Granville's estate

For Louis, the night at the Misard Opera House was a very magical experience - after experiencing the dizzying masquerade first-hand and with the help of Viscount Calliste de Durand, he found Marie. After Gretel, he actually left from the Misard Opera House in the most luxurious carriage with this gentleman who he avoided when he met the Viscount de Bourgogne last time. .

If time goes back a few hours, and someone tells Louis that he will meet this Viscount de Durand at the Misard Opera House, then Louis probably has to seriously consider whether to come with Alred to this opera house; but after these exhausting hours, Callister's behavior seemed to elude him--if the gentleman was a decent and good man, he was He once did the absurd thing that violated all precepts and morals by sending a lover's house; it can be said that he is an indulgent nobleman who only wants to have fun, but he is willing to send so many attendants just to help Louis They were looking for a wayward girl at a masquerade ball with thousands of strangely dressed dancers that he didn't even look up to!

The interior space of the luxurious Bellino box carriage is enough for four people to sit. Louis sat next to the viscount. Although there was a short distance between the two, he still felt a little uncomfortable-this closed room without a third person The space made his nerves a little tense, and he even inevitably thought of what happened in the mansion of the Viscount de Bougogne; It is biased to help the husband who has helped him.

"How did you come here in such a carriage?"

In order to prevent himself from continuing to think wildly, Louis found a topic so that the air in the carriage would not be so dull: "This carriage is too conspicuous. I don't think there are many such carriages even in Paris. Will it be troublesome to come out?"

Not everyone can afford the cost of owning the most luxurious Berlino-style carriage. At least in the small town of Magon where Louis lives, there is only one family with a Berlino carriage. Once you get to that carriage, you can know the identity of the people inside; and the viscount's Bellyno box carriage not only crushes the same kind in Magon in terms of appearance and interior decoration, but also is similar to other Bellynau he has seen in Paris. Nut-style carriages all have some slight differences, and Louis has reason to suspect that a carriage artist with good taste was hired to design this carriage.

Callisto turned his head slightly and glanced at Louis. The pale street lamp light outside the window shone in, and gradually became darker as the carriage drove away. Under the changing light and shadow, the lines of his side face seemed softer. , it lacks the fierce feeling under the bright lights.

"Before I came here, I was preparing to go to the residence of the Marquis de Simon for a banquet, and this carriage was prepared for me by Karbo at that time." The Viscount said, "It will take more time to change to another carriage. "

It took Louis a while to understand what the Viscount meant: "That is to say, you...you gave up the banquet at the Marquis de Simon's residence in order to come to the Misard Opera House?"

"It's just a boring banquet that can be seen everywhere."

"But it was a banquet hosted by the Marquis!" Louis said, he didn't think that there would be such a price behind Callister's appearance at the Misard Opera House, and he immediately became a little annoyed: "In this way, De ·Would Sir Simon Marquis think that you deliberately neglected you for not coming to the banquet on time?"

For the residents of other provinces, throwing a grand banquet (not including the daily family dinner here) is usually a big event. It is a delicate science not to invite anyone, and whether the guests who receive invitations—especially those with higher status—whether they want to come to the banquet is also regarded as their attitude towards the host; It is a province that is more dull and long than Paris. This kind of attitude can sometimes even make the two families become deadly enemies. Therefore, it is no wonder that Louis is troubled by the Viscount.

Viscount Calliste de Durand, who lives in Paris, obviously has a different concept of banquets from Louis, who was born in other provinces.

"If you have to go every time you receive an invitation letter for a banquet, the nobles in Paris will all die of gluttony in a day." The viscount said that he didn't take Louis's naive worry seriously: "such a banquet I receive more than a dozen invitations every day, even if it is from De Simon's mansion, it is not unusual."

Speaking of the Marquis de Simone, Louis suddenly remembered the beautiful Marquise de Simone and his noble brother, the Count Artois, whom he had seen the last time he was in the residence of the Viscount de Bourgogne. Driven by curiosity, he asked: "Then, will the Marquis de Simon invite His Royal Highness the Count of Artois to his banquet?"

"He will definitely invite, but whether to go or not depends on His Highness's mood."

This answer was a bit perfunctory, and Louis asked, "Then, according to the information you got before you came here, will His Highness go or not?"

The Viscount tilted his head slightly, but did not answer his question.

