Granville's estate

Alred's going back and forth obviously caught the strange woman in black by surprise, and she had to take a step back when facing Alred who came back angrily.

"Monsieur de Granville," said the woman, with a glance at their surroundings, "for your decency, and for the honor of M. Farentin, I suggest that you calm down and calm down. Talking too loudly is harmful to each of us." People are no good, and I think you know that gossip and rumours travel faster than anything in Paris."

When she said this, waiters in the adjacent box had already opened the door and poked their heads out to observe what happened. With the good nature of Parisians, it is entirely conceivable that once there is a commotion here, the entire box area and even the hall will be destroyed. The idlers who do good things here will flock here.

"We're just here for a dinner. We didn't borrow money or cause trouble on purpose. What rumors should I be afraid of?" Alred lowered his voice, but the anger in his voice didn't need to be sensitive enough for anyone to feel it. Staring at a woman is like staring at a thief: "But you, a person with a suspicious identity, why did you appear in our box? How did you get in? Who asked you to come?"

"Mr. de Granville, although your status is not as noble as yours, we are not people who do illegal things. Naturally, we can go wherever we want." The mysterious woman in black replied lightly, " As for my identity, there is my business card under the cup, you can check it at will."

She pointed to Louis. The latter was stunned because he suddenly became the center of the incident. Following the woman's line of sight, he looked at the ice cream cup in his hand, only to find that there was a thin business card pressed under the cup. There is a small corner, and if you don't pay attention, it will be ignored.

He removed the beautiful ice cream cup, pulled out the business card underneath, looked at it, and read the name and address on it.

"Gemma Este, Madame Tihasson's Portrait Gallery, No. 140, [-] Taub Street, Boulevard Angdan, two... er, two thousand?"

Louie looked at the card in great bewilderment, and was sure that the back contained nothing but a picture of a shepherdess flower bud, but on the front, in the margin next to the finely printed Italian curlicue, there was a penciled The number "2000" is incompatible with the printed font in rough pencil and looks very abrupt.

Louis didn't understand it, but Alrede did, and he sneered angrily.

"The Portrait Gallery of Mrs. Tihasson, ha!" said Alred, "I know what your place is for. Tell me, why did you come to us? 2000 francs, which is a lot of money. If your The patrons are happy to spend the money on giving to the poor, and it may be enough to buy their own souls from the devil."

"Sir, we are only entrusted to deliver a message to Mr. Farentin."

For Alred's cynicism, the woman named Gemma Esther was completely unmoved: "It seems that you know our business very well, so you should also know why I came here. In this case, My goal has been achieved. You and your friend Mr. Farentin don't need to give an answer right away, of course, if you two think this number is not enough, we can also discuss it."

"I don't care even if a zero is added after the two thousand. I just want to know who your customers are? My friend just came to Paris, and he was targeted by you so soon. I'm very curious about who can To this extent—of course, if you don't want to speak, I don't mind calling the patrolman and letting you go to the police station to speak."

"Sir, don't embarrass me. You should also know that not revealing the identity of the guests is the most basic principle of our business."

Gemma Esther shook her head from side to side, "Even if you call the patrolman, it's useless. I'm not the kind of person with a criminal record in my passport, and I haven't done anything illegal."

"Ha! If what you people do can be called legal, there is nothing illegal in the world!"

"Call it what you like, and in any case you may persuade your friend to think carefully about the matter. With all due respect, a pleasant brief time with a noble and charming lady is more than many people could wish for, not to mention It's a very good business to get a good reward, isn't it?" The woman said, taking a step back subtly, "You don't need to be angry about this, I will visit again, and I look forward to it when the time comes A satisfactory answer can be obtained. See you next time, gentlemen, then."

"stop--"

The mysterious woman named Gemma Esther was like a slippery fish. When Alred wanted to reach out to grab her, she was short and quickly backed away from their box. , and disappeared on the other side of the passage in a short while

Alred chased after a few steps, and watched the woman disappear from his sight just like that, he could only hold his cane and smack the floor in resentment.

"Don't let me catch you!"

He walked back angrily and stared at the waiter John who served them for a long time. The latter was sweated by him, and he raised his hand and swore: "Sir, I really don't know where that woman came from." Come on, swear to the Virgin Mary, when I saw your menu, I thought you had some other waiter add those ice creams! If you don't believe me, go check it out, your order actually says two servings of ice cream! "

"You'd better not know, John." Alred said coldly, took out a few coins from his pocket and threw them to the waiter, then grabbed the business card from Louis's hand and threw it on the ground, picked it up and returned it. Louis, who was confused, walked out.

It wasn't until they walked out of the Rishle Cafe all the way and boarded the carriage waiting outside that Louis came back to his senses: "Al, we didn't seem to have paid the bill when we came out!"

He dared to bet that the coppers that Alrede threw to the waiter John would never exceed twenty centimes, but it was obvious that the food and wine they ordered could not be paid for for a fifth of a franc. The people who let them out just like that.

They shouldn't be the kind of people who eat free food, right? !

"You don't care if you paid me or not, I'm about to explode! It's really shameful that Café Rishle put women from that kind of place in there!"

Alred endured and endured, he really couldn't swallow the breath, but he didn't want to get angry at his innocent friend, so he could only smash his fist on the window frame of the carriage in resentment.

After a while, the coachman's voice came from outside: "Sir? Do you have any new orders?"

"To the Opera Comique!"

Alred replied angrily.

Louis watched Alred's face cautiously by the pale light of the street lamp shining in from the car window.

"Al, I seem to understand what you are saying, but I don't seem to understand." Louis said, "Who is that woman? She suddenly appeared like that, which shocked me a lot, and what she said was a bit inexplicable."

Alred pursed his lips tightly, and after Louis pushed him lightly, he reluctantly opened his mouth: "Didn't you know just now, that's someone from the Portrait Gallery of Mrs. Tihasson."

There is no such thing as a "portrait gallery" in Magon. If people want to leave a portrait of themselves for future generations, they will invite painters to come to their homes to draw portraits, and there are only two or three painters in Magon. It is also incompatible.After thinking about it for a long time, Louis could only classify it as a trendy store in a big city like Paris.

"Is there any problem with this Portrait Gallery of Mrs. Tihasson?" He asked curiously.

Alred snorted out his nose in disgust: "It's a very unscrupulous place. It's called a portrait gallery, but it's actually a lover's house under the guise of a portrait gallery."

"Love—lover's house?"

This new term, which he had never heard before, completely confused Louis. Even if he tried his best to search in his memory, he could not find anything related to this word at all.

"What kind of shop is that?"

"They do all kinds of dirty things, and some of them specialize in connecting people with special needs—as long as someone pays enough money, they don't mind selling their souls to the devil." Alred took a deep breath, Try to calm yourself down: "A place like the lover's house, even the most innocent girl, as long as they are pulled in once, even if only for a minute, people will think that she has lost her innocence-understand me Do you mean it, Louis? When you see that woman in the future, you must stay away, and don't believe a word she says!"

Louis recalled what the woman in the so-called lover's house had said from her appearance to her departure, and finally understood why Alred was so angry.

"Speaking of which, this so-called portrait hall is actually that kind of bad place? It's just a nice name."

Thinking of what the woman named Gemma said, Louis couldn't help laughing, feeling very absurd: "She played a trick to transfer you away just to talk to me about such a thing, so I was caught by some rich and expensive woman." Ma'am, have you taken a fancy to it?"

From newspapers that are bold enough to print romantic prints, to clothing styles that are really unacceptable to outsiders, to lovers' houses that match wealthy customers.

The city of Paris is really... full of wonders!