[Masterpiece Les Miserables] Paris Sparks

Just the next day, the count's servant delivered a letter written by him to 31 Boulevard Saint-Germain.It is well known that Miss Evermond herself lived so simply that she scarcely needed servants, and therefore the earl's messenger boy waited in the drawing room for a reply after the letter had been delivered.Corona opened the letter and read it in front of him. "The count invited me to meet at five o'clock in the afternoon," she said. "Do you know how long he intends to visit?"

"That's not certain." The servant replied respectfully, "It all depends on the Earl's mood."

"Won't that introduce a lot of variables into his day's schedule?"

"It's our job to deal with these changes." The servant still replied very respectfully.

This attitude made Corona feel very uncomfortable.But she also noticed that the earl's servants were somewhat different from ordinary noble servants: their feelings for the earl seemed to be respect from the heart, rather than fear and obedience due to differences in power.She asked: "So, if this question is not a secret, do you know what the Earl's schedule is that day?"

"No, ma'am. The count ordered him to follow your schedule."

"The count is too polite." Corona smiled. "Please tell the count. If it is convenient, can I ask him to meet at four o'clock earlier?"

This is because she is not sure how long the Earl intends to stay, and she has heard about his picky diet, so she hopes not to keep him until dinner time-the school food is all civilians, and she does not intend to Serve the count with such a meal, and save yourself from embarrassment.The servant respectfully agreed, so Corona wrote a reply letter by hand and asked him to send it back, while notifying the school people.

Three minutes early, she was waiting at the school gate on time.At exactly four o'clock in the afternoon, as Albert and Courfeyrac later boasted, the count stepped out of the carriage exactly, not missing a second. "It seems that I still made you wait." He apologized after getting off the carriage.

"I arrived early." Corona said, she turned and led the earl to the direction of the school gate, and explained to him: "Because it is a girls' school, there have been regulations since its establishment that all males over ten years old , You must be accompanied by me, the principal or the vice-principal throughout the entire process before you can enter the school. No matter whether you are a nobleman or a worker, there is no exception. It is not intentional to neglect you."

"Accompanied by the founder, I don't see any negligence in this." The earl said gently, and followed her into the campus.His coachman should have been ordered by the master to drive the carriage elsewhere.He looked around the campus, and the children who were helping to clean and carry it looked at him curiously, but out of respect for Corona, no child ran forward impolitely.

"I don't know whether Albert or Courfeyrac have introduced it to you. When I was young, I opened a literacy class for female workers." Coronne led the earl to walk slowly in the campus, while introducing, "Original intention It’s just because I met a friend who was a worker in a factory and wanted to teach her how to read. Later, the number increased, and I thought that my place might be the only place where they could learn to read, so I couldn’t refuse… Later, classes were divided into different learning schedules, and it became more and more formal, so I came up with the idea of ​​establishing a school. ——Speaking of raising funds for the establishment of the school, I should also thank you for the sum of money that year.” She said He smiled half-jokingly, "If you are interested, the school board has always reserved a seat for you."

"I didn't expect that I had such a small sum of money to do a good deed without my knowledge." The earl replied with some surprise, "Who are the current board members of the school?"

"Now? Just me."

Both of them smiled. "However, the initial fund I provided was an annuity of less than [-] francs per year. This amount is not enough to spread evenly to dozens of teachers and hundreds of students. The school also accepts donations from many nobles and wealthy businessmen on weekdays , Those who have donated money will have their names engraved on the stone tablet for people to praise, and the school will also inform the donors how the money has played a role.—Look, that is the tablet, standing outside the side door. "

She unlocked the side door with the key she carried, and pushed the door to lead the earl outside. There were only a few lines of writing carved on the top of the stone tablet, and the rest was blank.At the very top was written the name of the Countess of Morcerf, followed by the number eight thousand francs.Some of the other names were nobles and officials that the Earl had heard of in the past few days, while others had never been heard of. The amount of donations ranged from five thousand to one thousand.Madame de Morcerf's name appears twice in it, Albert's once.

"Such contributions do not seem very stable." Earl said.

"Indeed. So we usually deposit such a large amount of donations into the school's fund to increase the annual annuity." Corona said, the two returned to the campus, and she turned back and locked the door again. "However, this is because only donations of more than a thousand francs will appear on the stele. You may be surprised by the real stable donation channel: it is often from civilians and workers."

"How much can you donate?"

"It's very little. But it adds up. It's a big sum every year. Such donations are divided into three categories: one is the graduates of the school, who are not loan students when they are studying, and have a relatively stable income after graduation. The first category is well-meaning citizens—including the relatives and husbands of the students. As for the third category, it’s a little special, have you seen the children helping in the courtyard?”

