Granville's estate

For most people in France, and even most countries in the entire European continent, 1814 and 1815 were extremely important years. In these short two years: Under the protection of the armies of many foreign monarchs, the Bourbon royal family returned to Paris to ascend the throne again (of course, this move that gave foreign monarchs a reason to interfere in the internal affairs of France also caused widespread dissatisfaction); Napoleon Bonaparte, who took the crown and crowned himself king—the gentleman who was the real "Emperor" of France in the eyes of the Liberals, but a real devil in the eyes of the Royalists; The magic power of this man was so great that later, in order to avoid further chaos, the Holy Roman Emperor had to put his grandson, who had the closest blood relationship with this gentleman, under house arrest—first after being deposed by the Senate in May 1814. Exiled to the Isle of Elba, he left secretly from the Isle of Elba in March 5 and returned to Paris again; like a miracle, the king fled in embarrassment, and Napoleon Bonaparte easily boarded again. On the throne that had not changed hands for a long time, but this time God's blessing did not last long. After only one hundred days, the gentleman had to announce his abdication because of his defeat in the war with the Duke of Wellington. This time he was He was exiled to the closely guarded island of St. Helena until his death there in 1815.

In the precariousness of this era, even the Saint-Etienne boarding school, which is far away from Paris and insensitive to changes in the outside world, also smelled strange information.People in the school were fluctuating. After May 1814, the supervisor and teachers forbade the students to mention the name of Napoleon Bonaparte. Just like the past hundreds of years of history, this school tried to use thick walls and strict confinement to keep its students away from the disturbances of the outside world, so that they could stick to their pure belief in God, and at the same time learn those who have been through strict discipline. Chosen harmless knowledge that does not pollute their souls.

In the spring of 1814, Louis was promoted from the middle class in Saint-Etienne to the senior class. According to the rules of the boarding school, the students who were promoted to the senior class would be divided into theology classes (this class takes pious belief as the only criterion for the purpose of In order to train future priests to fight against the pagan forces that are gradually eroding France), law classes (most of the students in this class choose to enter the University of Paris to continue studying law after graduation, hoping to get the opportunity to serve the king), mathematics classes, philosophy classes Waiting for different classes, they will learn knowledge in different directions in the class, so as to lay a solid foundation for their future life.

After careful consideration, Count Fernand de Granville chose the law class for Allaide, while Louis' father, Lucien du Farentin, chose the philosophy class for him—Mr. Lucien I hope that his only son will have enough wisdom and strength to protect the little family business he has managed so hard to manage. In this way, classes such as law classes and math classes where the knowledge is too professional and profound are not suitable for Louis; Although the philosophy class is nicknamed "the class of mediocrity", what it teaches is more practical knowledge-including etiquette, law, accounting and arithmetic, etc., which is undoubtedly what Mr. Lucien needs.

And it was in the fall of this year that things started to go wrong.

As we have said before, in Saint-Etienne, only the students who are close to graduation in the big class will be regarded by the supervisors as "adults" who can talk to them on an equal footing; For other people, as long as they are promoted to the senior class, even some students in the middle class are the prey they can start, because the age of sixteen or seventeen is very important for most people in this era (especially the lower class!) In other words, it is already the age that can be regarded as an adult. If it is in a poor peasant family, this age will only be advanced earlier-the lower the class, the earlier the age of starting a family and having children, although among them Many people in the country cannot afford the fifteen franc registration fee to have their names registered with the Marriage Registrar.

Since Louis entered the class, Mama Moreau began her scheming behavior. She began to ask Louis to help her with small tasks, including removing the broken mirror hanging in her house for her and finding the "missing" glass. Ball buckle, and even wipe the mud spots on the skirt for her accidentally splashed!This cunning woman is like a patient hunter, letting her prey unknowingly enter the trap she set.

In contrast, Louis did not realize the abnormality behind the series of actions of Mama Moreau at the time-yes, who would doubt a maid who watched him grow up?Before he entered Saint-Étienne, Mother Moreau had been a maid here. She used to comb the hair, arrange the clothes of the young children, and take care of them in life; Chasing her around her barrel-like skirt, begging her to shelter her from the sight of the proctors while stealing candy—who would doubt that such a What about the maid who takes care of their lives while at the same time playing to some degree the role of the long-lost mother?What's more, even if the catastrophic aging that ordinary women usually face has not befallen her, Mama Moreau is already in her 40s, a person who is about to enter old age!

