Granville's estate

After a few words and a few words, he and Galbien made an appointment to watch a play at the Opera House in the evening, and the "snail" carriage with the beauty quickly left the path and sped away. After saying good-bye, he also climbed into his buggy and left.

When only Louis and Alred were left in the gazebo, Alred, who had been tense, could no longer hold on. He slumped down on the bench prepared for the ladies, and his spirit seemed to be sluggish. .

"Al, my friend, are you okay?"

Louis asked very worriedly. After witnessing Margaret's attitude towards his good friend, he couldn't help but suspect that Earl Fernand's statement that Alred was crazy for Margaret was actually just his friend. Wishful thinking for that girl.

"I—I'm fine."

Alred put his hands on his forehead and spoke weakly, and then the pavilion fell into silence.

After a while, he suddenly said, "Louis, do you think I'm a failure?"

"But it's not your fault," said Louis. "Listen to that Mr. Galbien, it's not the first time Miss Margaret has treated her admirers like this—perhaps as you say, Beautiful people are always treated preferentially, so they are relatively more arrogant?"

"Maybe." Alred smiled wryly, and looked towards the Bois de Boulogne outside the gazebo. Although he was very depressed, his eyes still unconsciously searched for the shadow of Miss Marguerite's carriage: "Actually she knew what she was doing and what I was going to think, but she never cared - I've seen her throw a young man out of her wagon and leave him walking awkwardly in the On the muddy streets. Not only her, but also her girlfriends often, because they have no choice in their lives, and they take revenge on those who approach them in this way."

Louie shook his head disapprovingly as he imagined a well-dressed young man forced to walk down a muddy street in disgrace, but considering his friend was in a very depressed state, he chose to put his own Ideas to hide.

Alred didn't expect Louis to say anything, and it was not so much that the poor man wanted the sympathy of his friends, but that he only wanted someone to listen to his feelings.

After being depressed for a long time, Alred finally cheered up: "I feel better now, Louis, let's not take a carriage, let's take a walk around and breathe some fresh air!"

"That would be great, and I'd like to go for a walk, too."

They walked out of the pavilion arm in arm, and walked on a tree-shaded path specially laid with stone slabs for the convenience of tourists walking, and let the coachman drive Alred's carriage to follow behind and wait for orders.

They walked slowly, and in the middle of it, Alred occasionally greeted and exchanged a few words with acquaintances he met who were also strolling.When passing a corner, they saw the "snail" carriage passing in front of them again at a brisk pace.

When he saw the carriage, Louis suddenly remembered Galbien's respectful attitude towards the people in the carriage.

"Al, is that purple-eyed beauty in that carriage someone important to Mr. Galbien?" She looks very attentive, could it be his lover?"

But if it's Galbien's lover, then the beauty's husband shouldn't be sitting there, right?Could it be that the atmosphere in Paris is so tolerant that a wife can flirt with her lover in front of her husband, and even agree to "see you tonight"?But if the other one is also a lover... Louis felt that his brain was a bit stuck.

Alred was busy looking for his familiar figure in the passing carriage, and when he heard Louis' question, he thought for a while before he remembered who Louis was talking about.

"Oh, you said that beauty with purple eyes! That's the Baroness Claudia de Portandière." Alred and Louis whispered, "She is famous in Paris." Beauty, everyone knows that she is the lover of Vicomte Calliste de Durand. It is said that the Viscount gave her a dowry of 50 francs to marry Baron de Portanduel. True or false. The Viscount Calliste de Durand is the cousin of Galbien de Durand, the one you saw sitting in the carriage just now, because Galbien depends on his cousin to make up for himself If there is a shortfall in expenses, it is natural to be very considerate."

This series of titles and names almost made Louis dizzy: "Wait, wait, let me think about it... So in that carriage are Mr. Galbien's cousin and his lover, a woman named Claudie Ya's baroness?"

"That's it."

"Their relationship is really complicated." Louis muttered, "Does the Baron de Portandier know about this?"

"Of course he knew that Claudia became the viscount's lover before she became the baroness, and not the baroness before she became the viscount's lover." Alred said, "In fact, at that time, everyone It is said that Baron de Portandier went bankrupt and was about to sell his ancestral home and go to the countryside, but after he married Miss Clodia at the time, this rumor never appeared again Miss Clodia's parents will definitely not be able to provide any dowry property, so everyone guesses that Viscount Callister de Durand paid a very large dowry for Miss Clodia."

When talking about this guess, Alred's tone was slightly envious, but Louis' attention was attracted by the name "Callister". He frowned and thought for a long time, always feeling as if he was Where have I heard it.

"I've always thought the name 'Callister' was very familiar, but I'm pretty sure it's the first time I've heard the surname De Durand today," Louis said.

"Of course you will feel familiar. In fact, you have seen him." Alred stopped and nodded to a passing young man on a horse from a distance, and divided half of his attention into two purposes. Louis: "Remember when we were at the St. Etienne boarding school, the guy named Callister who liked to fight in the next class? It's this Callister de Durand today, I remember you still because of him He was locked up by the supervisor."

"Hey? Hey?" Louis couldn't help but exclaimed, "Isn't the Callister we met, his surname Duvas?"

"It seems to be his mother's maiden name, and his mother was the daughter of a banker." Alred said, "The Durand family has a long history and has existed since the time of Henry the Great. It is an absolute royalist. Ten You also know the situation a few years ago. Mr. Napoleon was in the limelight, and the Durand family sent him and his cousin—the Galbien you met today—to different places to avoid the limelight. , and he was sent to the St. Etienne boarding school."

"I didn't know that this was the case. I thought Callister was the son of an ordinary businessman. He was unlucky and his family went bankrupt. From this point of view, the fate is really wonderful, and we can meet again in Paris. To an old acquaintance, but to be honest, I didn't recognize him at all just now."

"He left school two years earlier than us. It's normal if you don't recognize him. I didn't connect him with the Calliste in Saint-Etienne at first. After all, when I came to Paris, Cali Viscount de Durand is already a big celebrity in front of his younger brother, Count Artois." Alred said, "until Sologne once told me that Viscount de Durand, like me, once lived in St. Etienne. Ann boarding school, and asked me if there was any way I could get a loan from the Durand Bank through this connection, and that's when I knew he was the troublemaker Callister who was in the class next door to us."

At this time they walked on a flat sidewalk, and saw the carriage carrying Margaret and her girlfriend approaching from a distance, Alred immediately forgot about a former classmate they were talking about, but hurriedly Keep an eye on the carriage.

The coachman briskly drove the horse past them, and Marguerite ignored him as if she hadn't seen Alred; but Mrs. Boucher, who was sitting beside her, nodded to Alred and Louis. Smiling, after the carriage approached, like an unintentional movement, Mrs. Busa reached out to support her hat with white camellias on her head.

It was such a small gesture that miraculously refreshed Alred's whole body. After watching the carriage of the girl he liked go away, he said excitedly to Louis: "Louis, they will also go to Xige tonight." The theater! Let's go there after dinner!"

Louis looked puzzledly at Margaret's carriage going away, and then at Alred.

"How do you know which opera house Miss Margaret and the others are going to? She hasn't told you anything."

"Mrs. Bussa has just told me that generally speaking, if she touches her hat to me, it means that they will go to the Comic Opera at night; if it is a brooch, it means the Italian Opera; if it is a sachet or a pendant. , just stay at home and don’t go anywhere.”

"Is this a secret signal between you? That Mrs. Busha is very active. To be honest, if I didn't know that you liked Miss Margaret, I would have thought that you were actually pursuing that Mrs. Busha." Madame Shah."