On this day, Elizabeth came to talk to Charlotte and told Charlotte that Mr. Collins had proposed to her and she had rejected it. Charlotte's eyes flashed.

Charlotte was sent home by Mr. Collins for dinner that day. Mr. Collins attended the Lucas's dinner. At the dinner table, Mr. Collins was courteous to Charlotte, and Charlotte did not refuse.

Mary saw this in her eyes, and her beautiful eyebrows furrowed.

"Miss Charlotte, the weather is fine today, why don't we go for a walk in the woods together." Mr. Collins extended an invitation to Charlotte.

Charlotte was about to say yes, but Maria jumped out and said, "Charlotte, didn't you promise to go to the lake and paint?" ”

Charlotte wondered when she had promised Mary? However, seeing the look that Maria gave herself, Charlotte did not refute, and said apologetically to Mr. Collins: "I'm sorry, Mr. Collins, I promised Maria first. I'll walk with you next time. ”

"It's okay, it's okay. I'll come back to you tomorrow. Mr. Collins was still very talkative, twisting his fat body and leaving.

"Maria, do you have anything to tell me?" When Mr. Collins left, Charlotte immediately asked her sister.

Maria smiled slightly: "Charlotte, let's talk about something to the lake." The weather is so nice, it's not always possible to stay at home. ”

"You." Charlotte scolded Maria, but packed up her painting tools and followed her to the lake.

When they came to the lake, the two sisters put down their painting tools and chatted while painting.

"Okay, there's no one around, just say whatever you want." Charlotte spoke. She didn't know that someone from the lake had come long before they came. But when I went into the woods, I hesitated when I saw them, and did not come out immediately. Therefore, what Mary said to her fell on the ears of that person.

Maria spoke: "Charlotte, have you decided to accept Mr. Collins' proposal to be his wife?" ”

Charlotte was taken aback: "How do you know?" ”

Maria said, "You two have been so good these days. Charlotte, you were too rash. How could you choose Mr. Collins as your husband? Although Mr. Collins is a good man, he is not worthy of you. ”

Charlotte smiled lightly: "You are wrong, I am not worthy of him." Mr. Collins had the inheritance of the Bennet family estate, had a decent pastor job, and earned enough money each year to cover the family's expenses. And I'm just an old girl who can't get married at an old age. It was rare that Mr. Collins had taken a fancy to me, and marrying him was the best choice I had now. ”

"Nonsense." Mary loudly denied, "You are intelligent, erudite, knowledgeable, kind, gentle, capable and careful. You can draw, play the piano, embroider, speak two languages, and have mastery of cooking...... You're so good, you deserve any man. It's just that the men in Meriton don't have vision. ”

Charlotte sighed when she heard this, and said: "Most men are like this, they value appearance, no matter how good a woman is, if she doesn't have a good appearance, they won't like it." Unless the woman has a rich dowry. Unfortunately, I don't have both. ”

Maria said, "Charlotte, don't be presumptuous. Your dowry is now more than the five Bennet sisters, and I will give you my dowry as well, and make it ten thousand pounds. Even if your dowry is not as good as that of Miss King, it is more than the dowry of many rich ladies, and Miss Bingley's dowry is only 10,000 pounds. We asked my father to spread the news, and there will definitely be no fewer people who will marry you. ”

Charlotte hurriedly said, "No, I can't ask for your dowry money." ”

Maria said, "Charlotte, with my craft, even if the dowry money is gone, I can still earn it." But your happiness is the most important thing. ”

Charlotte was impressed, but still couldn't accept her sister's dowry money.

Charlotte said, "My dowry is now three thousand pounds, three times the dowry of Jane and Elizabeth, which is enough. When I got home, I asked my dad to spread the news. ”

Mary asked, "So you won't agree to Mr. Collins' proposal?" ”

Charlotte laughed: "You don't like her so much, I naturally have to consider my dear sister's preferences." ”

"I really don't like Mr. Collins, he's stupid and self-righteous," Maria said. Although he is a good man, his wife must have a lot of endurance to live with such a husband. ”

Charlotte couldn't help but nod.

In the jungle, some eavesdropping gentleman breathed a sigh of relief and quietly left.

Maria moved her ears, the corners of her mouth slightly hooked. Don't think that she only said these words to Charlotte, in fact, she let some gentleman who has not yet decided her mind hear. Otherwise, she could have said this to Charlotte in her room at home instead of pulling her down to the lake.

