Chapter 10 Chapter Nine: Bunce gave the President's wife a work of art more expensive than a fan

The next day the President went out early to see his uncle before going to court.Mrs. Siebel announced the arrival of Mr. President de Merville, whose presence was a matter of fact.For the first time in his life, Bunce received such an honor, and he had a premonition that he was coming to apologize. "Dear uncle," said the presiding judge, after a few pleasantries as usual, "I finally understand the reason why you don't go out. Your behavior can be said to increase my respect for you. Regarding that matter, I will only talk to you. A word. My servants are all gone. My wife and daughter are very distressed; they want to see you and explain to you. There is one innocent in this matter, uncle, my old man. Judge. An ignorant little girl wanted to go to Bobino's house for dinner and did something outrageous. Please don't punish me for it, let alone I personally came to the door to ask for peace, admitting that all the faults are on our side... Three Sixteen years of friendship, even if you feel hurt, the relationship should still be there. Forget it! Please come to our house for dinner tonight and make peace..."

Bunce fumbled incoherently for a while, and finally told his nephew that he was going to the engagement of a player in his band who was going to drop his flute to become a banker tonight. "Then come tomorrow." "My nephew, the Duchess of Bobino, thinks highly of me, and has sent me a letter, very politely, inviting me to dinner..." "Then the day after tomorrow..." said the judge again. "The day after tomorrow, my flute player's partner, a German named Mr. Bruner, will invite the unmarried couple back, and thank them for inviting him today..."

"You are so popular that everyone is so eager to honor you," said the presiding judge. "Then next Sunday! Within eight days . . . as the courts say." "But that day we are going to have dinner at the house of Mr. Graff, the flute player's husband..." "That's Saturday! In the meantime, take time to comfort that little girl who has shed many tears and confessed her mistakes. God only asks people to repent. Your gratitude to poor little Sai Is Sil not more severe than God?" Bunce, touched on a weak point, delivered a quick speech that was far more than polite, and sent the President to the landing.An hour later, the servants of the presiding judge's family came to the Pons' house; they showed their nature of servants, cowardly and hypocritical, and wept!Madeleine drew Mr. Bangs aside, fell down at his feet with a thud, and would not get up.

"I did it all, sir, and you know I love you, sir," she said, weeping bitterly. I'm going to lose it!...Sir, I was mad at the time, but I didn't want my companion to be implicated because of my confusion... Now, I have understood that I was not born with such a good life, and I am not worthy of Mr. I'm sober now, I'm delusional, but I've always loved you, sir. For ten years I've dreamed of having the honor of making you happy! . . . Ah! If only sir knew how much I love you! Perhaps sir I have seen my heart long ago, through all the wicked things I have done. If I died tomorrow, what would people find?... A will all for you, sir... Yes, sir, the will It's under the jewelry in my case."

Once this chord was struck, Madeleine aroused the pride of the old bachelor and touched his heart with joy, as a woman who has a heart can always achieve this purpose, even if she is not pleasing.Bunce graciously forgave Madeleine and everyone, saying that he would intercede with his niece, Mrs. President, and let everyone stay.It was an indescribable joy for Bunce to see himself able to enjoy his old happiness again without loss of dignity.This time someone came to intercede, so his dignity was naturally maintained; however, when he told his good friend Schmuk in detail about what he was proud of, he found that his expression was sad and full of doubts, but he couldn't help it. Say, make Bunce feel bad.

However, the good German was not relieved to see Pons suddenly smile and change his appearance, even though he sacrificed the happiness he had enjoyed for nearly four months by having his friend alone.Mental disease has a huge advantage over physical disease, that is, once the desire is satisfied, it will heal immediately, just like if the desire is not satisfied, it will occur as soon as it is said.This morning Bunce was a completely different man.A sad, sickly old man turned into a contented Pons again, exactly the same as when he sent the fan of the Marquise de Pompadour to the president's wife.However, Schmuck was baffled by this phenomenon and fell into deep thinking, because true asceticism would never be able to comprehend the French flattery.

