[Masterpiece Les Miserables] Paris Sparks

Early the next morning, Courfeyrac found Corona.

One night he seemed restless.Although Coronne had explained to him that Albert's mother promised to persuade him, but after all, it was a matter of human life, and she couldn't tell him the real reason in order to keep it secret, so Courfeyrac was always worried.At dawn, he ran to the duel field with Beauchamp.Corona worked at home until ten o'clock in the morning, when Courfeyrac happily opened the door and came in.

"Cheers!" he announced cheerfully as he walked. "The duel has ended peacefully. No one died, and no one was even injured!"

Corona smiled back. "How did the scene end? Did the count show mercy and knock Albert's pistol into the air?"

"Stranger than that. Albert apologized to the count as soon as he arrived. "I reproached you before," he said, "for not exposing M. de Morcerf's conduct at d'Epinay, because, in my opinion, whatever his crimes, You don't have any right to punish him, but I later learned that you have that right. It wasn't Fernand Montague who betrayed Governor Ali, but Fernand the fisherman who made me think so. You, this and that betrayal caused all the pain that was inflicted on you. So I say, and I declare openly, that you have the right to avenge my father, and it is useless for me, his son, to thank you now More vicious means.' Can you imagine a young man as ill-tempered as Albert, uttering these words?"

Seeing the same smile on Corona's face, he couldn't help but sighed deeply. "Look! I ran to you as soon as I got the news, but you clearly knew the inside story, but refused to tell me." Courfeyrac complained.

"I told you, but you didn't believe me." Corona replied with a smile.

"Have you told me? What I want is an explanation, and what you have said to me can only be called an announcement. Now you can tell me why Albert said such a thing." Bar?"

"Naturally because of what he said, the Count of Monte Cristo had the right to avenge the Count of Morcerf."

"Why? What kind of enmity is there between them?"

"That must be asked of Albert. But I think he may not be in Paris at the moment."

"Ah! That's right. A proud man like him is willing to apologize to the Count of Monte Cristo at the scene of the duel, almost without saving face. Then the crime of the Count of Morcerf must have reached a point where he could not bear it." So the Countess must have told him that the crimes of the Count of Morcerve, which were reported in the newspapers, were all true?"

"Since he doesn't believe what others say and publishes in newspapers, then he won't have any doubts about what the countess told him?"

"What a disaster!" Courfeyrac shook his head and sighed, "Albert is such a good young man, to meet such a father!"

Just then they heard the ringing of the doorbell.They walked towards the door, but as soon as they reached the hall, the porter had already let someone in—it was Gavroche, sweating from running. "Attention, attention!" he cried. "The latest news. Count Morcerf has shot himself!"

This made Courfeyrac take two steps forward in shock, but Corona only slightly opened her eyes wide, hardly showing any surprise. "Where are the countess and Albert?" Courfeyrac asked anxiously.

"They had left before then."

"Oh! Another family that has suffered disaster." Courfeyrac sighed, "Counting the Villefort family, this is already the second family!"

"The Danglars family may follow in a few days." Corona said, "That is the third family!"

"This year, it seems that some catastrophe has suddenly come to Paris. The magnificence built on lies, when touched by it, immediately collapsed like a sandcastle." Courfeyrac said with emotion.

"It's also because the foundation was built in nothingness from the beginning, so it collapsed so quickly." Corona said.

"It's retribution!" Gavroche shrugged and concluded.

Among the three, Gavroche had the least relationship with the nobles, not to mention, he had always despised them.When facing these things, he was completely in the mood of watching the excitement.So the letter was delivered, and he quickly slipped away.Courfeyrac also left soon after, and Corona was about to go back to the study, but the doorbell rang again almost immediately.This time the guests who walked in were not so friendly.

"Forgive me for coming uninvited," said the Count of Monte Cristo, entering the room gracefully.

"How come? I am honored." Corona replied.She let the earl into the study and poured tea for him with her own hands.The earl held the teacup in his hand and brought it to his lips in no hurry. "Your life is so simple that you don't even have a servant." He sighed.

"Actually, there is a maid who is responsible for washing and cooking. I live alone and don't need too many people to dress. She should still be in the laundry room right now, so I won't call her to entertain you."

"No, I don't mean to complain," said the count, "but I thought that, since there was no one else here, perhaps I could talk to you about sensitive subjects. For example, how did you recognize me?" .”

Corona trembled almost slightly.She recovered immediately and put the teapot in her hand firmly aside. "I didn't expect you to take the initiative to bring this up."

