Flowers, Swords and France

"I never thought that such an area still exists in the heart of Paris!" Matilda sighed softly as she looked at the old and dilapidated attic in front of her. "How many European celebrities have the Louvre hosted over the years? How will they view France because of this?"

"It would be great if these foreign dignitaries could despise France and underestimate the intelligence of the French." Charles teased with a hint of malice.

This old residential area next to the Louvre, together with the construction sites and ruins next to it, forms a wonderful picture, allowing people to clearly feel the coexistence of luxury and humbleness in Paris.

When Napoleon decided to complete the Louvre, he decided to demolish the entire old area. After demolishing it for a while, only some remnants of the old houses remained. Unexpectedly, the world situation changed later and the empire collapsed, because this area of ​​​​houses has never been demolished.

Therefore, these houses must be demolished sooner or later, so the rent is very cheap, so there are many tenants.

[The expansion and renovation project of the Louvre began in the Bourbon era and was not completed until the Second Empire in 1868, lasting more than a century. 】

"Sister is really dizzy!" Matilda frowned, as if she still couldn't let go.

Following the address given by Julie, Matilda and Charles came to the third floor of a small attic. Charles knocked lightly on the door, but there was no response.

"Mr. Lucien Leflair, please open the door!" Matilda called out, "I think you have heard my voice, so you don't need me to introduce myself. I came to you with a message from my sister... …”

There was a sudden muffled sound inside the door, as if something heavy fell from the bed to the ground. After a moment, the door opened.

It turned out to be the young man that Charles had paid special attention to at the dance that day.

His face is square, his nose is straight, his eyes are solemn and resolute, and he looks very energetic. He was now wearing only a shirt on his upper body, revealing his strong, muscular arms. He does look like a young officer.

However, his right shoulder was wrapped with thick gauze, showing that this area had been severely attacked.

It seemed that this was Mr. Dillion's masterpiece that day.

Looking at the two people who came, his pupils suddenly widened, and then immediately returned to normal. "Matilda...!" he almost shouted. "Please tell me how Julie is doing now!"

Matilda's expression was very cold. "Please call me Miss Dillion."

Charles and Matilda went in, and Charles carefully closed the door.

A flash of disappointment flashed through Lucien's eyes. "Miss Dillion, how is your sister now? Is she okay..."

Matilda could hear the anxiety in her words, and her tone softened a little. "She is in very bad condition now, that's why I came to you."

"Poor Julie!" Lucien shouted, and then rushed out the door.

Charles quickly grabbed hold of him. Fortunately, he was injured and was very weak, so he finally managed to pull him back with some effort, although he was still struggling.

"It's meaningless for you to go now except to lose your life." Matilda said coldly, "Maybe you don't care about your life, but your sister will be heartbroken by this, so please be sensible. ”

"Poor Julie!" Lucien sighed and gave up the struggle, tears faintly appearing in his eyes.

"Sir, please listen to me patiently." Matilda's voice remained unwavering, "Because of your unintentional actions before, my father has now placed strict supervision on my sister... and I'm afraid, he is planning to do it for me now. My sister is free to find a marriage partner and send her out."

"How could he do this!" Lucien roared.

"Before you planned such a thing, you should have thought of the consequences." Matilda looked at Lucien.

"But what can be done? What can be done, miss? Your father will not allow it!" Lucien almost cried. "I love Julie. I just want to marry her! I don't want her to bring any dowry. I don't expect to get any glory from your family because of her. I just love Julie as a person! And Julie loves me too!"

"If love could solve everything, how could the world be like this?" Matilda asked coldly.

Lucien slowly regained his composure, then broke away from Charles' hand and stood upright.

"I know that I am not from a noble family. In your eyes - this gentleman is also a noble, right? - I am not worthy of Julie. But in my opinion, I have passion, knowledge and ambition. I am no better than you. It's not like any of us!" He looked at the two nobles arrogantly, "It's the 19th century now, not the 15th century. century, the aristocratic class no longer exists, and what remains now is only a phantom, with nothing more than a title. Believe it or not, one day, France will not even have this phantom left at all. France in 1789! The unfinished business of the people will be completed! Just wait and see!”

"You were forced to retire because of these words, right?" Matilda sneered, "And now you are in love with a phantom!"

"I have no regrets about being retired for speaking the truth."

"She looks like a child of a regicide!" Matilda was a little irritated.

"I'm proud of this too!" He looked back at Matilda with awe.

Seeing that the conversation was at a stalemate, Charles had to smooth things over.

"I thought we were talking about rescuing Miss Julie, right? Let's not waste time on irrelevant arguments."

"Rescue?!" Lucien was startled, and then glanced back and forth from the two of them.

Matilda gave a long sigh.

