The Sin of Ludwigs

"Mr. Edmund! It's such a coincidence to meet you here!"

Maybe it's because the sun is really warm today. Everyone went out for a walk in the garden. When I was in a daze by the ditch for a long time and was about to go back, I actually saw Miss Selena walking slowly from the end of the path.

Miss Selena is wearing a simplified French-style gown for going out today. The wine-red outer skirt is tied up slightly with ribbons, revealing the silky white petticoat underneath. On her head is a beautiful taffeta The wide-brimmed soft hat with ruffles and drooping ribbons, the whole person is as beautiful and elegant as ever.

However, the man next to her was very incompatible with her elegance and generosity.

It was a very tall and inferior man—forgive me for being so blunt, but the man's savage air and rough appearance showed that he was not of our class, and there would never be any nobleman who would be like that. Appearance——tall, with a rough bronze color that is obviously weathered frequently, reddish-brown hair that has not been taken care of at all, and even has upside-down messy hair; The most simple and most common civilian style, there are faint wine stains that have not been washed off on the front of the clothes.

The contrast between this man and Miss Selena is like the contrast between a pampered lady and a vulgar hooligan, but Miss Selena holds his arm very intimately, although I know Earl Ian The maids had other responsibilities besides serving the earl, but witnessing this scene really made people feel as if the beautiful Venus had to put up with the ugly Vulcan by her side.

Judging by Miss Selena's actions, this person is not a low-class person without status, but judging by his appearance and temperament, I can assure you that this man is definitely not a decent person with a little status like a nobleman, a manor owner, or a doctor. On the contrary, it gave me a strange feeling of familiarity but I just can’t remember where I’ve seen it, similar to the feeling of a gangster boss I occasionally encountered when I was in Ludwigsburg.As they approached, I noticed that the man had a coarse-sewn pistol pouch on his side, but it was empty, perhaps because weapons were not permitted on the Frigou estate.

"Ah! Miss Selena, I haven't seen you for a long time. I didn't expect to meet you here by such a coincidence. This is really a coincidence." I looked down at my wet shoes and decided Pretend that this small problem does not exist, then turn to look at the man: "Who is this gentleman?"

"Ah, this is Mr. Adam Gaston." Miss Selena glanced at the man and said to me in English, but did not introduce the identity of the person to me, "Mr. Gaston is not very good at speaking French. This is Monsieur Ludwig Edmund, honorable guest of the Earls."

I looked at this strange guest, and he also looked at me with probing eyes.

"I still speak a little French, hello, Mr. Edmund."

Gaston said so in English with a thick accent, and held out his hand to me.

"Nice to meet you, Monsieur Gaston."

I stretched out my hand, thinking about a quick handshake and then retracted it, but Gaston didn’t seem to think so. When he shook my hand, he was very strong, even if I didn’t feel right, he just let go and didn’t let me go. Not only that, he also wore two large rings on his hands, and the rings were stuck under his hand, which made my hand a little painful.

Gaston kept staring at me, and when I couldn't help showing an expression of discomfort because of the excessive force in his hand, he had a mixture of contempt and slyness on his face, as if to say: "Look, but Another little boy!"

"It's a great honor to meet you. I accidentally used a little force when I was excited, and it didn't hurt you, did it?" After letting go of my hand, Gaston said in a hypocritical tone, "I'm a rough man, no If you know etiquette like you, if you accidentally offend the honorable gentleman, please tell me."

I took my hand back silently: "How could it be, you are such a humorous person, Mr. Gaston."

He’s just a rude, savage, and uneducated inferior person, so don’t worry too much about him—I told myself so, but I always feel that this person’s accent sounds very familiar, as if I’ve heard it somewhere before, is it an illusion? ?

Miss Selena looked at me and then at Gaston, as if she didn't see the turbulent tide between us, she gracefully changed the topic: "The weather today is really good, it makes me feel better Well. Ah, did you accidentally drop the fan in your hand?"

I looked down at the soiled fan wrapped in a handkerchief in my hand, and I was a little embarrassed: "Thank you for your concern, it's just a small mistake, I can hand it over to the servants later deal with."

"You didn't have any servants to follow you when you came out. It's really rude. You shouldn't bother yourself to do this kind of thing at all."

But don't, I don't want to have a tail following me wherever I go!

"It's the first time I've seen a noble gentleman go to get something that a woman would use in person. You are such an approachable gentleman." Gaston's English pronunciation is really very special It takes a lot of effort for me to understand the serious accent, but his sarcasm is understandable without understanding.

"Oh, I believe you are only joking. If there is no servant and I need you to hold a fan or a stick for me, will Mr. Gaston say 'no' to me?"

