Chapter 71 "Poor Margaret..."
“Poor Margaret, why do you look so downcast? It’s a beautiful evening, we should be enjoying the dancing. Oh, I see, you’re upset because that lady danced with His Highness the Duke of Devonshire first, and then with your brother, Lord Spencer?”
Margaret Spencer gave the visibly disapproving Viscountess Kirk a cold look, wondering why her father had invited this widow to the ball; the woman was anything but docile.
Frederick knew perfectly well that he couldn't possibly be charmed by a nouveau riche's daughter.
The Viscountess smiled, seemingly unbothered by Margaret's rejection, and kindly offered her advice: "Then why are you in such a hurry? The more you make things difficult for that young lady, the more His Highness the Duke will pity her. When it comes to the men we women love..."
“Madam, you misunderstand. I was merely following my father’s orders. His Highness the Duke’s feelings are none of my concern.”
Viscountess Kirk's smile became even more captivating; no trick a twenty-year-old like Margaret could fool.
She had just pretended to offer some advice to the young lady, only to be abruptly interrupted. In her opinion, the Earl of Spencer should have given up her delusion of marrying the Duke of Devonshire long ago. A man who continues to avoid a woman after she has almost openly expressed her love is either heartless or already has someone else in his heart.
However, the women of the Spencer family seem to always be like this, loving a man who doesn't love them back. The former Duchess of Devonshire was like this, as was Margaret's cousin, the Lady of Melbourne.
As a noblewoman, she should have been enjoying the pleasures of love instead of being tormented by its poison. The twenty-eight-year-old Viscountess Cork was not about to be a fool.
Sure enough, as soon as her husband's mourning period ended, she came to attend the ball at Althorp Manor. A gentleman quickly seized the opportunity and invited the beautiful lady to dance.
While dancing, Viscountess Kirk was also observing Miss Price on behalf of her stubborn friend.
The young lady was dancing with Lord Spencer, and seemed completely unfazed. Lord Spencer was trying his best to win her favor, and unlike his sister, he was not at all swayed by Miss Price.
If this were a competition, Miss Price would have already won the first round, the Viscountess thought.
By the time Mary was dancing, she had calmed down. She was unaware that Lord Althorp and the Duke of Devonshire were discussing her future marriage, nor did she notice that the Viscountess was watching her.
Lord Spencer, though not a witty or clever fellow, was certainly not a fool, and far more competent than some of Mary's other dance partners. After several rounds of dancing with several unfamiliar men she had just met, Mary increasingly felt that attending the ball was a chore.
After she stepped off the dance floor, she saw that Aunt Bertram was chatting with another lady, so she walked to the edge of the banquet hall, looking for a place to rest.
Unfortunately, things didn't go as she wished. Sir Charles, whom she had just met with her uncle Sir Thomas, and a large, fat man happened to be standing in front of her.
She had no choice but to bow to Sir Charles, and now she was completely stuck. Sir Charles was in his fifties, and with age he had become less sensitive to interpersonal relationships.
“Oh, Miss Price, I knew your beauty would amaze the world, and indeed, even His Highness the Duke and Lord have invited you to dance. Your dancing is absolutely graceful. Let me introduce you, this is Mr. Rushworth, a well-known local gentleman and a very promising young man. Mr. Rushworth, and this is Miss Price, the niece of Sir Thomas Bertram.”
"This is terrible," Mary thought. "Didn't Mr. Rushworth notice that his former in-laws were here too?" Mary thought. "It's incredibly lucky that the vain gentleman didn't run into this former son-in-law."
Four years have passed, and the gentleman still hasn't found a suitable wife. He came to Althorp Manor for the ball because his elderly mother hoped he could find a lady of high status there.
Clearly, the old lady overestimated her son. Although he owned the largest estate and held the best position in the area, that wasn't enough at Althorp Estate. His appearance alone was repulsive to the refined ladies, and after a few words, they discovered that although this gentleman had been married once, he hadn't become more reasonable; on the contrary, he had become even more stubborn.
Even though there were a few young ladies with modest dowries who were willing to talk to him, he found them to be less beautiful than his previous wife and they failed to win his heart.
He had just seen Miss Price and assumed that someone who could dance with the Duke of Devonshire and Lord Spencer must be of noble birth. Now, after hearing Sir Charles's introduction, the gentleman breathed a sigh of relief, even though she happened to be Sir Thomas's niece.
