Miss Danister had seen little Mia many times and knew that Shade liked cats around her very much, so she teased with a different smile.
Shade hesitated for a moment before nodding:
"Miss Winslet, as long as you don't mind standing on my shoulder, I have no objection to my honor."
So the witch took off her glasses again, and then turned into a gray-black cat in the gray-white mist. But like the chubby owl, the face of the cat turned by Flora Winslet also looked round.
Huhu, and quite charming and beautiful.
Shade then knelt down and stretched out his hand to her. The cat, which had acted quite indifferently just now, took a few steps toward him, but when it really wanted to step its paw into Shade's hand, it looked up again.
He glanced at it and then stepped back:
"Okay, I admit that I'm not ready for contact with strange men."
She transformed back into human form, put on her glasses and signaled to Shade that he could go out:
"Sage-level relic [Confusion], its passive characteristic is that I wear glasses, unless I am willing to disclose my identity, strangers will never recognize me; its positive characteristic is hypnosis and rewriting of cognition. Although it is a bit troublesome to transform into a human, but
I can still maintain it, so let’s set off like this.”
"Well, let's go to the old Bennet house first."
Shade suggested, and Miss Denister asked:
"Are you coming back for lunch?"
"Not necessarily. If we don't come back before twelve o'clock, you can eat it by yourself."
Miss Winslet said, following Shade out of the room. The eighteen-year-old red-haired sorceress watched them leave with a smile. When the door closed, she did not pick up the book but let the small mirror under the coffee table fly to
In hand:
"Eighteen years old"
She sighed in front of the mirror. For a moment, she felt that even if she remained eighteen years old, it would be nothing. But then she began to guess what Shade and the witch would encounter today, and finally asked the mirror with a smile:
"Mirror, mirror, please tell me, when they come back tonight, will Shade be holding the cat?"
Of course, an ordinary mirror couldn't answer her.
The old Bennet family manor, where cabinets were stored nearly a hundred years ago, was located on the northwest edge of Brookwood at that time, but today it is located on the outskirts of Vista just north of the city.
Because the development direction of Ximu Town is towards the southwest, the manor is not surrounded by the city, but is gradually surrounded by the forest.
With the Bennet family being deprived of their title half a century ago and various subsequent changes, although the manor still belonged to the Bennets, it was almost completely abandoned due to poor maintenance and existed only as the ancestral home.
Moving from the city center to the old Bennet house requires a carriage. Miss Winslet, who followed Shade downstairs, did not communicate with him on the stairs of the hotel, but when the carriage driver rang the bell, the wheels began to roll over the road, with long gray and black
The lady who sent the message finally spoke:
"Did you tell Carina about me?"
She sat opposite Shade, with no emotion in her golden eyes.
"Of course I did. She asked me if my trip to the Vista Grove to rescue Miss Danist went well and if I needed her help, so I told her the whole process. I don't have the habit of lying to Carina."
Shade said this, and Flora Winslet pointed out:
"If you help me conceal this matter from her, you might gain my favor. Aren't you men all like this? You have already won the favor of a witch. I don't believe you don't have other ideas. I think of myself
But he is very confident.”
"But no matter what, I shouldn't lie to Carina. Gaining your favor is not as important as Carina's favor for me."
Shade emphasized, and the witch wearing glasses laughed:
"Very good, it seems that although Carina has concealed important things, her vision is still as good as ever.
Tell her just tell her, at least it guarantees that if the three of us have problems locally, there will be follow-up people to save us."
Somehow, Shade clearly felt that Miss Winslet had a good impression of him. This was not a "like" impression, but a "friendly" impression. But he was not stupid enough to ask this question.
The witch took the initiative and asked:
"Another great witch will appear in Tobesk next. Do you know this?"
"Miss Vanessa Benenice? You know, the opera troupe will arrive probably later next week. They didn't take the direct train."
The gray-black haired lady then complained:
"I know that Carina will definitely tell you a lot about us. As long as you say a few sweet words and smile at her, she will definitely not refuse to answer any of your questions."
"She just said things that may be related to me. For example, about you, I didn't know your identity at all before I met you that day."
"Love makes people blind, even a smart person like Carina is inevitably affected."
