Detective Mary

Chapter 15

"If we don't talk about politics, we can talk about other things, don't you think, Ms. Bentley?"

Mary smiled and opened her mouth, and was rewarded with a blank look from Miss Bentley, as if she hadn't expected Mary to throw the subject back in her face.

Honestly, after realizing that Miss Bingley was treating herself as a love interest, Mary was instantly relieved.

It turns out that half a day's tossing and turning was because of her daughter's heart.

Mary is not angry at all. Think carefully about Miss Bentley's approach, pretending to be generous for Mary to provide an opportunity to show their own, but behind the back of the "enemy" bad words - this behavior in the twenty-first century, at best, is the level of junior high school students. I can only say that the Victorian unmarried girls are really simple.

Moreover, Mary doesn't like Mr. Darcy, and Miss Bingley is so overwhelmed by love that she even finds the wrong love interest!

But her real rival is Mary's sister, who in the original not only denigrates Elizabeth, but also despises the Bennet family and personally helps to break up the marriage between Jane and Mr. Bingley.

As Mary's mind wanders, she can't help but tease her.

"Then why don't we," Miss Bingley cleared her throat innocently, "why don't we talk about the books you've finished reading, Miss Mary."

"Most of what I've read lately has been large," Mary answered truthfully, "and if we don't talk about Rousseau, we'll have to talk about Montesquieu."

"It does seem that Miss Mary is interested in politics."

"No," Mary shook her head, "I'm just interested in how the real world comes about as well as changes."

After all, Mary came from more than a hundred years later, and the world of the twenty-first century and the world of the present were two very different things, so she was realistically curious about the society of the present.

"That's true."

Mr. Bentley nodded approvingly at Mary's words, "The first time we met at the ball, Miss Mary came up and pressed me to find out what the factories in Birmingham looked like, and it was the first time I'd ever run into a young lady who was interested in factories."

Because this is the time of the second industrial revolution ah, not to see the machines and business models of this era, will not it be a wasted trip?

"The times are moving really fast," Mary can not help but sigh a sentence, "now look again, even Rousseau did not expect the creation of machines will bring specific and new social conflicts."

Darcy raised an eyebrow at that.

He still had an unmoving stance, "You think the machines have brought new conflicts to society."

Mary: "Yes."

Darcy: "So Miss Mary doesn't approve of capitalists outfitting factories with machines."

Mary: "That's not what I mean, contradictions are also opportunities, and it's the emergence of new contradictions that brings about new developments and a new social outlook."

Miss Bentley was confused by these words. She didn't notice Mr. Darcy's astonished expression, and only felt that Mary was playing a trick, so she spoke directly, "In that case, why don't you tell us more about it, give us an example or something, Miss Mary."

"An example, that's easy."

"Like what?"

Mary turned her head at the words and looked aside at Mr. Bentley, who was listening intently, and suddenly guffawed.

"For instance, although I've never met that partner of Mr. Bentley's, and I don't know his business methods, I know why he's reluctant to change his supplier of raw cotton."

"Oh?"

The certainty of her words was not surprisingly rewarded with the attention of the other gentlemen. Even Mr. Hurst, who was intent on playing bridge, dropped his attention to Mary.

"So tell me, Miss Mary," Mr. Bingley spoke politely, "why is Mr. Thornton reluctant to change the supplier of raw cotton?"

"The reason is really quite simple; the cotton raw material for the factory now comes from Liverpool, a supplier in this country."

"Yes."

"The price is also quite a bit higher than in South America."

"That's exactly why I want to change the origin of the cotton."

"But the cotton origins in South America, which came out of nowhere in the last two years, are nowhere near as trustworthy as the suppliers in this country."

"There is this risk, but I promised my partner Mr. Thornton at the time that if there was a problem with the cotton raw material, I would take more responsibility, even if the raw material was cut off and the order could not be completed on time, I would pay for the loss."

"But Mr. Bentley, have you ever thought about the reaction of the workers?"

Mary's question landed and Mr. Bentley was slightly stunned.

He didn't seem to understand Mary's question, "You mean?"

"The price of raw cotton is cheaper, the cotton cloth produced is the same price. This way the factory gets a higher profit, so the question arises - after the increase in income, should the workers be given a wage increase?" Mary asked.

"Since there is extra income," Mr. Darcy interjects, "it would be only natural to give the workers a raise."

"But the cotton of South America is new and not necessarily stable. If the quality of the raw material declines after a few years, or the supplier goes bankrupt, even if there is Mr. Bentley to pack his bags and switch back to cotton from his own country, but the price of the raw material will go back up, and the workers' wages will go back down again, so how can we explain this to them?"

"And what if it doesn't go up?" Elizabeth asked curiously.

"All the extra money goes into Mr. Thornton's and Mr. Bingley's pockets," Mary spoke, "What would you do if you were a worker, Lizzie?"

"Would go on strike." Mr. Bentley took it up heavily.

That was the problem - wage increases or no wage increases, the possibility of a workers' strike would eventually come with a change to an unstable source of raw cotton.

Without further explanation, Mary raised a smile: "In my opinion, this Mr. Thornton is too conservative. Opening a factory is always a risk, since there are money transactions, loss is something that can not escape, and then find a way to earn it back is it."

Elizabeth, however, had a different view.

