[Masterpiece Les Miserables] Paris Sparks

When Corona saw Carton, she immediately understood why Carton's reply to her was so short.

For no doubt a longer letter would immediately reveal the fact that he was ill.

The letter that Corona received was indeed slightly different in handwriting, and that slight difference was only noticed in the process of repeated reading, and she once thought lightly that it was caused by haste.Now she knew it wasn't haste, it was weakness from illness.Carton was a lot thinner than she thought, and his hair was almost white.Without thinking, she dropped the suitcase—nearly hitting little Lucy's foot—and rushed to the bed.

"Father!" she scolded, "You are sick, why didn't you tell me!"

Carton smiled tiredly at her: "It's just a little illness, there's no need to worry about it."

Although he said this, his eyes were fixed on Corona without blinking, and he hardly left her face for a moment.His hand grasped Corona's hand so tightly.Corona looked at him, and then at little Lucy. She couldn't wait to know the real condition of her father, but she couldn't bear to get up and leave under Caton's eager eyes.In the end, she decided that knowing the condition could push her back. "So, if I hadn't just returned to London on a whim, you would have kept it a secret from me, huh?" She asked pretending to be annoyed, while unbuttoning her traveling cloak with one hand, "That's okay for me The letter arrived later than mine! If you had received the news of my coming back in advance, wouldn't you be fleeing London?"

Carton was speechless.

Just as he knew Corona, Corona knew him.When her attention is not diverted by various other things in the world, but only focused on Carton, she can still immediately distinguish Carton's strategy.She made Carton speechless, then snorted with distress and dissatisfaction, and tried the temperature of his forehead with the inside of her wrist. "I'm going to fire the family doctor who was in charge of examining you earlier." She said with a little anger.

Caton shook her hand and smiled at her.

Fortunately, this seemed to be just a minor illness. After the fever subsided, Caton's body quickly recovered, but neither Corona nor Lucy and little Lucy were completely relieved.

Because Caton's body has obviously deteriorated.

His physical condition has never been very good, and the hidden dangers left by the absurd life in his youth have been hidden for many years. Now, once it erupts, he is almost aging at a speed visible to the naked eye.Especially in the severe cold of winter, Corona spent double the money on firewood and lit all the fireplaces in the house to keep the whole house warm.She circled around Caton's hospital bed for a week, until Basil visited again, and she suddenly remembered her original purpose of returning to London.

"I know your father is sick, so I didn't intend to disturb you—I hope my visit this time will not be a disturbance." Basil said, "Is Sidney feeling better?"

Carton was sleeping when he visited--he had been sleeping so long since his health had weakened, that now only Basil and Corona were talking in the drawing-room. "He's doing better! Thank you for your concern. The doctor says he's recovering and will be back to full health soon.  …But I say, I think he's in much worse shape than he was before."

"He's almost seventy," said Basil. "He's an old man."

"I know the truth...but to be honest with you, it's hard for me to imagine." Corona said, trying to show a wry smile, but was unsuccessful, "It's been a week since I've been back, and it's still hard for me to accept this. You know, I don’t have a mother, and almost my father raised me alone. In my heart, he is always like that, tall, gentle, and seems to be sure of everything and has a solution..."

She stopped suddenly.

"...Maybe he does have certainty about everything." She said slowly, "Basil, do you remember that I went to you nearly two years ago and asked for an early publication of the painting. We discussed at the time why my father So anxious—why is he in such a hurry to make me an official painter, why is he so anxious to tell my sister and me the truth about that year, and why is he so anxious to leave us.”

Basil was, indeed, obsessed with art and unresponsive to human intercourse, but he was not stupid. "This can indeed be explained. But didn't you say that there was nothing wrong with the results of the doctor's physical examination?" he asked.

"Yes. But I think maybe he has a premonition... Only you know your own body best." Corona said, "And I believe that you have known your father for so long, maybe you have also discovered one of his problems : He only has a sense of responsibility to others, never to himself. He is always ready to give up on himself.”

"I found out." Basil sighed. "I even talked to him. But maybe I'm really bad at persuading people."

"That's it. He's surprisingly stubborn sometimes," Corona said, "so I'm not going to convince him anymore. But even if he gives up on himself, I won't give up on him."

"...But this is not your responsibility, Corona."

"Of course it's my responsibility." Corona said, her head raised high, as if she wanted to prove something to someone, "This must be."

Basil looked like he was about to speak, but Corona quickly stopped him. "And when are you going to call on Dorian Gray?" she asked, "please allow me to go with you."

Basil immediately forgot the topic just now.Corona secretly felt that he was like a girl in a hopeless secret love: he was obviously looking forward to meeting Dorian Gray, to question him face to face, and worried that the other party would not give him the answer he expected.She was almost amused, and sympathized with him. "How about tomorrow afternoon?" she suggested to the vacillating Basil, who accepted the suggestion immediately, almost with a sigh of relief.

To be honest, Basil is a person who doesn't put on airs at all. Although Corona learned painting from him since childhood, and the ages of the two are far apart, they get along like a teacher and a friend.It is too difficult to maintain a respectful and respectful attitude in front of him forever.This is a good thing, but on the other hand, Corona is now worried whether he is too approachable.If Dorian Gray was really such a dissolute and cunning character as rumored, it would be too easy to fool someone as sincere as him.

"Basil, how are you going to ask him?" she asked, "It's hard to prove the truth of the rumors in the social field, let alone the things that happened between him and many noble ladies—oh, those words I'm ashamed to say it! However, those rumors about him involve so many people, and many people must have gone to confront him. You went there one more time, and you want to ask what's special?"

