Rimbaud's girl

In 1871, the end of July.

Charleville, Ardennes, France.

The "Franco-Prussian War", dubbed the "War of 1870" by the French masses, ended at the end of last month with the invasion of Paris by the Prussian army.

Charleville is the capital of the Ardennes province in northeastern France, bordering Belgium. Sedan, the decisive battle in the Franco-Prussian War, "Battle of Sedan" is near Charleville, only 20 kilometers away.

The distance from Charleville to Paris is 240 kilometers.

Madeleine, No. 5 A, Riverside Street, Rimbaud's house.

Because of the war, the two boys in the family - Frederick, 17 and a half years old, and Arthur, 16 and a half years old - the middle school Charleville College that they originally attended was treated as a field hospital, and normal teaching has not resumed until now. , the boys can only stay at home.

The two girls—Vitaly, 12 and a half years old, and Isabel, 10 and a half years old—can only return home from the convent boarding school for girls, where they learn how to handle housework with their mother, Mrs. Rimbaud.

This evening, it was almost midnight.

Jeanne Rosalind Vitaly Rimbaud was soundly asleep when she was suddenly shaken awake.

She woke up in a daze, and found that her mouth was covered, and a boy's voice whispered and hurriedly said in her ear: "Vitale, do you still have money?"

It's not good to disturb people's dreams, she opened her mouth angrily and bit the boy's hand.

The boy let out a soft cry, "Why are you biting people like a puppy?"

"I'll just bite you."

"Shhh—" the boy hurriedly covered her mouth again, "Don't wake up mom."

"What do you want? I have no money." Vitaly stared at him vigilantly.

In fact, it was invisible, it was late at night, the doors and windows were closed, there were no lights or candles in the room, and I couldn't see my fingers.

"I know you have saved a lot of money. Haven't you visited Uncle Felix in the past few months?"

"My money is mine, not yours. You can't ask me for money every time you want to sneak away." Vitaly was half dead with anger.

"My mother won't give me money, so I can't save it. Alas! My mother won't let me go out, I want to go out."

"Where do you want to go? Paris?"

"Yes." The young man was full of hope, "All I need is the fare and two days' food. 100 francs? 90 francs? It can't be less."

real**!If there was light in the room, she would definitely stare at him, stare at him fiercely, to see if he is embarrassed to ask his sister for money and run away!

"No. Nothing. Not a franc! Not a centime!"

The young man hugged her shoulders and said flatteringly, "If I borrowed from you, I will pay you back 200 francs in the future, no, I will pay you back 500 francs!"

Vitaly was moved, "When is 'future'? How many years from now?"

The boy thought for a while, "After 3 years?"

Vitaly disdains, "You don't have money now, and you won't have money in three years."

The boy was deeply annoyed at this moment, "I should have saved some money if I knew it earlier."

Vitaly didn't respond.

After a while, the boy asked tentatively, "You really won't lend it to me?"

"It's not that I don't lend it to you, it's my mother. My mother wants me to watch over you and not allow you to run away secretly again. If... If you run away again this time, mother won't let you go home, what will you do?"

The young man was very confident, "No, my mother is always like this. When I publish my poetry collection, my mother will be happy. At that time, she will not care about me sneaking away to Paris."

Vitaly raised her forehead: This brother!How naive!

She was very hesitant. On the one hand, she wanted to follow her mother, Mrs. Rimbaud, to take good care of her brother, who was in the second stage of rebellion; on the other hand, this brother was really not the one who could stay at home. Will sneak away again one day.

Why do you say "again"?It was because Jean-Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud had already sneaked away once.

Vitaly Rimbaud thinks her two older brothers are idiots!

The first is the elder brother Frederick, who actually followed a troop passing through Charleville in August last year, went to the front battlefield, left home for 8 months, and did not return to Charleville until mid-November.

For this reason, the mother was furious, and ordered Frederick to stay in his room, copy the Bible, and was not allowed to go downstairs even to eat.

Frederick was born in September 1853. He dared to run away from home before he turned 9 in August last year!

As for the second brother Arthur, he is even more daring!He actually went to Paris!

Vitaly speculated that the elder brother's bold actions actually encouraged the second elder brother who was not yet 16 years old at the time. This "child from other people's family", an outstanding student who was unanimously optimistic about by the teachers of Charleville College, suddenly became arrogant. And the "bad boy" in the second year also played the "run away from home" set.

Arthur has the intelligence that ordinary 15-year-old children do not have, but he may not be realistic enough to estimate the reality. At that time, the Battle of Sedan was going on vigorously, and the train from Charleville to Paris had stopped. To Charleroi in neighboring Belgium, and then from Charleroi to Paris - he had to change trains halfway, and he -->>

The few francs I had with me were used up halfway through.

