Granville's estate

"Sir, are you going back into the hall?"

As soon as Louis left the lounge, the attendant who noticed his exhaustion in the third hall and brought him here greeted him from not far away, as if he had been waiting here.

Hearing this enthusiastic inquiry, Louis turned his head to look at the attendant of the Viscount de Bougogne's mansion. The attendant's face still had that attentive smile that was neither rude nor excessive, as if Viscount de Durand had never The invitation was like walking into another guest's lounge, as if it had never happened before his eyes.

Louis originally thought that the servants of the Viscount de Bourgogne's mansion were trustworthy people, so he followed him unsuspectingly and left the ball hall. He never expected that in the city of Paris, he would be a The tailor in Bisson's tailor shop is not the only one who works part-time.But then again, unless the viscount in the drawing room testified, everything the page did was perfectly ceremonial and beyond reproach—what's wrong with taking a weary guest to a place of rest?Not only was he free from mistakes, but he performed his duties flawlessly.

Therefore, Louis didn't say anything to the attendant like he did when he faced Ossion from the Bisson tailor shop, he just nodded to the attendant in a distant and indifferent way: "Yes, I'm going back, please take me with you." Let's go."

"Okay, sir, follow me."

Facing Louis' indifferent attitude, the attendant was still impeccably polite. He led Louis through the corridor and returned to the fourth hall through another door.

In the fourth hall, there are still many guests, their clothes are fragrant and their temples are beautiful, and the band is playing cheerful music, but perhaps because of the passage of time, the guests have become a little tired, and the dancers are basically young women with energy. Plenty of young dudes now.Quite a number of the ladies took the seats reserved for them at the side of the hall, and their followers stood beside them, chatting with them, occasionally taking punches prepared for the guests by the master of the ball, Almond milk drink or English cake.

Louis searched in the fourth hall, but did not see Alrede. He thought that Alrede would probably be in the second hall where His Royal Highness the Count of Artois was - but although the second hall was crowded with countless There was no one who wanted to have a word with His Majesty, but there was no sign of Alred; when Louis came out from the crowded second hall to the third hall, he was finally beside a bush of rhododendrons used as decoration Found his friend.

Alred was standing beside the rhododendron bushes, listening to a male nobleman with a very respectful expression. The nobleman was about the same age as Earl Fernand, not tall in stature, but he looked serious and dressed in a dignified manner. , has a unique temperament of the old nobles in the past, which makes people awe-inspiring at a glance; perhaps because he has entered old age and his eyesight is not very good, he carries a pair of palm-sized glasses with him, and occasionally talks As he spoke, he raised his glasses to his eyes to look at Alred.

Louis didn't know the nobleman who was talking to Alred, but seeing the seriousness of their conversation, he thought maybe he should wait a while before going to his friend.Just when he hesitated and didn't know what he should do, a lady sitting in a chair next to him spoke to him.

"Sir, can I do you a favor?"

This is a very young lady in her twenties, with beautiful dark orange and yellow feathers in her hair, holding a small bouquet in one hand and a Holding a light green silk fan, she said to Louis, "Sorry, I accidentally dropped my spice box. Could you please pick it up for me? It's behind this chair."

This sudden request was beyond Louis' expectation, but it made him wake up from the somewhat trance-like depression. Based on the principle that men should help women, he replied politely: "Okay, Ma'am, please wait a moment."

What was lost was a delicate and beautiful small spice box inlaid with rubies and emeralds. It was so small and exquisite that it could be tied to a ring with a ribbon. The owner accidentally fell and had to suffer a little grievance under the bench.

Just when Louis bent down and wanted to reach out to pick up the box, a small folded note was thrown to the side of the spice box, just enough for Louis to pick up the note when he reached the box. Not to be suspected by the people next to him.

"...?"

When the little note was suddenly thrown to his hand, Louis couldn't react for a moment, but it didn't take a few seconds for him to understand what it was all of a sudden-every low-level love book will have this In the plot, the noble lady who secretly promised her secretly gave the small objects hidden in her heart to her favorite person for various reasons; When this happened to him, he couldn't help but looked up at the unknown lady in shock, but the lady just looked at him nonchalantly as if she had never done anything.

