Miss Eugenie Grandet

When these two gentlemen finally met together today, the scene became a bit intriguing.

Probably no one thought that by such a coincidence, the other party would choose to go to Miss Grandet's house on the same day as himself.When the two met, although they were polite on the surface, and even shook hands with each other affectionately, when they looked at each other, there was inevitably a bit of defensiveness in their eyes.

How the guest was feeling now, old Grandet didn't care at all, anyway, he himself was in a good mood now.

When he saw the two guests shaking hands, for the first time, he finally showed the enthusiasm and hospitality that a host should have.

"So you've known each other?" he cried. "That's wonderful! This trip to Floisfonds must be wonderful for you, isn't it! Nanon! Do it in the evening." A few good dishes, I want to treat these two distinguished guests from Paris. Don't you have the foie gras and mushrooms that Mr. Grassin brought in the kitchen today? That is a top-notch delicacy. You treat me well. , don't spoil the good stuff!"

This was the first time in so many years that Nanon heard such words from the old landlord's mouth. She couldn't react for a while, and just stood still. It was not until the old landlord repeated it again that she finally came to her senses.

"Yes, my lord! Nanon will cook a good table, and keep it to the guests' praise!"

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There was no suspense that it was absolutely impossible for Nanon, who had eaten dry bread and spoiled milk for half his life, to cook any delicious dishes.But it doesn't matter, anyway, even if she turns into an imperial chef and cooks a table of good dishes that are comparable to imperial palace meals, the people at the dinner table won't pay much attention to what they put in their mouths—so to speak, It was a seemingly harmonious dinner, but in fact it was full of weird atmosphere. Except for Mrs. Grandet, who knew nothing, she was hospitable from the bottom of her heart and felt happy for every dish she ate. absent-minded.

The two guests hardly spoke, except for a few polite chats with each other.Their attention seemed to be more focused on Miss Grandet who was sitting across from them, and most of the time, it was Mr. Rochelle who was talking.

Miss Grandet looked the same as usual, with a slight smile on her face.But if anyone is watching carefully, it will be found that out of ten sentences she said, nine of them were addressed to Mr. Rochelle, and the remaining poor sentence was addressed to Mr. Lanner. She tried her best to strike up a cold response, and when she responded, she almost never met his gaze.

As for old Grandet, it can be said that he hardly said a word during the whole meal.In addition to burying his head in eating what was on his plate, in the rest of the time, he listened to the conversation between the guest and his daughter, or squinted his eyes, quietly watching the interaction between his daughter and the two guests.

Not long after the dinner was over, several new guests joined in one after another——Father Crochet, Notary Crochet, and Judge Crochet. In addition, there were three members of the Grassin family.It turned out that they all came to Floisfonds today to watch the locomotive experiment, and they were going to cheer Grandet on, and they gave their prepared congratulatory speeches. Unexpectedly, the result was disappointing, and the pre-prepared words lost their usefulness.Anyway, it was impossible to expect old Grandet to entertain them for the night. When the two families were preparing to return to Saumur, they received news one after another that two young guests from Paris had come to Floisfont, all of whom were in the past year. There are such-and-such big shots, one is so-and-so, and the other is so-and-so.This news was like a wake-up call for the two families. Sensitively sensing something bad, they immediately decided to change their plans, so they waited until this time and visited one after another to find out the truth.

The drawing room of the Grandet's house had never been so full of guests as it was tonight.But the guests who arrived later did not come with the purpose of making friends with noble people.After the initial exchange of long-awaited greetings, because everyone had their own thoughts, the atmosphere was inevitably low.Besides, there are three members of the owner's family, the old Grandet sitting in the corner seems to be dozing off, Mrs. Grandet will only answer if someone asks her, and the rest of the family, Miss Grandet, sits there and does not speak, so it is even more cold. .Fortunately, the lively and charming Mrs. Grassin volunteered to warm up the scene.After making the acquaintances of the two distinguished Parisians separately, she suggested a game of the lottery—the five-dime lottery, a popular little game in Saumur's drawing rooms.When it comes to enjoying a small gamble, enhancing friendship with each other, and taking the opportunity to show off your computing power, what better way than this?

It was the first time for the two gentlemen from Paris to hear about this game. At first, they seemed a little dazed.After Mrs. Grassin demonstrated it, she immediately understood.The two looked at Miss Grandet at the same time, and found that she still kept her original expression, neither objecting nor showing interest, and in order to show their virtue of doing as the Romans do, they agreed.Nanon happily cleared away a square table, and thus, the biggest gamble ever played by the Grandet family was played out—the two most famous figures in this country besides Napoleon. , and now the president of the district court from Saumur, and the son of Saumur's number one banker, the four of them sat opposite each other and played a small lottery game of five cents a game!

