Detective Mary

Chapter 53

With the return of Mr. Bingley, an atmosphere of joy spread from the Longbourn and Netherfield estates to all the villages and towns in the vicinity of Meryton.

Jane Bennet, the eldest of the Bennetts, was to be married, and in love with a handsome and gentle gentleman of £5,000 a year - a beautiful young lady and a wealthy gentleman - what a perfect marriage, and the envy of the unmarried ladies of Meryton's environs.

Three days before the wedding, Mary was in a state of great excitement, for it was the first time she had ever been at the wedding of a relative, and to her own sister!

While the Bennet sisters were excited, their mother, Mrs. Bennet, reacted as if Nazi Germany had bombed England decades earlier.

Mrs. Bennet, on the day of the wedding, was anxious almost to the point of anxiety. It was not even dawn yet, and she had already winded up shouting all of the Bennet ladies up.

"What a day it is," cried her mother, standing in the doorway of her room, in a middle voice, "that you should have slept at all! Jane and Lizzie were up and ready a long time ago!"

Good heavens, Mary, who had been awakened, felt her ears buzzing with Mrs. Bennet's noise.

Catherine and Lydia reacted even more, and with a whimper, Lydia couldn't stop complaining, "We're not the ones getting married, why do we have to get up so early?"

Mrs. Bennet glared at Lydia, "I'm begging you not to make any trouble, even if it's just to take pity on your mother and help me carry my things!"

Lydia rolled her eyes, sitting up and then laying back down, "Let Mary and Catherine do it, they've got four 'handy' and that's enough!"

Mrs. Bennet took a deep breath and growled, "-get up!"

Mary changed her clothes and watched with tears and laughter as Mrs. Bennet fumed and counted Lydia out on the spot. What do you have to argue about, she mentally spat, you have to get up even if you complain, you have to get up even if you don't, why do you have to give yourself a hard time this early in the morning.

It was just that Mrs. Bennet was so over-anxious that most of the tasks she assigned to Mary were useless and a waste of time.

By the time Mary finished cleaning up the chores at hand, it was time to go to church.

But Mary hadn't had breakfast yet!

She soldiered on as Catherine and Lydia dragged her out the door, only to feel her stomach growl with hate. And while Mary knew how to hold back, Lydia didn't.

"I haven't even had breakfast," she said reluctantly, "I'm starving, what am I going to do if I starve in church?!"

"Blah blah blah!"

Catherine hurriedly covered Lydia's mouth, "Don't be ridiculous!"

"I obviously just-"

"There!"

Elizabeth followed up from behind, shoving a few pastries into the hands of her three sisters.

She also glared at Lydia, "Jane is nervous today, don't you say such things."

Mary was instantly beaming as she took the pastry, "Indeed my dearest, dearest sister, Lizzie you are so sweet!"

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow as if she wanted to dislike Mary for a few moments, but she didn't strain her expression and laughed.

"You girl," she laughed, "I won't be poor with you for the sake of a great day, so get to church."

It was indeed a great day.

By the time she entered the church and sat down in the relatives' seat, Mary, who had a few pastries down, immediately felt that none of the interludes of the early morning had been a problem.

Jane was getting married!

The vicar stood in the middle of the church and watched with loving eyes as Mr. Bennet entered the church leading Jane, who was in a wedding dress, and handed her over to Mr. Bentley.

It was from Queen Victoria's choice of a white dress for her wedding that the term white wedding dress had come into vogue in the West. Mary thought it was too good for Jane, her eldest sister was already very pretty, and the immaculate white dress made her look like a fairy.

The warm daylight falling on her face through the stained glass of the church was almost as if it were gilding the most beautiful bride of the day with a light, soft light.

Mr. Bentley, who was the bridegroom, almost looked stunned.

It's so nice.

Mary's face never stopped smiling when she saw the blush on Mr. Bentley's face, and Jane's slightly nervous back.

Seeing her sister and brother-in-law so happy made Mary feel like it was worth all the fuss she had made earlier. The Victorian wedding was a novelty to her, and what made Mary feel even more was that the excitement and love between the couple was so overwhelming that Mary understood more or less Jane Austen's own concept of love.

Before traveling through time and space, Mary was not too fond of Jane Austen's works. In her opinion, England after the bourgeois revolution was new and noisy, a cruel but legendary era.

So many social conflicts, so many new things, why stick to the love story of the southern countryside? It was a bit too petty.

But now in this day and age, seeing Jane and Mr. Bentley's wedding, Mary can more or less understand why, more than a hundred years later, literary scholars would classify the woman who wrote such a dreamy romance as a realist writer.

For she was standing in her class, in the sphere of her eyes, and giving a reasonable definition of the love of men and women as she had seen it, experienced it, and felt it, ah.

In this era, a woman who marries a rich man is a "perfect marriage", but in Jane Austen's opinion, this is not enough. In addition to the material conditions, there must be respect and love in the marriage, just like Jane and Mr. Bingley now.

For a native eighteenth-century woman writer, this was a huge step forward.

Although Jane Austen, due to the constraints of her time, did not think that women could be fully financially independent and could formally enter society like men, she first recognized that one of the prerequisites for female independence was the right to freely pursue love and freely choose a husband.

Material and emotional are incomparably substantial marriage, indeed, can not pick fault with the marriage.

So Mary felt that when Miss Jane Bennet said "I do," her married life with Mr. Bingley would be as happy as Jane Austen had depicted it to be.

