Granville's estate

Callister did not return to his courtyard until nearly eight o'clock in the evening, when Louie and Capo were sitting by the living room fireplace playing a card game called "32" and he had the upper hand Hearing the sound of the carriage stopping outside the door, the attendant, who was about to lose all the chips in front of him, had an idea, threw all the cards in his hand on the table, and then jumped up: "Ah, sir is back!" !"

"Hey, you..."

Naturally, Louis couldn't have imagined that Kabo would be cheating. Before he could react, the attendant left the card table excitedly as if nothing had happened, and ran out to meet his master.

Louis stared at the cards thrown on the card table for a while, put down the cards in his hand, and stood up—while waiting for the owner here to come back, he once said to Karbo, "I should go back first." 79 St. George Street", but Carbo begged, "If you don't wait for my husband to come back without saying goodbye, he will definitely blame me", so no matter how much he worried that Alred would die because he could not find him. In a panic, he could only hold back his eagerness to stay here; now that Callister finally returned from the mansion of Baron de Wattville, but for some reason, he didn't really want to go out of the living room to see him.

This strange mood that Louis himself couldn't explain what was going on didn't last long. Callister walked in with Karbo. The Viscount was wearing a black double-breasted long coat—— It was Cabo who had sent someone from here to the residence of the Baron de Waterville an hour ago, but his previous big velvet cloak with blue silk was gone.

"I wasted a little time with the Baron de Waterville."

Callister said to Louis, he glanced at the card table next to Louis, but he didn't mean to blame him, he just stretched out his hand and asked Karbo to take off the long coat that was in the way for him: "You were just playing cards? It's a good way to pass the time, the time I wasted didn't make you impatient, did it?"

"No, we had a lot of fun, and I beat Cabo a couple of rounds."

Louis replied subconsciously. He glanced at the door of the living room and found that the footman sent by Cabo from here was waiting there, ready to obey his master's call at any time, but he didn't have the heavy velvet cloak in his hand either. : "Where's your cloak?"

As soon as he asked this sentence, Louis regretted it immediately. He saw Karbo looked at him in surprise, and then continued to lower his head to straighten the viscount's shirt—he shouldn't have asked, Louis thought to himself, before the viscount The cloak was thrown on Miss Louise as she was being sent home, and a gentleman of style and wealth would certainly not ask a frightened lady to give him back his cloak , this is the proper demeanor that anyone can think of, isn't it?

Callister didn't seem to expect that Louis would ask such a question suddenly, and he even froze for a moment, but it only took a few seconds for him to react.

"You mean the cloak I gave to Mademoiselle Louise?" said Callister, who seemed very pleasant: "I left it at the Baron de Waterville's house, and both the Baron and his lady Insisted that I keep the soiled cloak and return it to me when their servants have cleaned it."

"In this way, the baron and madam must be very grateful to you. After all, you rescued their daughter, the beautiful Miss Louise, from under the wheel and sent her back home."

"That's true. The Baron originally planned to ask me to stay for dinner, but I said there was a friend waiting for me, so he had to give up with regret."

"It means that you missed a great opportunity to have dinner with a beautiful lady and her family." Louis said, the viscount's pleasant tone made his chest feel like a big stone fell, and he felt a little I sat down angrily: "Maybe I should make an appointment with you to meet again next time, so that you don't have to hurry back and have to regretfully reject the baron's invitation."

At this moment, Karbo had already tidied up the folds on the hem of his clothes for his master. He took the black double-breasted coat that the Viscount took off in his hand, then lowered his head, and quietly retreated towards the entrance of the living room—— He did so without making any sound, and when Louis noticed it, he almost wondered if the squire had learned ballet on tiptoe.

Callister didn't pay attention to Carbo's actions. He walked to the card table, pulled a chair by himself, and sat down opposite Louis - logically speaking, a noble should not do it himself. This kind of low-class work, but before pulling out the chair, Callister neither meant to call Kabo, nor did the squire seem to come over to pull the chair for his master: he seemed to be completely As if he had forgotten his master, he was no longer visible as soon as he walked out of the living room.