“Miss Price, I remember a Miss Fanny Price. I thought she was a very knowledgeable woman. You are her sister, aren’t you?”
"Yes, Mr. Rushworth."
“We’ve had a lot in common. I think you probably share the same feelings as your sister, and you don’t really like acting.”
Mr. Rushworth racked his brains for a long time, remembering that Fanny Price hated acting and Crawford just as much as he did, and tried to find common ground with Miss Price.
"What a pity, sir. I really enjoy going to the theater. I just left the city and was wondering what new plays are on the menu."
Rushworth hadn't been to the theater in a long time, and after thinking for a long time, he couldn't come up with a reply. In the end, he just said what he thought was right: "I don't think a decent woman should be interested in theater. It's better to stay quietly at home than anything else. I remember your uncle Sir Thomas said the same thing in Mansfield."
Mary thought to herself: Sir Thomas objected to his children acting, what did that have to do with appreciating theater? Knowing she couldn't reason with Mr. Rushworth, she continued to brush him off: "Do you think a woman should stay at home and never go anywhere?"
"That would be best, of course. However, I am still tolerant and understanding towards my wife. She can go to some respectable places, such as attending church services."
What a terrible idea! Even if Mr. Rushworth hopes his next wife won't cheat on him again, this is going too far. No wonder he's still single!
Even though the two couldn't connect at all, Mr. Rushworth remained oblivious to Mary's disdain for him. He even planned to give the young lady some further guidance so that she could cultivate some refined interests beyond watching plays.
Seeing that Mr. Rushworth was going on and on, Mary was afraid that he would invite her to dance at any moment. Just then, she saw the Duke of Devonshire not far away and quickly said, "Excuse me, Mr. Rushworth, I just remembered that my brother asked me to tell His Highness the Duke something. I must go and tell him right away. I'll take my leave now."
Mary quickly left the man, and the Duke of Devonshire shook off Lord Althorp and walked toward her; the two soon came together.
"Miss Price, I don't recognize the gentleman who just spoke to you. Who is he?"
“Your Highness, I am glad for you that someone like Mr. Rushworth is not within your circle of acquaintances and will not set foot in beautiful Chatsworth. But who knows, perhaps you have already met many such people in Derbyshire or elsewhere. Their existence seems to prove one thing: whether some people are rich or not has nothing to do with their intelligence, but rather depends on their bloodline.”
Mary glanced around the room and said, “The Countess thinks I’m not worthy of being here. I think she should remind her father, Earl Spencer, that it’s those fools who lower the class of the ball. If it weren’t for his annual income of twelve thousand pounds, the host of this house would never have let that fellow in.”
Lord Althorp happened to walk up to the two of them and coughed twice to remind them.
William introduced the two men, and Mary then realized that she had inadvertently made a complaint in front of her master. So after greeting them, she added, "I'm sorry, Your Excellency."
“Miss Price, I should be the one apologizing for not making proper arrangements for the guest and meeting your expectations.” Lord Althorp spoke to Mary with gentle manners, his demeanor truly matching Mary’s image of an English gentleman, revealing nothing of his true feelings towards the lady.
After his cousin left, William Cavendish continued, "I thought my cousin's words would displease you, but it seems you dislike Mr. Rushworth even more?"
“Miss Spencer is just a little immature, but she can understand human language. If anything is unpleasant, at least we both made each other feel unpleasant. Mr. Rushworth is different. He can neither read people’s eyes nor understand what people are saying. He seems to be independent of the world. In order not to be defeated by his stupidity, I have no choice but to leave.”
After complaining about Mr. Rushworth, Mary felt a little better: "Your Highness, if I may be so bold as to tell you the truth, why did your uncle, Earl Spencer, invite me to the ball? I don't think he would bother to find out that Sir Thomas has a niece visiting Mansfield."
“My uncle was planning to host a ball at the estate, and someone happened to mention the ball I attended in Grosvenor Square to him. He was a little curious, so I just told him that you were a guest in Mansfield, and to satisfy his curiosity, you were invited.”
"It is an honor, Your Highness. I must thank you for giving me the privilege of dancing here for so long."
"You don't sound happy. Don't you like dancing, Miss Price?"
"I would also find dancing fun if women could invite others to dance like men do, instead of passively accepting invitations from strangers they don't know."
Mary glanced at the well-dressed men at the ball and continued, "Forgive me for being harsh, but some of my dance partners seemed quite nice before I accepted their invitations. However, the things they said while dancing together made me wonder if they had received any education."
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