Granville's estate

Before the crime of Sologne Grostedt was exposed, Louis followed Alred to find him on Moore Street in District No. 12. At that time, there was a person living with him beside Sologne, A prostitute named Mary——Because of being molested by her, the meeting left a deep impression on Louis; and after Sologne fled in fear of crime, Louis thought that the woman must be with Sologne She has absconded, who would have thought that she would be so courageous as to show up at Alred's residence!

Compared with the completely indecent dress with bare chest and back when we met last time, this time Mary in Moore Street was dressed a little more modestly. She wore an old light yellow skirt and her hair was pulled up in a serious way. Get up, put on a hair cap that has been washed white, and she looks like a woman who is very common in Paris and makes a living as a servant—that's why Alred thought it was his at first. The maid sat on the steps for sake.

"Sir! I caught this woman!"

As soon as he saw the carriage coming back, Father Peter immediately yelled at the owner in the carriage. At the same time, he was also vigilantly watching the movements of Mary beside him, as if he was guarding against her sudden escape.

"I wasn't caught by you." Mary, who was sitting on the steps, said, she even seemed a little dissatisfied with the tone of Papa Peter's treatment of prisoners: "Obviously I came here by myself."

This was a shocking and exasperating situation. Alred couldn't even wait for Joseph to come and open the carriage door and lower the steps of the carriage. He reached out and pulled the latch of the carriage door, pushed the door open and jumped Get off the carriage and rush to Mary in a few steps.

"Why are you here?" He asked sharply, while turning his head to try to find traces of his college classmate around: "Where is Sologne Grostedt? Where is he?"

"I don't know," said Mary, carelessly arranging her tattered train and plucking a few broken threads from a tear: "I can't find him, and I can't get money and money." Food. I'm very hungry now, and I haven't had a drink for three days, and you ask your men to bring me something to eat, and something to drink."

"Don't try to play tricks! If you don't tell the truth, I'll send you to prison!"

Alred said sharply that if his upbringing hadn't restricted his actions, he would have grabbed her by the shoulder and shaken out all the secrets of this woman: "You must know where Grostedt is, Did he send you here? What kind of a man is it to let a woman stand out, tell him to come out and see me!"

"As I said, I don't know where he is. I've been looking for him for several days."

While saying these words, Mary stretched out her hand and adjusted the strap of her hair cap again. She looked completely indifferent: "If you want to put me in jail, you can call the patrolman, anyway It is better for people like us to die in prison than to starve outside, where at least there is black bread to eat."

"you!"

Already was so angry at the woman in front of her that she was dying to see her—the overcrowded prisons in Paris for the lowliest people were a hotbed of typhoid, cholera, tuberculosis, and other contagious diseases, trying to survive in that place It's not an easy task; this witch must know that with his character, he can't do such a thing of sending people to death with his own hands, so she deliberately angered him like this.

"Al!"

Louis jumped out of the carriage and walked to Alrede. He looked warily at the woman sitting on the steps with a face of indifference, and was very worried that his friend would be confused by this woman: "Al, don't talk to me. This liar talks too much, let's call the police over here!"

"She has been wandering around our place for a long time, Mr. Louis. I saw that some police officers questioned her, but she didn't know what kind of tricks she used to get there." Father Tongsal, who was standing next to Mary, said, he Look at the coachman next to him: "At first I thought she was a flower woman! Then Peter came out and saw her, and shouted, saying she was a liar, and we caught her."

"Because I remember her, sir. She was with that liar in District No. 12. I remember it very clearly."

Mary giggled as she sat on the steps. She stroked her hair with her hand, and at the same time gave the porter and the coachman a wink.

"If I don't want to be here, you can't even touch my shadow." Mary said, she stretched out her hand to Alred very naturally: "I'll talk about it later, give me some bread and wine now, Pies or something would do, I'm starving."

Alred took a deep breath, trying to calm down his emotions. Considering that Sologne's tea scam involved his family's reputation, he could only let this woman enter his residence first, lest they What was said was overheard by passers-by.

"What exactly do you want?"

As soon as he walked into the living room, Alred questioned Mary immediately, trying his best to suppress his anger: "You and Grostedt conspired to deceive me for so long, but now you come here as if nothing happened, come to ask I want bread and wine? Mary, my tolerance for women is not unlimited, and if you tell me where Grostedt is, I can give you food."

When they came in, the young maid of 79 St. George's Street was sitting by the window, embroidering handkerchiefs, and the poor girl thought her master was talking to her when she heard Alrede's scolding, And he was so scared that he stood up almost immediately.

Mary of Moore Street looked at the young girl who looked at them in surprise, and then at Alred and his friends and servants. If an ordinary woman fell into this situation, she would have been afraid already. , the bold woman giggled.

"Alred, why are you losing your temper with me?" Mary said lightly, she twisted a wisp of hair that fell from the cap with her fingers, and at that moment, the former The expression of the woman who was once the hottest figure in the opera house but has now fallen to the bottom of the society is strikingly similar to that of Marguerite, the courtesan who is sought after by everyone and admired by everyone: "It was Sologne who lied to you, not me, didn't he?"