Chapter 80 If such vicious insults were to…
Such vicious insults, if directed at an innocent young girl, would surely have filled her with shame, but they had little effect on Mary. The Duke of Devonshire was currently single, and even if there was an ambiguous relationship between her and the Duke, it had not harmed anyone.
The private gathering clearly did not achieve the effect Countess Carlyle had hoped for. Mary Price's unruly and ungrateful behavior infuriated the noblewoman. She didn't believe a word the young lady said; her claim of "not wanting to get married" was nothing but sophistry—she simply wanted to get close to William!
After Mary took her leave, Countess Carlyle began writing to her brother again, wanting to tell him how rude and insolent the young lady was, and how Miss Price was a madwoman compared to the ladies of high society around her.
Mary, whose meeting with the Countess Carlisle ended badly, didn't take the gathering seriously at all. When Anne and Richard asked her about it, Mary told them the truth. She ignored her relatives' advice that she should have been more tactful. Now, even the two people who were most convinced that the Duke of Devonshire liked Mary lost their confidence.
Mary was now only concerned with how her uncle-in-law had reacted after Mr. Hawthorne met Sir Thomas for the first time with Richard.
Mr. Hawthorne did not dare to make his request immediately, and as for his uncle, he did not express his dissatisfaction to his face.
"So, he's not entirely happy about it in private."
“Mary, you can’t expect your uncle to be happy about this. He’ll definitely prefer Susan to choose someone more suitable, a gentleman or a clergyman. He has a suitable candidate, Thornton Lacey, who was clergyman before Edmund. He’s said to be a very honest young man, and most importantly, he’ll inherit the family land and have at least seven hundred pounds a year. You just went to Mansfield a few months ago, do you remember him?”
"You're not talking about Mr. Owen, are you?"
"Yes, that's the name. What do you think of this person?"
Mary carefully recalled Mr. Owen's appearance, but her impression of him was somewhat vague: "Owen and Edmund got along well. I can praise him for being kind and very honest, and for his familiarity with the work of the land, which is perhaps what Uncle liked about him. But in other respects, I can't find any nice words to praise him. Obviously, Susan didn't like him when she was in Mansfield."
"It seems he's a rather mediocre fellow. Mr. Hawthorne's downfall is due to his profession. If I had to choose between the two, I'd rather have the smarter one as my brother-in-law," Richard chuckled.
After experiencing the upheaval in his daughter's marriage, Sir Thomas has improved considerably in judging people based on their social status; at least he has not explicitly said that Mr. Hawthorne is unsuitable.
Therefore, Mary said, "Since the Sir has not expressed his dissatisfaction to my face, we can be confident of obtaining Mr. Hawthorne's consent to marry Susan once he proves himself to be a reliable man."
Mary was right. Although she had some reservations about Susan not choosing a younger man of higher status, after meeting Mr. Hawthorne a few times, the Sir realized that he was a sincere and ambitious young man.
Almost a month later, at a party in early December attended by Mary and others, Sir Thomas finally agreed to Mr. Hawthorne's request, but the wedding date was set by the traditionally zealous Sir Thomas for the return of his nephew William.
Mr. Hawthorne, of course, had no objection to this small request; he was overjoyed.
“Charlotte, before Sir Thomas arrived, I hoped he wouldn’t make things too difficult for Mr. Hawthorne, and that Richard would worry about how to persuade him; but after he arrived and finally agreed to the marriage, I felt that Mr. Hawthorne was too lucky,” Mary told her friend.
Charlotte hadn't met Mr. Hawthorne yet and couldn't offer any opinion on Susan's marriage, but she understood her friend's feelings: "Mary, it's because you want Susan to be happy, but you don't want her to get married so early."
That's right, that's exactly it. She always thought that her fear of marriage had nothing to do with others, after all, she was happy to see Fanny marry Edmund and Anne marry William.
It wasn't until Susan was about to marry Mr. Hawthorne that Mary realized her fears were more than that. She only trusted Edmund because he was the male protagonist in the book and William was her brother.
Now, facing the relatively unfamiliar Mr. Hawthorne, she begins to feel fear: This man seems fine now, but what about the future? Will Susan be happy with him for the rest of her life?
Thinking back to herself, Susan wondered why she was relatively relaxed in front of Colonel Brandon and the Duke of Devonshire. Wasn't it because she knew that the former was one of the male protagonists and the latter was a non-marriage advocate?
Just as Mary viewed the Duke of Devonshire as a staunch non-marriage advocate, the man was struggling intensely.
