Miss Eugenie Grandet

About half of the prisoners of war captured in the previous campaign were British.Although the United Kingdom has jumped up and down through the mediation of Liege Lang, a political tumbler, to deliver a message, demanding the release of prisoners of war as soon as possible.In view of the fact that Russia and Prussia are busy dealing with the Poles, and France is not in a hurry to negotiate, the prisoners of war are still being held in different prisoner-of-war camps.In the Bastille, a group of important British prisoners of war are now locked up.If it happened to the Bastille, it was a prisoner of war camp.

Maintaining law and order in Paris, including prisons, is also one of Philippe Lanner's responsibilities after replacing Fucha as French Minister of Police.

Just as he had guessed, it was indeed the British prisoners of war who were making trouble—from the first day they were thrown into the prisoner-of-war camp, nearly a thousand British people had been in trouble.A few days earlier, they had gone on a hunger strike, demanding their immediate release.Today, the situation has developed into a violent confrontation.Just tonight, at the instigation of a colonel named Saxon, the prisoners of war collectively rushed into the restricted area of ​​the prison. The conflict resulted in the death of a guard soldier and several injuries.

"...General, this Saxony is very arrogant. Since he was imprisoned, he has often spoken ill of His Majesty and the general yourself. But he is a nobleman. It is said that he participated in the last Battle of Waterloo, so he has a high prestige among the prisoners of war. , is difficult to deal with."

When Philip rushed to the Bastille and walked along the lowered drawbridge through the protective trench to the prisoner-of-war camp, the warden followed him, wiping the sweat from his brow, and explaining what happened inside.

The violent conflict that happened just now has been temporarily suppressed.Now, most of the square in front of the prison castle is illuminated. The wire fence that was originally used for isolation has been overturned to the ground. Nearly a thousand British prisoners of war and a row of armed soldiers who were temporarily transferred to maintain order in the prison are confronting each other. with.On the ground lay a corpse covered with a cloth.

Seeing the appearance of Philip Lanner, there was a commotion in the prisoner-of-war camp.

As if he had never heard of it, Philip strode straight to the corpse, squatted down, and lifted a corner of the white cloth.

The one who died was a young soldier who was only seventeen or eighteen years old.There was a big hole in one temple, and dirty blood coagulated on his face.His eyes widened.Although dead, the eyes still seemed to be full of fear and pain.

"what happened?"

Philip asked sullenly.

"This group of British people stormed the restricted area collectively. According to the previous order of the military department, I dare not let them shoot. His gun was taken away in the chaos, and it may have been hit by the butt of the gun..."

The warden explained in a low voice.

"Our soldier survived the battle against the enemy, and you let him die in a place like this."

Philip covered the white cloth back to cover the dead young face, stood up from the ground, and said in a colder voice, "Mr. Warden, you have seriously dereliction of duty!"

"Yes, yes...it was my dereliction of duty. I didn't expect the situation to suddenly get out of control..." The warden's forehead was covered with sweat. The scene is too chaotic..."

Philip turned his gaze to the crowd opposite.Perhaps because of wearing an eye patch, the only remaining side of the eyes looked more and more cloudy.After scanning around, his voice suddenly increased, "Now, someone must be responsible for the death of this soldier. If no one is willing to stand up and admit that he killed himself, I will order any ten of you to be shot. Execute now!"

There was another commotion in the crowd.

Seeing the menacing gaze of the Frenchman on the opposite side, the British soldiers standing in the front row showed fear and flinched back involuntarily.Suddenly, with a resounding shout of "Long live Great Britain!", a middle-aged man in a school officer's uniform strode forward, looked at Philip arrogantly, and let out a cold snort of disdain from his nostrils.

"I protest! You have no right to do this to us brave warriors from Great Britain! The death of this Frenchman was an accident! We demand immediate release!"

Philip's one-eyed stared at him, and suddenly he laughed.

"Presumably, you are the respected Lord Viscount? I heard that you participated in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815?"

"Long live Great Britain!" the Viscount shouted, his expression even more haughty, "When I and Lord Wellington beat your dwarf from Corsica and fled in a panic, you didn't know where you were hiding in a corner trembling and praying to God Bless you? Great Britain is invincible! This time it was just a fluke by your tricks! It is impossible for you to win our admiration! We also know in our hearts that the great Great Britain will never abandon us! I strongly demand that we Must be released immediately!"

"You are mistaken, Lord Viscount. Victory is victory, and defeat is failure. Just like you once did, you gathered almost the entire force of Europe and finally won a victory against France. Therefore, wars always only look at the result, not the process. Moreover, if I remember correctly, the loser has no right to make any demands..."

Philip said slowly, and held out his arm to a soldier standing beside him.The soldier was startled for a moment, then understood immediately, and handed over the spear.

Philip took it, bowed his head, and unhurriedly bolted the gun.

The Viscount's face changed slightly, "What do you want to do?"

"I said that one of you must be responsible for the death of this soldier lying on the ground. Now that you have stepped forward, may I take it that you are willing to take this responsibility for the British people behind you? "

"You have no right to treat me like this! This is inhumane!" The viscount finally smelled a cold and dangerous breath of death emanating from the one-eyed young man opposite.Frightened and angry, he yelled, "You dare not shoot! You can't shoot me either! According to the consensus reached in Vienna, any country has the obligation to guarantee the life and security of prisoners of war in custody. Dignity! It was your Emperor Napoleon who first proposed it!"

