Granville's estate

"I paid them for the carriage, and Madam Busa has already taken her back."

Alred's behavior was beyond Louis' expectation. He thought his friend would let Marguerite rest here at 79 St. George Street for a period of time. After she calmed down, he and Madam Buscha would take a carriage back to their residence. place too!However, he also immediately thought that because of the Viscount de Durand, he had been delayed for some time near the Missal Opera House before returning. Alred should have taken advantage of this time to deal with the affairs here. .

"Al, when Miss Margaret left, didn't she get angry with you again?" Louis asked hesitantly. He remembered that when they were at the side door of the Misal Opera House, Carbo said that they almost had a quarrel. .

"Let's talk about this tomorrow, you need a good rest now."

Alred said vaguely that he didn't answer Louis' question, but urged Louis back to the bedroom on the second floor, asked him to put on the warm cashmere pajamas prepared by Mary, and then stuffed him into the warm blanket Here, he was ordered not to think about anything, but to sleep well to refresh himself.

"If you feel unwell at night, be sure to call me or Joseph."

Allred told him so before blowing out the candle.

"I'm fine Al, you don't have to worry."

When Louis lay down on the bed, he thought that he would not be able to fall asleep because of the bizarre experience tonight, but unexpectedly, perhaps because of the exhaustion of running around this night, he not only fell asleep quickly, I also slept very soundly all night, and I didn't even dream of one of the dancers dressed in weird shapes at the masquerade ball.

When he woke up, Louis found that the hour hand of the pocket watch had exceeded twelve o'clock, that is to say, the work and rest time of Parisian fashionable people defeated the good habits he had developed in Magon for many years, and even What's more-waking up at this time is a unprecedented thing for Louis who is always an early riser. If it is in Magon, only the laziest bachelors will stay in bed at this point!

"Holy Virgin Mary, why is this the point!"

Louis jumped up when he saw the time. He thought his pocket watch was broken, so he walked to the window and opened the curtains to take a look: the sun was just right outside, and it was a rare sunny day, but from the sun Judging by his position, he had indeed overslept.

This will definitely be laughed at by Al——Louis thought so, opened the bedroom door and walked out, only to find that the entire second floor of No. 79 St. The doors of the study were all open, but there was no one there; he looked into the living room on the first floor, but he did not see Alred or Joseph, only Mary, the maid, was sitting on the low stool by the fireplace, holding her hand. She was holding a piece of fabric in her pocket, but she was not doing the embroidery for the fabric as usual, but was staring at the patterns on the mantelpiece in a daze.

"Mary!"

Louis called out, but the girl who was in a trance didn't hear it, and when he called out for the second time, Mary came back to her senses as if suddenly awakened from a dream: "Ah, sir, you're awake! Wait a moment, I'll bring you hot water and towels for washing."

She ran out in a panic, and quickly arranged everything, but it was Daddy Peter, the coachman, who had just finished decorating Koop's carriage, the one who brought the hot water to Louis in the end. Muttering something like "Mary, be careful when you walk, don't trip again", while adhering to the idea of ​​"don't let girls do heavy work", snatched away the heavy wood with hot water. Basin, and then sent it to the second floor.

While Louis was washing up, Mary prepared a simple breakfast for Louis—or lunch, after all, it was a time when people didn’t know what to do; the food included sliced ​​bread and peach jam, fresh Grapes and eggs, and a small piece of Swiss-style nested honey in a white porcelain dish painted with wisteria flowers-if it is in the provinces, this honey is usually served as a cold appetizer before the main course of the meal. Yes, but at this time, it was considered by Mary as a pre-dinner dessert for Louis.

"Mary, where did your husband go? Also, I didn't expect to sleep so late, why didn't you wake me up?"

When he sat at the dining table, Louis asked the maid who was standing next to him to help him spread jam on the bread in a puzzled way.

If Louis had asked this question before, Mary would have told her master’s whereabouts and next steps without thinking—just like Alred said, this girl has always been sensitive and considerate; The reaction was a little strange, as if she didn't understand what Louis said. She was stunned for a while before answering Louis' question: "It was Mr. Alred who said not to wake you up. He took Joseph with him at nine o'clock. I went out, and I won’t be back until three or four o’clock in the afternoon.”

