Chapter 31 Chapter 30: The Fruit of Frazier

"Wait, monsieur," said Villermot, "the title of legatee has not yet been disputed, and you want to throw him out now?" "Yes, of course it is controversial!" said Frazier, "We are against the delivery of bequests." "What's the reason?" "You will know, my little brother!" said Frasier sarcastically, "at present we have no objection to the bequeather taking what belongs to him from the room; but the room must be sealed up. Monsieur Love." Live wherever you go." "No," said Villermot, "Monsieur must stay in his room! . . . "

"how?" "I want the court to issue an emergency judgment on you," Villermo said, "declare in court that we are tenants sharing the apartment, and you can't drive us away... As for the paintings, you can take them away, and you have to distinguish which ones are Those of the dead, and those of my client, but my client will stay here... my little brother! . . . " "I'm going!" said the old musician, suddenly recovering from the terrible quarrel. "It's cheap for you," said Frazier, "and it will save you some money by going this way, because you can't win this incidental lawsuit. It's clearly written in the lease. . . . "

"Lease! Lease!" said Villermot, "it's a matter of faith! . . . " "This cannot be proved, just like in a criminal case, relying on witness testimony alone is not enough... Are you going to ask someone to appraise and verify... Are you going to ask for an interim judgment and follow a series of litigation procedures?" "No! No!" cried Schmuck in horror, "I'm going, I'm going..." Schmuck lived the life of a philosopher, so simple that he became an unwitting cynic.He had but two pairs of shoes, one pair of boots, two suits of clothes, a dozen socks, a dozen scarves, a dozen handkerchiefs, four waistcoats, and a handsome pipe, which Pons had given him with an embroidered pipe.In a fit of anger, he walked into the room, picked out all his clothes, and put them on a chair.

"These are mine! . . . " he said with Cincinnatus innocence, "and the piano is mine." "Madame..." said Flezier to the Sauvage woman, "do me a favor and take this piano away, and put it on the landing!" "You are too hard-hearted," said Veillemot to Frasier. "This is a matter for Monsieur the Justice of the Peace, who will give orders." "There are a lot of valuable things inside." The clerk pointed to the room and said. "Besides," remarked the magistrate, "sir went out voluntarily." "I've never seen a customer like this!" Villermo said angrily, throwing all his fire on Schmuck, "You're such a jerk! . . . "

"It's the same wherever you die!" Schmuck said, coming out the door. "These people look like tigers... I'll send someone to fetch the shit," he added. "Where are you going, sir?" "Let it be God's arrangement!" replied the legatee, making a lofty gesture of indifference. "Someone must come and tell me," said Villermot. "Follow him," Frazier said in the ear of the Chief Secretary. They appointed Madame Condina to guard the sealed things, and they paid her fifty francs out of the cash first. "Things are going well." As soon as Schmuck left, Frazier said to M. Vidal, "if you are willing to resign and give me my place, please go to Mrs. President de Merville, you will be able to Talk to her."

"You've got a pustule!" said the magistrate, pointing to Schmuck.Schmuck stood in the courtyard, taking one last look at the window of his apartment. "Yes, the matter is settled!" continued Frazier, "you can safely marry your granddaughter to Brown, who is going to be the head doctor of the Paris Institute for the Blind." "We'll talk then!--good-bye, Monsieur Frazier," greeted the magistrate with affection. "He's a man of art," said the clerk. "He's sure to make it big, the fellow!" It was eleven o'clock, and the old German, thinking of Pons, walked like a wooden man on the road he used to walk with Pons; he kept seeing Pons, felt that Pons was beside him, In the end, he reached the theater. His friend Daubina had just finished wiping the lights everywhere, and just came out of the theater, thinking about the manager's domineering.

"Ah! That's it!" cried Schmuck, blocking the poor errand, "Dubina, do you have a place to live, you? . . . " "Yes, sir." "Do you have a home?" "Yes, sir." "Would you like to take care of my lodging? Oh! Of course I'll pay for it, I have an annuity of nine hundred francs... Besides, I don't have much time to live... I won't put you in trouble, I'll eat anything My only hobby is pipe smoking... You are the only one who mourns Bunce with me, and I like you very much." "Sir, I'd love to; but you know, Godisal gave me a hard time..."

"rule?" "That means he gave me a hard time?" "all?" "He scolded me for meddling in your affairs... If you come to my house, you must be careful! But I doubt you can stay, you don't know what the home of a poor man like me is like... " "I'd rather live in a poor house with a good heart and nostalgia for Bons than in the Tuileries with a beast! I just saw a pack of tigers at Bons' house and they'll eat everything!  … ..." "Come, sir," said the servant, "go and see for yourself... We have a little attic... Consult with my wife."

