Granville's estate

When the carriage of the Durand family passed through the street illuminated by street lamps and stopped in front of No. 79 St. George Street, the hour hand of the clock was about to point to nine o'clock in the evening; And Louis, Papa Tunsar who was sitting in the porter room jumped up like a red-hot iron under his buttocks.

"Ah, Mr. Louis!" The janitor's loud voice seemed particularly abrupt in this quiet late night. He hurried out, looked back at No. 79 St. George Street, and reminded those who returned late as tactfully as possible: " Mr. has come back, and he is going crazy because he can't find you!"

"Uh……"

Hearing this news just after getting out of the carriage, Louis couldn't help being dazed. He almost stepped on the hem of his long cloak and fell down on the steps. Fortunately, Callisto beside him helped him up.

"Be careful!" Callister said. For some reason, Louis felt that the viscount's voice was quite smiling: "Anyway, Mr. de Granville has returned, so you don't need to worry about it."

"Louis!"

Not long after, Alred, who heard the movement outside, rushed out of the house. He was still wearing the clothes he had when he went out during the day, but he put on a long velvet coat to keep warm; When his friend, and a Viscount Calliste de Durand, his face suddenly changed from full of anxiety to a gloomy sky that was thicker than the sky before the storm: "Ah, Mr. Viscount de Durand !"

"Uh, Al..."

The tone in which Alrede called the Viscount's surname was really bad, and Louis couldn't help but call out to his friend, but Alrede gave him a look, which clearly said "I'll deal with you later!", so Louis gave a Feeling guilty, he couldn't even say a word.

"Mr. de Granville, long time no see."

As if he didn't hear Alred's gnashing of teeth at all, Callister greeted Alred very naturally, as if they hadn't just been at the Countess de Lopez on Massillon Street a few days ago Seen: "I'm so happy to see you so alive."

"It's all thanks to you, my lord."

When Alred said this, his voice seemed to be squeezed out of the cracks in the stone. He stood in front of Callister like a pillar, and he had no intention of getting out of the way at all, let alone according to the etiquette invitation. The viscount entered his residence: "I would like to express my great gratitude to you for taking the time to send my friend back, but it's getting late, my lord, so please forgive me for not inviting you in."

"It doesn't matter, Monsieur de Granville, after all, it would have been a faux pas on me not to have had my card sent beforehand."

The Viscount answered very calmly, he turned his head and looked at Louis beside him, and said with deep meaning: "Next time I will definitely send someone to send a business card first, ah, yes, I hope that I will be honored to invite you to join me at that time." Join us for our entertainment." He paused, and added, "With Louis."

"Mr. Viscount de Durand, I wish you a smooth journey back home, I will not send you off!"

Callister's words definitely made Alred so angry that he took Louis' hand and walked towards No. 79 St. George Street, and threw Viscount de Durand on the front steps without any regard for etiquette. Go up; when passing by the gatehouse where Father Tongsar was, Al still did not forget to yell at the gatekeeper: "Father, lock the door, check the windows everywhere, don't let thieves sneak in through the loopholes!"

"Okay, okay, I will do it, sir." The janitor, who was frightened by Alred's anger, responded repeatedly.

Before the heavy door was closed, Louis subconsciously looked back at Callister outside the door. Because the distance was too far, he couldn't see the viscount's expression clearly, but that person seemed to be standing there watching them all the time. , until the closed door completely concealed his figure.

"Ah, your little Louis is back!"

Louis' actions must have aroused Alred's anger even more. At least when they walked into the living room of No. 79 St. George Street, Mary, Joseph, and Peter, who were waiting there, were all puzzled by Alred's gloomy expression. Only Moina, who was sitting on the chair with her feet crossed indecently, dared to speak, she giggled: "You have found your Louis, why do you still look like you lost a hundred of them?" Stinks like Louis d'Or?"

"That's enough, you go back to your place and let Mary lock the door!"

Alred told the woman in Moore Street mercilessly that he ordered no one to come up to the second floor, and then dragged Louis up; and as soon as he entered the study on the second floor, he slammed the door behind him up.

"Al?"

