from Lizzie. I'm sure Mr. Collins will never leave Lizzie behind in order to pursue an old, unmarriageable maid!"
Elizabeth frowned and interrupted her mother's long speech: "Mom, Charlotte is my best friend, and she usually respects you very much. You can't belittle her like this. And Mom, I must make it clear to you that even if Mr. Collins proposes to me, I swear I will never agree to him."
Elizabeth seemed so determined that she frightened Mrs. Bennet into silence for a moment. She took a long time to calm down before she was ready to give her "ungrateful" daughter a good scolding.
The battle was about to break out. Heather walked over decisively, grabbed Mrs. Bennet's arm, and pulled her up with force in her shocked eyes.
"Okay, sister, I'm the oldest single lady in this village. The rain has finally stopped, so why don't you take your poor sister out for a walk?"
Mrs. Bennet exclaimed, "Oh no, Hazel, I haven't finished talking yet, and you're practically tearing my arm off!"
Hazel pushed her out without saying a word: "No, dear sister, your arms are much stronger than you think." Mrs. Bennett helplessly succumbed to her sister's force. Hazel followed closely behind her and took the time to turn around and wink at her nieces.
Jane breathed a sigh of relief, still feeling a lingering fear, and said to Elizabeth, "Fortunately, my aunt is here, otherwise I can't imagine what awful words my mother would say next."
"My aunt," said Elizabeth, "would always have found a way of making mamma moderate herself, if she had but wished to. But it is not only my aunt's work to-day, but yours, too, Jane."
Jane blushed and glared at her, asking her to restrain herself.
Yes, although Mrs. Bennet was very unhappy about Elizabeth's words, she was far from being as upset as others imagined. The main reason for this was that Mrs. Bennet had been in a very good mood recently.
The excitement of hunting made it easy for young men and women to spark off a romance, and anyone who saw the relationship between Jane and Mr. Bingley could predict that good things were about to happen. Especially since Mr. Bingley came to visit again the day after the ball, and this time he made it clear that he wanted to take things a step further.
Mr. Bentley openly mentioned in the living room that he was old enough to get married, but unfortunately, his parents were both dead, so he had to plan it himself. Fortunately, he had been lucky enough to meet his ideal partner, and a happy marriage might be just around the corner.
This time, Mr. Darcy was too busy with the canal business to worry about his good brother. He only stayed in Longbourn for a month in total, half of which was spent on his feelings for Elizabeth. He had no time to seriously think about whether Bingley and Jane were a suitable match.
In addition, he was determined to seize the opportunity of canal investment, which was largely due to Hazel's help. This made him unable to criticize Mrs. Bennet's character, so he did not hinder Mr. Bingley's marriage.
Speaking of Miss Bingley, although she was still not optimistic about her brother's choice and stubbornly believed that her brother should win the favor of Miss Darcy, her thoughts began to soften after she became friends with Heather by accident.
Miss Bingley was a person who was very easy to love the whole family. She admired Mr. Darcy and thought Miss Darcy was the kindest and most lovely lady. Similarly, she liked Hazel and it was difficult for her to maintain her previous contempt for the Bennet family.
Combining her reading of 19th-century English and French literature with relevant television dramas, Heather vividly recounted numerous fabricated stories of upper-class society secrets and love affairs between gentlemen and ladies, winning Miss Bingley's favor and admiration. This ultimately led her to temporarily put aside her destructive thoughts, despite her considerable entanglement.
So Mr. Bingley and Miss Bennett are going to get married a year early?
Heather couldn't believe it. Her butterfly wings hadn't done anything. She hadn't even taken the initiative to interfere with the protagonists' love affairs, yet the progress bar kept advancing rapidly, skipping over numerous obstacles.
Heather secretly asked Jane if Mr. Bingley really wanted to propose marriage.
Although Jane was very shy, she admitted generously that she and Mr. Bingley had reached a consensus that he would knock on the wooden door of Mr. Bennett's study about a week after they had known each other for two months and ask for his consent to get engaged to his eldest daughter.
Well, that could indeed be called a flash marriage. Fortunately, Mr. Bingley and Jane are indeed a pair of lovers with compatible personalities, so it would be a good thing if they could skip all the heartbreak and go straight to the finale.
However, someone is even faster than them.
One evening, Mr. Collins returned to the Bennett family with a cheerful face. He took great pains to compliment everyone present with rich and unique words, and solemnly stated that he would leave Longbourn for a short time the next day to return to Hunsford Village, after which he would send a long thank-you letter to express his gratitude to the Bennett family.
The Bennetts were puzzled.
It was not until the next afternoon, after Mr. Collins had left, that Charlotte arrived at the Bennett house.
She first talked to Elizabeth alone for a long time, then she called Heather out and said she had something to say to her.
"So, in just a few days, you're already engaged to Mr. Collins? Really efficient." Heather wasn't too surprised. "But, are you happy, Charlotte? I thought you had a new choice at the ball that day."
Charlotte understood that Heather was referring to the day when she had refused Mr. Collins twice by accepting an invitation to dance.
"I can't hide anything from you, Aunt Hazel." Charlotte smiled and sighed, her expression still dignified and peaceful. "There was a moment when I wanted to change my way of life and not force myself to accept such an unpleasant choice."
"In fact, I tried out the trick of cutting the fabric on the bias, just as you said, two weeks ago, and I wore it to Meryton once."
Heather was a little surprised, she thought Charlotte would save it for the ball.
"I went with my mother to visit a distant cousin who had lived in London for a long time. An old friend of hers happened to be visiting that day. She had been a seamstress for aristocratic ladies for over 20 years. Although she had no fame or title, she had a keen eye and took a liking to my dress at first sight."
Heather asked, "Did she notice your skirt was cut on the bias?"
Charlotte shook her head and said, "Not really, but she was keenly aware of the ingenuity and uniqueness contained in it."
Charlotte recalled the scene of that day, her expression a little dazed. "She said that when she got older, she would open a custom-made tailoring shop in London, and she was willing to pay fifty pounds for my tailoring methods. Aunt Heather, you are really amazing. You can earn fifty pounds just by giving me some advice. You know, my entire dowry, including the quilt, is only worth about five hundred pounds."
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