Granville's estate

While waiting for Alred to come back, Louis wondered how he should explain to his friends the series of events that happened tonight - including but not limited to the fact that he had been staying at the Durand Bank on the Boulevard d'Andan, the self-made accompaniment of the Durand family servants. It never occurred to him that in the end he would be able to leave all these problems until the next day without making any effort!

Alrede didn't seem to see Louis' unexpected and entangled mood. Maybe he thought that so many things happened today were enough to make people exhausted, and his friend was in urgent need of a bed. The writer once made a wonderful interpretation of this metaphor: who has not spent more than half of his life in the shelter of a bed and sleep?); as for what term Louis signed in the Durand Bank that night The bills, the interest rate on the bills, how they should be repaid... All these messy things, wait until the sun rises to think about it-in any case, there is nothing better than being caught by Bernard and Clay It's even worse when people like the police officer come to blackmail you!

Urging his friend away from the warmth of the fireplace ("It's warm here, but you have to go back upstairs to sleep"), he took Louis by the arm to the second floor, where Joseph brought pajamas for Louis to change into. , Tucked him into a warm blanket: "You need enough rest, don't get up for breakfast until eleven o'clock tomorrow morning."

"Al! I'm sure I won't sleep until then."

There was also an inconspicuous episode in the middle, that is, when changing pajamas, Louis once faced a crisis that only he knew: According to the usual habit, before going to bed, Joseph would take his pocket watch off his coat and put it in the Under his pillow he could see the time when he woke up, but because of Callister's gold pocket watch, what should have been an insignificant event became a frightening event; but it was worth it. Thankfully, perhaps it was because he had hidden the new jewelry deep in his pockets instead of attaching it to the buttonhole of his coat with a gold watch chain, or because the chaos, anger, and panic of the day had been exhausting enough. , Joseph in a hurry completely ignored this little thing that should be done at ordinary times, so that Louis avoided the situation that he had to explain to his friend immediately-even if it was only an extra day, it would be better than now It's good to be discovered immediately!

The night of the Brumaire in [-] was destined to be a sleepless night, even though Alrede repeatedly warned that "sufficient sleep can bring people plenty of energy, you don't need to think about anything, just have a good time." Just rest, and we’ll talk about other things tomorrow.” When Louis was lying on the bed, he still couldn’t let go of the things he was thinking about, and he didn’t sleep in a daze until the morning light began to seep through the gaps in the curtains. Go; even in his dreams he was troubled with anxiety, and slept very restlessly, and had several strange dreams, which he could not remember when he awoke.

When Louis woke up again, he was awakened by the sound of a carriage passing outside No. 79 St. George Street. He habitually wanted to take out his pocket watch from under the pillow to check the time, but it was empty; After a while, he woke up suddenly, and immediately lifted the quilt and got off the bed - his own pocket watch had been taken away by Callisto long ago, and the gold pocket watch given by him was still in his coat , the Virgin Mary bless it from being spotted by the dressing maid and telling her master!

When he walked out of the bedroom, he met Mary wearing a brown apron. The young maid was walking up and down the second floor, seeming to be packing things on the second floor.

"Mary, what time is it?" Louis asked. He saw that the door of the guest bedroom where Alred was sleeping was open. It was obvious that he got up much earlier than Louis: "Where is Al now? Or is he out?"

"Oh, Mr. Louis, it's just after eleven o'clock, and Mr. Allred is in the dining-room on the ground floor! He's been doing his accounts there a long time."

"Calculate?"

Settling accounts in the dining room where he ate—this may sound strange, after Louis hurriedly washed, he ran down without even having time to change his pajamas, and he found his friend in the dining room; by the way, he When I walked to the first floor, I glanced at the wall clock in the living room, and was surprised to find that he actually slept until eleven o'clock—maybe it was because the dark clouds covering the sky blocked the sun, and he didn't sleep at all when he was in the bedroom. It felt like it was so late.

The small fireplace in the dining room was not lit, and the windows were not open, making the room rather cold; the square dining table, covered with a fine satin tablecloth, was not filled with petit fours, coffee, cream, as it had been when Louis first came to Paris. and flowers, but simply a flat-bottomed bread-basket containing a ten-pound round loaf and loaves cut from it, the bottom of which was still stained It was full of flour and very coarse; besides the two white china saucers with peach jam on one and a pat of butter on the other for spreading the bread, there were only a few on the whole table together. The hard-boiled eggs were cooked—I don't know if it was affected by yesterday's events, this usually lively dining table looked a little lonely now, and even the elegant fine satin tablecloth seemed to have become dim.

