Granville's estate

Regarding the worries of his friends, Alrede showed a very optimistic and open-minded attitude.

"I know what you think, but what is it? My dear Louis, this is Paris, and four francs is a lot in the country, but here it is only enough to rent a cab and go for a walk in the country." I'm just worried that you'll think I've forgotten our friendship and that I'm slighting you by letting you eat this tavern fixed menu, but I know you don't think so."

"How could I think so!" Louis said, "It's just that what I learned from Mary made me more worried about your financial situation."

"Oh! Don't worry about that, I can still afford such a small expense." Alred scooped up a piece of roast leg of lamb and put it on the plate in front of Louis, "That can be discussed later, now you just need to enjoy it to your heart's content." Just enjoy this belated dinner, you are also a little late today, otherwise I will take you to a real big restaurant, that is the real art of cooking!"

At his gracious urging, Louis picked up a fork and tasted a leg of lamb, his eyes widening in amazement as soon as his taste buds touched the delicious food.

Alredh observed his expression and smiled happily after noticing the change in his expression.

"what do you think?"

"It's so delicious, it's so delicious that you almost want to swallow it with your tongue!" Louis slowly chewed the tender and juicy delicious mutton, feeling the wonderful taste of shallots and other spices: "Now I know it Why is it so expensive!"

"That's right, when I was studying law in the Latin Quarter, my favorite thing to do was to save a sou from living expenses every day, and after a month of saving, I came here to have a meal of Deni's father's specialty It's ready."

As Alred said, he adjusted the position of the plate, moved the plate of roasted leg of lamb with onions to Louis, and then pointed to the carp on the plate next to it.

"Although the Rhine carp they cook is not as good as Chevet's, it's still up to the table. Try it."

It wasn't the most expensive meal Louis had ever had, but it definitely deserved a place in terms of taste.Whether it is the delicious and juicy Rhine carp, roasted partridge with fresh mushrooms, or the beef stewed with carrots and roasted duck with radish made from the freshest ingredients, or the roasted lamb leg with shallots and Roasted goose with olives is a delicacy that geniuses in the provinces could not have dreamed of - very authentic Parisian flavor!Of course, the price is also very authentic.

Two dinners bought from the restaurant were enough for two adults to eat, and there was still a little leftover. When Mary came in to clear the table, the hour hand on the wall clock was almost pointing to ten o'clock. If it was in Magon at this time, Louis would have already prepared Go to sleep.

Alrede still seemed to be in good spirits. He hadn't planned to go to bed at this point, but seeing Louis start to yawn, he changed his mind.

"I haven't tried to go to bed so early for a long time, but it seems that you are already sleepy, so let me stay with you."

In addition to Alred's bedroom on the second floor, there is also a guest bedroom for entertaining guests, but neither Alred nor Louis has thought about where Louis will sleep tonight-what is there to doubt?Friends who haven't seen each other for a long time will naturally lie on the same bed and chat intimately like they did when they were in boarding school many years ago!

Allaide's bedroom was not extravagant, but it was comfortably furnished.The floor is covered with light yellow camellia-patterned carpets, the walls are covered with warm yellow checkered paper, and the curtains are light blue Tours, tied by blue ribbons with beige tassels; Warm tones of burnished calico drapery hung around the four-poster bed, cotton upholstery was thrown over the mahogany chairs, and a beautiful ceramic vase contained several blooming roses on the bedside table.

While they were having dinner, Father Peter had already handed over Louis's luggage to Mary, and the ingenious girl had taken advantage of that time to put Louis's clothes neatly in the cloakroom of Alred, and Thoughtfully pre-placed Louie's pajamas within easy reach; but after Allred touched the pajamas that Louie had brought, he decided to convince his friend to accept a new custom set just sent to him by the tailor nightgown.

Louie couldn't laugh or cry at his sudden whim.

"You're taller than me, Al! Your clothes are too big for me, and what's the matter? It's not like I went out without clothes!"

"Soft fabric can bring you a better sleep, Louis, you should have a more comfortable pajamas, the one you have now is almost the same material as those uniforms in Saint-Etienne!"

"My pajamas are made of Indian cotton. Although it's not silk, it's not an inferior material!"

While the two had a friendly little dispute over the material of their clothes and their sleep, someone knocked on the door of 79 St. George Street.

"Is M. Alred de Granville present? Miss Marguerite Labudin has asked the little one to come with this bill."

Hearing someone coming, Alred hurried down to the second floor, and after a while he ran up again, and took out a locked iron box from the drawer of the bedside table.

When Louis changed into his pajamas and came out from behind the curtain, he happened to see Arred opened the box and took out several 20 francs of gold louis from it.

"Al! What's the matter? Has something happened?"

With just one glance, Louis knew that the handful of gold and silver coins that Alrede took out was worth at least one hundred francs, which was almost enough for him to spend for a month in Magon, so he felt quite nervous about the value of the gold and silver coins. What a big deal.

"It's nothing, don't worry!" Alred counted the total number of gold and silver coins in his hand, and said quite casually: "It's just that Margaret sent someone to send a receipt, asking me to give money to the errand runner."

He counted out 120 francs and ten sous, walked out with two sous as a tip for his errands, and returned with only a thin bill in his hand.

Louis took the so-called bill and looked at it by the light of the candle. He saw that it was very scribbled, and the stroke structure of the handwriting was not beautiful: "Please pay me 120 francs and ten sous. Margot Ritter."

"My God!" Louis looked at the handwritten note and gasped: "Alred, my friend, what kind of person is this Miss Margaret? Just for such a sentence, You just threw out more than 100 francs! If you spend money at this rate every day, your annual income is not enough for a month's expenses, right?"

Alred scratched his hair, and did not rush to defend, but gave a wry smile.

"Louis, if you can get her whole heart by spending money for her, I'd be happy to give up everything for her." He sighed, sat on the armchair, and pointed to the receipt: "But the problem is, Margaret has no intention of making me her 'sir', and she doesn't even give me the chance to pay for her every night, so you don't have to worry about me going broke because of her. "

"What do you mean, this is just the lady's expenses for one night? Al, the more you talk, the more scary you are. No wonder you say that a four-franc dinner is nothing."

"This is Paris, my dear little Louis." Arred snapped his fingers, "If you want to have fun, it's not uncommon to spend hundreds or thousands of francs a night, of course I am Wouldn't do that - let's go to the opera, 30 francs for a box, 50 francs for dinner, 20 francs for new gloves and bouquet, 2 francs for sweets, these are all necessary, plus a little other expenses, it's basically this counted."

"You're throwing overboard the money your father gave you, Al."

Alred laughed, walked up to Louis in white pajamas, and pushed him onto his bed, like a fluffy bunny into a warm, sheltered nest.

"Sure enough, you came to check the accounts, my little Louis—it's cold outside, you lie down under the quilt first, and I will tell you in detail later. Remember, I told you that I just got Two hundred louis d'or!"