Flowers, Swords and France

The dusk in late autumn always comes quickly, and the plane trees on the street are dyed golden. In the small bourgeoisie settlement between Hunting Street and Burgundy Street, two young men walked slowly on the street. One was very handsome, wearing a fashionable woolen coat and a top hat on his head, and his expression was frivolous and arrogant; the other was wearing simple casual clothes and a small tube hat, and his expression was much more stable. Although the two young men did not look particularly coordinated, they also had their own temperaments.

"Albert, where are you taking me?" After walking for a while, Charles finally couldn't help asking, "It seems like we have been walking for a long time?"

Don't worry, my friend, we are almost there. ""Albert kept scanning the ladies passing by, and whispered, "I promise you will be very surprised."

After that, he whistled at a passing carriage on the opposite side, causing the girl inside to blush.

"You really are..." Charles couldn't help laughing, "You haven't changed at all."

They have been friends since their youth, so Charles didn't care about his perfunctory attitude at all.

"Well, I really hope I can get a surprise." He said no more and continued to walk forward with Albert.

Not long after, Albert finally stopped in front of a big house. This house seemed to be newly built on the vacant land of an old house with a small garden. Therefore, it was obviously made up of shabby things. It can be seen that it should be a new family that moved in.

Albert nodded to the old doorman at the door, then directly pulled Charles in and walked straight to the stone steps on the bottom floor of the house. It was obvious that he was very familiar with the owner of the house.

At this point, Charles almost understood.

"This is..."

"Mr. Treville!" A greeting interrupted his inquiry, with a bit of joy, "You are finally here!"

Charles looked at Albert, who smiled and shrugged, then Charles looked up and immediately recognized the person who greeted him.

Julie, the eldest daughter of the Dillion family, was no longer dressed as luxuriously as before, but she was obviously much more energetic than the last time they met in the Earl's Mansion. Moreover, Charles keenly noticed that her abdomen had bulged a little, and her face was filled with a sense of happiness that was unique to a woman who was about to become a mother.

"Oh, Dillion...Oh no, Mrs. Leflair, congratulations!" Charles hurriedly congratulated.

"You just thought of coming to see us today..." Julie joked with a look of resentment, "We are so disappointed."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I've been very busy recently." Charles apologized, and then asked quickly, "Where is Mr. Leflair?"

"At home, I just came back from the military camp today, so I'm resting." After Julie answered, she joked, "It's too formal for you to call me Mr. or Mrs. at this time?"

"Okay, Julie." Charles followed her advice, then walked in front of her, took off his hat and bowed, "Congratulations."

"Thank you, Charles." Julie nodded with a smile, and then saluted Charles, "Let's go in first!"

Lucien Leflair was sitting on the sofa to rest at this moment. When he saw the two people coming in with his wife, he was a little surprised at first, then he immediately stood up with a smile and greeted the two people.

"Albert! Mr. Treville! You are finally here!"

He walked up to the two people and stretched out his hands to Charles.

Charles also stretched out his hand and shook it tightly with him.

"Lucien, call me Charles."

Lucien was delighted again, and his hands were clenched tighter, "I haven't thanked you properly for what happened before, Charles!"

"No, I'm glad to be able to help you in some way." Charles still smiled, "The facts prove that I did nothing wrong, but did a great thing."

After hearing this, Lucien became even happier, he held Charles' hand and kept thanking him.

"How long are you going to talk about it!" Julie interrupted them with a smile, "Come in and sit down!"

The furniture looked old, obviously second-hand, but it could be seen that it was carefully taken care of by the hostess, and the layout and furnishings had their own elegance.

"It's so simple inside, please don't laugh at it, Charles." Julie joked, and then pointed to a chair and asked him to sit down.

"We have everything we need, what else do we need?" Charles replied with a smile.

After everyone was seated, oysters, stewed veal, gravy soup and other dishes were served one by one, and the four young people began this dinner, which was not luxurious but was acceptable, while chatting about all sorts of things.

"It's really great that you can come and accompany me, Charles, you must come more often in the future to relieve our boredom..." Julie didn't eat much, but kept chatting to liven up the atmosphere at the table, "I stay here and don't go out all day. I can only read books or tidy up the room all day. It's much more boring than when I was in Calais."

Charles quickly agreed.

Because the Dillion family said to the outside world that the eldest lady Julie was still "recuperating in the south", so the newlywed Julie could only stay at home to avoid running into acquaintances, and she was indeed a little idle all day.

"Julie, I'm sorry..." After hearing this, Lucien's eyes were full of apology, "It's all because of me..."

