[Masterpiece Les Miserables] Paris Sparks

Early the next morning, Coronne visited Villefort's house.

Although M. and Madame de Villefort did not welcome her very much, her friendship with the family was based on the Marchioness of Saint-Meran and Valentine, and they would not be so rude as to drive her out of the house.Valentine hurried out herself to meet her—for there were no servants left.Panicked and ashamed, she welcomed Corona into the door. Corona saw that the luxurious mansion still maintained the style of the past, but in some details, it was unavoidable to show that the servants were in a hurry—— A thin layer of dust had not been swept off the mantelpiece, and the flowers in the vases showed some signs of withering.After a few pleasantries, she took advantage of the opportunity to suggest that there was no need to entertain with much fanfare, and that she just came to visit Valentine.Madame de Villefort made a few polite remarks, and then agreed without hesitation, and then went to busy with the family affairs.

Corona was able to hide with Valentine in her room.No sooner had the door closed than Valentine's tears rolled down her cheeks. "Thank you for coming, Corona! I really don't know what to do." She choked up and said, "First grandfather, then grandmother, then Barov——God, is there really a god of death? Has it come to our house?"

With a sigh, Coronne sat down beside her, put her arms around her shoulders, and let Valentine weep on her shoulders.When her crying gradually subsided, she stretched out her hand and handed him a handkerchief. "I don't believe in death." She said steadily, "Don't be afraid. What did the doctor say?"

"He said Barov had a stroke because he was too old. But—"

"Then, what about the Marquise de Saint-Méran, grandmother?"

"She died of acute convulsions."

"If I remember correctly, your father has always asked Dr. Avrini to make a diagnosis, right? Was he the one who came for the consultation twice?"

Valentine nodded.

"Dr. Avrini is a very experienced and knowledgeable doctor. Now that he said so, it proves that these misfortunes are caused by disease alone. Sudden illness is a common thing for elderly people. People are sad, but the living must take care of themselves, Valentine."

Valentine gave a wry smile: "There are not many people alive who love me! You count one; my grandfather counts one; then there is Maximilian. I can't count the others." The person who loves me, my stepmother will always hate me so much, my father is getting colder and colder to me, as if he only has one son and no daughter like me. Who else can I rely on, Corona? "

"You are the judge's daughter, you are the granddaughter of the Marchioness. You have wealth and talent. Do you have to rely on anyone, Valentine?"

Valentine put her hand on the hem of her dress.

"I know, you may look down on me being so cowardly." She said with tears in her eyes, "I also envy you for being so brave, but I really can't do it! How could I abandon my grandfather, my father, and my only father?" What about my family? If I leave here, where will I go and how will I live? I don’t know anything about the skills and methods of making a living in society. I also want to leave this horrible and ruthless place, but leaving here, I have nowhere to go!"

"And what about Maximilian? Doesn't he want to take you away?"

Valentine did not answer for a moment, and a look of hesitation came over her face. "Are you determined to stay at home and obey your parents' arrangements?" Corona asked, "But even if I only see you two or three times a month, I can tell that you are not happy in this family. "

"Grandpa said he would help me," replied Valentine in a low voice. "He said he would help me and Maximilian."

"How can I help?" Corona asked.After all, her grandfather Noirtier is currently a paralyzed old man who can only communicate with the outside world by blinking.

"I do not know."

Corona really wanted to sigh, but she held back: she knew that the character cultivated by years of life could not be changed by a few words.Instead, she promised: "Anyway, if you need help, just come to me. I will do my best.——If you are no longer convenient to pass the message by yourself, you can just find a female worker or a street child on the street. If If she can tell me the address of the girls' school, you can ask her to bring me a message telling me to come and find you."

Valentine obliged with all gratitude.Corona comforted her for a while, and promised to help her carry the letter to Morel.When Valentine finally calmed down, she took leave of Villefort's, got into the carriage, and went to the Café Meuchan.

The gorgeous silk embroidered dress worn by the nobles looked out of place in the back hall of Miao Shang, where there were many students.But it was still early now, and there were not many people there, almost all of them knew her, and most of them just greeted her as usual.Corona borrowed a pen and paper from a student she knew, and quickly put down the pen: "Dear Combeferre: I have a medical question I would like to ask you. I recently heard about these two cases..."

On a paper she described the symptoms she had heard from Valentine and Caesar, and then wrote: "Is it possible that these symptoms were caused by a poison? Could these symptoms be caused by the same poison? If so, I would like to ask Do you a favor, casually bring up this poison while chatting with Dr. Avrini, and see his reaction.

"It's a big deal, please stay safe. Thank you very much. CC"

She overlapped the paper strips repeatedly to form a pentagon that would not be easily scattered.A few minutes later, the pentagonal note fell into the hands of a tramp/girl on the corner of the street, and half an hour later, the note fell into the hands of Combeferre, who looked at it and immediately burned it beside the candle.That night, when they were chatting in Collins, Combeferre told her: "I have received the previous letter. The weather is hot recently, and I will deliver your medicine in two days."

Less than three days later, Combeferre paid a visit.This surprised Corona. "Is it so fast?" She asked impatiently as they sat down in the study.

"It's also a coincidence. You know, Avrigni and I were educated by the same teacher. We went to visit the teacher together yesterday, and we just met and talked about medical problems." said Combeferre, "but first you have to talk to me Tell me clearly, why are you checking this?"