"I want to see him with my own eyes, and I want him to tell me whether he did those things," said Basil, with an air of obstinacy.

"He said he didn't do it, do you believe it?"

"As long as he says it, I will believe it."

Corona hesitated to speak, hesitated again and again, and finally just shook her head. "You are hopeless, Basil!" she said, half-jokingly. "Why do you have such a crush on Dorian Gray? Is it only because he is handsome?"

"He's not just beautiful! It's more than that." Basil retorted fiercely, with a hint of mourning in his voice, "Never say such things in front of me again, Corona. You only follow rumors You've only seen him once or twice from a distance, and you've never seen him as I knew him: so beautiful, so pure, so clear."

Corona pursed her lips. "I apologize.—I sincerely hope he's still the man you remember," she said.

Dorian Gray had hardly changed since the last time she had seen him.

He is still so beautiful - golden hair, white skin, full of innocence and pure face.It's hard to have someone stand in front of him and not be struck by the sheer beauty.But when Corona's eyes rested on him, she was not thinking of Dorian Gray, who was famous for his beauty, or notorious for gossip.

She thought of Enjolras.

She and Enjolras only met once, and all subsequent contacts were made through letter paper.But that side has been deeply imprinted in her mind, and she has traced it on the draft paper with charcoal several times.They have the same blond hair, blue eyes, wonderful youth, beautiful facial features.But the feeling Enjolras gave her, or the impression she gave her, was far more than a beautiful appearance.He is like a star, distant, cold, yet bright.If you can get close, you can see the raging fire in the stars.Compared with Enjolras, Dorian Gray seems to be just a beautiful empty shelf.His fresh cheeks and bright eyes still show a clear vitality, but it seems that it only comes from the skin, and lacks the power to touch people's hearts.

She was almost immediately sorry for thinking so of Basil's muse.After all, Dorian Gray had clearly moved Basil, and artists often had unique sources of inspiration.She turned her thoughts back to the conversation between the two beside her, and heard Basil trying to persuade Dorian Gray, his voice was full of sincerity that she had never heard before.

"When you first met Lady Gwendolyn, there was no gossip about her. But now, what decent woman would ride with her in a carriage in Hyde Park? Well, not even her children are allowed to ride with her." Lived together. There were other rumors-saw you sneaking out of those filthy places at daylight, and sneaking into the dirtiest dens of thieves in London in disguise. Is that true? Could it be true? I laughed when I first heard it. Now I hear it again and I'm terrified. What about your country house and the life you led there? You don't know what people say about you, Dorian. I want you to live a life that is respected by the world. I want you to have a clean name and a clean history. I want you to cut yourself off from those bad guys. Don't shrug like that, don't be so cold. You have a lot of influence, let it be good Influences, not bad influences. Lord Gloucester was my best friend in my Oxford days. He showed me a letter written to him by his wife alone at Menton's cottage before her death. This The most horrific confession I've ever read, involving your name. I told him it was ridiculous, and that I knew you so well that there was no way you would do something like this. Know you? I wondered, Do I really understand you? Before I can answer that question, I must see your soul."

"Look at my soul!" murmured Dorian Gray, jumping up from the sofa, almost pale with fright.

"Yes," Howard answered gravely, with deep sorrow in his voice, "look at your soul. But only God can."

"Basil!" Corona cried out almost subconsciously.

Since they entered the door, she has been sitting next to him except for the initial greeting.It was not a conversation she could get into: she hardly knew Dorian Gray.But when Basil finally uttered that sentence she felt a chill run down her spine, and there seemed to be an intuitive danger--it didn't make sense, so she ascribed it naturally to his mention of God's name. "The soul is the realm of God, Basil. You shouldn't have said that!"

Can this convince him?She couldn't even convince herself.She wasn't that devoted to God.But Basil's words must have had some effect on Dorian Gray that she could not fathom, and he was looking at Basil with a mixture of irritation and arrogance on his face.Occasionally he looked at Corona again, his eyes darting between the two of them, and Corona, despite Caton's training and her long practice in Parisian society, found herself completely puzzled by what he was thinking. .

"I'm sorry to have slipped my tongue, I shouldn't have said that," said Basil, rising with a painful spasm across his face, "but Dorian, you have to deal with these terrible accusations against you." Give me an answer. If you tell me that these accusations are false at all, I will believe you. Deny it, Dorian, deny it!"

Dorian Gray rose after him, but he made no answer.He looked from Basil to Corona with cold, unmoved eyes, as if evaluating something. "Would you like to see my diary, Basil?" he asked at last. "Would you like to see my soul?"

"I'm afraid this is not something a mortal can do." Corona said, feeling that she couldn't sit alone in the tense atmosphere, so she also stood up, her hands tightly holding the hem of her skirt, "and you No answer to Basil's question either."

Dorian Gray looked from her to Basil.At last he smiled, a smile so touching on that beautiful face, but his answer was cold: "No, I have nothing to deny."

The author has something to say: a few dialogues in this chapter are quoted from the original text of "The Picture of Dorian Gray", mainly the dialogue between Basil and Dorian Gray.Citations should not exceed 500 words.

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At this point in the dialogue in the original book, Dorian Gray should lead people to the attic to see the portrait + commit murder, but there is more Corona here, and both of them are visiting in broad daylight, so it is too difficult to get rid of the crime, so he give up.

Might be a bit blunt sorry but I really want to give Basil Howard a HE_(:з」∠)_