Granville's estate

"It's just this point in a flash, I thought you wouldn't come over today!"

The man at the counter said this to Alred while flipping through the ledger.

"We ran into a little trouble on the way, so we were a little late."

"Oh, sir, you know that the dishes in our store cannot be kept until the next day! We thought you would not come, so we distributed the lamb chops you ordered to several other gentlemen. If you come later Not even a steak will be left for you."

Unauthorizedly serving the dishes ordered by the customer, the counter said to Alred in a natural tone, but Alred just nodded, not at all angry that the good dishes he ordered were made so pretentiously by the Brown East shop assertively given to others.

"It's okay, I'll order some other dishes."

"Okay, you have booked the seat for four at the far end on the second floor, please, gentlemen."

Brown East's shop has posted a poster on the wall behind the counter, which says "bread is in good supply", and under it is a big old bamboo basket, which contains coarse bread cut into large pieces. Each of these loaves weighed at least ten catties before being cut; a repaired white porcelain dish basin, lined with lettuce leaves, filled with boiled plums and pears, almost overflowing; a large plate of rough porcelain The things inside are a bit strange, there are only a few napkins with white iron hoops engraved with numbers.

A male waiter came up, and the man at the counter turned and took two napkins from a rough china plate and handed them to him. The waiter looked at the number on the white iron band, and said to Alred and Louis: "Two napkins. Sir, please follow me!"

He took the two of them to a place on the second floor where they could see the atrium on the first floor. When they went up the stairs, he reminded them to pay attention to their feet: "Gentlemen, the stairs have just been waxed recently, please be careful not to slip."

The people in the shop reserved a table with four seats for Alred, and there were several tables next to them, surrounded by young students who looked like students. It seemed that a few good friends chipped in to enjoy the meal together. A feast on the second floor; whether it is the second floor or downstairs, at a glance on each table, the most placed are not dishes, but plates of dry bread, as if this is not a restaurant for eating but bread. like a place.

Perhaps because of the long history, the tables and chairs in Brown East's shop were covered with a layer of dusty luster, and looked a little dirty under the dim light. Louis looked at it, a little hesitant, but looked at Arle De'an sat down as usual, and he followed silently.

"Our tenderloin steak should be delivered as soon as possible, and we'd like a veal stew with mushrooms, a fried potato, and a plate of bread."

After Alred sat down, he gave instructions to the waiter very skillfully.

The waiter put the napkins with white iron hoops next to the tableware of the two of them respectively, and left after saying yes.

"How are you feeling, Louie?" Allred asked Louie, with a sort of mischievous teasing after the waiter had left: "After going to the quiet and elegant Café Richel, I'm a bit dissatisfied with this college cafe. Get used to it?"

"...It's really uncomfortable." Louis glanced at the first floor. To be honest, he was a little worried that the second floor they were on would suddenly collapse - after all, the wooden stairs that creaked when they stepped on it and other things The floor that vibrates even when people walk around gives people an unreliable impression: "So many students come here to eat, no wonder you say this is a cafe for college students!"

"Of course! Did you just see the words on the poster behind the counter? 'Sufficient supply of bread' means that there is unlimited supply of bread here, and you can have as much as you want. Of course, it's okay to take it away. Allowed."

"So that's the meaning of that sentence. It's really like what you said. This restaurant takes good care of college students. No wonder I see that the most common thing on everyone's table is cut dry bread."

"Yes, this shop is liked by the students because of this rule, so I also liked to come here when I was in college. After all, for a person whose living expenses are only one franc a day, it is enough to eat as much as he wants. It's a luxury."

The waiter's hands and feet were very fast, and it didn't take long for their dishes to be served.

First came a plate of tenderloin steak cooked to perfection, followed by a plate of veal stew with mushrooms bigger than a man's ear, and it was impossible to tell what kind they were; A large portion of pan-fried potatoes, medium-cut potato chips and sprinkled with finely chopped vegetable leaves; finally came the sliced ​​​​bread, which surprised Louis, along with the bread It was served together with a plate of boiled plums and pears—it turned out that the pears and plums in the dish behind the counter were used for this purpose!In addition, there was a bottle of wine that was probably of poor quality just by looking at the color. The cloudy color made one suspect that the entire bottle of wine was poured out of the bottom of the bottle.

