Granville's estate

Louis once saw a greenhouse attached to the building full of tulips in winter in the mansion where the Viscountess de Bourgogne held a grand ball, and he also felt the heating pipes in the office of Callister of the Durand Bank. But he had never seen such a fantastic and extravagant combination of conservatory gardens and buildings: the mansion itself was both a club for gentlemen and a living Rose Garden: Here, all kinds of rose trees are woven into low walls, sparse fences and screens enough to block the sight by deft craftsmen like the cotton threads in the hands of weavers, and are also used as walls. the decorations on the tables, the decorations on the pillars; and under their branches the whole of Mrs. Molliserpont's Club was covered as if by a vegetal blanket of blooming flowers, which, of course, for the balance of The relationship between plants and architecture, and maintaining a temperature sufficient for flowers to bloom, must be a huge price to pay for the owner here.

In such a greenhouse, there is really no need for a coat or other things. You only need to wear unlined clothes to move freely—it was also at this time that Louis understood what Carbo meant by "You don't need a coat".

"Sir, Ma'am is not here today, do you want to be on the first floor, or go to your private room on the second floor?"

When they entered the entrance, a waiter in a white shirt and navy blue trousers greeted them. Louis noticed that the waiter did not call the Viscount by his last name.

"Second floor."

"Okay, gentlemen, follow me."

To get to the stairs leading to the second floor, you need to pass through several small living rooms separated by rose trees. When passing through these living rooms, Louis discovered something rather peculiar.

"That's... a painting by Rembrandt and Tithian?"

There are tables and chairs in the small living rooms they passed, but it seems that the theme of each living room is different: there are two living rooms with bookshelves full of books, picture albums and newspapers, and someone is reading newspapers in them; In one living room, there were some sculptures by the hands of the most first-class geniuses, which seemed to have just been moved; in the other living room, it was filled with many utensils that only alchemists would use. Two young men They are actively refining their Philosopher's Stone; there is also a living room, and Louis even saw several sets of equipment specially used to study coffee!

Among them, the paintings that attracted Louis's attention the most were undoubtedly the paintings hanging in the small living room - he saw at least one Rembrandt's "Praying Magi" and a still life painting, as well as a painting by Tisian. "Portrait of a Girl"; these works by famous painters are hung casually in the living room where rose branches and leaves are intertwined, inadvertently showing the strong financial resources of the owner here.

"Yes, Mrs. Maurice Srpon has good taste. She has collected many works of art and put them in her club." Callister replied, and he asked Louis: "Do you want to take a closer look? Or do you want to visit?" Let’s go to the first floor, some things here are quite interesting, you might like it.”

Louis hesitated for a while. He didn't really want to be seen walking together by other people here, but it was undeniable that the weird things he had just seen really made him very curious.

"If, if you think it's okay."

"Then we can go around the first floor and then go up to the second floor."

So Callister sent away the waiter of the Rose Club, and he personally took Louis to visit every living room on the first floor, and introduced him to Mrs. Morislpon's wonders like an ordinary friend want to come.

The Lady Morislpont Club, as Carbo once said, was indeed "a place for gentlemen to relax," and it was hardly conceivable that the owner was actually a woman; In addition, there is everything here, and you can do everything: painting, drinking, playing cards, astrology, studying the movement of celestial bodies and delving into the mysteries of alchemy, and you can even make a wind vane that can be placed on the roof by yourself!

And when they were visiting, there was a small episode: a well-dressed young man came over, he didn't say hello to the viscount (Louis found that people here don't say hello to each other, maybe like Cali There is no need for secular etiquette here), as he said), but he asked Callister very bluntly: "I heard that there will be a bill to compensate the nobles to make up for the wrongdoings of the people over the past 30 years." Losses of ignorance - when are we going to get the money?"

"I haven't heard of this statement. Maybe you have unconfirmed information." Callister replied, and he asked the young man at the same time: "Didn't you just marry a rich bride? I heard Said that she brought you a dowry of 60 francs, and her father promised to repay the debt in your name for you, why, you are short of money now?"

"Well, I don't have a whole bank like you, how can I ever have enough money? I wouldn't have married a bumpkin's daughter if my father hadn't forced it and for dowry's sake, said Really, that Angouleme earthy smell on her was like a nightmare."

The young nobleman complained unscrupulously about his wife, and there was no hint of love for his wife from his tone: "However, she is pregnant now, thanks to the Virgin Mary, I don't have to touch that woman in the future. If If I'm lucky enough, I might get another dowry while getting an heir."

Louis, who was listening to their conversation, suddenly turned pale-the implicit meaning was undoubtedly to hope that his wife would die during childbirth (this is a very common thing in this era); for a husband For human beings, such thoughts are too scary.

"You've been a little too hard on your wife," Callister said, giving Louis a reassuring look.

"What! Didn't I already grant her the honorable surname of my family?!"

This kind of conversation was really unpleasant. After the young man walked away, Louis couldn't help but reached out and pulled Lakaliste's sleeve.

"There doesn't seem to be anything worth seeing here, let's go to the second floor." Louis said, he no longer had the mind to look at those artworks.

This was exactly what Callister had in mind, so he took Louis out of the small living rooms on the first floor, but that didn't mean they wouldn't run into other people here - as they went up the stairs , a bearded gentleman in his 30s almost ran down from the second floor after chasing a young man with brown hair.

"Hey, I say, sir!"

The gentleman who seemed to be British was holding a thick book in his hand, and he tried to stop the young man in front of him as he walked: "I think we need to have a serious discussion. I think that cholera passed The theory of the spread of the stench cannot be established. Three years ago, cholera appeared in the port of Helmond in the Netherlands, when there was a strong wind, and the cholera appeared against the direction of the wind..."

"Oh my God!"

The young man who was being pursued by this gentleman to discuss the cause of the plague was simply complaining: "Sir, Mr. Johnson, I just believe in the teachings we have always believed in. I have no more interest in medicine, and I don't want to read anything about corpses." anatomical diagram."

Well, at the words of the young man, Mr. Johnson from England stopped at last, and looked around disappointedly, trying to find the next like-minded friend; but before he turned his eyes to them, Callister grabbed Louis' hand and led him quickly away from the stairs.

And when the viscount brought Louis into his box, Louis hadn't recovered yet.

"What are those two gentlemen discussing?" he asked Callister, feeling that what he heard was quite unreal. "They were discussing—cholera and plague? And dead bodies? Here?"

"It's not surprising at all," said Callister, with some smile in his voice: "Mr Johnson is a regular visitor here, he is an Englishman, very interested in medicine, and willing Talk about it with other people, but -- well, as you can see, most of the people who come here just want to have fun."

"It turned out to be like this, but what happened to the young man before that?" Louis asked, only then did he realize that Callister was still holding his hand, and his face turned red instantly. He hastily rescued his hand from the viscount's hands: "I, I think his attitude is not like treating his wife, but treating his slave."

"Well, that young man was the second son of an earl, and his father, unwilling to divide the family fortune with him, married him a daughter of a provincial nobleman, so that he might get a dowry sufficient to live on. "

Callister withdrew his hand as if nothing had happened. He pointed to the chair by the dining table to Louis, indicating that he could sit there: "For nobles like them, marriage is just a way to get money and pay off debts." It’s just a means, he naturally doesn’t care.”