The passionate beat of the music and the excited crowd soon made Anne feel a little breathless, and a thin layer of sweat appeared on her forehead.
The slightly plump Mrs. Bennet came to greet them with her beautiful daughters. Anne took a deep breath. For the sake of Bentley and Darcy's romantic love, she felt that she could hold on a little longer.
The Bennets were considered a wealthy, middle-class family in Longbourn, but there was no doubt that the five beautiful Miss Bennets with different personalities were the family's greatest asset.
In the author's eyes, Mrs. Bennet was a vulgar, shallow, and even stupid country woman.
Mrs. Bennet didn't come from a wealthy family, nor did she have outstanding cultural qualities, so her thoughts were extremely limited.
Like all housewives in her position, Mrs. Bennet's biggest goal in life was to find a good husband for her five daughters. Her clumsy attempt to marry her daughters to rich men at all costs not only made others feel disgusted or even belittled, but even her daughters often expressed their confusion.
However, Anne still liked this Mrs. Bennet. She didn't have any higher goals in life. She only wanted to seek a happy future for her daughters. Although her words and actions were inappropriate, no one could deny that she did try her best to be a good mother.
At this moment, Mrs. Bennet and the five Miss Bennets were standing in front of Anne and company.
Mrs. Bennet smiled brightly, and Anne felt that she could completely guess Mrs. Bennet's inner monologue. God, four beautiful bachelors from London!
Without a doubt, the four bachelors, including Shylock and Watson, were already considered by Mrs. Bennet to be her daughters' "private property." This was because the Miss Bennets were the most outstanding girls in Longbourn, and every single man who saw them had no reason not to fall in love with them immediately.
This was especially true for Jane and Elizabeth.
Jane was the eldest daughter of the Bennet family, and the most beautiful girl in Longbourn, or even all of Meryton. Furthermore, she was as gentle and kind as Mr. Bentley.
As for the female lead, Elizabeth, of course, had an outstanding appearance. She had the same gentleness and kindness as her sister Jane, but the author was biased and gave her a deeper meaning. Elizabeth had read a lot of poetry and books, which gave her a brain full of thinking. She was intelligent, opinionated, and had her own extraordinary insistence and views on love and life.
Not only in the 19th century, but even in the 21st century, Elizabeth was a rare and independent woman.
Otherwise, Darcy wouldn't have noticed this unique girl the first time they met.
Bentley had already gone to dance with Jane. Darcy and Elizabeth, the two male and female leads, were still standing stiffly at the side without saying a word.
Anne felt that she didn't need to interfere in anything. Anyway, this couple would eventually become happy.
ending。
Suddenly, he felt a faint sense of melancholy. In this world, everyone had their own place. Of course, Anne De Boer had one too. However, she was just an insignificant character in the book, not even a supporting role. From the author's little mention of her, it could be seen that Annie Deboer was just a boring noble lady who didn't have much of herself.
In fact, this was not bad. Anne looked at the flickering candlelight on the wall and comforted herself. Even if she couldn't get married for the rest of her life, the inheritance left by Lady Catherine was enough for her to live comfortably for the rest of her life.
Compared to most women in this era, she was lucky enough. At least she didn't have to force herself to do anything, nor did she have to worry about her livelihood.
People should be content. And Anne was a person who knew how to be content at any time.
"Pupils contracted, eyebrows slightly knitted, lips pulled down, jaw clenched. Miss Anne De Boer, the micro-expression on your face tells me that you are sad. "
There was no doubt that this could only be said by Sherlock Holmes.
Anne didn't notice when he stood beside her.
She was sure that Mr. Holmes had only to glance at the ball before he could see through all of them. Just like how he could easily see through her sadness.
But that was all. Shylock could see that she was sad, but he didn't think that he should comfort her — especially when he directly exposed her psychology. Anne knew that he was probably more interested in the reason why she was sad.
Shylock was indeed thinking about the reason why she was sad. He raised his eyebrows and glanced at Darcy and Elizabeth next to him.
