Granville's estate

"Marguerite? What does this have to do with Miss Margaret... Father Tunsal! Where did you come up with such a strange idea! God, you should go to the priest and make a good confession It's over."

When Papa Tonsar said, "Is this a gift from your lover?" His expression was so firm that Louis thought that the agreement between himself and Callisto had come to an end. He was so frightened that he almost stopped breathing; but the fact is so dumbfounding: the janitor probably watched too many frivolous plays in low-level theaters, and actually Thought there was a cheesy love triangle between him and Al, and Margaret—otherwise you wouldn't have to wait until Alred was out to sneak presents to Louie and not let others Got it, don't you?

The gatekeeper who heard Louis' reprimand looked at him suspiciously, obviously he did not believe that his conclusion based on experience and intuition was wrong.

"Sir, is it not what I think it is?"

"Of course not. This has nothing to do with Miss Margaret. I don't know what you misunderstood." Louis said, this oolong was really angry and funny, and he put on a straight face: "Okay, old man." Dad, this is not something you should be in charge of. Also, don’t tell your guesses like this in front of your husband, or I won’t speak for you when he wants to deduct your wages. "

"Okay, sir, so it seems that you had a sweet lover when we didn't know it." Father Tongsar muttered, probably to save his own face, this time A janitor firmly refused to admit that he had made a mistake: "It seems that she is very satisfied with you, otherwise she would not have given you a gift—would you like to give me that handkerchief?"

"Handkerchief? What do you want a handkerchief for?"

Louis asked a little strangely. He looked down at the silk handkerchief that was used to wrap the gift box, and found that the handkerchief was embroidered with precious gold thread with a pretty pattern of irises, and because it was wrapped, From the outside, it was impossible to tell whether the Callister family's coat of arms was on the handkerchief—that is, for the sake of safety, this thing should not be given to the gatekeeper casually.

"Don't you want Mr. Allred to know about your lover? Then you can give me that handkerchief, and I'll get my tip, and you won't have to worry about hiding it." I won't let Mr. find out."

The porter replied rather slyly, looking at the gold thread on the handkerchief in the way he looked at an unclaimed gold coin before his eyes.

"Didn't the person who asked you to bring this thing in didn't give you a tip?" Louis said. He didn't quite believe that the janitor's temperament would actually do such a thing as paying for the labor before receiving the payment.

"Ah, sir!" cried the porter in dissatisfaction, but he immediately lowered his voice: "It's one thing to send things in, and another to keep them secret. The cost of one thing, don't you think so?"

"You, you really are!"

Facing such a rogue janitor, Louis could only touch his forehead with a headache: "Okay, okay, I want to keep this handkerchief, I'll give you two sou as a tip."

"Four sous, sir, you must at least give me a silver piece! Your dear lady will not be pleased that you give a faithful servant a copper piece."

So the price was finalized like this, Louis wanted to send the janitor away quickly, but when he touched his body, he realized that not only did he not have the franc box with the change on him now—the original franc box was taken away by Callister Well, the new one was still in Al's hands—even the other money he had brought from Magon in the suitcase had probably been put away this morning when Mary was packing.

This was such an embarrassing situation that Louis had to go to Alred's bedroom, where he rummaged through the drawers rather guiltyly, and he found a wooden box for pocket money, and took it out of it. A 20 centimes silver coin with the smallest face value was given to the gatekeeper, and he told him: "You have to remember, absolutely don't let your husband know about this!"

"Of course, sir, Dad will do what he says!"

After finally sending Father Tongsar away, Louis hurried to his bedroom and unwrapped the handkerchief wrapped around the gift. Inside was a small and exquisite rosewood box, the size of the palm of an adult man. so big.

To Louis' surprise, what was placed in the rosewood box was not the precious gift like yesterday's gold pocket watch that he was worried about, but something interesting—or rather childlike: it was Four small and exquisite pebble-shaped glazes fired with colorful patterns, each only as thick as a five-franc piece of silver, and just the right size to hold and play in the hand.

"Why did he give me this kind of child's plaything again?" Louis thought to himself, when he once visited the wife of the tax bureau chief in Magong, he saw the lady holding this kind of colored glaze toy with patterns on it to give to him. Her children explained the religious stories in the pattern—in other words, this thing is actually a luxury version of story paintings that nobles and rich people used to show their children: "Does he still regard me as someone who would cry Think I'd be interested in these toys, kid?"

He picked up one of the glazed stones very puzzled, and found that the pattern drawn on it was a deer: the stag's body was white like the stag that guided the knights in King Arthur's time, and it had a clearly forked head. Antlers, stepping on the corpse of a ferocious poisonous snake, and twisting his neck to swallow the detoxifying hairy fecal stones.

By any measure, this is just a common religious picture of deer as Christ Himself, an immortal miracle, lavishly fired in colored glass (in such a small On the glass, the craftsmen must have spent much more thought than on the large religious paintings!), Louis suddenly realized something, and he hurriedly looked at the remaining glass stones. Sure enough, the patterns and stories on these glass stones They're all different, but they're all about deer:

The story on the second glazed stone is that Saint Hubert was conversing with a stag. Legend has it that the saint was converted and became a devout follower of Christ after encountering a miracle brought by the divine stag (unfortunately , the saint probably brought bad luck to the deer's kin: he was later enshrined as the patron saint of deer hunters);

The pattern on the third glazed stone is much simpler. There is only a majestic and majestic male deer in the whole picture. It is tall and majestic, with an exquisite collar around its neck; So masterful that Louis could even read the fine print on the collar: "Caesarissum, nolimetangere (Don't touch me, I belong to Caesar)".This is undoubtedly the legendary stag that symbolizes the legitimacy and legitimacy of the dynasty and that no one can harm. However, perhaps the artisan who drew the stag himself knows that from King Arthur to Henry III, even Mr. Napoleon declared that Saying that he had seen the sacred stag that belonged to Caesar, he slyly added to the back of the glass stone the quip: "Every great prince needs a long-lived stag," while still A "M" letter mark is left next to it;

And the picture on the last glazed stone is also quite simple: a deer, a deer drinking water with its head bowed by the stream - in the teachings believed by Louis, the drinking deer represents rebirth, and the source of this concept is undoubtedly It is the poem about the deer: "My heart longs for you, O God, as the deer longs for the streams."

"God, my heart longs for you...my heart..."

Louis played with these glazed stones with deer painted on them, and silently recited these two lines of poetry several times in his heart.He naturally knew that this poem actually expressed the believers' reverence for the Lord, but whenever he thought of the person who had said this poem to him, he felt hot on his face, and he didn't have the courage to say the last line.

"That... that bastard."