While speaking, they had already approached the main building behind.The count nodded: "Where did those children come from?"

"Many are homeless children on the street. There are also children from poor families, or children who cannot normally enter public elementary schools for various special reasons. The school has staff to organize these children to help with some chores and provide a daily Dinner is used as compensation. If there are some special jobs, such as sending letters, carrying and so on, a little extra wages will be paid. But many children’s families are unwilling to receive this money, and return the money to us in turn. Those who can’t refuse The money will be treated as a donation.”

"It can be seen that kindness must be rewarded. So how much is the total donation in one year?"

"About two thousand francs. In the first year, we were also taken aback. After all, most of the donations were three to five francs, or even a few sous. .”

They went into the main building.So Corona lowered her voice, ended the topic, and introduced to the count: "This is where the main classroom is. The afternoon class is currently in progress."

"I heard you still teach in person these days, don't you?"

"Who told you, Courfeyrac?"

"Exactly, how do you know?"

"Because Albert has never cared about this aspect." Corona smiled, "I still take the art appreciation class in the second and third grades. In addition, I am also in charge of half of the grammar class in the upper grades of the literacy class. "

"Is that much?"

"Actually, it's not too much. The school's art appreciation class is two hours a week, and there are four classes in two grades, which is eight hours. The literacy class is taught twice a week, a total of four hours. Do the math, It doesn’t even take one day to add up.”

"Don't you count the journey back and forth?"

"Whether I go to school or not, I have to go to and from school, so it doesn't count. As for the journey to the literacy class-it takes at most one day at most. One-seventh of the time per week can also be counted." Is there a lot?"

"Your self-discipline in calculating time is admirable. No wonder you have been doing these things at the same time over the years, but there are always many new works on display every year."

"To be praised by you for being punctual, I'm afraid there is no higher praise in the world." Corona replied.

They walked around the campus in such a calm and courteous manner, and even entered a few empty classrooms to have a look.The school is not big, and it only took half an hour to go around, but Corona still didn't understand what the count was here for - he maintained a polite interest in everything, she tried her best to observe, but completely It's impossible to find anything special about him, as if he is just an ordinary tourist who just visits on a whim.Finally, when she led him to her office, the earl asked, "You said just now that the school will accept donations. What is the process?"

"There is no process. Donors can give us checks or cash directly, or bank transfers. If a donation of more than [-] francs is made at one time, we will attach a bill and a report at the beginning of the next semester, explaining that the money was used. Where is it?"

"Then, if I donate to you, can I ask you not to engrave my name on that tablet?"

"It's not difficult to achieve. But why don't you want to leave your name?" Coronna asked in surprise.

"You just take it as a quirk of mine." The earl said lightly, he took out a folded check from his pocket and put it on the table: "Thank you for your introduction, I hope you don't mind and I want to Do your bit for this cause.”

Corona unfolded the check.She looked at the number above carefully, her eyes widened in shock, and she read it several times. "Count!" she said, "you..."

She didn't even know what to say.The Count smiled nonchalantly.

"You may have heard something about me. I have no shortage of money. I just asked the steward to buy two gray zebras for thirty thousand francs the other day, and then returned them to the original owners. Don't you think that your school Isn’t it worth the price of a few horses with so many students?”

"But, sir, 15 francs—!"

"I believe that your school will not think too much money." The earl said with a satisfied smile, "besides, do you want me to take back this check? I beg you not to make me make such a mistake." Status matters. You stay, and if you feel sorry, you can tell me now where the money will be used."

Corona tried her best to calm down.She had to admit that although the trick of throwing money at people was simple, it was really easy to use.The school suddenly received such a large amount of funds and could help so many people. She couldn't help but feel a burst of joy from the bottom of her heart, and at the same time, she also developed a good impression of the Earl.

"I can't decide on such a large amount of money. I have to discuss with several principals and vice principals. It is usually deposited in the school's fund, and the annual annuity income is added to the student loan fund." ——Just after the first grade Let me introduce to you that some students are from poor families and cannot pay for their studies for a while. The school will lend them money, and after graduation, they will be repaid within ten years. 15 francs can have an annuity of seven or eight thousand a year, which is enough to support about Thirty students, so that next year we can recruit 30 more students. In September, I will send the names of the last [-] students on the sponsorship list to your residence."

"September?" repeated the count in an air she could not see through. "Yes, I will wait to read your list—though I may not be in Paris then."

The author has something to say: I am stuck.

Earl is so difficult to write, woo woo woo

It is too difficult to write a famous novel fan. After writing a character that feels so difficult to write, you will find that there are still three, four, five, six waiting...