Granville's estate

Let us imagine that if a deeply religious provincial conservative who believed in the sanctity of marriage and family life came to Paris and saw the marriage advertisements in the Paris Week and its sister papers, he would definitely would be outraged at this: in these papers, among the nobles and rich of Paris, the supposedly sacred marriage has become a naked commercial transaction, and the honorable lineage and the inherited title are commodities for sale, For sale to those who will pay a high price; virtue, ability, and faith are marked at a price, the power of money triumphs over pure emotion, and the most important part of the so-called life affairs is not married before priests and icons, but The division of property is completed in front of a notary.

However, it would be too self-deceiving to say that this kind of marriage transaction does not exist among the pious believers in the provinces. Even if Louis himself has no intention of concluding marriage, he also knows that no matter how beautiful and virtuous Girls, what kind of marriage they can have basically depends on the amount of dowry they get when they get married-if anyone doubts this, please think of Fernand · Count de Granville, look at Baroness Claudia de Portanduel, who was able to set foot in high society because of a large dowry!People in the provinces would be horrified and critical if they saw these Parisian marriage advertisements, but it is not so much that they reject marriage as a transaction, it is better to say that what they reject is actually the kind of audacious marriage for the sake of profit. The act of tearing off the sacred veil that hangs over marriage—the veil usually has tender names, such as love and fidelity!

That's why Louis said "I saw something interesting in this newspaper" when Alrede asked him, instead of directly copying the "Paris Weekly", which has many marriage advertisements, from Throw it away in the study or hide it in the deepest drawer, lest it pollute the body, mind and belief of those who see it.

And Alrede, who has been in Paris for many years and has completely Parisianized his ideas, will not make any fuss about the marriage advertisements in such low-level newspapers. He even took the newspaper and studied it carefully. .

"The information in this advertisement should be false." Allred said, he pointed to Louis the marriage advertisement claiming to be the earl: "I don't remember any earl in Paris who was about 35 years old and not married. , it looks like it’s about to go bankrupt, either he lied about his own situation, or it’s simply a ghost idea of ​​those people from Paris Weekly, who want others to send them letters.”

"It's very possible to lie about it. If the information is true, people who are familiar with the Parisian nobles will definitely be able to guess which gentleman it is." Louis said, and he also felt that a nobleman who was about to go bankrupt would not put his own The predicament was displayed in the newspapers, and creditors who found out that something was wrong flocked to the door, but another possibility made him very confused: "However, you said that it is also possible that the newspaper of "Paris Weekly" wants someone to send them a letter? Will this do them any good?" It can't be said that everyone who sends a letter to a newspaper will put a banknote in the envelope to express his gratitude, right?

"Oh, that's why you don't understand! There are not only swindlers in Paris who specialize in this kind of thing, but even some newspapers do it themselves." It was forwarded by the newspaper, and you can also get acquainted with relatives." Pointing to Louis: "The title of a countess is still very tempting. As long as there is a businessman who wants to marry his daughter to a nobleman, he will fall into their trap. Yes. I once heard from the senior police officer in charge of St. George Street that a statue dealer also saw this kind of marriage advertisement. He wanted his daughter to be crowned with an aristocratic surname, so he sent it to the newspaper to explain his family’s situation. A few days later, someone pretended to be a nobleman who was seeking marriage and came to visit, asking him to check whether their property was really as strong as the letter said. In the end, he not only lived in the merchant's house for free for half a month , and defrauded them of thousands of francs."

This kind of deceit sounds as incredible as the plot in some low-end farce.

"This is a bit too scary. Wouldn't the police station in Paris go to those newspapers for this?" Louis asked. At this time, he saw Mary's figure appearing by the door of the study, and she stood there for a few seconds Zhong seemed hesitant to come in, but before Louis could call her, she left by the door again.

Alred didn't notice Mary's brief appearance and departure. He shook his head and drew a conclusion for the Paris police station: "The police in Paris will catch criminals, but they will never catch real criminals. As long as those newspapers If some people insist that they are also victims of being cheated, they will not care about it anymore-as long as they can do business, they don't care about the so-called justice."

While talking, Alred picked up the newspaper and shook it twice, as if all the lies, hypocrisy and deceit contained in it would fall out, and then he held it in front of his eyes and looked at it carefully. He made a joke: "It turns out that with the title of earl, you can marry a wife with a generous dowry of 100 million francs, and you can also pay off all the debts under your name. This is a bit too cost-effective, and I am almost tempted .”

Louis shook his head dumbfounded.

"You don't have a mansion in Paris, Al!" Louis said, after hearing the story of the hapless statue dealer, he had already decided that the marriage advertisements in the low-end newspapers were probably hoaxes. .

Alred thought for a while, and admitted that he should subtract this condition: "That's true, then I can reduce the required dowry by half, as long as 50 francs-ah, speaking of it, we met yesterday in Missar The Viscount de Durand met in the theater, he gave a dowry of 50 francs for his lover Miss Clodia!"

The topic they were talking about jumped from the marriage advertisement in the newspaper to the Viscount Callister de Durand. Louis was unprepared for this, and it took him a while to react.

"I remember you said this before. From this point of view, Mr. De Durand is really very generous to Miss Clodia."

Louis said a little unnaturally. He observed his friend's expression and felt that his palms began to sweat. However, Alred seemed to have just remembered the Viscount Mr. by accident, and agreed with Louis' statement.

"The Baroness de Portandière is indeed very lucky, but having said that, there is probably only such a beauty with purple eyes in the world, and there must be many people who are willing to dedicate everything to her." Alred Said, he glanced at Louis sitting in the armchair, "I was shocked when I met Mr. Viscount de Durand yesterday. I heard that gentleman didn't even attend balls very much, and he was always very proud. It was a surprise that he would also go to places like the Misard Opera House."

"I didn't expect to meet the Viscount de Durand at the Missal Opera House by such a coincidence, but you and him are definitely not the only nobles who can go there in disguise." Louis replied, and at this time he had already recovered from the sudden scare. I calmed down after a jump: "I also met a very beautiful and noble lady on the first floor of the opera house. The shawl she wore was made of peacock feathers. It must be some distinguished lady, maybe even a princess from a foreign country!"

Alred pondered for a while, and seemed to accept this statement. He frowned slightly: "Could it be that Viscount Durand accompanied the Baroness there, so he brought so many attendants? If that's the case, it makes sense." .”

Louis pretended not to hear what Alred said, and called out to Mary who walked past the study door for the third time: "Mary! Do you have anything to say?"

Louis' call frightened the girl wandering around the door of the study, she almost immediately ran away from Louis' sight, just when Louis thought she would not come back for a while, the girl He plucked up the courage to walk in again, and stood in front of Louis and Alred.

"Mr. Sir," whispered Mary to Alred, her ears burning red, and all her former elegance and generosity gone: "I, I would like to ask you to let me advance some wages."