"What's the matter, sir, can't you reach it?"

"No, ma'am, I'll bring it to you right away."

Louis hid the note in his cuff without any trace, and then reached out to pick up the beautiful spice box.When he handed the box out, the lady took it gracefully and dignifiedly, but gave him an extremely charming and bold hot glance when she raised her eyes.

"..."

Louis respectfully bid farewell to the unknown lady, and the other party also expressed his gratitude to him in a polite and thoughtful manner. From the beginning to the end, she never said a single word that was derogatory to her identity; If they hid the note she threw down and were just other guests passing by, he would probably only think that it was a case of "a passing gentleman kindly helped a well-behaved lady pick up the note accidentally. A dropped spice box" is just such a small thing.

But in this way, Louis could no longer stay next to the lady, so he simply went to the greenhouse next to the third hall for a turn—this was another extremely extravagant move, artificially created in the cold winter. A warm garden full of tulips was created, just to allow the guests to enjoy the visual feast and the peace of mind surrounded by the fragrance - when he came back from the greenhouse garden, the nobleman who was talking to Alred had already left up.

"Ah, Louis, where did you go just now?" Alred complained to him when he finally found his friend back, "I haven't seen you for so long, I thought you left me and went back by yourself!"

"I just went out for a while, and then walked around." Louis said, he did not mention what happened in the lounge before, but pretended to be very interested and changed the subject: "Where was the one who talked to you just now?" Sir? I don’t think I’ve seen him before.”

"You certainly don't recognize him, that's the Viscount Barbey de Portendue." Alred just asked Louis casually, and he didn't doubt what else could happen in the mansion of the Viscount de Bougogne. Bad things: "I told you before, he is my father's friend in Paris, and my father has always trusted him."

Louis thought for a while before he remembered that it was the gentleman who wrote to Alred's father, Count Fernand, which caused the earl to misunderstand Alred.

"I see you have talked for a long time, did he say something to you?"

"Hey, it's not all those corny morals!"

Alred, who was caught and preached by his father's friend, was very unwilling to continue talking about this topic, but he was very excited to share another joy with Louis: "Louis, you don't know, His Royal Highness the Earl praised you when you were away. Miss Louise and I danced the polka dance, saying that we danced very well! It's a pity that I couldn't find you at that time, otherwise we might all be praised by His Highness!"

"The steps of the polka are still too complicated for me. I may not be able to dance, and I might be disrespectful in front of His Highness." Louis said, but seeing that Alred was happy because of His Highness's praise, his The mood also became happier.

"Actually, when I danced the polka and approached His Royal Highness, I was too nervous, and I almost took the wrong step. Thanks to Miss Louise, she didn't panic at all-if I want to say, that lady's dance steps are really good, not at all. Looks like he just came out of a monastery."

While talking, Alrede looked towards the direction of the second hall where the count was, and he said to Louis happily and a little bit sadly: "When it comes to the monastery, I think of my sister, ah, if Madeleine How great it would be to be able to come to today's ball!"

The ball in society is not only meant to indulge in fun. According to the custom of the French nobles, the daughters who are sent to the abbey are only taken out of the abbey when their parents are willing to let them get married; If the ladies who have been boarding for many years want to find a satisfactory marriage partner in the shortest time, the most important way is such a grand ball. It can even be said that a key ball can determine the future fate of the girls.

"Don't lose heart, Al, I trust the Lord will make the best arrangements for me, you and Madeleine."

For Alrede's worries about Madeleine's marriage, Louis can only comfort him in this way-only when he said this, he unexpectedly remembered the note still hidden in his sleeve, A certain viscount and his Baroness Claudia de Portandière, with his charming purple eyes, and at the beginning of the ball, the Marquis de Simon, who was already very old, put his beautiful The lady's courteous appearance when she introduced her to His Royal Highness the Count of Artois.

The attitude towards marriage, family, and fidelity in Paris was probably quite different from that in the provinces, men and women—that was all he could conclude.