Allred was supposed to be sitting at the desk here writing a letter before. When they walked in, the letter paper held down with the inkwell was still spread out on the table; in order to save the cost of lighting, only one candle was lit here. , and rely more on the pale streetlights coming in from outside the window for illumination, which made it difficult for Louis to see the expression of Alred standing opposite him: "Al, are you, are you angry?"

"Of course I have reason to be angry."

After a long silence, Alred spoke. He tried his best to suppress his anger, but his tone was much heavier than usual. He scolded Louis very severely: "How can you be alone without any suspicion?" Go out with that Durand? Didn't I tell you to stay at home and watch Moina before I left?"

"I, I told Father Tongsar to watch her..."

"If Papa Tongsar can keep an eye on that woman, even whales can swim on land!"

Alred roared, and his address to Moina changed, which showed how angry he was: "Where did that Jew take you, and what did he do to you? That bastard, he dared to take advantage of me I coaxed you to leave when I was not there, if I was there at that time, I would definitely throw him out and not allow him to set foot on the door of my place!"

"Al, Mr. Callister is not Jewish..."

"Louis!"

"He's not a bad guy, Al, and you can't always be prejudiced against him," said Louie, taking courage: "It was my fault for going out without telling you, but Monsieur de Durand took me to Molly Mrs. Srpon's club, um, that's a very interesting place, where I met a lot of respectable young people, and every one of them was very personable and knowledgeable."

"Oh, Mrs. Maurice Srpon's Rose Club, he'll pick!"

Allred had naturally heard the rumors about the Rose Club, but his agitation did not ease a little because of it, but made him even more annoyed: "Why did he take you there? I don't know, what's going on between you and him?" It’s time to have such a deep friendship, let him take you to Mrs. Morislpon’s place!”

"I, we are, we need to talk about something."

Louis replied, but because it was pure nonsense, his voice was lowered because of guilt; but Alred didn't intend to stop there, he asked Louis: "What can you do in my absence?" When did we talk about it?"

Louis hesitated, he couldn't say that Callister probably just wanted to take him there for a long time, so he could only rack his brains to find an excuse: "I, uh, Mr. de Durand wants to invite me to his bank To get a job, he assured me it would not lose my identity."

"It sounds like a scam, why would he need to hire you to work at his bank?"

As for Louis' excuse, Allred didn't buy it at all: "Could it be that our Viscount de Durand is about to go bankrupt, so that he can't even find a usable person with a university education, so he has to invite him before A classmate in St. Etienne helps? How much salary is he willing to give you? To be honest, I would be happy to recommend a few students from the University of Paris for him. The salary that those poor students ask for is definitely lower than what he can offer many."

It sounded like a merciless mockery of Louie's failure to get a college education, but unfortunately, it was true, although it hurt Louis a bit because he couldn't imagine working at the Durand Bank. What to do for Callister: "Al, I think, maybe I could..."

"Enough, you don't need to say it!"

Alrede didn't want to listen anymore, he announced to Louis angrily: "I won't let that Durand have a chance to trick you, from tomorrow on, no matter what you have to go with me, I will I will complete the formalities for you to go back to Magon as soon as possible—if he wants to tell you anything, just ask him to come to me!"

He made such a decision, and at the same time, he really practiced it. From the next day, if Alrede wanted to leave No. 79 St. George Street, he must take Louis with him, and put the man who was strictly guarding Moina The task was given to Papa Peter, Louis' coachman.

Until many years later, when Louis looked back on this past, he was thinking, if Callister hadn’t taken Al to Mrs. Morris Srpon’s club that day while Al was away, would Al have not Make such a decision?If Al hadn't made such a decision, would Mary's tragedy have been avoided if one of them had been at home that day, and a master at 79 St. George Street, the beautiful, simple, loving person to her? Wouldn't the young girl with the most sincere love, who had been shamelessly betrayed by the lover she trusted, die prematurely with resentment after suffering such a severe trauma?

There was no answer, and the punishment he dreaded from God did not come to him and Callister, but to those closest to them, and thus drew a deep gulf between them, leaving all All the good things fall to pieces—

—Louis and Alred came back late that day, they hadn't managed to get a visa to leave Paris, and when they got home, 79 Rue St. Georges was in a mess.

Villiers du Turner abducted Marie from 79 Rue Saint-Georges while they were away.