After the Countess of Crane had read one of the poems in Wickham's Ode to Freedom, it was time for some of the noble ladies and young masters to present their creations during this time.

To tell the truth, the poems written by these noble children are very ordinary, and they can only be said to entertain themselves behind closed doors. Especially the sonnets displayed by the children of several great nobles, even Wickham, who has not studied sonnets very well. But just like that, it still received a round of applause, and the sedan chair was carried by everyone.

When the work of the great nobleman was finished, Henri Sario suddenly stood up and said with a smile: "Today there is a new member in the salon of the Countess of Crown, and that is Captain George Wickham, my colleague with whom I have worked in India. I would like to make it clear to you that Captain Wickham has an extraordinary understanding of poetry and is highly educated. In the course of our conversation, I learned that Captain Wickham had recently written a new piece that I would like to share with you. Now, let's welcome Mr. Wickham to read his new poems. ”

Countess Crane was a little angry that someone had rudely interrupted the flow of the salon, but when she saw that the man was Henry Sario, who had recently been in the limelight and had married the granddaughter of the Marquis of Cornwallis, she reluctantly said: "Since Mr. Sario admires Captain Wickham's work so much, then ask Captain Wickham to read your work aloud to us, and I believe that Mr. Captain will not let us down." ”

Speaking of the word "disappointed", the Countess of Crane almost gritted her teeth and said that Wickham's poetry was very ordinary, and she smashed him with rotten eggs. Because the Countess thought that Wickham wanted to be in the limelight in the salon, and deliberately asked Henri Sario to stand up and say this.

Wickham was really depressed this time, he didn't expect Henry Sario to give him such a trick to kill two birds with one stone! First of all, if Wickham can't come up with a decent poem, then he will undoubtedly lose face in front of many noble children, and it will not be easy to mix in the social circle of London's high society in the future!

Second, looking at the Countess of Krone, I am afraid that Wickham and Sario are colluding to make a show off in the salon. Wickham undoubtedly did nothing to offend the Countess Cron, a prominent figure in London's social circles.

The children of the aristocracy present began to talk to each other, and they were all asking their partner, this guy named George Wickham, where he came from, and he was simply overwhelmed.

Prince Frederick approached Wickham with a playful look and whispered: "I didn't expect Captain Wickham to have some research on poetry, and he is really a literary and military all-rounder, hehe......"

Prince Frederick was born in the intriguing royal court, how could he not understand that Henry Sario was looking for Wickham's stubble. However, he is not interested in solving the problem for someone he has known for less than two hours, and instead has a good showlike mentality to see how Wickham will deal with this situation.

Wickham touched his nose and said with a wry smile: "His Royal Highness Prince Frederick has praised Liao, although I studied at Cambridge University, I am not good at poetry. ”

Margaret Bernard grabbed Wickham's arm, and there was no worry on her face, but a hint of excitement in it: "George, you are the poet Wickham!" Let these guys who read jokes know what real romantic poetry is, and what they write is a bunch of garbage that can't be put on the table! ”

In Miss Margaret Bernard's view, if Wickham could write a classic collection of poems called Ode to Freedom, it was no problem to write a masterpiece on the spot. So, she never worries about Wickham.

Wickham's head was racing as he searched his stomach to recall the classic poems he had read. When Wickham saw Miss Margaret Bernard's beautiful red face, Wickham's mind suddenly flashed to the famous poem of the Irish poet William Butler Yeats, "When You Are Old."

The lyrics of a song "When You Are Old" by the later female singer Karen Mok are adapted from Yeats's poem "When You Are Old". Moreover, behind this poem, there is also a poignant crush story.

In 1889, Yeats, a twenty-three-year-old young student from Dublin, met the beautiful actress Maud Gang for the first time. She was twenty-two years old at the time, the daughter of a colonel in the British Army in Ireland, and had recently inherited a large inheritance after her father's death.

Maud Gang was not only beautiful and slender, but also, after feeling the miserable situation of the Irish people being oppressed by the British, she began to sympathize with the Irish people, and resolutely abandoned the social life of Dublin high society to join the movement for Irish national independence, and became one of the leaders. This added a special halo to Maud Gang in Yeats's mind.

