The meaning of the Sir Lady is obvious, Isabelle, who has been the Privy Counsellor of the Duke's Court for more than a year, must not only reflect her status and position in her title, position, and annual honorarium, but also show a majesty, sanctity, and wealth of a noble counselor in her daily dress.

And in the eyes of Sir Euphemia, the fact that her sister could become a privy counsellor to His Highness was almost a thing that could only be done with God's help. Therefore, in every respect, her sister should have a haughty and confident posture as an advisor to the Duke.

The outward manifestation of posture is that it must never wear the same or similar clothing as those below the knightly class. Now, however, her sister has been a Privy Councillor for a full year, and has not changed the dress that was fashionable at the end of the last century.

I saw that Euphemia Walton, who was wearing a low neckline and a tight-sleeved bodice with tight sleeves on the upper body, a floor-length skirt on the lower body, and a crescent-shaped moon covered with a velvet hood at the middle and back of the head, looked at Isabel with a pair of piercing eyes and said: "My sister, Your Privy Counsellor to His Royal Highness the Duke, when do you plan to take off this Italian dress of the late 15th century?" ”

Isabel suddenly discovers that the 16-year-old Euphemia is very beautiful and charming, and it seems that she has indeed grown into an unmarried lady of a knightly family with the potential of a noble lady. Putting down his right arm on the back of the chair, he gently rested his upturned left leg on the ground, and then turned around and lay his upper body on his sister's puffed up dress.

This sudden movement caught Yuphimia by surprise, and she reached out to cover her little mouth that was about to scream in horror. Isabelle, on the other hand, lifted her face, reached up and stroked Euphemia's delicate face, and said with a grin, "See, Effie, how beautiful and elegant you are, and I feel very sorry for you for being the wife of Sir Roland's eldest son." ”

At the hearing of the word "wife", Euphemia's little face immediately turned red. He put down his little hand and shouted at his mother, "Mom, look, what has my sister done to me?" ”

Antonia, who was dressed in the same dress as her youngest daughter, leaned back in her chair and laughed and rebuked, "Isabel, get up, you're going to crush Effie's dress." ”

"Well, if the rattan or whalebone in the pleats of my skirt were so easily crushed by me, I would at once go to Yorkshire and find the tailor and give him a hard lesson." After smiling, he quickly got up from his sister's long skirt.

"By the way, teach yourself another lesson, Your Excellency the Privy Counsellor of the Waltons!" Euphemia blushed and reached out to pinch Isabelle's arm.

"Hey, you're pinching me, Miss Euphemia. By the way, are you going to do the same to your husband Howard after marriage? ”

"Your Excellency, I actually don't like Mr. Howard Wadsworth at all, and I don't know why I should marry him?"

"Effie, that's not my idea. Mother, what do you say? ”

In recent years, some big changes have emerged from several of the Waltons' children. The eldest son, Ernest, now serving as a knight for Viscount Carlisle at Carlisle Castle on the border between England and Scotland, is unlikely to return home before the death of his father, Sir Augustine.

The second son, Alfred, was in poor health from the age of 4 until he arrived last autumn when he was sent to Lancaster Castle, 61 miles (about 98.2 kilometers). At Sir Roland Wadsworth's house, he began to learn how to be a boy with the Lady Sir Sir below. As a side note, Howard, who was betrothed to Euphemia, was the eldest son of Sir Roland Wadsworth.

After the sons of the family left, the marriage of the second daughter Euphemia became the top priority for Antonia and Augustine. She now feels a little helpless about her youngest daughter's marriage.

There were three key factors in Euphemia's marriage, the first two of which were issues of social hierarchy and religious beliefs that were very important to her parents, Sir Augustine and his wife. The last and most important factor was the dowry system that prevailed in England's aristocracy and knightly class from the end of the 15th century.

Because the dowry system fundamentally changed the nature of marriage among the aristocracy and knights, the men and women in their marriages were no longer married to meet their psychological and physical needs. In turn, marriage becomes an institutional strategy to ensure the perpetuation of the family and its property.

In general, the marriage prospects of a girl in a noble or knightly family depend on the size of her dowry. If the girl does not have a rich dowry, it will be difficult to get a happy marriage unless she is particularly beautiful, gentle and lovely, and meets a good opportunity.

Not only that, but in the social opinion and environment at that time, a girl with the idea of celibacy brought a shame to herself and the whole family behind her. As a result, the aristocracy and knightly class always tried to inflate their daughters' dowries in order to increase their competitiveness and marry off their adult daughters.

Euphemia and Howard's engagement a year earlier was facilitated by both parents and their respective lords in this context. Since both families were of the northern knightly class and were devout Catholic families, the first two elements of the marriage were successfully resolved.

After the engagement, Sir Augustine and his wife Antonia were unable to scrape together the 465-pound dowry of Euphemia. This money was nothing for a nobleman, but it was an astronomical sum for an ordinary hired man earning only six pounds a year in 1536.

As a member of the family, Isabel strongly resisted the dowry system from the bottom of her heart, but she had been in the north for 18 months and had been unable to make much change. She can only try to change some people and things around her in the case of conforming to the social trend.

She really couldn't bear to see her parents have to take out more than two years of land income at one time to prepare a dowry for her sister. In desperation, he took out part of his private property and gave it to his mother Antonia.

Antonia was astonished by this, and she could not imagine where Isabel, who had only been a privy counsellor in the Duke's palace for one year, got the money. Isabel had to explain to her that part of it was the 180 pounds annual honorarium paid to her by Henry, and the other part was the money from the sale of prey accumulated during previous hunting seasons.

Only God knows whether her words are true or false. In the past year, she had received an annual honorarium of 180 pounds from Henry, but she had no chance or time to spend it.

During the hunting season, most of the prey obtained through his own hunting and gifts from the nobles was given to Herbert and several of his poor brothers from the Guard. The rest of the small portion was given to the dishwasher Anne and the bow maker Reese.

Of course, how could she, who is smarter than anyone else, have such a small income? commissions earned for participation in judicial duels; She led the "Blackfriars" to plunder the illegal wealth obtained by the church and the aristocracy, which came from unknown sources, and the black money obtained in exchange for her life and blood was her main income.