Granville's estate

"Ah, Louis, here you come!"

Alred, who was sitting in front of the desk, just looked back at Louis, then continued to wipe the silver pistol with a handkerchief. His tone was very calm: "Hide in the bedroom for a while, after I leave, You go out from here again."

"Holy Virgin Mary, Al, what are you up to!"

Louis almost rushed to the desk, reaching out his hand to snatch the terrible weapon from his friend, but Alred blocked it.

"Louis," Allred said to Louie, clutching his friend's hand, his whole being terribly calm, like a volcano about to erupt after years of silence: "Listen, Louie, I screwed everything up, believe me Sologne was a huge mistake, and this mistake was exploited by someone who is about to drag us all into the whirlpool, and no matter what happens now, the long history and honor of the Granville family are about to be destroyed.”

"I have committed an unforgivable crime against my father and family, Louis, when you see my father again, please help me tell him that his son will not have the courage to go back to him and ask his forgiveness , the only thing I can do is to make those malicious people pay the price they deserve, and this is the last thing I can do for them-tell my father to immediately remove my name from the family tree, and then carefully Treat my sister's marriage. Choose an honest and kind young man for her to marry, even if the young man has no property, it doesn't matter, but that person must not be a businessman."

"What are you talking about, Al!"

The strange look on Alred's face when he said these words and these last words were really ominous, Louis trembled all over, and almost instantly, he understood what Alred was trying to do with the pistol "Do you want to use guns on them? Al, you're crazy, that's a police officer in Paris, and he's got a pistol with him! No, no, don't you, they just want money, We'll just give them the money. Al, please, don't do this, I'd rather you go bankrupt and lose all your possessions and status than you become a wanted man." Or worse, die in Clermont Under the police officer's gun!

"That's impossible, Louis."

For Louis' persuasion, Alred just twitched the corners of his mouth slightly, his smile looked pale and weak: "Even if I give all my money and land to those two people downstairs, they won't be satisfied , do you still remember the ledgers that Sologne showed us back then? Bernard is not the only businessman who bought tea from Moore Street. People come to us asking for compensation - so that as long as my father and I want to preserve the family name, we will have to pay a lot of money in exchange for those people not to talk about it. Faced with such a terrible situation, Louis, I would rather take a gamble and solve the problem in my own way, those vampires would not think that a pampered son would have the guts to shoot, they thought I had given in."

"We have other ways, Al, we have other ways." Louis begged, he felt that his thinking was very confused, like a ball of thread that could not find a clue: "We can ask other people Ask for help, yes, if there are other distinguished nobles who are willing to help, the matter may be resolved. Al, we can ask for the help of the Viscount Barbey de Portendue, he is a friend of your father, for sure I will help you for the count’s sake, won’t you? There is also the Viscountess de Bourgogne, Sologne is her distant relative, and she must not sit idly by when something like this happens now!”

"It's useless, Louis, the friendship of the nobles has always been based on interests, and now I find them only to humiliate myself. Even if Barbey is willing to help me solve it, he will definitely ask my father for a hush money , that is nothing more than changing the blackmailer from Clermont to him, and then replacing the blackmailed person with my father."

Alred looked down at the pistol in his hand. He reached out and took out a black pellet from the drawer, and tried to put it into the barrel from the muzzle (this kind of percussion-type pistol is because of the design the only way to load the ammunition), but perhaps because he was too excited, he tried twice without success: "As for the Vicomtesse de Bourgogne, ah, yes, I may be able to start from the She doesn't know where Sologne is, maybe she will."

After saying this somewhat upside-down sentence, Alred said another sentence, his fingers trembling nervously: "My marksmanship is very accurate, and I never miss it within two meters."

"Al!"

At last Louis could bear it no longer - what a dreadful thing it was, his friend, an aristocrat, a young man of high birth, to be driven to such a point by colluding Parisian merchants and police officers that he would take up arms Be an outlaw!But what if he picked up the gun?Alred's opponent is a senior police officer who is armed and experienced. He has faced countless vicious criminals. Anyone can think of a young man who has only hunted at most and a police officer who has experienced many battles. What dire consequences would that be!

At that moment, Louis had already made a decision: whether he violated religious regulations or went to hell after death, as long as he could save his friend, he was willing to do anything!

"Al, there is still a way, we are not at the end of the road." Louis said to his friend, he firmly grasped Alred's hand that wanted to continue to find the bullets from the drawer: "Except for de Portondo The Viscount Eyre and the Viscountess de Bourgogne, maybe there is another person who can help us. He has a lot of status. If he wants to, he can definitely suppress Officer Clermont and the others so that they dare not continue to blackmail. Al, you first Put the gun away and give me two hours to try, okay? If he refuses our request, I won't stop you from solving this matter in your own way."

"It's useless, Louie, I know no one can help me now." Alred said, thinking his friend was lying and deceiving him, he comforted him instead: "You just need to hide later That's fine, don't worry, I'll be fine, before I find Grostedt and make him pay for his betrayal of me, even if I die, I will crawl back from hell to take revenge."

Louis was so anxious that he was about to break out in a cold sweat. At this moment, he heard Bernard downstairs impatiently calling Alred's name. Seeing that Alred was about to stand up and walk out with a pistol, he Immediately, he held his friend down and shouted in a low voice: "Al, calm down! If you shoot, everyone in this house will be considered a criminal accomplice!"

This reason stunned Alred for a moment. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Louis snatched the deadly weapon from his hand. He held the gun tightly in his hand and pointed the muzzle at The ground, lest it go off suddenly: "Please, Al, you give me two minutes, no matter what the result will be, we have to try."

Alred stared blankly at his friend, and after a while, he lowered his head weakly, and his voice was as soft as a mosquito, as if he was talking to himself: "This is Paris, Louis, who else can be here? help us?"

Louis did not answer the question, but put the pistol on the chair next to him, and took the inkwell and quill from the table, and some letterheads with honeysuckle patterns on them—the letterheads must have been Alred. Written to Marguerite, with a rather nice rosewater sprinkled on it.

He stared at the blank letterheads for a while, and after a while, he wrote the letter to that person. Because of his confusion, he even spelled two words wrong:

"To Monsieur Calliste de Durand:

Sir, due to the urgency of the matter, I need to get 15 francs within today, so I am writing to ask you whether I can get it.

I would be all the more grateful if you would take the time to visit 79 St George Street.

In addition, I think the matter you mentioned last time is very appropriate, and everything can be arranged as you said.

Sincerely look forward to your visit.

Yours faithfully, Louis du Farentin"

When writing the last sentence, Louis originally intended to write "Your humble servant, Louis du Farentin", but he hesitated for a long time at the tip of his pen, and wrote "Your faithful, Louis du Farentin" .