Catherine and Lydia were more looking forward to the tossing of the bouquet after the vows than Mary was.

In the open space outside the church, the young ladies stood cheekily behind Jane. The bride turned away, hesitating as she held up the bouquet, and Mary stood back and couldn't help but tease, "You've got to use some strength, my good sister, throw it to the left, your sisters are on the left!"

"Mary cheats!"

"What's wrong with that? We're Jane's own sister."

"That doesn't work either, the flower balloon toss is fair for everyone, you can't make-"

"--Throw it throw it!"

The latter scuffle was accompanied by a few screams, and the ladies flung themselves away from Mary and rushed for the bouquets.

Who the flower falls to, however, is entirely up to fate.

Jane, of course, would not listen to Mary, who was good-tempered and extraordinarily fair in throwing the bouquet. She threw it behind her at random, even avoiding the left side where Mary was standing.

Mary, who was thrown behind her, watched as the beautiful flower ball drew a parabola in the air and then landed firmly in Elizabeth's arms.

Elizabeth: "......"

Mary instantly lost her voice in laughter.

Elizabeth, who was still frozen in place after being hit by the bouquet, had already run to her side with glee, "It's all meant to be, Lizzie, and it looks like we're going to have a second wedding in our family very soon!"

"Don't be ridiculous!"

Elizabeth admonished Mary with her mouth, but her eyes subconsciously glanced around as if looking for someone.

The fact that she had received the bouquet had immediately spread among all the men and women attending the wedding.

The wedding was followed by a party thrown by the bride and groom, and Nethersfield Hall was abuzz with activity that evening. Elizabeth was sitting next to Mary and the two sisters were in the middle of a small conversation when Mr. Darcy approached.

"Sir?"

Mary saw that he had something to say and stopped her conversation with Elizabeth.

"Two ladies."

Mr. Darcy nodded, "Congratulations on your sister's marriage."

Elizabeth couldn't help but laugh at this, where do you congratulate sisters on their sister's marriage? She exited to snicker as well, "And congratulations on your friend's marriage as well, sir."

"......"

Darcy, who had been teased by Elizabeth, was stunned, and then a few unseen smiles appeared on his standard poker face.

"What can I do for you, sir?" Elizabeth asked.

"I think today's grand spectacle," he spoke, "will be greatly regretted by my sister Georgiana, who cannot come because of her health."

"Ah ......"

A look of understanding emerged from Elizabeth.

Obviously when she was at Rosings Manor, Elizabeth had already known that Darcy also had a pure and lovely sister. Without the misunderstanding in the original, she believed that the frail Miss Darcy was bound to be a kind and upright person as well.

Not being able to meet her at Jane's wedding, Elizabeth still had some regrets.

"It's a shame." She said from the bottom of her heart.

"So I feel," Darcy returned, "that Georgiana is very lonely recuperating at Pemberley Manor, and that she needs the company of an older and good woman, and if you do not mind, Miss Elizabeth, would you be willing to come to Pemberley Manor for a few days to make the acquaintance of my sister? "

Elizabeth blinked.

Mary: "......"

Geez, the straight man of steel is getting the hang of it!

Not only did he not do anything else that would leave Mary speechless, but he even learned to take a circuitous route with his sister. Mary was simply impressed with Mr. Darcy.

"Aaah!"

Mary reacted quickly and quickly struck the iron while it was hot, "It suddenly occurred to me that my aunt and uncle had been planning to go on a trip when they were in London for a long time, and I heard that the scenery around Pemberley Manor is beautiful, so they definitely wouldn't mind enjoying some natural scenery! Lizzie, wouldn't it be perfect if you went with your uncle?"

"In that case."

Mr. Darcy immediately understood, "As the host, I would welcome them."

Where could Elizabeth not know what Mary had in mind?

If it wasn't in front of Mr. Darcy, she would have had to reach out and poke Mary in the head again. After giving her a hard stare, this time Elizabeth was not angry.

She was silent for a moment before speaking, "If my aunt and uncle agree, I will go with them."

Darcy vaguely dropped a weight.

The look between his eyebrows lightened considerably, and then Darcy turned to Mary, "And what about you, Miss Mary?"

"I am going to Milton," she said bluntly, "Mr. Holmes has commissioned me to go to Milton to follow up a lead-"

Mary's latter words came to an abrupt end as Catherine came running across the room.

Although Catherine and Lydia were on the best of terms, she was not an adventurous character. When she saw the sky-is-falling expression on her face, Mary's heart "thumped", realizing that it was not good.

Catherine was so secretive, but she was in such a hurry that she didn't even notice Mr. Darcy and rushed over to Mary and Elizabeth and said in a lowered voice, "It's no good... Lydia has eloped!"

"What?!"

"No way!"

Mary and Elizabeth changed their expressions almost immediately.

Surprise was surprise, but Mary's first reaction was - no way!

Having clearly turned down Wickham's offer of a date, this proved that Lydia was already wavering. To be on the fence a few days ago and then elope on the night of Jane's wedding a few days later, she was just not stupid enough to do that!

Taking a step back, even if Lydia is really that stupid, Wickham isn't, so how could he elope with Lydia on Jane's wedding day?

And Mr. Darcy, who heard these words, sank almost immediately.

He wrinkled his brow and looked at Catherine, "Is it with Wickham?"