Rimbaud's girl

A few days later, London, Oran's house.

Gabriel came home from school and hurriedly asked, "Alvin, do you have a letter from me?"

"Yes, master." The servant put several letters on a silver tray and delivered them to him.

He hastily grabbed the envelope and scanned it quickly: the top one was Vitaly's letter.He happily threw down the other letters, grabbed Vitaly's letter, ran back to his room, carefully opened it with a letter opener, and pulled out the letter paper.

The characters are very elegant, and because of the writing habit, the entire text is slightly inclined to the upper right.

He quickly read the letter.They had corresponded for more than two years, and this was the first time that Vitaly entrusted him with errands.

Most of the French in London fled France because the emperor was forced to abdicate, and some fled after the failure of the Paris Commune. The two groups kept a subtle distance and there was almost no overlap.The royalists are the old aristocrats and the emperor's cronies, while the other group of people call themselves "revolutionary fighters" and have opposing political positions.

The abdicated emperor turned a blind eye to the participants and sympathizers of the Paris Commune, and never discussed them; the empress resented the Paris Commune for "betraying" the emperor and the empire, so that the Franco-Prussian War eventually failed.The Orans hated Queen Eugenie, and the Queen hated the Orans.After the emperor died of illness, the Oran and his wife were no longer confidantes of the royal family.

However, this was hardly a blow to the Oran family. His parents were very resourceful and transferred their property out early, part of it was transferred to Spain, and the other part was transferred to the United Kingdom.They lost most of their landed possessions, but they had enough jewellery, art, and cash to live much like they had in Paris.

The impact of his exile abroad is that his life circle has changed, and there are not many old friends left.He was about the same age as Crown Prince Euren, and the emperor asked him to go to Eton College with Euren, but it seemed that the emperor, as his father, didn't care that Euren hated his classmate very much.

Probably because there were rumors that he was the emperor's illegitimate son, and because of this, Queen Eugenie hated his mother very much.

It is humiliating to be rumored to be not his own father's son, and Gabriel also dislikes Eugene, but Baron Oran doesn't seem to care too much.Ou Ren once deliberately whipped him in the face with a horsewhip, almost blinding his eyes, and he fought with the crown prince angrily.

He wrote to Vitaly about this, and Vitaly praised him for his good beating!

He thought about it for a while. What Vitaly asked him to do was not a big deal, and it was not difficult. Exile abroad made him understand two truths: he must have money and people wherever he goes.He has no shortage of money, but no suitable manpower.He called his father's adjutant and asked him how many people he wanted.

Returning to Crosswa Manor, Vitaly brought a maid in her 30s.

She re-selected two rooms on the third floor, and asked someone to open two double doors between the two rooms, and changed them into a suite with a bedroom and a living room; the maid did not live in the servant room next to the main house, Instead, stay in the next room.

Flaubert is the only owner of the manor now, and there are so many rooms, except Mrs. Caroline and Mrs. Conmanville's rooms, which cannot be occupied, and she can dispose of other rooms as she pleases.

The maid's salary is 500 francs a year, which is the average annual salary of a Parisian maid, including food, accommodation and servant uniforms.

Flaubert gave Vitaly an allowance of 1200 francs a year, and other expenses were included in the daily expenses of the manor, so not only did she not have to pay tuition fees, but she did not have to pay for her own daily expenses, and she could also get pocket money—about the same amount. Got a scholarship?Or the kind of state committee?

She is happy.

Flaubert did not ask how she had brought her maid, and he barely noticed the new maid.

After Vitaly settled in, formal studies soon began.

In the morning, she would walk with the teacher for 20 minutes before breakfast, and after breakfast, Flaubert went to work in the study, and she read in the library next to her; the two of them ate lunch together, and the food was simple and nutritious. He attaches great importance to the combination of meat and vegetables, and has balanced nutrition; after lunch, Flaubert needs to drink medicine, which is Paco's business; the family doctor comes to give him a routine checkup once a week, and he also needs the doctor to give Vitaly During the physical examination, he felt that she was too thin and too short;

In the afternoon, she will write a short essay, and sometimes she will write a piece of work according to the teacher's request, starting from the people and things around her; Flaubert's philosophy is that the creator should be higher than his own work, and the words used should be clear To best express the creator's intentions, the materials for writing should be as "insignificant" as possible, that is, to choose those stories that can be seen everywhere in life: an infamous adultery, the conflict between father and son, etc. The combination of words and materials Combining and carefully crafting into a complete work.