William Cavendish felt that he had made his love for Miss Price too obvious while in Bath, so even though he helped Richard Price with that matter after returning to the city, he didn't want to tell Mary at all, for fear that if she knew, her feelings for him would deepen and cause her trouble.
He rarely hesitated like this, so afraid to face the young lady. If Mary Price had appeared before him, he would have been even more shaken and troubled.
But Countess Carlyle had done such a foolish thing that her brother felt he would never be able to face Mademoiselle Price again unless he apologized to her face to face. Countess Carlyle would surely regret it if she knew her letter had had such an effect.
That afternoon, Mr. Hawthorne invited Susan and Anne to see the circus performance, but Mary happened to have a cold and cough, so she stayed home to rest.
In the living room, Mrs. Price kept asking her daughter if she had met any wealthy gentlemen: "Dear Mary, you'd better hurry up, or you'll be relegated to the back of the line after Susan gets married."
“Then let Susan go ahead of me! I don’t mind.” Mary was getting annoyed by her mother’s nagging lately. She had stayed home to get a better rest, but now she thought it would be better to go out with Anne and the others.
To avoid her mother's nagging, she decided to go back to her room to rest. Just then, the maid from downstairs came up and told them that a distinguished gentleman had come to visit. Since the mistress was not home, the guest was led to Mrs. Price and Mary.
When Mary met the Duke of Devonshire, she was quite unsure how to address him. The prince introduced himself to Mrs. Price in a friendly manner, saying that he was a friend of Richard's and that Mrs. Price should address him as "Mr. Cavendish".
"This is such a familiar routine," Mary thought. "If Mrs. Price knew that the man before her was the Duke of Devonshire, she would be overwhelmed with joy and ecstasy. In that case, for her own peace and quiet, it's better that Mrs. Price doesn't know. Mary will cover for her by introducing this 'Mr. Cavendish' to her mother, saying that he has helped Richard a great deal."
Mrs. Price was very impressed with this gentleman's refined manners. His clothes looked very expensive, and as Richard's friend, he must be a wealthy man.
After exchanging pleasantries for a while, Mrs. Price realized something was amiss. She wasn't stupid; why would Mr. Cavendish bother coming all the way to Harry Street to see her if he wanted to see Richard, especially since this gentleman kept glancing at her beautiful daughter?
Mary had always thought her mother was slow-witted, which was clearly a mistake. In some things, this lady possessed the same special talent as her sister, Mrs. Bertram; she quickly left the living room to urge the housekeeper to prepare afternoon tea for the guests.
Seeing Mrs. Price leave, Mary finally breathed a sigh of relief and immediately thanked the Duke for Charlotte's sake.
“I specifically told Richard and that lady not to tell you about this. Even without my help, your brother could have come up with a plan. That hotel is not something an ordinary person can find.”
“But Richard can’t completely dissuade Mr. Brown, so Your Highness, you have done us a great favor.”
Seeing that Mary didn't seem to have any issues with him because of Countess Carlisle's invitation, His Highness the Duke quickly explained his purpose: "Your gratitude makes me feel even more ashamed, because I've come to apologize. Please forgive my sister, Countess Carlisle, for the rude things she said to you."
“Your Highness, why apologize for others? Are you worried that I will confuse you with the Countess? I trust your character and would never agree with what the Countess said.”
Seeing Miss Price's trust in him, William Cavendish couldn't help but say, "Miss Price, you have too much faith in my character. My morals are not as lofty as you think, and I have my own selfish motives in this matter. With parents like those, I am actually quite familiar with the ways that nobles play."
At this point, he gave a bitter laugh: "When I was young, marriage left me with only bad impressions. I couldn't see any reason why humans needed to get married. I was born entirely because my mother had to give birth to an heir. She was completely disappointed in him at that time. For nobles, this kind of thing is very common. Once a couple has an heir, they can each do their own thing. It's no different from animals mating."
He looked into Mary's eyes and continued, "Therefore, I vowed to remain single when I was a teenager. I've met many girls since then, but none of them have swayed me, until God brought you into my life. I've hesitated to tell you, because our backgrounds are different. If I couldn't offer you a commitment to marriage, it would be disrespectful to you..."
The Duke of Devonshire stopped speaking abruptly when Mrs. Price returned.
Mrs. Price felt she had given "Mr. Cavendish" too much time, so she returned to the living room to continue her conversation with him. If she had known what she had just interrupted, she would have regretted it: a nobleman she longed for was professing his love for her daughter.
Mary was genuinely grateful for her mother's arrival, but she was afraid that the duke might suddenly propose to her, as she was not yet able to make a marriage commitment to anyone!
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