Each portion of the dishes delivered was very large. According to Louis’ experience, that plate of fried potatoes alone was enough to fill the stomach of an adult. Louis had reason to suspect that according to such a serving portion, the people behind this shop A boss who takes care of young people probably has no chance of making a fortune.

Allred enthusiastically introduced to Louis one by one: "This tenderloin steak and the lamb chops I ordered before are both famous dishes of Brown's East Shop. If you don't make a reservation, you can't eat them. It's a pity that we came a little late today. The steak was given to someone else; the veal is okay, and fried potatoes are also their specialty. It is said that the same frying method has been used for decades, and it has not changed until now; ah, there are also plums and pears. For dessert."

"Didn't you make a reservation? How can they give someone else what you ordered without permission?"

This was also something that Louis didn't understand. Brown East's shop not only distributed the dishes ordered by Alred to others, but also seemed very righteous.

"Ah, this is also one of the traditions of the Brown East shop. It is said that there was an incident in the past. A few young people ordered [-] lamb chops at their house in one go as a prank, which caused the boss to lose a lot. A sum of money - since then there has been a rule that if they think the person who ordered will not come, they will give the ordered food to someone else, of course, the money must be paid according to the penny .”

To be honest, the taste of the food at the Brown East Shop is not bad. The tenderloin steak as a signature dish can barely be compared with the roast leg of lamb at Papa Deney's restaurant, but if it can be compared with the Rischer Cafe It is certainly incomparable compared with the meals of the students; the biggest advantage of this shop is probably that its meals are very large, and it takes good care of the students' strong appetites, and supplies unlimited dry bread-although those dry The taste of the bread is really lackluster, not comparable to the white bread with jam that is eaten daily at No. 79 St. George Street, but for college students who are cash-strapped, it is very tempting to eat unlimited bread until hiccups strong.

Louis was a little troubled to find that after eating the jam bread at No. 79 Rue St. Georges, the two-franc set meal at Papa Denis, and the top-notch meals at Café Richel, he was actually a little It's hard to accept the taste of the rough dry bread in Brown's shop - obviously when he was in Magon, the bread he ate every day was not much better than the bread in Brown's shop!It can only be said that the extravagant enjoyment of Paris can indeed change a person's taste very quickly. Probably this is what the saying goes, "It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but difficult to go from luxury to frugality"!

This troubled Louis did not say it out, but the main purpose of Alrede to bring Louis to this shop was not to eat, he wanted his good friend to experience his four years of life at the University of Paris .

Looking down from the second floor where they are, you can clearly see the waiters and students coming and going in the lobby on the first floor. This place is like a workshop for eating. There are groups of students, some of whom are talking all the time. Some left after eating silently; the waiters quickly cleared the tables and collected food money and tips.There are people coming and going in the shop, and there is no one idle.

Allred was very interested in explaining to Louis the glorious past and interesting stories of this Brown East shop, from its decades of history to the various rules in the shop, those famous people who had dined in this shop, some Even Louis had heard of the daimyo; he could also guess what the students eating here were studying—history, law, rhetoric, religion, philosophy... just like Al As Ryder said, sitting here, you can almost see yourself who was studying for a degree all those years ago!

This extraordinary feast lasted for more than an hour. When they finished eating the beef and potatoes, and began to eat boiled plums as dessert, Louis suddenly saw a somewhat familiar one among the several college students walking in from the first floor. people.

A man he had met this morning—Villiers du Turner.

The light in Bronton's shop was not very bright, but Louis saw the face that made him uncomfortable at a glance even among so many students.

Arred also saw Villiers and his friends walking in. He gave a soft "Huh" and then pulled Louis's sleeve to signal him to look at the first floor.

"Look at the third one at the counter, the black curly-haired man in the high-necked shirt," he whispered to Louis. "That's Mary's lover, Villiers Turner."

Louis looked at Alred doubtfully.

"Villiers Turner? Isn't it Villiers du Turner?"