"I do think," she lamented, "that this Mr. Thornton is a responsible man; there are hundreds of workers in a factory, and the workers need to live and raise their offspring. All he asks is that everyone work in peace and not be short of food and drink."

"In that case, I do understand his choice." Mr. Bentley was thoughtful.

Darcy, on the other hand, looked straight at Mary with a touch of puzzlement in his expression, "Who taught you this, Miss Mary?"

Marx and Engels, of course.

Everyone in the twenty-first century understands this simple truth. Of course, Mary couldn't say this outright, the people present were either capitalists or landowners, so she couldn't let others know that she had read Marx's books.

So Mary just maintained a smile: "I'm not a good dancer, and I don't have any other hobbies, I only have nothing to do but read books and think about these simple truths."

"Shallow, that's not shallow!"

Mr. Bingley could not help uttering an exclamation of admiration, "I'm sure that even in London your mind would have to be superior to quite a few factory owners, Lady Mary! I didn't think a place as small as Longbourn could raise a lady of your economic acumen."

At the same time he could not help pitying again-why was Mary Bennet only a woman? Mr. Bingley knew the situation of the Bennet family; there were no sons, and several of the girls were left to share a grudging dowry, and it would have been worse if they had not married.

And to tell the truth, Mary Bennet was considerably less well endowed in appearance than her sisters. But if she had been a young boy, she would have made a name for herself with her courage and brains.

"You see, William," spoke Mr. Bingley to Mr. Darcy with a smile, "I told you that Miss Mary Bennet was a man of great talent, and that she often spoke the truth, and you didn't think so after the ball."

D'Arcy was in no hurry to argue when he was suddenly derided by his friend. He merely bowed his head without trace for a moment before saying, "I will not deny that the assertion was indeed rash when we first met, and that it was my mistake."

Elizabeth: "......"

Mr. Darcy looked to Elizabeth, who was sitting on the sidelines, and his eyes met, the latter being the first to avert her gaze.

Elizabeth, of course, knew that the words were addressed to her, but she did not chime in. On the contrary, it was Miss Bingley who could not hear the implication of Mr. Darcy's words, but was also exasperated by the fact that Mary had indeed made a great show of herself.

She wanted to follow her elder brother's example and make some comment, but it was just that Mary was saying things that an unmarried young lady all but cared about.

Ms. Bentley was looking for fun in the first place, she simply directly uncovered this topic, then politely smiled and said: "You said these ah, the ladies present, I'm afraid that in addition to Ms. Mary a also do not understand. I really can't understand, nothing to do with the production of cotton cloth for what, everyone wears linen, this sell out?"

What is the price of cotton, what is the price of linen? These words were said, quite a meaning of why not eat meat.

However, Miss Bentley was already well clothed and naturally would not understand that even dressing and eating was a big problem for the poor people on weekdays.

Mary did not grasp this point, she just smiled and let Miss Bingley change the topic, pretending to be intimate, pulling Elizabeth to discuss embroidery.

Within a few words, everyone's attention was diverted from the factory. Embroidery was embroidered, cards were played, and instead Mary, who was not good at needlework, and Mr. Darcy, who was of a high character, fell out of the picture and really had a chance to be alone.

Mr. Darcy saw Mary's burning eyes and raised an eyebrow coldly, "What other tall tales do you have, Miss Mary?"

"None."

Mary was extremely dry, "I just wanted to ask, where is Mr. Holmes?"

Darcy: "......"

Even a blind man could see something in Miss Mary Bennet's bright gaze, not to mention the fact that Mr. Darcy was very clever - the reason why an unmarried lady, who was not even interested in the ball, came up to a gentleman and asked him where he was going could not have been more obvious.

"Sherlock did not wish to delay," replied Darcy, "and after breakfast went straight forward in search of little Geoffrey."

Well, there was no surprise at all. Mary had guessed as early as she walked into the drawing room without seeing Mr. Holmes.

Still, Mary was a little lost, "So, then he'll be back?"

"If there are still clues at Netherfield, I think there will be," Mr. Darcy replied, "With all due respect, miss, are you curious these days about the answer to the burglary, or about Sherlock Holmes himself?"

"So what if it is the answer, and so what if it is the man?"

"If it's an answer, you don't need Sherlock, Charles Bentley will give you the answer; if it's a person."

Mr. Darcy rechecked Mary up and down, with an intent that could not have been more obvious-he did not think that his detective chum would have been attracted to such a plain-looking, and wantonly bold, unmarried young lady.

"I do not think you are compatible with Sherlock Holmes."

Mary raised her standard polite fake smile, "And with all due respect, Mr. Darcy, nowadays do you simply feel that your arrogance is disrespectful to Elizabeth, or is it because you have fallen in love with her that you realize you have made a mistake?"

Darcy: "......"

He was really gagged - by a thousand calculations, Mr. Darcy couldn't have counted on Mary saying that right out loud.

"If it's the former, it doesn't matter; if it's the latter, may I remind you that the last time you apologized, you offended Elizabeth badly all over again."

Darcy: "............"

"Wait," Mr. Darcy frowned instantly, "I don't get it, my apology offended her one more time?"

Oh, if you don't understand, you don't understand.

She just won't explain, so you straight guys can't talk and suffocate!