Philip turned a deaf ear, raised his gun and aimed at the Viscount.

The Viscount took two steps back, his face turning pale.

"I demand a duel! A fair duel!"

"Remember, losers are not entitled to fair treatment."

Following this cold voice, with a bang, the trigger was pulled, and there was a slight burnt smell of gunpowder in the air.The Viscount held the blood gushing from his chest and heart, opened his eyes full of disbelief, and finally fell to the ground.

Philip returned the gun to the soldier beside him.

"Prisoner, please tell me now, how did the Lord Viscount lose his life?"

The warden, who was sweating profusely, finally came to his senses. After ah, he suddenly understood.

"Report to the general, during the captive riot tonight, he attempted to snatch our guns and committed an attack. During the process, he misfired and the Viscount died."

"From now on, anyone who dares to continue to cause trouble will end up like this brave Viscount."

Philip's gloomy gaze wandered over to the Englishman standing opposite him again.

The audience was silent.

"Yes, General!"

The warden responded loudly.

----

When this scene took place in the Bastille in the east of Paris, the ball at the Duchess's home was entering a climax of joy for the guests and hosts.

Usually, such dance parties will last until two or three o'clock in the morning.Without proper reason, for example, if someone called like the Duke of Montebello, it would be considered disrespectful to the host to leave early.Eugenie persisted until the early hours of the morning, when she finally couldn't stand the men of all kinds circling around her like flies, and asked her master to forgive her rude behavior of having to leave early on the pretext that she accidentally twisted her foot while dancing.The Duchess immediately expressed concern and remorse.In this way, he was sent back to the hotel in James' carriage.

Thanks to the lie that she accidentally twisted her foot, Eugenie continued to use this excuse to refuse the next few ball invitations and entertainments, including the Duke of Lannes who invited her to visit the unopened Art Museum of the Louvre. The good intentions of the Museum of Fine Arts——During the heyday of the previous empire, Napoleon had transported countless works of art as trophies from other countries to collect them.In the later Bourbon dynasty, although some were taken back by the original owner, there were still considerable works of art, which continued to be preserved by the French rhetoric.

In this way, the day of Napoleon's award soon arrived.

On that day, Eugenie attended the honor ceremony held in the palace in full dress.In the huge palace, under the gaze of nearly a thousand pairs of eyes, Eugenie became a member of the nobility.

Although the title was the lowest, among the dozen or so people who received the title at the same time, as the only woman, she received more attention than any other person.The awarding ceremony is over, and as usual, there will be a large ball in the palace—although during the awarding ceremony, the court ceremonial officer has already read out the reason why she was awarded the title in a dragged tone: "I have made an indelible great contribution to the empire. Contribution", but this is just a formula, and all those who have been honored today have received such a compliment.Therefore, everyone is guessing, what kind of "indelible and huge contribution" did this young lady gain the favor of the emperor, and she was able to enjoy the same kind of life as the men who were born and died for the empire at this moment? of supreme glory.

Lady Eugenie Grandet from the province of Anjou, her fame also began from this moment, and really spread throughout the upper social circles of Paris.

Eugenie did not stay at the ball for a long time - in this kind of court ball, there is no need to worry about whether the host will mind whether the guests leave early, not to mention that the emperor himself took his core members of the empire with him not long after the award ceremony It is said that the ambassador from Vienna will arrive in Paris as soon as tomorrow to discuss with France on the re-drawing of the post-war European structure.Before the other party comes, the French themselves must first reach a consensus.

When Eugenie returned to the hotel, the cab stopped—she was probably the only person in Paris who dared to go to the palace in a cab without feeling ashamed.Because of this, she has also been complained by Jane many times in the past few days.Seeing that the female boss did not listen to her suggestion at all, and only said that she would buy it when she really needed it—Jane finally gave in in despair.

The doorman saw it from a distance, and with a smile on his face, he rushed to serve her and put down the footsteps for her.When Eugenie and Jane came down and were heading for the door, suddenly, a person hurriedly ran up behind her, and called out to her back, in a low voice, with obvious uncertainty and anxiety.

"It's you!" The doorman recognized the person coming, immediately went to push him, and shouted, "Mr. Bernard! You have been fired by the manager! What are you doing here? Go away! Don't disturb the guests!"

"Sorry... sorry... I came to find this young lady... She allowed me to come here to find her..."

Bernard kept bowing to the porter and looked anxiously at Eugenie ahead.

Eugenie was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she did not pay attention to what was going on behind her.It was Jane who reminded her that someone was looking for her later, and she was startled and turned her head.

"It's you! Monsieur Bernard! I thought it would be at least a few days before you came to me!"

She walked towards him at once, and said to the porter, "Please let him go. He is my guest now."

The doorman grunted and had to stop pushing.

"Is your injury healed?"

Eugenie looked at him and asked with concern, "If it doesn't work, you can come back after resting for a few more days. I'm not in a hurry. Besides, I'm going to stay in Paris for a while this time."

"My injury is completely healed!" said M. Bernard at once. "I can't wait to talk to you about what we talked about last time."

Although he looked much better than before, he was still a little pale, and the scars on his face and neck were still not fading.Probably because he was afraid that he might change his mind at any time, so as soon as he could get up, he immediately ran over to find himself.

Eugenie understood his feelings.

Letting him go back to recuperate now may be even more torture for him.So he smiled, nodded and said, "Okay. Since you think it's all right, please come with me."