"In all fairness, Mademoiselle Louise de Waterville is indeed a very pretty woman, an attractive beauty."

After pulling out the chair by himself and sitting opposite Louis, Callister crossed his legs leisurely, touched his chin, and seriously commented on the girl: "Of course, she Her courage is as amazing as her beauty, and it is the first time I have seen a noble lady dare to deliberately overturn the carriage in front of me-it's a pity that she is only a daughter, otherwise, her brother would be at home. The position is probably in danger."

"Ah, it is because of you that Miss Louise de Waterville is willing to take the risk!" Louis said, and he returned the words of the servant almost exactly to his master: "After all, a rich So that you don’t care about the amount of the bride’s dowry, and at the same time, a noble, young, and handsome gentleman who has not yet concluded a marriage is the best candidate for a husband, isn’t it?”

"Is that how you think of me? It really pleases me." Callister said, leaning back and leaning himself comfortably on the back of the chair: "But you reminded me, Durand The family really needs a mistress, and I don't have to think about whether her dowry is enough to be worthy of our family's status, as long as she can give birth to an heir for our family-I think, the de Wattville family has always had With a good reputation for being prolific, the lady was also educated at the famous Belley Abbey, and she is indeed a suitable bride."

Louis felt that the blood in his whole body was almost frozen into ice because of these few short words.

"You... do you really think so?"

Louis no longer knew what he was talking about, he only felt that his voice was light and ethereal, which was really strange, logically speaking, he should be happy, so that he would not have to worry that he would violate the most feared religious taboo and let his soul In danger of falling into hell after death: "Do you think Miss Louise is a suitable bride?"

"Of course, don't you think that a girl with courage and strategy like Miss Louise is the mistress that the Durand family needs most? Although her methods are still a little naive, I believe that she only needs to be given time and guidance." , she will be no less than any man."

"Yes, yes." Louis replied, although the fire in the fireplace was burning, he felt chills all over his body, and he couldn't stay in this room for a second: "Then, I wish you I can win Miss Louise's heart as soon as possible, and I wish your family an early successor as you expect. Sir, but it's getting late, I have to go back to my friend's place first."

He stood up abruptly, dazed for a while because he got up too quickly, but the culprit who caused all this turned sideways and grabbed his hand that subconsciously supported the edge of the card table.

"What do you mean?"

Callister asked in a rather surprised tone, almost reproaching Louis: "What do you mean by 'May I have Miss Louise's heart soon?' Do you think I want to marry that lady?" It breaks my heart so much, where do you put my feelings for you?"

"But didn't you mean it yourself?" Louis asked, he only felt that there seemed to be an unknown anger burning in his chest, and even his tone of voice became aggressive: "Didn't you mean to let Miss de Waterville Become the mistress of your family? If so, I wish you to marry your beloved bride as soon as possible, what's wrong with you?"

"I do think she is qualified to be the mistress of the Durand family, but I never said that I would marry her. You can't just force what I didn't say on me."

This time, Callister also stood up, and he grabbed Louis' other hand in a leisurely manner: "Have you forgotten that besides me, there is Galbien in my family? In the case of marriage, if he marries Miss Louise, don't you think that lady is not the mistress of the entire Durand family?"

"Of course you... what?"

This turning point came so suddenly that Louis was stunned: "You, you want Galbien to marry her?"

"I think this will be a very good choice. Of course, the premise is that Miss Louise is smart enough to capture Galbien's heart with her wisdom and beauty."

Callister answered unhurriedly, he pulled Louis, and the latter really took a step towards him according to his strength, which made the distance between them very close: " Galbien has always been a flirt, and having a smart wife in charge of him saves me a lot of trouble. As for me, I still prefer 'Louise' to 'Louise'."