She sighed there. Shade really didn't want to talk about this topic, so he asked again:
"Let's talk about the Bennet family before the carriage arrives at its destination. You and Miss Denist should know the Bennet family better than I do. How many of them are there today?"
"Not many. The eldest member of the Bennet family is Thomas Bennet, the owner of the Accordion Hotel. He is said to be a very stingy person, and his wife is a typical acrimonious country woman.
But he looks pretty good."
Miss Winslet said, touching her face with her hand, that beautiful face immediately turned into the face of a mediocre woman. Of course, in the eyes of ordinary people, it is still beautiful:
"The couple has five children, the first four of whom are daughters. The eldest is now engaged this summer and plans to hold a wedding next spring.
In fact, old Bennet doesn't care much about the children at home and only cares about business. Mrs. Bennet doesn't care at all about her daughters' moral and ideological and cultural education. Her only trouble is how to marry off all her daughters decently.
, as one’s own bragging rights.”
The witch restored her face:
"As for the youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, he is only 11 years old now. Their family does not live in the Accordion Hotel, but in a mansion three streets away from the hotel. They are famous local wealthy people. The five children also
He will appear at the hotel occasionally, and you will have a chance to meet him."
"Five kids?"
Shade frowned slightly. The "Mermaid" said at that time that the content of the transaction between Bennett and her "included three children." She also said that Bennett's wife died early so she was lucky not to be included in the transaction:
"So, isn't Desire talking about Thomas Bennet?"
He was guessing in his mind and asked again:
"What happened to Thomas Bennet's parents?"
"Bruce Bennet, his family lost his title when he was young. He gave birth to three children, and the only one who is still alive is the innkeeper.
Bruce Bennett died seven years ago. I only conducted a superficial investigation and it is said that he contracted a serious disease. If you are interested, we can dig up the body and conduct an autopsy."
After saying that, she raised her eyebrows at Shade again:
"Looking at your expression, do you really want to dig up the body?"
"I may have some conflicts with the Bennet family. I suspect that Bruce Bennet is not dead. It's just a guess. Let's go to the old Bennet house first and hope to gain something."
In 1763, when Miss Winslet and Miss Danist visited, the owner of the old house was the great-grandfather of the current innkeeper. However, after the grandfather's generation was deprived of their titles for protecting those musicians and political prisoners, the old house became a
Abandoned.
Therefore, when Shade and Miss Winslet stood at the door of the manor, which was locked by heavy iron chains, what they saw was a dilapidated courtyard overgrown with grass and a building with badly stained walls.
But other than that, the place is well maintained. The iron fence is not rusty, and every window in the mansion has glass. It seems that although the Bennet family no longer lives here, they have not completely given up on their ancestral home.
House.
In 1763, after Shade the Cat chased Miss Owl out of the manor, the streets outside were still relatively prosperous. But now with the development of the city, the street where the manor is located has become extremely depressed.
The main body of the street is very different from what it was more than 90 years ago. A small amount of farmland and some low farmhouses are scattered nearby. The street that could originally be used for carriages is now as bumpy as a country road.
Looking further around, the forest gradually surrounds the manor. The city is developing, but the old Bennet house has been abandoned in the past time and space.
"For me, it only took two or three days for this place to become deserted."
Shade heard the witch sighing from the side, and he asked:
"If the Bennets still hire someone to maintain the place on a regular basis, are there any servants who are looking after the house now?"
"There may be, but there are only one or two at most. We just need to be cautious and avoid them."
Although there was no one nearby, during the autumn harvest season, the farmers were busy in the fields and no one looked in this direction. When Shade was still lamenting the poor harvest this autumn, the witch beside him had already turned into an owl and flew over.
fence.
And when she landed in human form again, the silver cat also got in through the gap in the fence.
The two of them crossed the courtyard covered with fallen leaves side by side. The door of the mansion was naturally locked, but Shade reached out and knocked on the lock and it automatically opened. When he opened the door and saw the dim interior of the mansion, Shade felt like he was in a trance.
It's like going back to 1763 again.
Because compared to the desolation and dilapidation of the yard, the interior of the building is exactly the same as that snowy winter except for the lack of some furniture and oil paintings.