Arthur Rimbaud, who had just arrived in Paris, was arrested as soon as he got off the train-because of the war, the police in Paris were very vigilant against people coming from the border, lest spies would sneak into the capital of the empire.

As a result, the reckless teenager Arthur was put in prison.

This experience was regarded as a stain by the mother, not only a stain on Arthur's life, but also a stain on the Rimbaud family.

Compared to his younger brother, who was smart and exposed since he was a child, Frederick was a somewhat stupid boy with mediocre intelligence, and he was not as beautiful as his younger brother. He was a boy who was not outstanding in all aspects.And Arthur will become his mother's darling. In addition to being smart since childhood, he also has his beautiful face of a delicate and beautiful boy.

Frederick didn't say much about his three-month experience in the army, but judging from his behavior of honestly staying in the room and copying the "Bible", it seems that he has no enthusiasm for this experience. Looking forward to it.

As for Arthur—the other task that Mrs. Rimbaud gave to the eldest daughter was to keep her watch over Arthur so that he would not sneak away again.

It was going to rain, and the cub was going to run away, in fact, there was no way to stop it.

Vitaly was worried.

Arthur failed to sneak away last night, so he could only stay at home depressed.

Children were not allowed to lock the door of the room at home. Vitaly held the tray in both hands and kicked open Arthur's door lightly.

Arthur Rimbaud didn't look up, but quickly pulled out a blank sheet of paper to cover the notebook on the desk.

The 16-and-a-half-year-old has light skin, blond-brown hair that falls below his ears, and bright blue eyes.

The children of the Rimbaud family all have beautiful blue eyes that closely resemble their father.

Vitaly glanced at him, "It's time to eat."

Arthur was busy making enough room on the table for the tray. "Thank you." He looked at her hair and asked kindly, "Why didn't you wear the hair tie I gave you?"

"It's put away."

"Your old headband is faded, it doesn't look good. Go and put on the one I gave you, and I'll buy you a lot of new ones from Paris later."

Vitaly said with a smile: "The money I gave you should be enough to buy a lot of new headbands." Thinking about it, it feels wrong, "Wait, you haven't given up yet?"

Arthur hurriedly covered her mouth, "Hush—keep your voice low, don't let mother hear you."

Vitaly took his hand away and rolled her eyes suddenly: "If you dare to sneak away again, Mom will be very angry."

Arthur smiled mischievously: "You are too young, otherwise, I can take you with me."

"Forget it. If you run away alone, mom thinks you are a boy, so don't worry too much. If I mess around with you too, mom will go crazy." Mrs. Rimbaud raised four children by herself. Hard work, she can only and only know how to discipline the children strictly, but because Arthur has always been the favorite of his mother, so he also ran away from home, Frederick was punished by copying the "Bible", and Arthur There is no hard punishment for Ser.

This is really unfair!

During the war, prices soared and supplies were not abundant. Dinner was potato stew, a lot of potatoes, a piece of beef, chopped, added a lot of water, stewed into broth over low heat, and served with two average-tasting buns.This is not enough for adolescent children.

If there were any positive effects of running away from home last time, maybe Arthur's lower requirements for food was one of them?

Because he ran out of money halfway through the journey, Arthur could be regarded as the first time in his life to taste what it is like to be "starved".

After hearing about this incident, Vitaly almost burst out laughing unkindly.

Mrs. Rimbaud was not particularly rich, but she never left her children underfed or underwarmed.Her maiden name is Cuif, a rural girl, but her family has been landowners since her great-grandfather.Madame Rimbaud's name was also Vitaly, and Vitaly had the same name as her mother.

Vitaly Cuve received a dowry of 3 francs when she got married, which could be regarded as a small property in the middle of the 19th century. Therefore, although her father, Captain Rimbaud, was not at home all the time and did not pay much for living expenses, she maintained a wealthy family. A family of four is not struggling either.It's just that Vitaly couldn't help feeling sorry for her mother.

Arthur huffed and drank the broth while asking, "Have you eaten it?"

"Ate."

"Are you full?"

"I am full."

Arthur showed a pitiful expression, "I can't get enough of this bread."

Vitaly smiled mischievously, "Mom said not to let you eat too much, lest you have the strength to sneak away."

Arthur looked helpless, "You little spy!"

Without money, it is difficult to move a single step. The last time he ran away from home, he had a deep understanding of this truth.Mrs. Rimbaud is very strict about money management. Except for the necessary study expenses, he has almost no pocket money.And Vitaly has some living expenses because she is going to boarding school in other places.

Therefore, Vitaly is the richest of the four siblings.