Rimbaud's girl

After his 18th birthday, he is legally an "adult".He still has the kind of youthful arrogance in him, which will not change; but in some respects, he has become more tactful, which can also be called "worldly", and his angry, disaffected and resentful mood has changed a little. This is inseparable from the improvement of his quality of life.

Vitaly took care of him in life, taking care of his basic necessities, food, housing and transportation.She hired an hourly maid who came to do housework 4 hours a day, mainly responsible for laundry, mopping the floor, cleaning the table and other miscellaneous chores; the landlady provided breakfast for three meals, and Arthur had lunch at a restaurant near the school, Vita Li had lunch at Mr. Pestel's house, Fran had lunch outside by himself, and most of the three of them ate dinner at a restaurant near the apartment. Sometimes Arthur and Fran would have some dinner invitations, and they would try their best to bring Vitaly If you go together, the host usually doesn’t mind having an extra teenage girl eating together;

When the seasons change, Vitaly will take Arthur to a clothing store to buy new clothes, and hang the bill under the name of Mrs. Beverly; Arthur will buy two sets of new skirts for Vitaly. I have to buy new dresses every season.

This kind of life is soothing and comfortable. He has a place to sleep well, has money to eat well, and also attends classes with many children from rich families in school. This is a life he never thought of before.

Almost no one in the school knew about his affair with Verlaine. In fact, even if someone knew, it would be nothing. Vitaly had already made a plan for it: if someone hated him or wentssip about his dishonorable affair, he only needed to deny it contemptuously. That's fine; if you don't admit it, no one can do anything to you.

He was very diligent, taking classes during the day and writing at home by a kerosene lamp at night.He began to write a series of prose poems about his childhood, his chaotic youth, his dissolute "love", which he wrote so cryptically that Vitaly couldn't understand what he was talking about with Verlaine. The short and crazy "love" is still talking about his contact with some "women who have stumbled".

She asked him to select some of these prose poems and others, copy them out, and put them in a folder in case Flaubert asked what else he had written.She picked out his clothes and took the dinner invitation seriously.Although Arthur was quite impatient with grand dressing, and thought that talent did not have to be set off by a 200 franc coat, but since it was Vitaly's wish, he silently accepted it without raising any objections.

The dining room in Flaubert's apartment was brightly lit, with candlesticks on the dining table and bright kerosene lamps on the cabinets against the walls.

There are not many dishes, and they are not particularly rich or expensive. They are of a higher standard for ordinary home-cooked dishes.The French love food and wine, and ordinary cooks will have one or two special dishes, as long as they are not particularly picky eaters or have any food allergies, they will hardly step on the thunder.

Flaubert asked where they came from.

"Arden, Charleville," Arthur replied.

"That is--"

"Near Sedan." Vitaly explained immediately.Anyone who paid a little attention to the Franco-Prussian War knows that Sedan is such a famous place.

Flaubert said sympathetically, "These few years have really been difficult for you."

"Fortunately, it's over." Vitaly didn't care. "The war affected the people of Charleville and Mézières, but not many civilians died directly from the war."

"I heard that prices went up during the war."

"It's 2 to 3 times higher than before, but fortunately, the time is not too long."

Flaubert found it very interesting: the girl's description was very objective, like a bystander; the boy seemed to be a little secretive about the war and didn't want to mention it at all.

Then he asked their parents, and he was a little surprised when he learned that his father was just a veteran and his mother was a housewife: the social status was lower than he imagined.But when I asked about the economic situation, I felt that it was not too bad. If I could support my children to study in the best local middle school, the economy could not be considered too bad.

After dinner, Flaubert chatted with the young guests for almost two hours, read the poems brought by Arthur, and expressed cautiously that it was indeed a very good work, but it might not meet the appreciation level of those editors.

This is one of the reasons why Arthur's poetry has never been published in newspapers and magazines: if you write poetry that the editor can't understand, how can you expect ordinary readers to understand it?

Arthur showed his pride at this time, and said disdainfully, "I don't expect those stupid people to understand."

Vitaly lowered her head and snickered, not stopping her brother.In front of knowledgeable bigwigs, most of the time it is not a bad thing to properly show the arrogance of a teenager. Genius allows pride, as long as it is not annoying.

In a conniving tone, Flaubert said humorously: "Stupid people will pay for your poetry collection or something. You should probably consider writing."

Arthur hesitated, "I haven't decided what to write yet."