Pons was a veritable Frenchman of the Empire, with last-century elegance and the sacrificial spirit of womanhood celebrated in such romantic songs as "Let's Go to Syria."Schmuck buried his sorrow in his heart and covered it with the flowers of German philosophy; but within a week, his face became sallow, and Mrs. Sieber played tricks and invited the doctors from the residential area to Schmuck's residence.The doctor was worried that he was suffering from jaundice, so he said an inscrutable medical term "ictere (jaundice), which frightened Mrs. Qian Bo! The two friends went out to eat together, perhaps for the first time in their lives; for Schmuck, it was like going back to Germany for sightseeing.Indeed, Johann Graf, the proprietor of the Hotel Rhein, and his daughter Emilie, and the tailor Woerganger Graf and his wife, Fritz Bruner and Wilhelm Schwab, were all German.Pons and the notary were the only two Frenchmen at the feast.The tailor had a splendid house in the Rue Richelieu, between the Rue Neue-Otada and the Rue Vierdeau, where their niece was brought up, and the father feared that she would be with them because the inn was so crowded. Contact more.The respectable tailors loved the child so much that they treated her as if they were their own daughter, and they gave up the ground floor of the house to the young couple.Brunner-Schwab Bank will also be located here.The arrangements for these matters were all decided nearly a month ago. For Bruner, who is about to have a happy event, it will take this time to accept the inheritance.The well-known master tailor has refurbished and furnished the future couple's house.The bank's offices were set up in a side building, with a beautiful rented house fronting the street on one side and an old house on the other, with yards and gardens at the front and back of the house.

On the way from the Rue Normandie to the Rue Richelieu, Pons learned from the restless Schmuck a new story in detail about the prodigal son, and learned that it was Death who killed the fat innkeeper for the prodigal son.Pons had just reconciled with his relatives when he rekindled his desire to marry Fritz Bruner and Cécile de Merville.Coincidentally, the notary of the Graff brothers happened to be Kaldor's son-in-law and heir. In the past, this person had worked as the chief clerk's assistant in Kaldor's office, and Pons often ate at his house. "Ah! It's you, Monsieur Berdiere," said the old musician, extending his hand to the notary who used to entertain him.

"Why don't you please us anymore and come to our house for dinner?" asked the notary. "My wife has been thinking of you. We saw you at the first performance of The Devil's Betrothed, and after that we not only Missed and felt strange." "Old people are very sensitive." The old man replied, "their mistake is that they are a century behind; They died in the new century." "Yes!" said the notary with a shrewd air, "no one can catch up with two centuries at the same time." "Yes!" asked the old man, pulling the young notary aside, "why don't you act as matchmaker for my little granddaughter Cecil? . . . "

"Ah! Why?..." the notary asked back, "in our century, the wind of luxury has blown into the concierge, and the daughter of the president of the Royal Court of Paris is only a dowry of one hundred thousand francs, and young people dare not take it rashly. His own destiny was joined to that of a lady who, in his class, could not find a wife who would spend three thousand francs a year on the husband of Mademoiselle de Merville. The interest of one hundred thousand dowry can barely cover the cost of a bride's grooming. A bachelor, if he has fifteen thousand or twenty thousand francs in annuity, lives in a small apartment on the second floor, and no one will come to his door. Borrow money from him, and he only needs to hire a servant, enjoy all the income, and have no other rules except that the tailor wants him to dress decently. Any mother who has the foresight will hold him I like him, he's like a prince in Parisian society. But when married, the wife asks for a decent house and a carriage for herself; if she goes to the theatre, she wants a box , while a bachelor only needs to spend money to buy a single seat; all in all, in the past, the bachelor was in charge of his own money, but now all the money has to be managed by the wife. Suppose the couple have an annual income of 30,000 yuan. The bachelor will be poor, and you'll have to see how much the car costs even to Chantilly. If you have children... you'll be hard-pressed. Mr. and Mrs. Marvel are only in their fifties, and they have to Wait fifteen or twenty years to expect their inheritance; no single man will have the patience to keep an inheritance in his purse for so long; , the heart will be half cold, and all unmarried young people will study both sides of the problem without us needing to explain to them. To tell the truth between us, Miss de Merville cannot impress the man who proposes marriage. It makes people excited, and they will only make up their minds not to marry when they see her. If a young man with a sober mind and an annual income of twenty thousand francs wants to make a marriage that will satisfy his ambitions, then de . Miss Marvel is hard to please him..."