"Should I wait for you to mention it? Then I'm afraid I won't be able to wait for this day."

The Earl put the teacup that had not touched his lips back on the table.He clasped his hands, leaned forward, and stared at Corona. "I'm really curious." He said unabashedly, "I wouldn't be surprised if Mercedes recognized me; after all, we were once lovers. How did you recognize me without seeing what I look like now? How did you recognize me? Even more surprising than this is that I met you in the garden next to Villefort’s house when I disguised myself as the Abbe Busoni , you recognized me at a glance. Could it be that you are born with a pair of sharp eyes that can see through any disguise?"

"You think highly of me," Corona said.

"So, how did you recognize it? Please forgive me. If I don't know this secret for a day, I won't be at ease."

"It's easy to say. I'm a painter, and I've changed clothes myself, so I'm very experienced in this area. You must know that a portrait painter needs to learn the shape and direction of the human body's muscles and bones. This is one of the basic skills. And in portraits, there are some basic features that will not change—"

She reached out and tapped her face gently, "For example, whether a person has double eyelids or single eyelids, the shape of the eyes, the height of the forehead and the bridge of the nose, the height of the brow bone, the distance between the eyes, the width of the mandible and Angle. Skin tone, beard, and even hair color can be changed, but not makeup or age. As you probably know, one of my favorites is that I can draw a person at a younger age, and even The appearance of a person I have never seen is based on this principle, using different facial features to piece together, increase and decrease. It can be said that after these exercises, what kind of changes can be made on a person's face is unprecedented in this world. A few people will be more familiar with it than me."

"So it is. I despise the profession of painters too much," said the count. "This may explain your recognition of the Abbe Busoni as me. But how do you know my original identity? I know, you went to Marseilles to investigate." The case of Edmond Dantès. How did you think of investigating it?"

"It's very simple: I have painted your portrait."

"You did? I don't even know it myself. When?"

"You may recall that in Albert's bedroom there was a portrait of Mercedes when she was young, as a fisherwoman, don't you? I painted your portrait together at that time. Every time When painting this kind of portrait, I will repeatedly ask about the facial features of the person in the painting, because there are too many combinations of facial features in this world, and the final appearance of a slight deviation can vary thousands of miles. Therefore, when you don’t know, I I've drawn your face hundreds of times on paper."

The count was slightly moved: "Did the Countess of Morcerf ask you to draw it?"

"Mercedes asked me to draw it. Of course, I didn't know who it was drawn at that time, and I didn't ask."

"So, what about the painting?"

"When I finished the manuscript and handed it to her, she shed tears looking at the painting. After that, I never saw that painting again. After a while, we occasionally mentioned that painting when we got along in private. She told me that the painting Accidentally burned down."

The count smiled slightly, sadly. "Since the painting was destroyed so quickly, why did she ask you to paint such a painting in the first place?"

"People are so contradictory sometimes, count. To see or not to see is unbearable for the saddest kind of love."

"Are you a good friend of the countess, come to say something nice to me?"

"No, Earl. I just know what it's like to wait hopelessly as a woman who has lost her lover."

These words seemed to have struck the Count of Monte Cristo strangely. "But you're still waiting, aren't you?"

"I have the capital to wait, and too many people don't have the capital to wait like this. Please don't blame people like that for this."

"Oh, you think I'm blaming Mercedes!" exclaimed the count; "you wouldn't think so if you knew how I loved her! Though we've now lost forever, and though she's even married To that damned man, but I assure you, I never blame her for it. I loved her, and I take no satisfaction from her suffering."

"You are a noble person." Coronna complimented me lightly.

"You have proved to me by Valentine's business that I am not so noble as I thought."

"What's wrong with her?" Corona asked, immediately tensed up.

"You may rest assured that she is well and has fully recovered. She is now on an island abroad, and no one in Paris knows where it is but me. My January appointment with Maximilian is a week away. It will be due, and then, if he has not changed his mind, I will send him there to reunite him with Valentine."

"You can tell him directly that Valentine is alive."

"If you haven't experienced hardships, how do you know the value of ordinary life?"

Corona sighed helplessly: "The island is yours, and Valentine is in your hands. Then, you have the final say."

"Actually, I would also like to invite you to visit the island." The Count said suddenly, and the subject changed so abruptly that Corona could hardly react—as if it was a sudden change in his conversation. "I thought, how about a week from now? After Maximilian and Valentine are reunited, you will come to my house."

"In exchange for your helping them?"

"How could it be?" replied the count with an enigmatic smile, "as a thank you."