aristocratic engagement

Chapter 27

"What?" Annie didn't take his handkerchief, and subconsciously wiped her face twice with the back of her hand.

Darcy pointed to the area above her forehead: "Here, did you come out of a hole? You actually rubbed this place dirty." Saying this, seeing that Annie's paws did not wipe it off, she simply wiped it. He tapped the handkerchief on that spot.

After hearing what he said, Annie choked for breath; in the next second, she felt the temperature of her forehead again, and subconsciously grabbed the handkerchief, but accidentally caught his hand.

Annie panicked and immediately let go.

Darcy didn't notice anything, and helped her wipe off the dirty spot.

"Okay." As he said, he put away the handkerchief and made way for her, "Go, aunt is waiting for you in the front hall."

Annie nodded indiscriminately, rubbed her nose, jumped down the stairs in a hurry, and ran towards the front hall.

"That's right." Darcy suddenly thought of something, and stopped her, "I forgot to tell you, my pocket watch has been repaired." Then, he took out the watch from his pocket and showed it to her , The strap has also been replaced with a new matte leather rope.

Annie let out a sudden "ah", and said, "Auntie's little portrait is still in my room, and now I..."

"Don't worry, you go first - forgot to say, this hat suits you very well."

Anne touched the object in her arms, it was the violet hat Darcy gave her that day.The clothes on her body were also made of the piece of cloth that the Earl forced to buy for her that day. The long lavender skirt reached the floor. This color was very flattering, making her snow-white skin more dazzling.Du Li has a lot of experience in color matching, and made light blue satin flowers for her skirt.The whole person is like an iris blooming in May.

Annie hesitated for a moment, and finally said goodbye to him in a hurry, and ran towards the front hall in a hurry.

A thought flashed through her mind—wasn't the royal blue checked handkerchief she bought for Darcy wrapped in Mrs. Darcy's miniature?The one in his hand just now... Could it be that he went to buy another exactly the same handkerchief himself?

When Anne followed the countess to the Duke of Bridgewater's mansion, most of the other invited ladies and ladies had already arrived.Listening to their self-introductions, Anne finally understood why the Countess had been calm and unhurried just now. Even though Anne repeatedly reminded her that the time was almost up, she was very calm and did not urge the coachman to speed up.

The wives and ladies who have been present are all below the countess, and they seem to have known each other for a long time.When Anne and the countess walked into the tea hall, the ladies had already gathered in twos and threes to talk, and there was no sense of strangeness.

Anne followed the Countess of Fitzwilliam, with a half-smile and arrogance on her face, just like a childish version of Lady Catherine.

Anne knew that she represented not only herself here, but also the Fitzwilliam and De Bourgh families.If she is a little girl with her father protecting her, she can be a carefree, gentle and kind little princess as she pleases.But she has no backing, so instead of humbly befriending people, it is better to assume a tougher posture that is more difficult to approach, so that they dare not easily tease and provoke them.

In the social arena, no one can be a naive little white rabbit.

The countess casually introduced her to the group of ladies, and hinted intentionally or unintentionally that Anne was very popular with the count and enjoyed the respect of the entire manor in Kent.

To put it bluntly, the Countess was reminding them that Mademoiselle Anne de Bourgh was not a poor, poor relation.On the contrary, Miss de Bourgh can inherit a large amount of manor and land.Unlike those aristocratic ladies who have brothers in their families, when Miss de Bourgh gets married in the future, she does not bring with her the thousands or tens of thousands of pounds from the care of her parents, but the wealth of the entire family that makes people jealous .

With such a status, even Miss de Bourgh's arrogance is justifiable and logical.

Under the beating and reminder of the countess, the ladies and ladies who were invited all cast olive branches to Anne.Perhaps because of the huge gap, those ladies who were still looking at Annie's gorgeous dress with envy gradually let go of their grievances, and made friends with her with half pity and half envy.

So what if Miss de Bourgh had millions of pounds?She has no father and brother, and after all, she is pregnant with her own crime.

The countess felt relieved when she saw that Anne had moved forward and retreated in such a situation without flinching.I couldn't help feeling sorry in my heart, if Annie was a boy, only with her calm temperament...

Among the ladies present, the Countess and Lady Edgerton had the highest status, and none of them had any interest in interfering with the family property. The topics of the tea party were nothing more than a few: husband, children, jewelry, balls and clothes.

After caring for each other's family members and elders and children, the wives began to cast their eyes on each other's dresses and jewelry.Miss Edgerton made no secret of her joy and pride. Like a little butterfly, she happily shuttled among the crowd, showing her new clothes to the familiar ladies and ladies.

Mrs. Edgerton reprimanded her impatiently: "Little Anne, it's just a new dress. Everyone has seen it. Don't be so complacent, it will make everyone laugh."

Miss Edgerton curled her lips unhappily, and was hugged by a kind fat lady, exaggeratedly praised: "Oh! Little Annie's dress is really nice, look at this... wait! I've never seen this material before, look at this pattern, it's not embroidered, is it?"

"Yes, this is the pattern, and it was woven at the time of weaving." Mrs. Edgerton continued, stirring the small spoon carelessly in her hand.

"The luster is bright and soft, not dazzling at all. Even better, it feels light and soft! My dear, this must be oriental silk?" The fat lady praised repeatedly, wishing to take it under her nose and take a good Look at it, touch it.