Coronne told all about the Villefort family, only withholding the name of the informant.Combeferre listened quietly, frowning only when he heard the victims. "So it is," he said. "Indeed, the symptoms you mentioned are very likely caused by poison. Many symptoms of acute convulsions and plant toxin poisoning are so similar that even experienced doctors find it difficult to understand them." Distinguish. Highly concentrated mugi or loganin may cause this symptom. It is difficult to distinguish from the patient, but it can be detected through poisoned food or drink. If this type of plant toxin is dripped Put it in violet juice and it will turn green."

Corona pursed her lips tightly. "I have information that Dr. Avrini did order a glass of viola juice that day."

"Then he naturally thought of this possibility. And, I guess he may have confirmed it. When we talked about poison yesterday, he was very excited, or should I say, righteously indignant. He said with emotion that poison is a kind of Terrible discovery, it can turn a weak and harmless person into a cruel murderer. I deliberately refuted him, and I said that there is no difference between good and bad medicine, and poison can also be a good medicine for curing diseases."

"'That's true!' said Avrigny, and then he recalled that, when he was treating M. Noirtier-Villefort, he had given him a step-by-step dose of agaric. It is a pity. Yes, the dose has not yet had any effect on his paralysis. But then he added casually: 'However, if someone intends to use this poison on him, it may save his life.' '"

Corona took a light breath and leaned forward.

"I asked: 'Monsieur Noirtier is so old and paralyzed that even his former political opponents would think that he is worse alive than dead. How could anyone want to kill him? '

"'That's not certain!' said Avrigni. 'After all, he has left a rich inheritance!' But after that, he didn't want to say anything more about the Villeforts."

Corona's face changed suddenly. "Monsieur Noirtier changed his will before, does Monsieur d'Avrigny know?"

"About his leaving his entire inheritance to his granddaughter, Mademoiselle Valentine? He should know."

"So—is he implying that Valentine is behind all this?"

Combeferre thought for a while in silence.

"I think his idea is reasonable to a certain extent. You see, three people in the Villefort family have died in succession: the Marquis of Saint-Meran, the Marquise of Saint-Meran, and Barov. The last one, you can see The operation was essentially the murder of M. Noirtier. For each of these three people, Mademoiselle Valentine inherited a rich inheritance. In fact, she was the only beneficiary."

"Then what if one more person dies?" Corona asked back, "If after the Marquis of Saint-Meran, the Marquis, and Mr. Noirtier passed away one after another, Valentine, who inherited such a large inheritance Miss also died unfortunately, who is the beneficiary?"

Combeferre looked serious. "It's M. de Villefort. This is dreadful, Coronne. Do you mean that a father might murder his own daughter?"

"It can't be more terrifying than a granddaughter trying to murder her grandparents. And, you and I know Enjolras' family situation, parents don't always love their children."

"But how can you be sure that the murderer is definitely not Miss Valentine?"

"Looking at it now, there are actually only two possibilities. Either the murderer is Valentine, or the murderer intends to kill her. I am inclined to the latter, because I have known Valentine since she was four or five years old. She is a gentle, even cowardly child. I would never believe that she was able to kill several people in a row -- no matter how scheming a person is, it is impossible to pretend from the age of four or five. Besides, if she really wanted to kill someone, why didn't she kill her stepmother and younger brother who were always jealous of her, but instead killed her grandparents who were devoted to her? It doesn't make sense at all."

"So, in your opinion, the murderer was determined to kill her as well?"

"I guess so. But in this way, M. de Villefort, his second wife, and his youngest son are all suspects.—I guess it should be at least one of M. de Villefort or Mrs. de Villefort." Even though his son is a real little devil, it is too appalling to say that a ten-year-old kid killed someone without telling his parents."

"Poor girl. Poor family!" said Combeferre pitifully. "Is there anything we can do to help?"

"I will go to Villefort's again the next day. At least there is one person in the family other than the child who will never be the murderer--I will see old M. Noirtier and get his opinion."

The next day she went to see Valentine again, and Valentine led her quietly to her grandfather's room.Even though Corona was facing an old man paralyzed in a wheelchair and unable to move his whole body, she still saluted and greeted him with great respect.Then, turning round, she asked: "My dear Valentine, would you mind if I have a private chat with M. Noirtier?"

Valentine looked astonished.But Corona didn't even give her time to object, and rushed to continue: "Please rest assured, although I have rarely talked to Mr. Noirtier before, I understand the language you use to communicate. Use closed Eye for approval, wink for disapproval. If there's anything else to say, I'll recite the alphabet for him."

She said, turning to M. Noirtier: "Will you allow me?" she asked.

M. Noirtier closed his eyes and agreed.Valentine was even more astonished, but she had never learned how to go against the will of others. "Then, I'll wait outside." She said, kissed Grandpa on the forehead, then closed the door and walked out.Corona waited for a while to make sure she had left.Then she turned and looked directly at M. Noirtier.The old man's face was already covered with wrinkles, and because of the paralysis, he looked much older and weaker than normal old people, but his eyes were extremely clear and bright.

"The situation is critical, and I don't want to be too polite to you." She asked straight to the point, "The successive deaths in your family, including the death of your old servant, may not be normal deaths, but someone poisoned you. Do you believe it?"

Noirtier stared at her for a few seconds, then slowly closed his eyes. "Yes." He replied with action.