Granville's estate

In September 1824, shortly after Callister returned to Paris, King Louis XVIII of France, who had been ill for many years, died of illness.

Louis XVIII experienced the last glory of the bright old age in his life, witnessed the great revolution that made his brother and Queen Marie Antoinette fall head to head, and also faced the terrifying power of Napoleon's army; Some accused him of being responsible for the deaths of his nephews, he was accused of "selling France to foreign monarchs", and he tried to adopt an enlightened rule to accommodate the differences within France, but in the end, he Still in the vortex of the alternation of the old and new eras, he was no longer able to control the extreme tendency of his younger brother, the heir to the throne, the Earl of Artois, who was supremacy of royal power, and died of illness from physical and mental exhaustion.

At the age of 67, His Royal Highness the Count of Artois - who, to put it bluntly, has waited so long for this day - ascended the throne as King Charles X; Immediately began his drastic reforms, a series of bills were promulgated, the auctioned church land was recovered, compensation for the nobles was formulated, and the censorship of ideas and words was gradually strict; Some people suffered unreasonable disasters, while others who had been following the new king were reused.

As a royalist who has always been trusted by the royal family, Viscount Callister de Durand of the Durand family was naturally promoted. After he returned to Paris, he first went to England as the deputy envoy appointed by King Charles X, and then As a diplomat, he went to Spain and Italy—his family had an equally prominent in-law in Italy. They proposed to the viscount the idea of ​​remarrying, but Calliste politely refused; and when he returned to France Afterwards, His Majesty the King appointed him as the deputy of the Minister of Finance to focus on training. When the Viscount was finally able to escape from the constant stream of affairs and came to Magon to enjoy a rare vacation season again, time was silent. Two full years have passed.

And during these two years, many things happened to Louis and Alrede. Alrede's younger sister, Madeleine, was brought back from the monastery by Count Fernand. A dowry of [-] francs, which is very little money for a noble lady, but it is better than nothing; however, with the introduction of the bill prohibiting the division of property and establishing an absolute primogeniture, Count Fernand de Granville immediately Then he changed his mind: Although he also loved his daughter, he wanted to pass on the family's accumulation to his only son according to tradition.

So, what should a noble lady who can't get a dowry but is taken back from the monastery do?She must find a husband in her best years, otherwise she will become an old girl who cannot marry, but she has no dowry which is crucial to marriage; The son-in-law "must have the status of a nobleman", which has almost become an unsolvable problem.

No one would have imagined that, facing this problem, Earl Fernand came up with a "wonderful solution". He planned to marry Madeleine to a 46-year-old baron, because the man "although he had a relationship with his mistress Two illegitimate children, but it’s harmless; his family property is quite rich, and his status is worthy of our family’s family status. The most important thing is that he is willing not to accept the dowry.” The visiting old baron drove out, and then had a big fight with his father-it was the first time he had dared to defy his father so openly.

"If he just wants to find someone who is willing to marry Madeleine without a dowry, Louis, I'd rather she marry you, so at least we can still be brothers-in-law."

In the letter to Louis, Allred poured bitterness on Louis. In order not to let his younger sister marry an old man with one foot in the coffin, he almost rushed to the doctor to beg Louis went to Granville's house to propose marriage-of course, whether Louis would like it is another matter, and Count Fernand de Granville must not be willing, because he heard that Alred "would make his My sister is marrying a man without a title" and then yelled at Alred.

Perhaps it was God's mercy, and Madeleine's marriage was finally resolved in a way no one could have imagined: just like a fairy tale, a young nobleman who was on vacation in Chablis, Charles de Lefebvre, loved He fell in love with the beautiful Madeleine, and he was willing to sign a dowry list in name only, and at the same time sign his and Madeleine's names on the marriage certificate.In this way, the problem was solved: this noble young man also had the title of baron, and he was willing not to receive a dowry, and most importantly, Madeleine fell in love with him at first sight.