Obviously, the growth of age could not stop Mama Moreau's romantic heart, but made her have a greater appetite for young men's love; It must have annoyed her, because even if she "accidentally" rolled up her skirt while Louis was wiping the mud spots on her skirt, revealing her legs in garter stockings that were usually absolutely covered by the skirt, the beautiful boy would still He didn't realize what he should do, but just reminded her meekly "Mother Moreau, don't catch a cold"--for a veteran in the field of love, it is simply a kind of love that no one cares about. humiliation.

After many trials, Mama Moreau gradually lost her patience. She concluded that this good student who had always been docile was simply a fool in terms of romance, and she was determined to open the door of love for him with her own hands; so at that time One day in December [-], on the pretext that the weather was cold and her scythe would not start, she called Louis to her cabin and asked him to help her light the fire in the stove.

It's just a small thing—Louis walked into Mama Moreau's cabin with such thoughts in mind, and it really wasn't a very difficult thing: the fire scythe was quickly struck, and the tinder and hay When it is ignited, the fire in the stove will also burn.

After the stove was fired up, Mama Moreau made a new request.

"There seems to be a bug biting me on the back of my neck." The plump maid who still has charm said to the boy in a delicate tone, and the unsuspecting boy walked behind her according to her request and held her hand While holding back the long hair that was pulled up, I was looking for the bug that didn't exist.

"Mother Moreau, I didn't see any bugs." After some searching—of course, not the kind of search that Mother Moreau expected—Louis said to the maid that the innocent boy still hadn't found any bugs. Realizing he's fallen into an elaborate trap: "Maybe you're mistaken, or you need a little perfume."

"It's impossible. I can clearly feel it. It should be a nasty flea." Mama Morrow said. on the breastband, implying that he should untie it: "It must be in there, you have to help me find it and grab it out."

"Mother Moreau!"

Things have come to this point, even the dullest people will realize that something is wrong—no matter how strict the supervisors of Saint-Etienne are, the young students in the school will always find a way to get some outsiders. "Book ban", Louis accidentally heard some students discuss in private how to untie women's corsets, shoulder straps and suspenders. Even though he was ignorant of this, he knew that it should be banned— —So Mama Moro’s move undoubtedly frightened him greatly, and he just wanted to run away from here immediately: “Mo, Mama Moro, I, I let Daddy Moro come…”

"Oh, silly boy, what are you talking about that disgusting old man!"

The maid complained very coquettishly, she was unwilling to let go of the fat sheep she got: "You are such a silly boy, my God, you are actually a grown-up, don't you know what a grown-up should look like?" ?”

"Please, please let go..."

Louis was about to cry, he wanted to take his hand out of the maid's hand, but the maid who needed to work on weekdays was much stronger than him; not only that, the maid's whole body was moving He leaned against him, trying to use various means to arouse the youth's enthusiasm: "My good boy, don't you want to taste the taste of happiness? Come, let me teach you..."

The maid's touch made Louis even more panicked, and he didn't know where the courage came from—maybe the usual religious admonitions played a role and gave him strength in the face of immoral situations, but it was more likely that Mo Mama Luo thought he was bound to fall into a trap, so she let down her vigilance—he broke free from Mama Moro's grip on him, and ran out of the small room, letting the maid call out to him angrily. name.

"I will make it impossible for you to run away sooner or later!"

Leaving that room, Louis seemed to hear Mama Moreau say this to him.

It was a nightmare blow. From that day on, no matter how much Mama Moreau made excuses, Louis was unwilling to set foot in the maid's cottage next to the garden again.He also tried his best to avoid Mama Moreau's sight, and walked with other people whether in class or after class, but this did not make him avoid the maid while enhancing his friendship with his friends. Shadow: The maids are supposed to clean up the students, make the beds, and distribute food for the students. No matter which link, the existence of Mama Moreau cannot be avoided!

The worst nightmare came on the day after Christmas 1814, when, to celebrate the arrival of Christmas (and also to show favor to the authorities in power so as not to be seen as pro-Napoleonic liberals), Saint-Étienne held a On that day, everyone was busy participating in the celebration, praying and giving gifts to each other, and Louis was able to temporarily forget his torment in the warm atmosphere; the second day after the celebration, everyone was still lazy At dusk, Louis finally remembered that he still had a homework to finish, so he picked up the notebook and wanted to go to Alred to copy the homework, but when he passed the corridor, he saw Mother Moreau talking to Mr. Legrand, the teacher of the mathematics class.

"Ah, Farentin, you have come just in time."

When Louis discovered the existence of Mama Moreau, it was too late for him to exit the corridor. Mr. Legrand, who was talking to Mama Moreau, had already spotted him. The teacher ordered the students in the next class in an understatement: "You help Mama Moreau carry this pail of water to her."