So, it was because of these two people?
Thanks to Watson and Mrs. Hudson, Shylock already knew this romantic love in the early 19th century like the back of his hand. Of course, he also knew that Mr. Darcy and his cousin, Miss Anne De Boer, were engaged.
Boring male and female games.
Anne didn't know that she had inadvertently made the arrogant and conceited Mr. Holmes make a mistake.
"I'm not sad," she retorted not firmly, but her voice was still soft, "I'm just a little confused. Sometimes I feel that I don't belong to this place, although I've lived here for 18 years. "
"You really don't belong here." Mr. Holmes gave a concise answer.
Anne smiled bitterly. Obviously, she had found an unfriendly person to chat with.
Taking a deep breath, Anne looked at the tall figure beside her with a smile, "Do you want to dance, Mr. Holmes?"
Shylock turned his head and looked at her expressionlessly.
Uh, Anne came back to her senses. Her words sounded like she was inviting him to dance.
"I mean, if you don't want to dance, we can go out for a walk," Anne explained.
Shylock didn't misunderstand her. He just thought that answering her stupid question was an insult to his IQ. Did he look like those goldfish that only thought with their lower body, exuding pungent male hormones on the dance floor?
Shylock didn't answer and turned to walk out.
Anne looked at his back and chuckled. She thought that this meant that she had gotten a positive answer.
Before chasing after Shylock, Anne took another look at the crowded dance floor.
Oh, this was Bentley and Jane's first dance. What a beautiful and well-matched pair.
She also saw Dr. Watson.
What a pleasant surprise. Watson was also dancing with a beautiful lady.
Perhaps it shouldn't be surprising that John Watson was the most popular man after Bentley. Although he wasn't as young and beautiful as Bentley, he was equally elegant and gentle, and more mature and introverted. The enthusiastic ladies of Longbourn were all willing to dance with the doctor from London.
Only Darcy and Elizabeth didn't make any progress. The second daughter of the Bennett family had even been driven away by the absent-minded Mr. Darcy while Anne and Shylock were chatting. Now that Caroline had the opportunity, she was inviting Darcy to dance with her.
Miss Bentley wasn't someone who would admit defeat easily. Anne gave Darcy a look that said, "Good luck", and left her cousin behind.
.
Anne was worried that the arrogant Mr. Holmes had left her alone. Unexpectedly, when she stepped out of the door, she saw the figure standing on the lawn with his back to her.
Yes, his thin and tall figure was really suitable for wearing a suit, especially when he stood like this with his hands casually tucked into the pockets of his trousers.
A person standing alone was the most beautiful scenery. This was probably how he looked.
Anne's hidden fangirl heart was slowly awakening.
The countryside was even quieter at night. The dark blue night sky covered the top of her head. Looking up, the sky was filled with stars, so many that it was unbelievable.
Anne had lived in a heavily polluted northern city in her previous life. Even on a clear night, it was difficult to see such a beautiful starry sky.
Below her feet was a flat grassland, and further away was a dense forest. However, she couldn't see clearly, only a vague outline that grew steadily at the edge of the starry sky.
Anne looked at the figure in front of her and felt that she could stand on this fresh and quiet land forever.
Shylock turned around and looked at her from afar.
Did the many gods in heaven finally feel that she had suffered too much in her previous life, so they arranged such a beautiful dream for her in this life?
Thinking about it this way, well, it didn't seem to be a loss.
Anne smiled and walked over.
"Mr. Holmes …"
Actually, she didn't know what to say, so she only called his name and then stopped.
Oh, yes. That wasn't his name. Anne didn't understand why she couldn't call out Shylock's name. Especially when facing him, the three words "Shylock" were stuck in her throat. Before she could say it, she would blush and couldn't stop.
Obviously, Shylock didn't care if she had something to say. When she came closer, he suddenly spoke.
"What do you think about tomorrow?"
Huh? Anne looked at him in confusion.
"Tomorrow. Back to London. You'll come with us. "Shylock finished quickly and even pursed his lips to return a smile. Although the smile only stayed on his face for a second.
