Granville's estate

What does a funeral need?

When an ordinary person dies, the deceased—or relatives of the deceased—need to prepare many things and do many things. The first is undoubtedly to report the death to the government, and the second is the necessary shroud , coffins, mourning clothes and funeral candles, and countless other trivial but indispensable objects; The price of the Ferrell cemetery with thousands of dead is naturally not comparable to that of the famous Pere Lachaise cemetery; in addition, they must buy straw to block the door while weeping, so that relatives are too tired to mourn. The cries of grief don't bother their neighbors.

In order to give Mary the best possible final resting place, Alred and Louis, with the help of M. Dumont, secured for her a corner place in the Saint-François cemetery; Buried next to it was the daughter of a brewer who died of typhoid fever. In order to avoid the protest of the lady's family that "a woman with a bad reputation should not be my daughter's neighbor after death", they even had to decide on the tombstone. The text should be as concise as possible, so that the poor girl will not be criticized after her death.

The day when Mary’s coffin was buried, perhaps God had pity on this ill-fated girl. When the cemetery began to sprinkle the first handful of soil on it, Joseph, who was crying bitterly, would have almost thrown himself into the grave if Louis hadn't hugged him tightly.

"Sister, sister!"

The heartbreaking grief of a 15-year-old reaching out to the coffin in the grave in a vain attempt to keep his last loved one back on earth is enough to bring tears to even the hardest of hearts However, the gravediggers, who are used to the separation of life and death, did not stop because of his actions. They threw shovel after shovel of dirt onto the coffin, and soon separated the living and the dead forever up.

A gravestone of limestone—a material that was less expensive than marble because Allerde could no longer afford to pay more—was erected, with the very brief inscription: Mary Abel, 1806-1823.

A young girl's life was buried by these two short lines.

"Watching it all, it's like I'm burying myself."

After the funeral, Moina told Louis and Alred that today she was wearing the blue dress that Mary had given her earlier, and her hair was neatly pulled up, and she looked like an ordinary, plain girl. A girl from a good family, this made Louis feel a little dazed - if there hadn't been this disaster, if Mary could have survived, would she be like this ten years later?

"We will all have a day when we entrust our souls to God. After all, death walks with life like a shadow."

After his return from the Saint-François cemetery, Louis fell ill, and Dr. Müller, who visited him, asserted that he, like the weeping valet, was "overwhelmed with excessive grief and melancholy, and must Try to be happy, otherwise the excessive sorrow will kill them sooner or later"—however, when a person's heart is tortured and tortured by the soul all the time, how can he become happy?

It was at this time that Moina came to say goodbye to them, went into Louis' bedroom, and told them bluntly: "I'm going."

"Where are you going?"

Alred asked, he was already exhausted about the matter of Louis and Joseph, and he had no extra energy to pay attention to Moina for the time being: "You are going to find Grostedt? Then, please give him a word for me: I always One day he will be found and he will be made to pay the worst price for his deceit."

"If I see him, I'll tell him for you," Moina said. "Also, I'm taking Joseph away."

This request stunned both Louis and Alrede, and Alrede reacted first, and he directly rejected her request: "What kind of weird idea are you doing? No, I won't agree, you want Was he wandering in Paris with you?"

"But he is very sad now, and he has no way to continue working for you." Moina said, she glanced at Louis: "Think about Mary, Alred, he doesn't know now, but if one day he You know, and then what do you do impulsively? You will definitely see that person again, and it is not a good choice to keep Joseph by your side."

What she was referring to was undoubtedly the truth about Mary's death that had been tacitly covered up. Alred and Louis exchanged glances, and Louis said hoarsely, "I'll take Joseph back to Magon."

"Oh!"

Alred was taken aback, he hesitated: "But..."

"Dr. Muller also said that he needs to change his environment, otherwise he will die from excessive grief." Louis said, he felt his heart throbbing, and tears flowed down unconsciously: "Al, I'll take him back to Magon and treat him like my brother, and I'll teach him to read and teach him a trade, and then I'll do what I can to find him a secure job, which is The only thing I can do for Mary."

It was so decided that after Moina left, Louis couldn't bear it any longer, and he fell into sleep wearily, but there were also Joseph's weeping, Mary's lamentation and the melancholy sigh of the Countess de Lopez in the dream Alternately entangled him, surrounded him like thorns that spread wantonly, with nowhere to escape.

When he woke up, Louis felt that he was covered in cold sweat. In a daze, someone was wiping his forehead with a towel. He thought it was Alred, but when he opened his eyes, he found that it was an unexpected person. Man - Calliste de Durand.

The viscount was holding a towel wrung out after being soaked in water, and he carefully wiped the cold sweat on Louis's forehead due to his nightmares. The degree of meticulousness was no less than that of maintaining the most precious porcelain in the world; and when Louis unfolded While staring at him blankly, he couldn't help but stop his hands, and the two of them looked at each other speechlessly for a while.

"How are you feeling now? Are you better?"

After a while, Callister spoke to Louis, and his expression looked a little tired: "Your friend is outside, but I begged him to let me talk to you alone."

Louis looked at the person sitting beside his bed without blinking his eyes, and after a long while, he spoke softly.

"Monsieur," said Louis, trying to sound brave, "monsieur, I will leave Paris and go back to Magon."

Before Viscount Durand went to Dafrey City, he once said to Louis, "I hope to get your answer when I come back." At that time, Louis would never have imagined that fate would play such a cruel joke on them. : "Please...don't let anyone stop me from getting a visa to leave Paris."

Callister didn't speak. It took a while before he took a deep breath, but he didn't deny Louis' last words.

"That's good, the fresh air in the country will be good for your body." The Viscount said, and he put the towel back in the basin next to him: "You take a good rest at home, and when the social season is over, I will give you another Find you in Magon."

"No," Louis said softly, a great sadness welling up in his heart: "Please don't come, I will never see you again, sir, we are all burdened with deep sin, I I think this is the Lord’s warning and punishment to us.”

He turned his head to the other side so that his decision would not be shaken by seeing that person, but tears kept pouring out like a spring, silently sinking into the soft pillow cover.

"How nice it would be if I didn't know you, sir."

If I did not know you, I could blame you, accuse you, without scruple, according to the principles of doctrine and morality.

Instead of letting my heart become so sad.