"Why?" asked the musician in amazement. "Ah!" replied the notary, "a young man nowadays, even if he is as ugly as you and me, my dear Bons, is almost beyond his control, and if he wants a dowry of six hundred thousand francs, the lady must be To come from a famous family, you have to be very beautiful, very smart, very educated, in short, you have to be flawless." "Then it will be difficult for my little granddaughter to marry?" "As long as her parents hadn't made up their minds to give her Marville's fields as a dowry, she wouldn't have been able to marry; if they had made up their minds, she would have been Viscountess Bobinot. . . . Oh, here comes M. Bruner, We're going to read the Brunner contract and engagement." After introducing each other and being courteous for a while, Bangs signed the marriage contract at the request of his parents, then listened to the notary reading the contract, and entered the restaurant at about half past five in the afternoon.The dinner was sumptuous, like the kind of feast a wholesaler makes when he negotiates a deal.Besides, this banquet also proved that Graff, the proprietor of the Rhein's restaurant, had a deep friendship with the first-class food suppliers in Paris.Bunce and Schmuck had never seen such a sumptuous meal.Some dishes are simply mesmerizing!The noodles were unbelievably thin, the smelt fried like no other, the whitefish from Geneva with a veritable Geneva sauce, and the pudding was so creamy that even the famous doctor who is said to have invented it in London would have known it. Amazed.It wasn't until ten o'clock in the evening that everyone left the banquet.They drank so much Rhine and French wine that even the sons and daughters would be surprised, because no one can tell how much wine a German can drink without making a fuss.Must go to Germany to eat, see for yourself how much wine is served bottle after bottle, like the rolling tide on the beautiful sandy beach of the Mediterranean, and see how many wine bottles are sprinkled, as if the Germans have sand and sponges Great absorption, so harmonious, totally free from the din of the French; and they always speak with measure, like the chatter of a usurer, and blush like Cornelius or a betrothed couple painted on a Schnorr mural , that is to say, it is difficult to detect; and the memory of the past, like the smoke from a pipe, flickers. At half-past ten Bunce and Schmuck sat down on a bench in the garden, with the flute player between them, and some one impelled them to relate their temperaments, opinions, and misfortunes.In the midst of this hodgepodge of confidant words, William poured out his desire for Fritz to marry, and he said it forcefully and touchingly while drinking. "What do you think of a plan I have here, your friend Bruner?" Pons asked, leaning into William's ear, "there is a charming girl of four and twenty, well-born , whose father holds one of the highest offices in the judiciary, is dowryed with a hundred thousand francs, and is expected to receive a million." "Wait!" said Schwab. "I'm going to tell Fritz." So the two musicians watched Brunner and his friend circle the garden, passing them again and again, listening to each other.Pons' head was a little heavy, but he was not completely drunk, but his body was very heavy, but his mind was very light. He looked at Fritz Bruner through the mist of alcohol, and wanted to be there. Some traces of longing for family happiness can be seen on Zhang's face.Moments later, Schwab introduced his friend and partner to Mr. Bunce, and Fritz thanked the old man for condescending to show him concern.Then they started talking.Two bachelors, Schmuck and Bunce, celebrate marriage without any irony, punning the line: "Marriage is the end of man." While ice, tea, punch, and desserts were served, the respectable merchants, almost all inebriated, burst into laughter when they heard that the major shareholder of the bank was also imitating his partner in getting married. Schmuck and Bunce walked home along the main street at two o'clock in the morning, talking triumphantly about how the world was arranged like music. The next day, Pons went to the house of his niece and daughter-in-law, the president's wife, and was full of joy at repaying his hatred with virtue.Pity the dear and noble soul! . . . Indeed, no one can dispute that he has attained lofty heights, since in our century those who fulfill their duties according to the teachings of the Gospels are awarded the Mondion Prize. "Ah! They're really in debt now," said Pons to himself as he turned the Rue de Choiseul. If a man was not so self-absorbed as Pons, who knew the world and kept his eyes on everything, he would have watched the faces of the president's wife and her daughter when he came back to this family; but poor musician Pons is a child, A very childish artist who believed in moral goodness as he believed in the beauty of art; Cecil and the President's wife treated him with all kinds of attentions and charmed him.In the past twelve years, this good old man has only seen dramas, tragedies and comedies flashing in front of his eyes, but he can't see through the pretentious faces in social comedies, probably because he has long been numb.The soul of the president's wife is as cruel as the body, but she is passionate about glory, desperately showing virtue, because she is used to commanding people at home, her temperament is haughty, but she pretends to be pious. One can imagine how much hatred she must have harbored towards her husband's uncle since she confessed her mistake.All the performances of the president's wife and daughter are accompanied by a strong desire for revenge, which, of course, is temporarily inconvenient.For the first time in her life, Amelie confessed to her husband who was at her beck and call; although he let her lose the battle, she still had to show affection to him! . . . This situation can be compared only with the hypocrisy which has persisted for many years in the College of Cardinals or the Senate of the Religious Leaders.At three o'clock, when the President returned home from the courthouse, Pons had almost finished his story of his wonderful acquaintance with Frederic Brunner, the feast