Maria had been watching from the sidelines, and had noticed that a certain gentleman was attracted to two ladies at the same time. Perhaps the gentleman thought that he liked the beautiful woman for the sake of visual enjoyment, and regarded another ordinary-looking woman who had a common language with him as an ordinary friend. But Mary could see that a certain gentleman had already developed feelings for his ordinary friend beyond that of ordinary friends, but he did not know it.

I hope that what I just said will make that gentleman recognize his heart.

And these words did have a great impact on that gentleman. The gentleman clutched his chest, and he found himself outweighed the anger and nervousness he felt when he heard that Charlotte had proposed to Mr. Collins than he had heard that Mr. Collins had proposed to Elizabeth.

What does this mean?

The gentleman, who had always been calm, was a little confused. Could it be that he turned out to be a man with a heart and fell in love with two ladies at the same time? No, no, Miss Charlotte was just a friend of his own, a friend to talk to, and he didn't like him. He was only angry that Mr. Collins was unworthy of Miss Charlotte. The reason why Elizabeth was not so angry when he heard that he was proposed to Mr. Collins was because he knew that Elizabeth looked down on Mr. Collins.

Yes, exactly.

The gentleman convinced himself.

When Maria realized that her words by the lake did not wake up a certain gentleman, she could not help but be a little angry, and decided to ignore a certain gentleman, so that he would suffer a lot later when he understood his thoughts. Fortunately, Charlotte listened to her and did not agree to Mr. Collins' proposal. Discouraged, Mr. Collins left Meriton disappointed. Fortunately, Mr. Collins is very good, except that he is stupid and fat. Soon after, he found a woman who was smart and sensible to be his wife.

Not long after Mr. Collins left, the group of Nigerfell Manor also left. It seems that Mr. Darcy has not figured out his feelings, but he does understand his feelings for his friends. It's just that Maria thinks he's too nosy, and Jane is a very good girl, and a good match for Mr. Bingley. He is so good at beating mandarin ducks, isn't he afraid that one day his friends will complain about him?

Sir Lucas had already made word of the dowry of £3,000 for his daughter, and there were indeed men who proposed to Charlotte, but they were nowhere near as good as Mr. Collins. Maria also prevents Charlotte from agreeing to the men's proposals, and takes Charlotte on a trip under the pretext of wanting to relax.

The two came to London first. Maria sent her large embroidery to the shop she had always cooperated with for consignment, and Charlotte had studied embroidery with Maria over the years, and was able to embroider some small and medium-sized embroidery, so she also took it to the store and sold it on consignment, and the money from the sale went to her dowry money.

Coming out of the consignment shop, the two sisters went their separate ways, Charlotte went to other shops to buy travel goods, and Maria went home on her own—since Maria's embroidery was a big seller, she had divided part of the money for Sir Lucas to buy a house in London. Although the house is small, it finally has a place to stay, so that you don't have to stay in a hotel every time you visit London. The accommodation in the inn was so poor - the London streets were unbearable, dirty and smelly, far from the countryside. Every time she came to London, she would go home as soon as she was done.

Seeing that the carriage was about to arrive home, a startled horse suddenly jumped past the carriage, and the horse on her side almost went crazy. Fortunately, the coachman was able to calm him down in time, and Fang let the horse pulling the cart stop.

Maria's eyes narrowed slightly as she looked in the direction the startled horse had left. If she was not mistaken, the hapless knight on the startled horse seemed to be Mr. Alexander. This gentleman is really unlucky, it has only been a long time, and he has encountered two dangers. It seems that the identity of this Mr. Alexander is not simple.

Although she knew that Alexander's identity was not simple, and that she might get into trouble if she intervened, she would have a troubled conscience if she did not come to her rescue when she saw someone suffering in front of her. Mary flipped onto the horse from which she had just unloaded the carriage, clamped her legs, and urged the horse in the direction of the startled horse.

Maria's riding skills were very good, and although the speed of the horse was fast, under her control, the big horse under her still caught up with the panicked horse. The two horses were side by side, and Maria jumped onto the back of the frightened horse, wrapped her hands around Mr. Alexander's body, grasped the reins, and clamped her legs between the horse's belly, and worked together to ......

Finally, the startled horse was restrained and gradually stopped.

Mary jumped off her horse and stretched out her hand to Mr. Alexander, trying to help him dismount. Mr. Alexander pushed Mary away and jumped off himself.

Although his face was pale, Mr. Alexander's momentum was still very strong: "Thank you, Miss Maria, for saving me again." ”

"No thanks. But sir, I hope you will keep it a secret for me. I don't want to get into trouble. ”