"No, dear, it's not your fault, it's dad and his." Julie shook her head gently, then smiled, and then squeezed Lucien's hand.

The two stared at each other again, as if the two guests no longer existed.

"I say, do you two want to piss us two bachelors off to death!" After a while, Albert broke this loving scene, and he joked with a strange smile, "Looking at you like this, I can't eat anymore, and now I want to find someone to marry!"

After he made this joke, the four young people couldn't help laughing, and the slightly sad atmosphere caused by Julie's words just now was directly swept away.

"Albert, I'm not saying anything about you, a beautiful young man like you, if you can be more stable - just learn a little from Charles - it won't be a problem for you to marry any good girl..." Julie couldn't help but make a joke with Albert.

"Do you mean that our Charles can find anyone he wants to marry?" Albert asked immediately.

"Isn't it?" Julie asked back.

"Hmm..." Albert paused for a rare moment, "It seems to be the case..."

"Hey, if you guys are joking, just joke around, don't drag me into this!" Charles felt a little embarrassed, "Even if you are telling the truth, you should pay attention to the occasion, okay?"

There was another round of laughter.

"You are still so good at telling jokes, you haven't changed since you were a child, Charles..." Albert laughed the most, "This is what I admire most about you."

When young people get together, there is always a lot of laughter.

………………

After eating for a while, Charles seemed to remember something.

The original text is in the six # 9 @book/bar!

"Lucien, I heard that you have returned to the army now?"

"Yes." Lucien nodded, "Thanks to the Diliyon family, I have returned to the army and served as a company commander in the garrison."

"Oh! Congratulations!" Charles raised his glass and toasted him again, "Are you used to it recently? The troops in Paris are quite different from those in North Africa."

"Fortunately, I have been a soldier for so many years, and I have already mastered the ways of the army." Lucien answered after drinking a glass of wine, "In fact, the soldiers here are easier to discipline. Just make them feel that you are really capable of being their superior..."

"Well, do a good job!"

After saying this, Lucien's face was a little hesitant.

"It's no problem to integrate into the army, but..."

Before Charles asked, Julie stood up and nodded to the two guests.

"I'll go back to the bedroom first, you can continue chatting."

The two guests didn't say anything, just nodded in greeting. Pregnant women should really take care of their spirits.

After Julie went upstairs to the bedroom with her maid, Charles asked Lucien.

"Lucien, what's wrong? Did you encounter any problems? Or do you have something to tell me?"

"Charles, can you keep it a secret for me?"

"Of course." Charles answered directly.

After a while, the hesitation on Lucien's face finally disappeared, and he whispered.

"Charles, to be honest, as soon as I joined the army, someone invited me to join a small group, and I joined."

"Small group?"

"Well, it's a few low-ranking officers like me, some of whom are from other regiments. They are all very dissatisfied with the current dynasty and think it has run out of luck. Now we have all agreed privately that if there is a riot in Paris one day, we will never shoot at the rebels... Of course, this is just talk. If that day really comes, no one can say what to do. We all know that you have a lot of ideas, so you can definitely give us some opinions, right?"

Charles opened his eyes slightly, and then regained his composure.

………………

Late at night, Lucien returned to the bedroom.

"How is it, dear?" Julie asked softly while sitting at the head of the bed.

"I told him everything as you asked." Lucien answered softly, not showing the coldness in the barracks at all, "Julie, I just don't know why I have to do this..."

"For us and our children." Julie smiled and hugged her husband, "I can see that Mr. Treville can be very successful. You are not a politician, and you can't be a politician, so it's better to communicate with a politician who can get things done. This is good for you, at least it can help you avoid making mistakes..."

Lucien sighed softly.

"Sometimes, I feel that I can never figure out what you are thinking. Well, I will do whatever you say. Who told me to love you!"

"That's what I love about you!" Julie hugged him tighter.

"I'll just lead my soldiers, and you can think about the rest." Lucien seemed to have given up thinking about those boring things, "I just want to hold you tightly now." "That's right, my dear, we have to live well now." Julie smiled with a philosophical demeanor, and she hugged her husband tightly, "Versailles, the palace where my ancestors once wandered, the place where my ancestors served the Sun King and Louis XV, was once so prosperous and invincible, but it was looted in a blink of an eye, and now it has become a museum... Is there anything in this world that cannot be changed? Lucien, we just have to live well now..."

[During the July Monarchy, the Palace of Versailles, which had been devastated by the Great War and had been almost unattended, was renovated, but due to lack of funds, it was somewhat hastily restored. At that time, Versailles was converted into a museum and opened to the public. ]