Let's put it this way, for Crochet and Grassin, before the appearance of these two Parisians today, there is no doubt that they are opposite competitors.But now, due to the sudden change of the situation and the complex situation of the enemy, when the rivals who originally calculated each other faced a common enemy that was stronger than themselves, they formed a common alliance and made a concerted external effort. Moreover, the formation of this alliance was spontaneous, There is absolutely no need to pre-negotiate.So after starting the game, in order to express the deep friendship between their two families and the Grandet family, Crochet and Grashan began to talk about the deep relationship between the two families and Grandet's father in the past, and how they supported him unconditionally. Dad, follow in Dad's footsteps, and hint vaguely that Dad is very optimistic about the promising judge and young and promising law student Altdorf.

"My father always said that outside of Anjou, people from other provinces are not worry-free. As for Parisians..." Mrs. Grassin paused meaningfully, and when the two guests heard what she said, she sat in the corner The old man didn't say anything to deny it, so she continued, "Of course, I know it all, and this definitely doesn't include the two of you!"

As soon as she finished speaking, the notary began to recall with emotion the unbreakable friendship he had formed with his father over the years, and finally revealed it in a way that seemed to be casually leaked, like their nephew. A stable and reliable young man like President de Bonfon is the one that Dad loves the most.

Just imagine, a group of local people around the corner are working together to interfere, and the pair of temporary allies on the table, the judge and the college student are secretly taking care of each other. What will happen to the two newcomers at the gambling table? It is not difficult to find out.Fortunately, James, after losing many times at the beginning, gradually, his natural calculating nature played a role, and soon, this ability not only helped him save the defeat, but also started to win, which made the president At the end with the college students, his face looked a little ugly.But the remaining Mr. Lana was not so lucky.In other words, from the very beginning, he was basically in a state of absent-mindedness, and his eyes frequently fell in the direction of Miss Grandet. In the end, it almost became a situation where his family lost alone, and even Nanon, who was watching on the sidelines, looked at her. Can't go on anymore, standing behind him eagerly trying to help him move rescuers to save face.

"Poor Monsieur Lannes! I've been losing tonight! I've lost so much!" she yelled at Eugenie, who was sitting in front of the fireplace. "You are a master, madam, come and help him, and teach him how to do it." Count to win!"

Tonight's big loser smiled gratefully at the enthusiastic maid, and then turned his eyes to the rescuer with hope. When he saw her stand up from the chair, at that moment, his eyes showed a slight joy that was almost unbelievable. But soon, everyone including him understood that Miss Grandet was going to resign early.

"Father, I'm a little tired today. I'm going back to my room first." After she finished speaking, she turned her head and stared at the guests in her living room with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry I'm sorry, you guys continue to play."

As soon as Miss Grandet left, everyone lost their interest in playing cards, and after a while, they all got up and left.After seeing off two groups of old acquaintances and letting Nanon take two guests from Paris to settle down in a temporarily packed room, Grandet, who had dozed off all night, seemed to finally wake up at this moment, with eyes All the lights flashed.

"My lord! There is not enough firewood in the guest's room. I'll send some more? They are all nobles from Paris. I'm afraid I'll freeze them."

In the absence of Eugenie, the old Grandet's prestige in the family still stood firm, and Nanon also maintained the traditional style of asking for advice first.

At this moment, the weather was already cold, and the Grandet family began to build a fireplace to keep warm.In the manor, especially in the middle of the night, the temperature dropped particularly sharply.

"Come on! Don't treat them like little girls! I didn't invite them!" the old man said mercilessly, "They are strong! It is a waste of firewood to build a fireplace! Maybe they will open the windows to let in the air , so that the feverish head can wake up and wake up!"

After refusing the maid's request, he strode forward to knock on his daughter's door.

Eugenie still lived in the room with the rose garden outside the window.Of course, now, outside that window is no longer the barrenness of the past.She was sitting at a table by the window, reading the accounts by candle, when Grandet came.The window was half open, and the wind came in, and half of the curtains swayed slightly with the wind.

"What a waste of firewood!"

As soon as Grandet came in, he hurried to close the window, muttering in his mouth, complaining about his daughter's behavior of opening the window.

Eugenie put down the ledger in her hand and turned around.

"Father, are you still going to bed? It's getting late," said Eugenie.

"Sleeping?" Grandet cried out in a low voice, in a strange tone, "a Jew suddenly came to the house, and another Parisian slut who sneaked in in the middle of the night and tried to kidnap my daughter, called How can I sleep?"