Granville's estate

When Mr. Dumont said that Mary would be taken to prison, Louis almost thought he had heard wrong.

"We are going to send Villiers du Turner to prison, not Marie." Louis said, thinking of the girl's tragic experience, he almost choked up: "We, we have to make him pay cost!"

"I know what you think, but it won't work, Mr. Louis, it will only bring more misfortune to that girl." Dumont said, his expression was very serious: "You have to know that our laws, Neither the judge nor the jury believed that women had enough intelligence and ability to make judgments. The only thing they were required to do was chastity and obedience, and the girl had lost her most precious innocence in a place of disrepute—— In this way, even if she makes accusations and accusations, people will only regard her as a self-deprecating woman, and will not believe any of her words; Sin took her, and the charges depended on their mood, for she had a lover and walked herself into a notorious lover's house, which was established when she laid the charges."

Louie naturally knew what a disgraced girl would face in an age like theirs, but even so, he could not imagine a seriously injured girl who lost her reputation without her own will, Even after being hurt, she will be deprived of more rights: "Mr. Dumont, Mary didn't walk into that madam's flower shop by herself, she was despicably betrayed by that man!"

"But who will testify for her, gentlemen? Where are the witnesses?"

Compared with Louis' excitement, Du Meng looked very calm: "Even if you can find the person who betrayed the girl, as long as he insists that the girl entered the lover's house voluntarily, who can prove to her that it was the The man cheated her and sold her to Mrs. Lessing's flower shop? Could it not be that she was doing another job besides the maid's job, so she walked into the flower shop by herself in the evening, only To get a few dozen francs for a new dress?"

"We can find the people in Mrs. Lessing's flower shop and ask them to testify for Mary." Alred said, his teeth were clenched tightly, and the veins on his temples were about to bulge: "Didn't your people come from just now?" Did those people get any information from them? We can pay a little more money to let them identify Villiers du Turner and accuse him of committing a despicable crime."

Du Meng shook his head, he changed his posture, and supported himself with a cane.

"It won't work, Monsieur de Granville, it won't work," said Dumont, sighing: "There are hundreds of these lovers' houses in Paris, and they know what to do with the poor girls they cheat And their angry relatives, if they have any. Yes, the servants will reveal something for money, but if you want them to identify their suppliers in court, their bosses, or enter Those who come to the lover's house for entertainment are tantamount to expecting that wolves will eat grass instead of meat-whether in front of the police or the judge, they will only insist that the girl went in by themselves, and they can even tell Judge how much francs she got out of it."

"And our judges and policemen tend to take them at their word, because many of them—gentlemen, I daresay our senior police officers nine times out of ten—play in those lover's houses. Not only do they not have to pay, but they can also get extra income from the owner of the lover’s house that is not stipulated by law.”

These words hit the hearts of the two friends like a hammer, and Louis's mind was buzzing. He suddenly realized that Paris, the prosperous pearl of France, hides the evil and sins. In fact, it was far beyond his imagination.

"Don't we have any way to punish that despicable traitor?"

"At least the law is impossible to count on, gentlemen." Dumont replied, he glanced at the storage room and sighed: "There are actually many girls as unfortunate as her, she is not the first, and she will not The last one, well, gentlemen, get her a doctor! I think she'll need something to calm her mind."

"I'll send for Dr. Muller."

Allred replied, he gritted his teeth tightly, his eyes were full of anger and unwillingness: "Louis, you stay at home, I will go to Longchamp Daily again and ask their chief editor if he knows about that despicable little whereabouts of people."

He turned his head and glanced at Joseph who was kneeling outside the storage room. He didn't know when the boy's wailing had stopped. With a glance, Alred gave up the idea of ​​taking him with him: "I'll go by myself, Father Peter, please ask Dr. Muller——Joseph!"

Before Alred finished speaking, Joseph, who had been kneeling there, suddenly jumped up, like an angry little leopard, and rushed out regardless.

"Joseph!"

"Boy!"

Father Peter and Father Tongsar yelled at the same time. Father Martin subconsciously reached out to stop Joseph who ran past him, but was knocked away by the boy who rushed straight past, causing him to grin his teeth in pain. : "God! What is this kid doing!"

"catch him!"

Mr. Dumont was the first to react. He yelled at his servant outside the door, and the servant immediately chased him out. Together with the two coachmen who followed behind, he ran half a street away. Captured that child.

However, Joseph was unwilling to follow them back to his master. He struggled violently, kicking and biting Papa Peter and Papa Martin: "Leave me! Let me go!"

The three servants managed to bring the disobedient boy back to No. 79, St. George Street. The commotion also alarmed other residents on the street. Louis saw that the windows on the second floor of several neighbors were open. , the mistresses and maids in enchanting clothes poked their heads out of the windows, admiring the farce with great interest.

"Joseph, what's the matter with you?"

Before Mary had a clue, Joseph found such troubles for him again, and Alred was in a state of desperation: "You are not with your sister, where are you going?"

"I'm going to kill them! Kill them! Let me go!"

The boy whose arms were cut behind the back by Papa Martin and Papa Peter struggled desperately, trying to break free; his eyes were red, obviously he had heard what Mr. Dumont said before: "That flower shop, I'm going to burn it! Let me burn it!"

His mad state was really frightening. Just when everyone was at a loss, Mr. Dumont picked up his cane and slammed it on Joseph like a stick.

"Boy, if you want your sister to watch you hanged on the gallows tomorrow, you can go to that flower shop."

Mr. Dumont looked down at the crazy Joseph, and what he said was very cold, and for a moment, he looked very much like the man he worked for: "Do you believe that if you rush in and smash something, they will use it Putting you to death in the name of a thief or an arsonist?"

"I am not afraid of death, I will kill them even if I die!"

"Ah, great, a warrior who is not afraid of death." Dumont said, he raised his chin towards the storage room where Mary was: "Then what about your sister?"

These words undoubtedly hit his nails. Joseph's grief and courage suddenly weakened. He sat down on the ground, pounded the hard floor with his fists, and burst into tears.

In this way, Alred must not be able to take Joseph out. He could only go to the Longchamp Daily Office alone without a personal servant, but this time he still missed: the worker of the newspaper told He, the next day is the day when the reporters check out, suggested that he come back then.

So early the next morning, Alred went to the Longchamp Journal again, leaving Louis at home to look after Mary, Moina and Joseph; around nine o'clock, Louis who stayed at home suddenly heard There was a crisp and rapid sound of horseshoes outside, and the sound went straight across the street and stopped in front of No. 79 St. George Street. A few minutes later, a man who he thought should be in the outskirts of Paris walked in with his attendants.

"Du Meng sent someone to send a letter saying that some unfortunate things happened to your servant here."

Calliste said to Louis who was stunned, his cloak was still covered with mist and dew from his journey: "So I'll come back to see you, but I have to go back to His Royal Highness Dafrei later. .”