"In this way, His Highness should be going, otherwise your servant would not have prepared such a luxurious carriage for you." Louis said, he felt his throat was a little congested, and after a while, he said: "Sir, I didn't expect you to give up so much, without you, my friend and I would not have found Miss Margaret so smoothly, and I don't even know what to say to express my gratitude to you."

The Viscount just snorted at his gratitude.

"I remember, the last time we met, you said, 'I hope that the next time we meet, we will be in a place under the protection of Almighty God, and we will do everything in accordance with faith and morality'."

When Callister recounted what Louis had said, he dragged his tail slightly. Even if he didn't mean to be sarcastic, his arrogance unique to the aristocrats was still evident. After the retelling, he pointed to the car window. City Defense District Street: "Looking at it now, neither the Misard Opera House nor this kind of place has anything to do with what you said at the time, Louis."

In order to avoid the large crowds in front of the Misard Opera House, their coachman chose to cross an alley after walking for a while. Where did the smog come from? The alleys in the city defense area look very dilapidated: most of the shops on the roadside have been closed, and the shops that are still open are either the kind of vulgar taverns, or the shops with ambiguous colors under the guise of laundry shops. It is a very ugly shop with street lamps; in places where the street lamps are out of reach or broken, some white shadows stand against the wall. When the carriage passes by, you can hear their unscrupulous greetings, and some even go to them. The carriage threw small stones to try to attract their attention, which attracted the scolding of the coachman and Cabo-anyone who walked here would not need a few seconds to realize what kind of place this is.

Louis didn't expect that Callister would suddenly mention what he said at the Viscount de Bougogne's mansion last time. Of course, he didn't expect that apart from the chaotic Misard Opera House, even the Misard Opera House The surrounding area is also this kind of area that should not be stepped on lightly-but just think of the men and women hugging and kissing each other in the opera house, it is not surprising that this happens!

"Today's incident was just an accident. I didn't expect that I would go to the Misard Opera House, let alone see you there." Louis said, the viscount's words made him feel as if he had broken his own oath. Feeling: "As long as Miss Margaret doesn't go there anymore, I will naturally not go to that kind of place again."

This answer obviously did not satisfy the Viscount.

"Whether that Mademoiselle Marguerite will go to the Misard Opera or not, you should not go there again, and even if that M. de Granville asked you to go with him, you must not go."

The Viscount said this in an unquestionable tone. Louis was a little unconvinced and wanted to refute, but when he thought that the other party had missed the banquet at the Marquis de Simon's mansion because he had already missed it, he might have missed the banquet in the king's house. He will no longer argue with the Viscount on this topic if he has the opportunity to serve His Royal Highness.

The Berlino carriage they took drove through the dark alleys of the city defense area-this is a spectacle that can only appear in Paris, a most luxurious and gorgeous carriage, passing through the dirtiest , the most depraved area—back on the street with better lighting, this time they saw some masquerade goers from the Misard Opera House on the side of the road, these men and women laughed at each other and walked to their respective Walking away from home, almost everyone's dress is out of order.

"Only potatoes will be eaten tomorrow!"

As their carriage passed, Louis heard a gruff male voice say so.

"Oh, you still have potatoes!" said his companion. "To-morrow we will have only soup, which is left over from today!"

"When I was dancing, I picked up a bracelet." Another said, and his companion immediately became excited: "Let's go to a grocery store and sell it, and then use the money to go to a tavern for a drink!"

"Oh, this is worthless, worthless!"

"Hey, sir in the carriage, give me a ride!"

There was a woman with a shrill voice who yelled at every passing carriage. She even trotted a few steps after the most beautiful carriage, but she stopped when she realized that the coachman was completely unmoved. , and turned to swearing in very vulgar language.

Callister's coachman, undisturbed by the noise, drove steadily across the avenue, turning near the Vaudeville Theater into the street where Louis and Alred's carriage was.

It is very easy to find two parked carriages here. When the viscount's Bellino carriage stopped, Louis saw Joseph sitting on the back of his Kup carriage at a glance—— The boy was carelessly hooking the wooden mask his sister had given him, and kept looking around the corner, trying to make out his master and his master's friends among the pedestrians.

Joseph obviously didn't think that Louis would come back here in another carriage, so when Cabo lowered the steps of Bellino's carriage for Louis, Joseph who suddenly saw Louis almost jumped out of the back of the carriage in shock. up and down.

"Sir, what's the matter?"