"Yes, although I don't know what my sister is possessed by, I know that if this matter doesn't go her way, she will die... So, please don't misunderstand me, Mr. Leflair, I I helped you because of my sister.”

Lucien looked at the two of them blankly.

Ciel looked at him gently.

"Miss Dillion has made a plan for her sister to escape from the Earl's mansion, and I will be a participant..."

It seemed that he was shocked by the unexpected good news, and the excited and somewhat intermittent voice came after a while.

"You...really...really...thank you very much..."

"If you are really grateful, treat your sister well," Matilda replied gloomily.

"Definitely..." He still stood upright, "Absolutely."

"We have roughly discussed the plan and will take action in the next few days. Your task is to recover from your injuries and recover quickly, and then take the young lady out of Paris first." Charles explained unhurriedly, "Yes Do it?”

"Thank you!" Lucien sighed, "I will remember your help and kindness forever."

"Then can I ask one more question?" Charles smiled.

"What?"

"Originally, how did you plan to elope with Julie?"

Read the original text in Liu#9@书/吧!

"I will take her to America. I have some savings over the years, and I can borrow some money from friends and use these as principal. I will work hard to earn there! I can sell tobacco and cotton, and then participate in shipping. In a few years I will be rich, and I will make Julie live the life of a queen!" Lucien replied, and then he sighed heavily. "If only my brothers were here! They would fight to the death to help me rescue Julie. Unfortunately, they are all in Africa now!"

"Oh, it seems that you have been thinking about it for a long time." Charles did not comment.

"Can I ask your name?" Lucien suddenly asked, "I want to remember my benefactor's name and I must repay him in the future."

"Charle de Treville."

"Treville?!" he exclaimed in small surprise.

"Um?"

"Are you a relative of the Marquis Victor de Treville?"

"It's my grandpa."

"Oh God!" Lucien sighed, "My father participated in the Russian campaign as an auxiliary officer when he was young. He later told me that the Marquis of Treville saved his life and allowed him to survive the ice and snow!"

He stretched out his hand and looked at Charles with great sincerity, "If you can help me rescue Julie, you have saved my life. Your family has given us two generations of kindness and saved our lives twice." Life, please believe that I will definitely use everything to repay you.”

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After walking out of the attic, Charles and Matilda walked towards the carriage.

As they walked, Matilda suddenly burst into tears.

The crying grew louder and louder until it became a torrential force.

In desperation, Charles had no choice but to let her lean on his shoulder and let her tears soak his clothes.

"What's the matter? Miss Dillion?"

"I...I'm a little scared..." He answered in a low voice, "God, what have I done..."

"If you feel scared, it's not too late for us to stop." Charles replied calmly.

"No, I'm not afraid for the present! I'm afraid for the future, for my sister's future...!" Matilda said with a cry in her voice.

"Um?"

"We should be able to do it this time and let my sister escape, but what about in the future? Will she live with Leflair like this? Is she really mentally prepared to live that kind of life?" Matilda Tears were still flowing, "My sister has grown up in fine clothes and fine food since she was a child. Can she endure the days when she can't hold dance parties or buy jewelry casually? Can she endure the fact that she no longer has to be served and accepted by others? How can she bear it if she has love in the beginning? But what about the future? I’m so scared when I think about it! But if I don’t do this now, she won’t even be able to do it in the future! God, why is this happening?”

"It's useless to be afraid. If she must do this, she should bear the cost of her choice." Charles said gently.

"No, no, no, no! I will never let my sister meet such a fate..." Matilda clenched her fists, seeming to have made up her mind. "No matter what, let's do it like this first. In a few months, I will convince my father to admit this marriage. I must convince him! In addition, I will give my little private savings to my sister first, and I will give it to my sister first. There is... Mr. Treville, I must be like you Young people can't have much money, but can you lend me twenty or thirty thousand francs first? I'll let my sister live in hardship for three to five months, and then I'll find a way to get her back... I can write you an IOU first. , there is absolutely no problem with repayment credit..."

Charles stared at Matilda in a daze. It was not because Matilda asked him to lend her money, but because he felt a little sad.

He was now sad about Matilda's sincerity towards her sister, and she even thought of this without asking for anything in return. He was also sad...

In an era when the annual salary of an ordinary clerk was 1,800 francs, the annual salary of the highest-level engineer, and even the legal salary of a senior bureaucrat was only 20,000 to 30,000 francs, there were indeed some people who could regard "spending tens of thousands of francs in three to five months" as a hard life.

This is probably the so-called class gap...Charles smiled bitterly in his heart.

However, despite this, Matilda was at least still a good sister, a very good sister.

Just as Matilda looked at Charles with hesitation, Charles answered. "Of course, my friend."

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