Detective Mary

Chapter 23

The impending visit of Mr. Collins was something that really stirred up Longbourn.

Mr. Bennet had no son, and according to the law of qualified succession, on his death all the property of Longbourn was to be inherited by this William Collins.

None of the Bennet ladies cared much - Jane was in love with Mr. Bingley, Elizabeth and Mary didn't care about cousins, and the two younger sisters went to Meryton every day to chat with the handsome red uniforms, so no one took this "guest of honor" seriously.

But Mrs. Bennet, the girls' mother, treated Mr. Collins as if he were the greatest enemy in her life, and even if she "hogged" Mr. Bennet's property, she wanted to come to Longbourn for a visit? This is outrageous!

A few days' chatter led to Mr. Collins not receiving the welcome he expected when he arrived, but because Mrs. Bennet complained so much, the young ladies lost any goodwill towards this uninvited cousin.

Mary was considered the least responsive of the five sisters.

For the original Mr. Collins had come to see a few Miss Bennet's with the intention of taking a wife from among them.

As for Mary, it wasn't so much the looks that were ugly, but Mrs. Bennet's genes were too good. Elizabeth was so pretty, and Lydia so tall and beautiful, that throwing her in with the sisters was really nothing. Mr. Collins couldn't have picked Mary for anyone.

Strictly speaking, she had Mr. Collins to thank for it!

With him as her guest, Mrs. Bennet would not mind Mary, it was Elizabeth who suffered, for Mr. Collins had taken a fancy to her, and had a chesty feeling that Elizabeth was equally in love with herself.

"Mr. Collins is outrageous," Elizabeth, who has been pestered by Mr. Collins all day, nearly has a nervous breakdown, "How can anyone be so presumptuous?!"

Mary couldn't help but tease, "I always thought the representative of self-righteousness in Lizzie's eyes was Mr. Darcy."

Elizabeth was breathless, "Don't you make fun of me."

Elizabeth, always proper, headed for the dressing table in her boudoir, only to feel her head aching after dealing with Mr. Collins all day.

Then look at Jane and Mary, one blushing, gentle face overflowing with the happiness of love; one concentrated, just put down the pen in hand, organizing the manuscript.

God is so unfair!

"I do think now that Mr. Darcy is all extraordinarily reasonable in the presence of Mr. Collins," Elizabeth complained, "and do you know what the maid said to me to-day, that she said she heard Mr. Collins say to mother that he thought I was equally in love with him, and was going to ask me to marry him! "

Mary sniffed and giggled.

In that case, Mr. Darcy had their cousin to thank for it! Mr. Darcy was only a straight man, while Collins' self-righteousness was rather like straight cancer.

"You will have to think over how to deal with Mr. Collins," said Mary; "I think he may think you are refusing even if you refuse outright."

Elizabeth glared at Mary.

You know how to make snide remarks, are you still not your own sister! Elizabeth was even more depressed when she saw Mary's superior appearance.

"You," she scolded, "have stayed at home every day for the past two days, and those who don't know it would think you are practicing hard. Accompany me to Meriden tomorrow."

"I don't want to!"

Mary was reluctant, "You can't stand Mr. Collins, and you want me to suffer with you?"

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow, "Oh? I'm not your dearest, dearest sister at this moment?"

Jane coughed softly a few times on purpose.

Mary: "......"

As it turns out, it takes skill to please, and it's best to be sweet-talking without a third person, otherwise it's just like this - don't go, then all the nice things you've said before will be for nothing, go, Elizabeth's the dearest sister, and where have you put Jane again?

If she had been a boy, it would have been so nice to have two beauties competing for jealousy at the same time!

Fortunately, Jane is gentle in nature, seeing Mary in a dilemma, she couldn't help but shake her head, "You've been writing at home for several days, it's time to go out and take a break, don't be too strenuous."

Well, since even Jane advised her so.

In these few days while she was free, Mary did stay at Longbourn to write a novel. Based on the feedback from the people of Nethersfield Manor last time, she once again slightly revised her thoughts, established the characterization of the protagonist, and cut down the scenes of the criminal and his psychological state.

The real Edmund Campbell, a murderer who was calm to the point of being terrifyingly calm and sane from start to finish. But people in the nineteenth century couldn't understand how a normal man could become a murderer, so Mary thought about it and decided it would be better not to dissect his psyche.

Since people in this era viewed all murderers as evil, let him be evil. Mary decided to focus on the narrative technique for the time being and write it first, further revisions would be considered after she put pen to paper.

The first manuscript, Mary does not intend to write too long, short and medium length, first submitted to the newspaper to see the reaction, if it is good, and then say published into a book.

