Flowers, Swords and France

While the two "ladies" were still talking earnestly, there was another noise at the door.

This familiar sound made Mrs. Marx stop comforting Fran and raised her head to look at the door.

"Oh, we are still talking about him, he is back now!"

Then, there was a rhythmic sound of footsteps.

When Fran followed her gaze towards the door, she found that there was already a tall figure there.

This is a middle-aged man in his thirties, with a dignified appearance, a broad forehead, a calm but determined expression, and a shiny black beard.

He was dressed casually, and it was obvious that he didn't put much thought into improving his appearance. The only thing that made him look special was his piercing eyes.

And these eyes are now looking curiously at the two uninvited guests who just came in.

Is this a person worthy of my brother spending so much money to sponsor him? After the two looked at each other for a moment, Fran couldn't help but feel very confused in her heart.

She never thought that there would be a time when she would be so uncertain about her brother's thoughts.

Then, even so, she still carefully concealed the doubts in her heart, and then bowed respectfully to the other party. "Hello, Dr. Marx."

"Hello." After hearing the very beautiful woman in front of him greet him in French, the doctor also subconsciously said hello to her in French.

However, the doubt in his eyes still did not dissipate, and his eyes were on his wife, as if asking her what happened.

"Karl. You are finally back... We have been waiting for you for a long time." His wife explained to him with a smile, "These two are guests who came to visit us..."

Then. She stood up and walked to her husband's side. Then he quietly explained to his husband everything he had just learned.

After hearing the news that Fran was the wife of his sponsor and that his sponsor had passed away suddenly, even with the doctor's calmness, he still opened his eyes wide in shock.

He looked at Fran in surprise, but Fran just nodded towards him again with a sad face.

"Madam, I'm so sorry for you, you lost such a good husband!" After a moment, the doctor sighed, apparently finally accepting the shocking news, "May he rest in peace!"

"Thank you, sir." Fran thanked him sadly. "As you can imagine, he was such a generous and enthusiastic person. Until now, I am still sad for his passing."

"Please count me in, if I have such an honor." The doctor replied very enthusiastically, "Our family is very grateful for his help to us. If you are willing to accept it, I will be your husband and you." A true friend.”

"You said it very well... Thank you very much, sir..." Fran thanked her again and wiped her tears with a handkerchief. "Only when I am grateful can I feel that everything my husband has done is worth it...please forgive me for saying this...because there are too many ungrateful people in the world. Many people have taken it. We benefit from having them scold us, as if we inherently owe them something..."

"Yes, there are indeed many such bastards in the world. But we are definitely not among them." The doctor bowed to Fran, obviously not hearing the innuendo in Fran's words. "We will always be grateful for the help your husband gave us."

"It's great that you can say that." Fran sighed happily, "After my husband passed away, his original friends didn't have much contact with us, and even those who had been favored by him didn't like us anymore. I never mentioned it... Finally, not everyone is like this. It seems that my trip was not in vain..."

"Did you only learn of our existence after his death?" The doctor was a little confused.

"Yes, my husband never mentioned the existence of your family in the past - he is not the kind of person who likes to show off his good deeds. It was only after his death that I was able to learn about the existence of your family from the manager. That's right. Because I was very curious about this, and because I had been holding back my grief at home for too long, I decided to set off to England, at least to see what the people he took care of so much were like..."

"Now that you've seen it, I'm afraid I'm going to disappoint you." The doctor suddenly smiled bitterly, "To be honest, although I am very grateful, I still don't understand that your husband decided to sponsor him after meeting him once. The reason for our family.”

Just when the doctor was about to say something more, he suddenly found that his sleeve was pulled by the lady next to him.

He turned his head and found that the lady was winking at him, as if she wanted to say something to him.

He nodded apologetically to Fran, and then left the living room with his wife.

After the couple disappeared from the door, Mary, who had been sitting silently next to Fran, suddenly let out a sigh of relief.

"You've made a big joke on us!" She glanced at her friend uneasily, "If I had known you would play like this, I...I really wouldn't agree!"

"Okay, don't worry, nothing will happen." Fran was still very calm, took a sip of the cooled coffee, "Since he has always kept it a secret from this family, then this family will not know that there is anything wrong with what I said."

"That's not the question at all!" Mary couldn't help but whispered to her friend, "You are too willful... How can you curse the gentleman to death like this? What should I do if the gentleman knows?"

"It's just a joke, he won't take it seriously." Fran finished the coffee in the cup, and then slowly put the coffee back on the plate, "Besides, even if something really happens, I will be the one to take responsibility, you don't have to worry."

"Humph, it would be strange if the gentleman didn't vent his anger on me..." Mary sighed again, but still felt helpless about Fran. Nai, "Okay, stop making trouble... Let's say a few polite words and then go back quickly. What else is there to ask? It's obvious that the gentleman just gave the gift to this family casually because he was in a good mood. Since there is no such thing as a lover or a private affair, what reason do we have to continue to find out the truth?"

"Go back? This is just the beginning..." Fran shook her head gently, obviously unwilling to agree with Mary's opinion, "You said there is nothing worth investigating, but I think there are more things to find out! Think about it, with your understanding of him, would he do such a meaningless thing? There are too many people in this world who deserve help. Why would he help someone who is not related to him, or even not from his country? There must be some hidden reason..."

The original text can be read in Liu # 9 @shu/ba!

Then, as if she was talking to a friend, or as if she was talking to herself, she lowered her eyes slightly and whispered to herself, "I feel... as long as I can delve into the deeper meaning of it, then... isn't this all good...?"

After a moment, the doctor and his wife returned to the living room again, and Mary, who wanted to say something else, quickly stopped talking.

"I have just heard your intention, ma'am." The doctor bowed to Fran again, looking a little embarrassed, "But, to be honest, I don't know how to let you understand... because, I have already said, I still don't understand why your husband is so kind to me..."

He and his wife also couldn't see why this beautiful new widow had any reason to come to their door to deceive them, and then claimed to continue to give money to their family, so he was naturally very friendly to her and almost couldn't help talking.

"Then, can you tell me what he said to you when he came to see you? You must have had a very good chat, so he admired you so much, right?" Fran asked curiously, "Please forgive me, because I just want to know more about my husband..."

"To be honest, it's been several years, and I have forgotten many details." The doctor smiled apologetically again, "But, it's probably different from what you think. Not long after we met, we had a quarrel..."

"What did we quarrel about?" Fran asked hurriedly without caring about her reserve.

"In fact, it was just a dispute over some ideas. We just discussed some opinions and didn't attack each other." The doctor shrugged, "I told him that I think in the future, with the great enrichment of technology and production capacity, society needs to distribute wealth more fairly, and those workers who create wealth are more qualified to enjoy wealth. For this concept, workers all over Europe should and will definitely unite to overthrow the existing unfair system, end the rule of capital and rentiers, reform the highly concentrated land, and create a better tomorrow for mankind..."

What a rebellious and arrogant statement! Isn't this going to send us to the guillotine? Does my brother even appreciate such words? After hearing this, Fran was secretly disappointed.

"So... what did he say?" Fran asked in a trembling voice.

"Your husband did not oppose all my views, but he thought... my goal was difficult to achieve." The doctor sighed with regret, "He seems to think that the concept of nation is more deeply rooted in people's hearts at present. Even if they are equally exploited, a French worker is unwilling to stand with a British worker. Therefore, with a little incitement, they will fight each other under various slogans..."

In other words, his brother agrees with some of his views and does not think that there will be a universal revolution in Europe like this hateful agitator?

So... what does he mean? What does he want to do?

Fran thought to herself.

"Can you explain it in more depth?" (To be continued...)