Yeats fell in love with Maud Gang at first sight, and he was in love with him. Yeats once described his first meeting with Maud Gang: "She stood by the window, beside her a large mass of apple blossoms; She shines brightly, as if she were a petal sprinkled with sunlight. ”

Yeats was deeply in love with her, but hopeless because of the overly noble image she had formed in his mind, and the young Yeats felt that he was "immature and lacking in achievement", so that, despite the torment of his romance, he had not yet confessed to her, partly because of shyness, and partly because he felt that it was impossible for her to marry a poor student.

In July 1891, Yeats misunderstood the message she was writing to her, thinking that she had hinted at her love, and immediately rushed to propose to him for the first time. But she refused, saying that she could not marry him, but hoped to maintain a friendship with Yeats.

Since then, Maud Gang has always rejected Yeats's pursuit. In 1903 she married Major McBride, an Irish officer, and the marriage was full of twists and turns, even a complete disaster, but she was so stubborn that she rejected Yeats's pursuit even when the marriage was completely frustrated. Despite this, Yeats's love for her was unswerving. Thus, intractable pain pervaded Yeats for a long time in his life.

Yeats waited for the man he wanted to be someone else's wife, and he didn't marry until he was 52 years old. It was after Maude Gang, who had already died of her husband, rejected Yeats's marriage proposal again, and after Yeats's proposal to Maude Gang's daughter Isabella was rejected, Yeats finally stopped this hopeless thought.

But in fact, even when Yeats was married, he could not forget Maud Gang. In the last months of his life, he also wrote to Maud Gang asking her out for tea, but was refused. Moreover, Maud Gang firmly refused to attend his funeral.

It was Yeats's hopeless crush that prompted Yeats to write such a haunting poem as "When You Are Old". The poem is quite famous in China, there are many translated texts, and Wickham has seen one of the Chinese versions.

And now what Wickham has to do is to translate the Chinese version of "When You're Old" into English. Fortunately, Wickham's predecessor, Wickham, had a reasonable grammar study at Cambridge, otherwise he would have made a big fool of himself today.

Just as everyone was about to laugh at the little-known young officer, Wickham slowly spoke:

When you are old, with gray hair, and drowsy,

Tired of sitting by the fireside, take down the book,

Reading slowly, chasing the eyes of the dream,

Your feminine sparkle and deep glow.

How many people have loved your short-lived figure,

I have loved your beauty, with hypocrisy or true affection,

Only one has loved the heart of your pilgrim,

Love the traces of time on your mournful face.

Bending down at the edge of the stove hood,

Mournful and muttering,

How love passes, and how it steps up the mountains,

How to hide his face among the stars.

A very short poem, but it describes the anxious mood of a secret love that cannot be confessed, the passage of time when the beauty is old, and also says that true love is no longer with the get, but in the silent protection. By the time Wickham finished reading the poem, everyone in the room was silent, and the room was only the crackling sound of candles burning.

Seeing that none of the audience reacted, Wickham was a little uncertain, thinking that the poetry of a hundred years later did not conform to the aesthetics of this era? After more than a minute of silence, the crowd immersed in the artistic conception of the poem came back to their senses and expressed their high opinion of the poem with warm applause.

Henry Sario, who had been waiting to see Wickham make a fool of himself, stumbled down in his chair and muttered, "This is impossible...... How could he understand poetry, this must be plagiarism, yes, this must be plagiarism! ”

Unfortunately, no one paid attention to Henri Sario's muttering, and everyone was immersed in this poignant poem......

"Very charming poetry, Captain Wickham, I didn't expect you to write such beautiful poetry at such a young age." The Countess of Crane looked at Wickham with an ivory folding fan in her hand, her big eyes sparkling as if she could speak.

In fact, the Countess of Krone looked down on the noble sons of the vassals and elegance, but in order to help her husband gain a foothold in the Privy Council, she had to befriend the powerful people in the form of a salon. Now, Wickham is the first young man she has seen at the salon with real talent, and her sense of Wickham is much better.

Miss Margaret Bernard looked up proudly, and said to the Countess of Crane like a wife defending her husband, "Of course, you ladies and ladies may not know that George is the same Wickham who wrote the book of poems two years ago, and ......" Margaret Bernard was pressed back to her seat by Wickham before she could finish speaking.