Anne was a little hesitant.
"Mcauliffe thinks that the key to our return to the 21st century may be in Longbourn, although I don't think there's any basis for his guess, especially when John and I have walked through every corner of this boring village in the past few days, we didn't find anything unusual. Only — "
His speech was as fast as ever, but he suddenly stopped. His tall body bent down slightly, and his line of sight was at the same level as Annie's. His beautiful gray-green eyes were fixed on her.
"— You." Mr. Holmes calmly finished the last word.
He was so close that Anne could almost feel his warm breath on her face.
At this distance, she couldn't think at all.
Fortunately, after Shylock finished speaking, his eyes swept over her indifferent face and he stood up straight again.
Anne calmed her fast heartbeat and went over what Shylock had just said in her mind.
"I can go back to London with you and Mr. Watson." Anne's voice was almost softer than the night wind blowing on her face.
Although he didn't consider the possibility of the other party rejecting him, she agreed so readily. Sherlock looked at her in surprise, which was rare of him.
Anne said with a smile, "Although I don't know how I can help, you're so smart. Maybe you can find a way. It's just going to London. It's not difficult for me. "
Shylock's expression seemed to soften. She didn't know if it was because Anne agreed to go to London or because she praised him for being smart.
"It's just that I need to write a letter to tell my mother and also to inform Darcy. So, can we leave the day after tomorrow? "Anne discussed with him in a low voice.
Shylock didn't respond to the first half of the sentence, but when he heard Darcy's name, his expression became arrogant again, "Your fiancé?"
Anne was surprised. This was the first time that someone had explicitly called Darcy her fiancé. She and Darcy, the two parties involved, had almost forgotten about this matter.
Anne had always felt that Darcy didn't take their engagement seriously at all. After all, according to the story in the book, when he pursued and proposed to Elizabeth, he never once thought that he had a "fiancé" from childhood. So Anne naturally didn't take this engagement seriously.
When she heard Shylock's words, her first reaction was to deny it. Then Anne remembered that she and Darcy did have an engagement.
"Yes," Anne simply answered him, "although he is destined to 'abandon' and find a beautiful and intelligent wife."
"Then he is as stupid as everyone else."
Shylock said this sentence too quickly, and a burst of applause suddenly broke out in the dance hall not far away, so Anne didn't hear it clearly.
"What?" She leaned forward with her furry golden head.
Shylock looked down at the top of her head. Beautiful golden hair, but like its owner, it looked a little soft and fragile.
"It seems that I overestimated your IQ." The detective began to mercilessly criticize her again, "You are no different from those goldfish brains."
Anne caressed the hair on her forehead that was blown into a mess, "You can't expect everyone to be as smart as you, Mr. Holmes." She smiled gently, "Sometimes it's okay to be a little stupid. It can save a lot of trouble, right?"
Shylock turned his head to look at her. Her white cheeks looked unusually thin and quiet in the night, and there was a slight smile in her eyes when she looked up.
Mr. Holmes suddenly didn't want to refute — anyway, no matter how much he said, her mediocre IQ wouldn't increase at all.
Anne shrugged. It seemed that the conversation was over. She was about to say that Dr. Watson would probably stay at the ball for a while, and they could go back to Netherfield Garden first. Not far away, a person suddenly appeared and walked over with hurried footsteps.
Shylock's eyes shot to the figure, and his pupils suddenly shrank.
The person finally came close, and Anne saw that it was a middle-aged woman. Judging from her clothes, she should be a maid in the village.
Annie could also tell that the maid was in a state of panic. She was mumbling something as she walked, but her voice was chaotic and hurried, making it hard for Annie to hear what she was saying.
Anne was puzzled, and saw that Mr. Holmes had already rushed out like an agile black panther.
The maid was startled by the sudden appearance of the person in front of her. Anne also hurried to greet him, in case the frightened and poor woman fainted.
It was strange that Shylock suddenly stopped a maid, but what shocked Anne even more was what he said next.
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