Granville's estate

"So you already knew of Grostedt's plot?"

When Mary of Moore Street said something like "It was Sologne who lied to you, not me", the hidden information behind the words and her indifferent attitude almost made Al Ryder was so angry that he lost the good manners that a respectable gentleman should have, and growled: "You knew it? You knew it!"

"Ah, if you're talking about the tea leaves, then I do know that there's something tricky about the things that passed through his hands, but that's all his work, and I haven't done anything."

Mary said indifferently that she said these words as if discussing "what should be for the next meal", completely ignoring the people who were stunned by her: "Of course, I guess you won't believe it. My, after all, what women like us say in your eyes is not worth believing, and you will definitely regard me as his accomplice."

"Aren't you his accomplice? You know his conspiracy and live with him, you... you two... bastards!"

Louis was so pissed off by this woman, he had to take a deep breath to calm himself down, and felt that he needed to go outside and call the patrolman: "Al, we don't have to talk to her, we'll send her to the police Go to the bureau! These guys who conspire to deceive others, they should stay in prison until all their accomplices are confessed!"

Mary giggled. She didn't look scared at all.

"My dear Mr. Gold Coin," said the strange and enigmatic woman, pointing gracefully to herself with her slender fingers: "You, are you sending me to prison? Oh, yes, man Once you become cruel, it is really scary!"

"Shouldn't you stay in jail and wait for your accomplice before a judge with him?"

"But in this way, your secrets will not be kept."

Mary twisted her fingers around her hair, and she gave Louis a sideways look quite coquettishly: "Sologne escaped, but Alred was fine, there must be other factors in the middle-I guess, What method did his family use to suppress the matter? If you send me to prison, I don’t guarantee that I will tell the judge my random guess.”

"you!"

This was a deadly threat, and Louis was almost blinded by this woman's anger. It took him a while to find his voice: "You...you liar! Holy Virgin Mary, this is simply too much Terrible, you will definitely pay for your actions!"

"My beautiful little cutie, if you are angry with me, you have found the wrong person. I haven't cheated your friend, I just didn't do anything."

This time Marie draws out her voice as she speaks, and in a few seconds her whole posture takes on an indescribably coquettish charm, as if she were not in a Parisian place of disrepute. but on the big stage of the opera house under the light of a hundred gas lamps: "Don't you understand, I—did nothing, that is, I neither helped Sologne with anything nor told you that he What did you do, just-this-just-"

By the time she reaches the last line, she's quite the long aria sung by opera actresses—though relentless time and too much alcohol have marred her formerly beautiful voice, she sings it at will. This sentence is also beyond the reach of people who have not undergone systematic training.

And after speaking like a song, Mary lifted up the hem of her skirt nimbly. She really turned around in a frivolous and elegant way like a famous actress who called off the curtain after the opera, letting her skirt flutter. , showing the feet in worn shoes under the skirt (this is a rather frivolous, rather indecent gesture, and only those frivolous actresses and street women do it), and then, like a dying swan, gesture Inverted herself gracefully into the chair closest to her.

"I'm about to starve to death." After doing this series of actions, Mary seemed to completely forget what they were talking about just now, and cast her eyes on the young maid who had the same name as her by the window: "Lovely Miss, can I have some bread? Wine too, and gin and schnapps, I miss it so much."

Maid Mary still held an embroidered handkerchief in her hand, and she stood there at a loss looking at this strange woman who asked her for bread, and finally she could only look at her master for help; but the gloomy look on Alred's face The look must have frightened her, and the girl did not move in the end.

"What exactly do you want?"

Allred asked this almost through gritted teeth after a deathly silence, during which Mary of Moore Street had been looking around curiously at the furniture in 79 St. sold, or she could have seen more) and decorations, her ease as if she were an invited guest rather than a suspect with nowhere to go—even with Louie and Alred also had to admit that this woman's courage really revolutionized their inherent perception of women.

"Moore Street has been sealed off, and I have nowhere to go now," said Mary, kicking the hem of her skirt with her foot rather flirtatiously, causing the doorman to stare at it uncontrollably: "The recent street The police are arresting people everywhere again, I don’t want to run around all day to avoid them, I want to stay with you for a few days, and wait for the limelight to pass.”

"Where is Sologne Grostedt?"

"I don't know. If I knew where he was, I wouldn't use it to find you."

"So, you treat my place as a free hotel?"

Alred almost squeezed these words out through his teeth. He looked at Mary coldly. Due to his family's reputation, he definitely couldn't hand this woman over to the police, otherwise the falsification would be suppressed with great difficulty. What about the scandal?But he would not be reconciled if he just swallowed this breath like this: "Why didn't Sologne take you with him when he ran away? Aren't you his concubine?"

Louie looked at his friend with some surprise—this was a very vulgar remark, which in Alred's capacity should not have been said, but considering his exasperated mood, the gaffe was understandable.

"I'm not his concubine, he just let me live on the sofa in Moore Street out of kindness I don't know where."

If an ordinary woman faced such insulting and vulgar words, she would have already smashed the thing in her hand on Alred's face—at least Mary standing by the window heard this sentence, girls should not hear it She blushed as soon as she spoke, and wished she could go out immediately; however, such vulgar remarks were apparently as common as common occurrences to Mary in Moore Street, and did not even make her blush: "He Such a person, only money is his concubine. For money, he doesn't even have a lover, and he is not afraid of others' jokes at all-even if he raises a cheap mistress like a college student! As a result, he even his landlord's My daughter thinks it’s not worth it.”

Here, we must point out carefully—the college students in Paris are not as clean-spirited and hard-working as we imagined. A considerable part of them, while envious of the prosperity of Paris, have also learned some romantic behaviors in the upper class. Pie; the result of this kind of flirting is often ruthless abandonment, so there is a warning to landlords in Paris: "If you don't want to be cuckolded, or send your daughter to a stranger's bed, then don't take a college student back. home.” The proverb is rather crude, but it is effective, which is one of the reasons why Alredé has repeatedly warned his maids to be vigilant against Villiers du Turner.

But in any case, these are what an unmarried girl should listen to, so Alred almost immediately turned and said to the maid standing by the window: "Mary, you go out and go to the kitchen!"

"Yes, sir."

The docile maid seemed to be amnesty, she bit her lip and walked out with her head bowed: Mary of Moore Street's comment on the college student must have made her very unhappy, but the gentle girl didn't say anything.

"Give my bread a little more butter!"

Mary of Moore Street said to the back of the young maid, she was paralyzed in the chair like a snake, and even stretched a lot.

"Enough of you, Mary!"

Alred couldn't bear it anymore: "That's enough, I'm going to drive you out of here - get up for me, don't lie on my chair, thanks to you and Sologne, it's not mine anymore Furniture out!"

"That won't do, Alred," said Marie, a woman who was worse than a Parisian street thug: "If you won't let me live here, I'll sleep outside your house and kill anyone I see." Said that you have a new love, so you kicked me out——you are a man with a small heart."