He is strict and often corrects her homework with red ink, so that for several months she thought that she had no writing talent at all, and that she might be more suitable for theoretical work, not for small papers -->>

It was changed so badly.

Flaubert made very little change to Arthur's study, which made Vitaly very angry. He felt that he was too partial, and he just liked Arthur.But she also admitted that Arthur did write very well, more—possibly more stream-of-consciousness, so a realist writer like Flaubert couldn't correct his work.

Arthur came to Rouen every two weeks to show Flaubert his studies, spent the weekend, and returned to Paris on Monday afternoon.At the end of June, when the school was on vacation for the summer, he returned to Crosswald with his luggage.

After her brother came, Vitaly was finally freed from the daily routine of being hit every day.

"You are too reserved." Arthur expressed his opinion after reading her recent work. "You shouldn't be thinking 'I'm going to write this', 'I'm going to write that', or 'Would this be better'. The words should be your thoughts that flow from your heart, and you use your own Language writes the story you want to tell, and that's what you do."

"I don't even know how to write now." She sulked.

"You should relax." He put the manuscript paper on her desk casually, "Don't read or write anything these days, come on, I know there are stables here, they have a few horses, although they are just A horse that pulls a cart, but it can also be ridden out for fun. It’s summer, so it’s time to have fun.”

The scenery of Crosswa Manor is very good. There is a garden in front of the main house, a large lawn behind the main house, a lush forest not far away, and a river farther away.

Vitaly put down her homework and spent most of the day outside playing with Arthur: riding, picnics, running, swimming.A few days later, Fu Lan also came, and it became even more lively.

Flaubert felt that Vitaly was a little lazy, but considering that she was just a girl who had just turned 15, this age was the right time to play, and it didn't seem like a good thing to push her too hard.He thought that at this age, he was only thinking about playing, so that's all, let them go.

There have been no young people in the family for several years. When little Caroline was at home, she was the only child, and it was not so lively. The young people brought laughter and brought vitality to this old manor. He often sat On the lawn in the backyard, I watched three young people chasing, playing, and picnicking on the lawn; sometimes Fran would set up an easel and draw the Rimbaud brothers and sisters; and with Flaubert's consent, he also painted a portrait of him , the name is "Flaubert on the Lawn".

The servants set up tables and outdoor chairs with backrests on the lawn, and put up big parasols. The cook made more than a dozen kinds of afternoon tea, placed them on clean white Chinese porcelain plates, and placed them on the table with a pair of A pot of hot cocoa, and the hot milk that Vitaly drank every day.Furlin also painted a gouache called "Afternoon Tea at the Flaubert House".

Vitaly also drew sketches for Flaubert. Her sketches are very good, and the models are very accurate, and she can accurately capture the charm of the model.Of course, I also drew a lot of sketches for both Arthur and Fran.

"Do you like painting?" Flaubert asked.

"It's okay, painting is also art, it's—creation, creation."

"It takes a lot of practice and copying, right?"

"Yes." Now there are no exquisite albums printed on coated paper. If you want to copy them, you have to copy them against the real ones. That's why so many young painters line up in the Louvre Museum to copy them.Paris now has an "art district" where art galleries gather. Many young painters want to hold art exhibitions in a certain gallery. The highest level is of course the "Paris Salon" art exhibition hosted by the Paris Higher School of Fine Arts. Almost all painters want to participate Exhibition at the Paris Salon.

"I still need a good teacher to guide me." Fulan spoke from the side.

"Yes, we need a good teacher." Flaubert is not familiar with Hugo, but Hugo's painting skills are quite good, and he often gives his own paintings to relatives and friends as gifts. This is something that many people know. Few well-known painters said that if Hugo became a painter across the border, he would also be a famous painter.This shows that as long as you are talented, it is not amazing to be a writer and a painter at the same time. Think about Leonardo da Vinci hundreds of years ago!That's a super master who is good at almost everything in astronomy, geography, painting and science!Even if you can't compare to a stunning genius like Da Vinci, you can still get closer to Victor Hugo!

To be a human being, of course you must have self-confidence "I can do it".

Fu Lan always praised her for her talent in painting. This time, she came here to teach her how to paint gouache. Compared with expensive oil paints, gouache paints are much cheaper and suitable for beginners.She also thinks that she has a bit of talent for painting. She doesn’t hesitate to pick up a brush, and she can draw very well. She first draws still lifes, then landscapes and figures. Adjustments in learning.

Flaubert did not stop her from practicing painting. After all, she was still young and had unlimited potential. Maybe she was more suitable to be a painter?