In order to attend Madeleine's wedding, Louis stayed in the Granville family for half a month. Baron Charles de Lefebvre was quite talkative, he could be called elegant, knowledgeable and polite, but he chatted with Alred At the time, the young baron slipped his tongue and said to Alred: "Although your sister did not bring me a dowry, I was able to get rid of my debts!"

At this moment, Alred heard something wrong, because his father told him that although there were many things listed in the dowry list received by Charles de Lefebvre, in fact, not a single cent was delivered at all. money!

He immediately asked, but in the face of Allaide's questioning, Charles de Lefevere, who knew he had made a slip of the tongue, hesitated, and finally had to tell him: "There is a gentleman who is willing to forgive a debt for me. The condition is that I marry your sister—sir, please don’t tell Madeleine that, despite this reason, I really love her, she is so pure and gentle, like a fawn, I I swear I'll be good to her."

Needless to say, that kind gentleman must be the Viscount Callister de Durand, and no one except him would care about a down-and-out aristocratic lady who might marry a commoner—this made Alred extremely frustrated, but he Later, when he wrote a letter, he told Louis about it.

"I still think that guy is a jerk, but the guy didn't say he was a good guy." Allred wrote to Louis in the letter, "but I have to admit that he saved my sister from Marrying a 50-year-old man, well, I'd call him a well-meaning jerk, but even then, I don't like him."

Like the Baron Charles de Lefebvre, who was exonerated by obedience to the marriage arrangements made by the Viscount, there was Galbien de Durand, who married Louise de Miss Waterwell, they had a son soon.

It is amazing that after having his own son, Galbien de Durand paid more attention to his bloodline than ever before, and he would rather disobey his cousin's order than hand over his son to him. He was brought up by the Viscount—the latter planned to strictly discipline the child as the heir of his family, but before the child was born, Galbien agreed without hesitation.

In Alred's words, it was this gentleman who "had undergone some amazing changes under the direction of God"; ——Although he valued his heir, he didn't care about his wife's feelings at all.

In addition to these two marriages, there is another matter related to Moina and Joseph.

Louis had not seen Joseph since he left Magon himself, but Arlaide, who was in Paris, saw Mary's grave when she went to the Saint-François Cemetery to lay flowers on Mary's grave A handful of wild flowers were placed in front of the grave, and under these wild flowers, a piece of bone with a human knuckle was pressed, which shocked Alred greatly.

"I think those flowers must have been placed by Joseph. He doesn't have much money, so he can't go to the flower shop to buy those expensive and beautiful flowers." Alred said to Louis in the letter, and he also made a shocking one. , But think carefully about the very reasonable guess: "As for the phalanx, it must be Moina's good deed. I even suspect that Villiers du Turner is no longer alive. The phalanx in front of Mary's grave is His—God! After seeing that horrible bone, I'm so glad I didn't mess with that crazy woman Moina, who really can do anything."

Facts have proved that Louis and Alred still underestimated the degree of Moina's audacity. On Christmas Day in 1827, Mrs. Lessing's flower shop, which had killed Mary and countless other innocent girls, suddenly caught fire, and the raging fire engulfed the whole place. The Parisian police failed to catch the arsonist in a lover's house pretending to be a flower shop, but some people claimed that they saw a smiling woman wearing a cloak walking in the sea of ​​flames when the fire broke out. Followed by a young man with brown hair.

After learning the news, Louis stuck the letter on his heart and knelt in front of the cross where Jesus suffered. He could hardly control himself.

"Lord, Lord, I praise Your omnipotent provision!"

With the burning of Mrs. Lessing's flower shop, most of the invisible burden that had been weighing on Louis' heart was finally burned with the burning fire.

He finally stopped shutting himself in the prayer room all day long, and he was finally able to calmly let Viscount Durand sit next to him when he came to Magon—even if there was no word between them, You can also sit together quietly and peacefully, spend the whole day, put your soul in a simple silence, and watch the time go by bit by bit in front of you.

Time is like water, passing by leisurely, not staying for the joy, anger, sorrow and joy of the world.