"Don't worry, you are still young, you can slowly find suitable subjects."

- >>

Flaubert soon returned to his Château de Crosvas outside Rouen.

Letters from the Rimbaud brothers and sisters continued to arrive. Flaubert did not reply to every letter, but the frequency of replying letters can be regarded as very high.

It was the beginning of 1873. After more than two months, at the end of March, Flaubert invited the Rimbaud brothers and sisters to the Crosva Manor.

Vitaly's successful experience made Jean-Louis Faurin admire him, and he pestered her, insisting that she also help him find a way to get to know Manet and Degas.Vitaly spent two weeks investigating where the painters in Paris like to go to meet, and also made a plan for Foran; Foran was fully prepared and took active actions. Degas strikes up the conversation.

Fran mixed with the Parnasian poets before, and he only knew some second- and third-rate painters. He was very similar to Arthur. They both wanted to get ahead in Paris and win fame and money, so they became friends.

Before Verlaine called Fulan a "little black female cat" and Arthur a "little yellow female cat". Vitaly disliked this title very much, thinking that Verlaine regarded them as pets. The nickname Verlaine gave them was too frivolous, and it was really not a good nickname, and gradually he seldom replied to Verlaine's letters.

Vitaly was right in thinking before, Verlaine had already tasted the joy of indulgence, and it was difficult to stay safe and return to the family.He met a beautiful boy in the seaside city of Upper Normandy, got some money from Mathilde, and eloped with the boy to London-Follan didn't tell Arthur about it, he just picked Vitaly from school On the way, secretly tell her.

Vitaly was dumbfounded: So, Verlaine, who was supposed to elope with Arthur to London, ended up going to London, but the boy next to him was changed.

It is true that the country is easy to change, but the nature is hard to change.

Poor Mathilde was hit again, but she was not yet desperate. She wrote several letters to Verlaine, begging him to come home. As long as he was willing to go home, she would still let the past go and forgive him for his betrayal.

Vitaly sympathizes with Mathilde, but she doesn't agree with her efforts, "But she should understand that Verlaine no longer wants to hide her sexual orientation. Does their marriage still have meaning?"

"I understand what you mean. If it were you, you might stab Verlaine to death."

"That's right. No one can betray me and still live well."

Fran just laughed, "You really look like Arthur! They both have such a fierce and fiery temper."

"Of course! We are brother and sister, of course we all have the same temper." Vitaly curled her lips, "Can the Flevel family tolerate Verlaine any longer?"

"I'm afraid not." Forlan shook his head. "I heard that Mr. Flewell is going to let Mathilde apply for separation, and then a formal divorce. George will also be raised by Mathilde."

"Yes, it's better not to take his last name as Verlaine, but to change his surname to Flevel. In the future, George will be the heir of the Flevel family." Although Vitaly didn't know the final fate of Verlaine in real history, he and Marty After the divorce, Deer had no stable income, so he obviously could not get custody rights; Mathilde was also "widowed parenting", poor little George didn't enjoy much fatherly love, think about it, he is really a poor child.

As a divorced woman, Mathilde has money in her family. In fact, she is out of the shadow of Verlaine, but she can live a good life. Even if she remarries, there is no problem. She really might as well find a man who only cares about her money, at least that Wouldn't it be flattering for a man to be nice to her for money, to coax her and obey her?

And Mathilde is still very young, she is only 18 and a half years old now, and she will grow up in the future.

Arthur had not heard of the elopement scandal until the day before they left for Rouen, through chatter in a café.

The young man was calm on the surface, but he had already scolded that bald man bloody in his heart.

——Do you agree to love me the most?Is Quan Te a fart? !

He angrily remembered what Vitaly said before, that a man's promises are all farts, and he has only now truly recognized Verlaine's true face: he is a lecherous, sexually indulgent, ugly monster!My sister is right, he is a coward!Still a dog-mongrel!

It has been more than a year since their night in the hotel, and he no longer remembers what Verlaine looked like.Occasionally, before going to bed, thinking of those few months of indulgence, there will be a feeling of another world, he seems to jump out of his body, suspended in mid-air, recalling the scene at that time - he recalls the illusion of that period like a dream, most In some cases it was because of marijuana or several glasses of absinthe. He indulged the pleasures of the body as well as the mind.The insights that Verlaine brought him were unprecedented for a small-town boy, perhaps because of this, he lost himself.