Margaret, who sat back in her seat, pouted with some dissatisfaction: "What, you were originally a poet Wickham, I was not wrong...... Wickham touched his temples with a little headache, it is not difficult to be famous now, but the little English literacy in his stomach will be big if he is exposed in the future."

Margaret Bernard's snatching of the white was undoubtedly like a thunderclap on the ground, which made the people attending the salon suddenly blow up and talk about it.

"How is it possible, those who can write those poems must have a rich life experience, and this Mr. Captain is in his early twenties, how can he be the poet Wickham?"

"That's it, I think this young officer wants to be famous and crazy."

……

Henry Sario listened to what was being said, and as if he had grasped Wickham's pigtails, he exclaimed: 'You are right, how could Captain Wickham be that brilliant poet?' How is this possible! Moreover, the poem just now was also plagiarized! ”

"Colonel Saario is right, let's not be fooled......",

"That's it, how can that ......?"

……

Listening to the chatter around her, the Countess of Crane was a little unsure, and asked, "Mr. Wickham, you're not joking, are you?" You know, the poet Wickham has not been heard from for more than two years. ”

Hearing other people's questions, Margaret Bernard was so angry that she was about to get up to refute, but was stopped by Wickham.

Wickham nodded helplessly and explained, "Countess Crane, that book of poetry was indeed published by Mr. Walter of The Times two years that I commissioned it. The reason why nothing was heard from was simply because I joined the Marine Corps and escorted Lord Magalny to China, and only returned to England a few days earlier. If you have any doubts, you can ask Mr. John Walter and Lord George Magalny. ”

When Wickham said this, everyone in the audience believed it, after all, John Walter and George Magalny were the leading figures in London. Wickham is a liar, and he doesn't dare to use these two big names as a guarantee.

Next, the scene at the salon is lively, because the mysterious poet Wickham finally shows up, and he is still a young captain officer! This kind of news is definitely enough to talk about in London social circles for a while.

And Henry Sario was not happy to accept the fact that Captain Wickham, whom he hated so much, turned out to be a brilliant poet. And those noble children guessed from Henry Sario's series of actions just now that he and Wickham were not dealing with each other.

Everyone is laughing at this upstart who has just married the Cornwallis family, and he didn't even know the situation of the opponent, so he indiscriminately suppressed it, but now he was slapped in the face in turn, which is simply the biggest joke in this circle this year!

Henri Sario looked at the mocking smiles of the people around him, got up with a grim face, and hurried out of the salon of the Countess of Crone.

Prince Frederick, who was sitting next to Wickham, had a complicated expression, and the song "When You Get Old" completely touched the softest part of his heart, reminding him of the happy and painful time back then.

Frederick also had his first love when he was young, the illegitimate daughter of the eldest son of the Marquis of Essex, and he naively asked his father to marry the young lady, but he did not expect to be strongly opposed by his father. The marriage of a prince to an illegitimate daughter who has not been blessed by God is a big scandal for the royal family.

George III decided to cut through the mess quickly and choose a suitable spouse for the second prince. In order to ensure the safety of the family in Hanover, a German possession, George III chose the princess of Prussia as the wife of his second son, and ordered the Marquis of Essex to send his illegitimate daughter to a convent in Madrid, where she could not return to England!

Frederick was in great pain, but he still chose to give in. Every night at midnight, Frederick secretly hated himself for being cowardly, and he was the one who caused the girl to go to a convent in Spain! This is an eternal piece of his heart in his life.

Prince Frederick suddenly stood up and gently patted Wickham on the shoulder: "Captain Wickham, you write my heart." After saying that, the prince did not say goodbye to the Countess of Cron, and went out without looking back.

Wickham was a little depressed in his heart, this future commander-in-chief of the army was the backer he was going to focus on befriending, but he didn't expect to leave without saying a few words.

After Prince Frederick left, Wickham had no desire to stay any longer, so he said goodbye to the Countess and left with Margaret.

But what Wickham didn't expect was that within a few days, he would be nicknamed "The Captain Poet" and spread throughout London's high society.