"Well, then," Mary gave in, "go and visit Aunt Phillips at Meryton to-morrow; I'll be there early in the morning, so as not to have to listen to Katie and Lydia chattering away."

It was time for a change of mood, now that the ideas for the manuscript were nearly organized.

Especially since, according to the original storyline, the man who has a bigger part than Mr. Collins is also going to make an appearance.

The next day Mary arrived early at Aunt Phillips's house, where she talked with her aunt and uncle, and in a short time she heard Lydia shouting out of the window.

Before she had time to react to what was happening, she saw two tall officers, flanked by Lydia and Catherine, walk through the door. One was the officer who had come to the militia regiment early, whom they had known from early on, and the other, who was eyewitness and more handsome ......

Mary raised an eyebrow, this must be Mr. Werhane Wickham, the famous scumbag from the original.

Lydia cheerfully introduced Mr. Wickham to Mr. and Mrs. Phillips, and made a begrudging mention of Mary in passing.

The handsome Mr. Wickham greeted Mary with courtesy and concern, even though Mary was self-conscious that she was not as good-looking as her sisters.

To be fair, Wickham was indeed handsome, much more so in person than in several Pride and Prejudice movies and TV shows.

And in addition, he always hangs a gentle smile, speech behavior is also very decent, if you do not know the original plot, Mary will also be this courteous appearance to deceive over.

Even on noticing the book in Mary's hand, Mr. Wickham spoke earnestly: "I, too, am fond of Shakespeare, and Much Ado About Nothing is indeed a very good romantic comedy; you have really good taste, miss."

Mary: "......"

With people saying that, even if Mary knew he was a shocking scumbag, she couldn't pull her face down.

She just barely managed to nod and pull up a smile, "Thanks."

It was a good thing Lydia immediately snatched the words away, not giving them a chance to continue their conversation at all.

It was only then that Mary turned her attention to the others - Mr. Collins, forgotten by several of his cousins, was chattering compliments to Mrs. Phillips, while Elizabeth ...... was uncharacteristically not wearing a smile or joining in the conversation, but looking at Mr. Wickham in silent contemplation.

"Lizzie?"

Mary blinked, "What were you thinking?"

Elizabeth shook her head, "Nothing."

She didn't say anything for a moment until Mrs. Phipps drew Mr. Wickham's attention away from her and explained in a whisper, "We ran into this Mr. Werhan Wickham on the street."

Lydia: "He's here to join the Militia, too, and will soon receive his red uniform!"

Mary: "Isn't that nice? Why does Lizzie look so preoccupied."

Elizabeth: "...... We also ran into Mr. Darcy on the way, and it seemed to me as if Mr. Wickham knew Mr. Darcy, and they looked embarrassed and didn't seem to be on good terms."

Mary couldn't help but laugh.

"What are you laughing at?" Elizabeth was puzzled.

"You see, a little interaction with Mr. Holmes is really beneficial to a person," Mary giggled, "Now even Lizzie can be a detective to solve crimes!"

"Ghostly."

Elizabeth was helpless and reached out to poke Mary in the head, "Holmes on the left, Holmes on the right, Mr. Holmes is in London and he still can't get over it, why don't you just go to London with him!"

"I don't have any money."

"You're really like that!" Elizabeth cried.

"Well," said Mary, when she saw that she had a crooked idea at once, and said deliberately, "I think this Mr. Wickham is more agreeable than Mr. Darcy; he is so good at talking, and so attentive and considerate, that if the two are not on good terms, it must be Darcy's fault."

"......"

Elizabeth's brow wrinkled, "It looks that way, but-"

"But?"

"Perhaps there is some misunderstanding between them," Elizabeth said eventually, "Mr. Darcy is arrogant by nature, yet a man who is brave enough to admit his mistakes, and I hope they will talk to each other as well, and talk it out properly."

It was not easy!

You know that Elizabeth in the original, listening to Wickham's side of the story, decided that Darcy was a complete villain la. Now that she can think of it as a misunderstanding, Mary is already very touched.

So she struck while the iron was hot: "What if they are really enemies? Would you be on Mr. Darcy's side, or Mr. Wickham's?"

Elizabeth gave Mary a strange look, "Of course I'm on the right side."

"Then there is no need to dwell on it ah," said Mary, "Let us hear what Mr. Wickham has to say first, and then let us hear what Mr. Darcy has to say no less!"

As for the follow up to the scandal he made when he had finished courting Elizabeth and then ran off to flirt with Lydia, and encouraged her to elope ......

Mary did have a good idea.