"It is indeed made of real silk, but you have also noticed that it is not very similar to the silk we have seen before." Mrs. Edgerton called her daughter to her, and inadvertently adjusted her dress, reminding , "This dress is not like cotton cloth that can be made at will, be careful, don't hook the silk out, then it will be too late for you to cry again!"

It seems to be a truth that the more expensive the object, the harder it is to take care of.

Miss Edgerton nodded in her mother's arms, looked through the crowd, landed on Anne, turned her face provocatively and rolled her eyes.

Anne laughed in her heart, she really didn't know how the Duke of Bridgewater's mansion taught such a fool.

Did she forget that she was able to wear this outfit because her mother humbly asked her for a letter of recommendation from "Phoenix"?

The fat lady suddenly turned her head and looked at another Miss Anne.

Annie gave her a small, polite smile.

"I am a careless person, and I just realized that Miss de Bourgh's dress is so beautiful!" However, this fabric is not as low-key and extravagant as Miss Edgerton's, it looks like an ordinary expensive fabric... the fat lady thought After thinking about it, I can't buy the kind of material that Miss Anne wears, and Miss Anne's seems to be good.

From the corner of her eyes, Anne saw the smile on Mrs. Edgerton's face froze for a moment, she suppressed the urge to laugh, and said calmly, "Thank you for your love, but...it's my fault that I never care about how to maintain clothes Otherwise, I wouldn’t have discovered that those dresses were more or less thread-stitched just before I left the house. I really couldn’t go on stage and make the wives laugh at me. Fortunately, my maid just made clothes from the material that my uncle gave me. Only then can I come to the tea party with my aunt in a decent way."

The fat lady exchanged looks with her companions in amazement. According to this Miss de Bourgh, she also has more than one dress like this?

The countess smiled slightly and patted Anne's head.Only then did the ladies see that Countess Fitzwilliam's neckline exposed her close-fitting collar, which was made of the same snow-white material—if you were not careful, you might think it was just a more delicate silk lace!

The minds of the ladies are active, who would not want to have a skirt made of such a unique and precious fabric, so as to win the praise of the gentlemen and the envy of other ladies at the spring ball?

Among the people present, only the highest-ranking Lady Edgerton, the Countess of Fitzwilliam and their girls had already put them on.In their eyes, this is no different from a signal.

Perhaps this is the new style of the ladies of London this year?

Mrs. Edgerton and Mrs. Fitzwilliam were surrounded by a group of people for a while, and everyone started talking and making insinuations.When Mrs. Edgerton told them with a little pride that they had to be members of the "Phoenix Club" if they wanted to buy such fabrics, the ladies couldn't wait to ask to join this "unknown" club.

"It's not an easy club to join. A member can only have one invitation." That's all Mrs. Edgerton could tell them.

"Is your invitation addressed to Mademoiselle de Bourgh? Don't you have a second one?" asked a young lady hastily.As soon as she finished speaking, she was severely twisted by her mother.

But no one would blame her for being reckless. Everyone was curious about the answer to this question, and eagerly hoped that Mrs. Edgerton's invitation letter was still in hand.

"No, I still have the invitation letter." Mrs. Edgerton said, taking a sip of tea, concealing her inner embarrassment.

No one knew better than her who she was able to join the Phoenix Club because of.

The young lady let out an exclamation and tugged at her mother's sleeve, implying something frantically.Her exaggerated and disrespectful actions were not so conspicuous now. Almost everyone looked at Mrs. Edgerton and winked, hoping to get that precious invitation letter with their relationship.

Anne took a sip of tea calmly, wondering curiously, what kind of thoughts is Mrs. Edgerton thinking in her heart now?

Are you satisfied with the stars holding the moon?Or tormented by secret shame?Or maybe both?

Mrs. Edgerton did not speak for a long time, and the reckless lady immediately turned around, looked at Anne who was "watching the play", her eyes were wide open, and she asked expectantly, "Miss de Bourgh, do you want to see the show?" I'm already a member of the Phoenix Club, so you must have an invitation letter, right? To tell you the truth, and I'm not afraid of your jokes, March [-]rd is my birthday, and I'm going to hold a grown-up dance at that time. I really hope to have such an invitation Stunning dress..."

After hearing what she said, Annie put down the teacup in her hand, and said earnestly: "Miss Slivan, the invitation letter in my hand has already been given to Mrs. Edgerton... Sorry, but if you must want that invitation letter , and Mrs Edgerton's is of other use, I can try to write you a letter."

Her words caused an uproar in the hearts of the ladies.

"I can give you that one, Miss Sliven!" Mrs. Edgerton's voice trembled a little, "If your coming-of-age ball is not perfect because of my stinginess, I think I will feel guilty and sorry for it of."

"You are so generous!" Miss Slivan thanked her repeatedly in surprise, and her mother finally laughed. The joy of the two made others feel aggrieved.

Another lady who had been sitting in the corner finally mustered up her courage and stood up.

"Miss de Bourgh, me, me too... I..." She blushed before she finished speaking.

Her words made Anne the focus of everyone's attention.

TBC.

The author has something to say: I'm really five5, new and old, middle and old... I haven't finished writing more updates that I agreed to, so I'll post a part first, and then continue writing.The second upload may be in the early hours of the morning, little angels don't have to force to wait, friends who sleep late can wait, but don't affect sleep, it will be the same when you watch it tomorrow.

As compensation, ten red envelopes will be dropped in this message, first come, first served...