When Louis walked into the dining room, Alred was sitting at the dining table, sketching something intently on a dark green notebook. On the plate in his hand was a piece of dry bread with a few bites, and beside it was a stack of writing. It looks like some bills.

"Oh, Louie, you're awake! I said you'd sleep till eleven, and you must have been exhausted yesterday."

Alred looked up at his friend, pointed to him the wine bottle and glass on the opposite seat, and signaled him to pour out the wine himself: "Joseph is out, you can eat something casually first, fill it up Fill your belly."

"I guess I've slept in too long, so I'm not very hungry yet," Louie said, but he picked up a sliced ​​piece of bread, smeared some peach jam on it, and held it Walking to Alred: "What are you writing, why don't you go to the study to write?"

"I'm sorting out how many bills I have yet to pay." Alred replied, he also took a bite of the bread next to him, and then sighed somewhat vaguely: "Holy Virgin Mary, if there is no Make a list, I didn't even know I owed so much debt!"

"debt?"

Louis was taken aback when he heard this word. He hurriedly walked to Al to look at the book, and saw the bills that Alred hadn't paid lined up on the white paper:

10 francs are payable for the purchase of water;

9 francs and two sous and four centimes for the firewood merchant;

Laundry charges, totaling 17 francs and five sous;

175 francs for Bouyson's tailor; 140 francs for Stoub's;

Jeanson shoe shop, 120 francs; Védière's cane shop, maintenance of canes, 40 francs;

Ubigan perfume shop, 100 francs; Maurice's flower shop, 150 francs;

180 francs and seven sous due to the grocer Elbe

……

"Oh my God!"

The list of debts was written on a whole page, and Louis calculated in his mind, and was horrified to find that his friend still owed more than 400 francs (most of which were for buying various clothes) expenses), this amount is already close to half of his annual income: "Holy Virgin Mary, Al, how come you owe so much debt!"

"I didn't expect so much. I always thought I owed only a few hundred francs." Alred said, he also looked very ashamed: "These expenses are all owed on credit in different shops. I used to think that the annuity my father gave me was enough to pay for the carriage and house rent, and the income from the tea business would allow me to live a little extravagantly, but I didn’t expect..."

"These are the decent shops in Paris you're talking about, not the shops opened by people like Sologne Grostedt or the Jews?" Louis asked anxiously, pointing to the line that should be paid to Grocer's money: "Among other things, you owe nearly two hundred francs in this grocery store alone! Holy Virgin Mary, what did you buy in that grocery store?"

"I didn't believe there were so many when I sent Joseph to inquire in the morning, so the owner of the grocery store made a list for me." Alred said, and handed the stack of receipts in his hand to Louis: " I did some calculations, and the total is indeed correct. The price of goods at Elber’s is fair compared to other grocery stores nearby, so during my stay here, I bought a lot of things from him. of."

Louis took the stack of receipts and looked at them one by one: three dozen handkerchiefs without patterns, 5 francs; two dozen handkerchiefs with patterns, 8 francs; A set of brass tableware, twenty francs each; shoe polish mixed with sugar and Spanish perfume, five francs; Except for the most expensive candles and tableware, the amount of food and utensils is not very large, but it adds up to a very considerable amount.

"Al, what are we going to do with all this debt?"

After briefly calculating the larger amount on the list and finding that the total was indeed not far from 180 francs, Louis put those lists back on the dining table, knowing that his friend must have been promised by Sologne before. The huge profits confuse the mind, so that they spend a lot of money on clothes and grooming, and even do this kind of thing that even buys handkerchiefs by the dozen (from the perspective of a provincial person, many things on the grocery store list In fact, they are all unnecessary, in other words, most of them are beautiful but useless things); however, since the fact has already happened, they can only face it bravely: "How many francs do you have now?" Can it be used? I also brought some money when I came to Paris, and we must first clear these debts."

Alred didn't answer. At this moment, the maid Mary came in. She looked rather sullen.

"Sir, Mr. Louis' luggage is packed." Mary said to Alred who was sitting there. "Should I call Father Peter over now and let him put Mr. Louis's luggage in the carriage, or Wait until Joseph comes back?"

Louis who suddenly heard Mary say that was startled.

"Mary, what's the matter? You put all my things away?"

The young maid looked even more surprised than he was.

"Mr. Louis, aren't you going back to Magong today? My brother has already taken your passport to the post office to handle the identity visa procedures for you!"

"This, this, I have never said such a thing! How can you think that I am going home suddenly?"

"I asked Mary to pack for you."

While Louis and Mary looked at each other, Alred spoke. He leaned himself on the back of the chair and stared at the stack of receipts on the table instead of looking at his friend: "Paris here I'll take care of things, you don't have to worry, but you've been here too long, Louis, you should go home."