Although Gaston's accent was very thick, Miss Selena knew this man so clearly that she could easily hear what he said.Under such circumstances, it was a miracle that her accent was not distorted by this person!

"It's different. I'm not a gentleman. If you ask me to do something for you, whether it's fighting a lion or a crazy horse, even if I'm facing a hundred Indians alone I won't surrender," Gaston looked at me with a look of fearless contempt, "but these noble gentlemen, I know that if you give them a gun, a hen can kill them." They're so scared that they're left with little things like fans and canes."

"Please don't say that, Mr. Edmund is a very brave gentleman." Miss Selena probably saw that my face was not very good, so she quickly smoothed things over: "Mr. Edmund, please don't take it to heart, add Mr. Stone has always spoken with such a straightforward character, even when facing the two Earls."

I forced a smile: "Mr. Gaston is really a very generous gentleman. Is he an Englishman?"

When he said the word "surrender", I finally remembered where I had heard this kind of English with a strong accent.

—It's at Bamberg!That's the accent of the Bamberg bandits who broke through the defenses, set fire to the camp, killed the mercenary regiments, and made me and many others jump into the river to escape!

This sudden and terrifying discovery made cold sweat start to break out on my back, and my gaze was unconsciously aimed at Gaston's hand. This time I saw clearly that he was wearing two thick iron rings, completely black. I can’t see what pattern is on it; and I remember that when he shook hands with me just now, his knuckles were very thick, and there were thick calluses on his palms. Combined with his clothes and appearance, it would be very strange if the person in front of him was a bandit leader. Makes sense.

I remembered what Baron Fred said before, that Earl Elvis actually didn’t like things in England, and what I heard occasionally a long time ago-some colonial nobles and manor owners would secretly support robbers and hooligans as a way to oppose England Thugs of domination.

And this person must be a frequent visitor of the Higgs family, otherwise Miss Selena would not be so familiar with his appearance.

"Mr Gaston's father was a Scot who came to the colonies about 30 years ago for some reason," Miss Selena said.

"Ha, just say that he murdered someone and escaped," Gaston seemed completely indifferent to his family's history that should have been concealed, and was even very proud of it, laughing loudly : "I've already said that a classy person like them can't bear a little fright. Look, his face is pale with fright—if I have this kind of soft egg who is as frightened as a quail when he hears a murder, I will definitely Give him a shot first!"

"Mr. Gaston, please don't make such a bad joke in front of Mr. Edmund. If you frighten the guests of the two adults, I will see how you explain to the two adults." Miss Selena looked right. The man's wild words were also very helpless, "Mr. Edmund, Mr. Gaston was just joking, please don't believe what he said."

I glanced at Gaston.

Although I have tried my best to restrain myself, I can still feel an unusual aura from this person - I don't know if it is the unique aura of people who have killed people.

"Since I can be invited into the Frigou Manor, and Mr. Gaston is so dignified, he must be a respectable gentleman with a legitimate job. How can I take that kind of joke seriously? Mr. Gaston Where is the position, is it the captain of the guard of which town?"

"A mere captain of the guard is not in my eyes." The man said boldly, "I have hundreds of people under my command."

"Ah, then you must be the honored guest of the two lords. You must have come to Frigo Manor because you were invited by the lords for their birthday celebration, right?"

"Of course!"

When we were talking, Miss Selena winked at me playfully: "Why are we standing here and talking stupidly, Mr. Edmund, if you are not in a hurry to go back, why not take a walk with us Come on, we can take a walk in the garden and sit down and have a cup of tea."

I pointed helplessly at my shoes.

"It's my honor to be invited by the beautiful lady, but it's really rude to walk with you in such soiled shoes. Please allow me to go back to the castle to change a pair of shoes."

"Oh!" Miss Selena discovered my predicament, "Please forgive me for not discovering it, and for taking so long of your time."

Gaston looked eager to express his opinion, but Miss Selena stopped him with a timely look.

"I'm very glad to have your understanding, then I'll go back to the castle first."

Before turning around, I hesitated.

Should I ask?If this Gaston slipped his tongue when he met Earl Elvis, then I might be in big trouble!

But I can't think of who else I can ask in this manor. If I ask Beatrix... No, Beatrix is ​​too smart. She only needs one sentence, and she is likely to deduce my thoughts and leave. gives me the wrong answer.

"Miss Selena," after a short hesitation, I directly switched to French and asked my question: "Recently, the Colonial Governor of England, Duke Lane, went to North Carolina. Do you know about this?"

Facing the question I asked suddenly in French, Miss Selena was taken aback for a moment, then nodded as a matter of course.

"I don't know which colony it was, but at this time the duke was either in North Carolina or South Carolina, definitely one of those two, and that's been the practice for many years."