Nine o'clock is too early for Alred who is used to the Parisian style of work and rest. Louis couldn't help but frowned, and immediately had a guess in his heart: "He is going to Miss Margaret's place. ?"

"Yes...ah, it should be, after all Miss Margaret was not very happy last night."

Louis picked up a piece of bread with jam, took a bite, thought for a while, and asked: "Mary, I came back too late yesterday, can you tell me about Miss Marguerite and Mrs. The situation at that time? When we took Miss Margaret away from the Missal Opera House, she was a little emotional, after Al took her back here to rest, did she calm down?"

Mary hesitated for a while, but slowly shook her head. Louis was startled and asked, "Did they quarrel at that time?"

"Miss Margaret has never rested here." Mary said, she looked at Louis a little confused: "Mr. , let her go directly into the carriage and left with Miss Margaret; but it is true that Miss Margaret was very emotional, and even the coachman complained that he would rather not earn the money, so Mr. And gave the coachman twenty francs for the fare."

"What did you say? Twenty francs?"

Louis almost thought he had heard it wrong—he didn’t expect that there was such a high price behind Al’s seemingly plain “I paid them for the carriage” yesterday. The cost generally does not exceed two francs, and yesterday Madame Boucher took a carriage from their residence to No. 79 St. George Street, and made the coachman wait for two hours, which only cost four francs!

"Oh, sir!"

It was only then that Mary realized that she seemed to have said something she shouldn't have said. She faltered and tried to explain: "Sir, the coachmen in Paris like to charge prices randomly, especially at night..."

"Okay, Mary, you don't need to talk about it, I know it." Louis said, remembering all the things that happened at the Missal Opera House yesterday, he couldn't help but sighed heavily, took a few mouthfuls of bread indiscriminately, got up and left To the study on the second floor.

He took a few newspapers and illustrated periodicals in the study to kill time. Around three o'clock in the afternoon, Louis heard the sound of a carriage stopping outside No. 79 St. George Street. A few minutes later, Alred Climbing up to the second floor, he strode into the study room, took off his black coat and threw it aside, then sat on the armchair next to Louis, and sighed long.

"Al, you don't look too good." Louis said, he turned to look at Alred: "Did you see Miss Margaret today?"

Alred didn't speak. He sat on the armchair and stared at the ceiling. After a while, he said, "I'm fine—what are you reading? The Paris Weekly? This newspaper used to be okay. Now it’s not considered mainstream, and now their reporters are completely nonsense, and dare to publish any messy things.”

"I saw something interesting in this paper."

Louis said he turned the paper to the last page and pointed out one of the advertisements to Allred.

It was an astonishing—at least for the residents of the outer provinces—marriage advertisement, with property and status clearly marked:

"A count, a French nobleman, whose family has a long history and owns a mansion in Paris. He is 35 years old. He is outstanding in appearance, conservative in concept, sober and calm in dealing with others. I hope to conclude a happy marriage with a young lady in the near future. Hope The other party has a dowry of 80 francs. In addition, 20 francs will be paid and deposited in the name of the husband-in-law as his unrestricted property, and he will pay off his debts. If you are interested, please send a letter to the newspaper office, and you can also meet relatives. Guaranteed to keep it a secret."

Below this notice is another similar notice, seeking rich women in the tone of seeking marriage for friends, even ignoring religion for money:

"My friend, catholic, black hair, college graduate, dignified appearance, honest and decent, looking for a rich woman as a lifelong partner, appearance, age, beliefs are not limited, Christians or Jews are not limited, widows with or without children are not limited The only requirement is that, in order to guarantee the independence of the bridegroom, one hundred thousand francs shall be paid to him on the day of the wedding as his unrestricted property."

And beside these two announcements, there is also the heart of an elderly father who loves his daughter, which is quite touching:

"Because the father is old, he is eager to find a good son-in-law for his only daughter. His daughter is 26 years old, a Protestant, good-looking, tall, well-educated, and good at housework. He is looking for a young man of the same age and appearance from the upper class of Paris. Husband, the dowry is 2000 pounds, which is 5 francs, and the annual interest can reach 1500 francs."

Below these three advertisements, there are more similar advertisements. At a glance, the last page of this "Paris Weekly" has a full half of this kind of thing-clearly priced, holy marriage!