he had last night until the early hours of this morning, and the Everything about the aforementioned Frederic Brunner.Cécile cut to the chase and asked Frederic Bruner how he dressed, how tall he was, what his appearance was, what color his hair and eyes were, and when she figured out that Frederic must be very handsome, he asked Praise him for the boldness of his temperament. "Half a million francs for an unfortunate friend! Oh, mamma, I'm sure I'll have a carriage and an Italian box..." Cécile was almost beautiful at the thought of the realization of her mother's plans for her, of the fulfillment of her despairing hopes. As for the president's wife, all she said was this: "My dear little girl, you will be married in fifteen days." All mothers in the world are the same, their daughters are all twenty-three years old, but they all call them little girls! "However," said the President, "it will take some time to inquire about the situation; I will never marry my daughter to just anyone..." "For inquiries, go to Berdiere's, where contracts and engagements are signed," replied the old artist. "As for the young man, my dear niece, you told me before, Surely you know that! He is over forty, and half his head is hairless. He wants to have a family, a shelter from the wind and rain, and I didn't let him change his mind; people have their tastes..." "That is all the more reason to see Mr. Frederic Brunner," retorted the president. "I would not like to marry my daughter to a sick man." "Oh, my niece and daughter-in-law, if you like, you can go and see the young man I introduced yourself in five days; as you say, just one meeting will be enough..." Cécile and the president's wife expressed their delight. "Frederick was a very different connoisseur, and he begged me to let him look at my little collection," continued Uncle Bunce. "You have never seen my paintings, my antiques, Come and see." He said to the two relatives, "Just pretend to be the lady brought by my friend Schmuck, and get to know her, there will be no problem. Frederick will never know who are you." "Excellent!" exclaimed the President. It is conceivable that diners who were once looked down upon are now revered.On this day, poor Pons really became the uncle of the president's wife.The happy mother drowned her hatred under the tide of joy, and with every look, smile, and word, made the old man ecstatic, not only because he had done a good deed, but because he saw his future.In the future, at the house of Brunner, Schwab Graff, won't you be able to have a banquet like the dinner on the day of the signing of the marriage contract?He saw an ideal happy life, one unexpected delicacy after another, astonishing delicacy and wonderful jade liquid! "If Uncle Bunce will do this for us," said the President to his wife, after Bunce had gone, "we shall give him an annuity equal to his salary as a conductor." "Of course," said the President's wife. If Cecil had her eye on the young man, it was up to her to get the old musicians to accept their dirty little money. The next day, the President of the Court went to the notary's house in order to obtain real proof of the great wealth of M. Frederic Brunner.The president's wife had already greeted Berdier, and he called his new client, the banker Schwab, who was originally a flautist, to the notary's office.Schwab was overjoyed when he heard that his friend could get into such a marriage (everyone knows that Germans attach great importance to social status! In Germany, as a wife, you have to be the wife of a general, the wife of a counselor, or the wife of a lawyer), yes All conditions are very accommodating, as if a collector thinks he has been fooled by an antique dealer. "First of all," said Cecile's father to Schwab, "I will give my daughter Marvell's estate in the marriage contract. I hope that her marriage will be a dowry system. In this way, Mr. Brunner will invest one hundred Wanlai will expand Marvell's property and form a dowry to ensure that my daughter and her children will not be affected by the unexpected events of the bank in the future." Berdie touched his chin and thought to himself: "He can do it, Mr. President!" After Schwab explained clearly what the dowry system was, he immediately agreed to it for his friends.This clause was exactly what he had hoped for in Fritz, and he had been hoping to find a way to prevent Fritz from falling back into poverty in the future. "There are farms and pastures worth 1,200,000 francs just now," said the president. "We have one million shares of the Banque de France, which is sufficient as a guarantee for our bank's transactions with the Bank of France," said Schwab. "Fritz is unwilling to invest more than two million in business. Mr. President proposed Ask, and he will grant." The president told the news to the two women of the family, who were almost mad with joy.Never before has such a fat fish willingly burrowed into the net of marriage. "Then you have made a decision on Mrs. Brune de Marville." The father said to his daughter, "I will definitely win this surname for your husband, and he will also obtain French citizenship in the future. If I become a French noble Councilor, he can inherit my position in the future!" The president's wife spent five whole days preparing for her daughter. On the day of the meeting, she dressed and dressed Cecile herself. She was so attentive in every way, almost like the commander of the "Blue Fleet". Personally equip the Queen of England's yacht for her visit to Germany. Bunce and Schmuck, on the other hand, packed up the collections, houses, and furniture. They swept and dusted the floor, like sailors scrubbing a flagship with their deft hands.There is not a speck of dust in the woodcarving.All brass glistened.The glass that protects the pastel painting is clear at a glance, and the works of Latour, Greuze and Liuthard, the outstanding author of "The Chocolate Lady", are unfortunately seen. Masterpieces have short lives.The inimitable enamel gleams on Florentine bronzes.Stained glass shows delicate colors and is gorgeous.In this masterpiece concert organized by two poet-like musicians, everything has a shining form, throwing musical phrases to your heart.