Schmuck followed Daubina like a sheep, and he led him into a dirty place that could be called the "cancer of Paris."This place is called the village of Portdown.A narrow alley lined with houses that looked like real estate speculators; the alley led to the Rue Pontille, and its opening was just shaded by the building of the Porte Saint-Martin theater, one of the tumors of Paris, and was dark.The road surface of the alley is lower than the road on Pondee Street, extending along the slope to Maturandu Temple Street below, and finally blocked by an alley, forming a D-shape.In these two intersecting alleys, there are a total of thirty seven or eight-storey houses. In the yard and in the buildings, there are various warehouses, processing plants and workshops.It's like a shrunken suburban town of Saint-Anduine.There are those who make furniture, carve bronzes, process costumes, make glassware, and paint porcelain. In short, there are all kinds of Parisian goods with novel styles, and there are people here.This alley is as dirty and thriving as its business. Pedestrians and large and small vehicles crowded the alley to the brim. It was disgusting to watch.The dense population in the alley is in harmony with the surrounding things and environment.The residents are all working in factories and workshops, and all of them are proficient in handicrafts, using all their ingenuity on handicrafts.Daubina lives in this productive village because the rent of houses is cheap.His house was on the seventh floor, with a view of some of the large gardens that survived, the gardens of three or four large mansions in the rue de Pondy.

Daubina's home consisted of a kitchen and two bedrooms.The first room is the children's world.Inside were two white wooden cots and a cradle.The second is the bedroom of the Daubinas.Eat in kitchen.There is a so-called attic above, six feet high, covered with zinc, with a small skylight on the top.To get to the attic, one had to climb a narrow and steep white wooden ladder, which in architectural jargon is called a mill ladder.The attic was called the servants' bedroom, so that Daubina's house could be said to be a complete apartment, and the rent was fixed at four hundred francs.As soon as you enter the house, there is a small entrance hall, which plays the role of covering the kitchen. The entrance hall receives light from a small round window facing the kitchen. In fact, there is only a small position between the three doors: the bedroom door, the kitchen door and the main door.The three rooms are all square brick floors, the walls are pasted with six sous rolls of inferior flower paper, and the purely decorative fireplace is like a dripstone, painted in a vulgar imitation wood color.There are five members of the family, three of whom are children.Therefore, as far as the arms of the three children can reach, deep marks can be seen on the wall.Rich people can never imagine how simple the kitchen utensils of this family are. There are only a stove, a small pot, a barbecue grill, a saucepan with a handle, two or three pot-bellied kettles with dome lids and a frying pan.The tableware was all white and brown earthenware, and the whole set cost only twelve francs.A table served as both a dining table and a kitchen table, with two chairs and two ottomans.Under the ventilated stove, coal and firewood were piled up.There is a wooden barrel for laundry in a corner, and the whole family often has to wait until night to wash their clothes.In the child's room, there are many clothes tied with ropes, and colorful theater posters and pictures cut from newspapers or from coloring book manuals are pasted on the walls.In one corner of the room were the Daubina parents' textbooks, and he was obviously in charge of the family when the parents left for work at the theater at six o'clock in the evening.In many lower-class families, as soon as the child reaches the age of six or seven, he assumes the responsibility of mother to his younger siblings.

Through this brief description, you can imagine that the Daubina family is innocent, though they are poor.Dabinayomo was forty years old, and his wife was in her thirties, named Lolotte, who had been the leader of the chorus and was said to have been the mistress of Godisal's predecessor, the fallen manager.This woman was indeed very beautiful before, but the misfortune of the former manager had a great impact on her, and finally she had nowhere to go, and had to live with Daubina in the usual way of the theater.She had no doubt that when they both earned a hundred and fifty francs a month, Daubina would marry legally, if only for the legal status of his beloved child.In her spare time every morning, Mrs. Daubina sews costumes for the theater shop.This pair of brave theater boys worked so hard that they could only earn nine hundred francs a year. "There's one more floor!" Daubina said to Schmuck from the fourth floor; Schmuck fell into the abyss of pain and didn't know whether to go upstairs or upstairs. Daubine, like all servants, was dressed in white cloth, and when he opened the door, Mrs. Daubine shouted: "Quick, children, stop arguing! Daddy is coming!" The children probably did whatever they liked with their father, so the eldest child continued to imitate the Olympic circus, using a broom handle as a horse and directing the charge; Follow the charge of the main force.Mother is sewing a costume. "Stop the quarrel," cried Daubina in a menacing voice, "I'm going to beat you up!—that's the way to frighten them." Said to the usher, "This is Mr. Schmuck, a friend of that poor Mr. Bunce; he doesn't know where to stay, and wants to live with us; On the seventh floor again, he can only be given a small attic, but he still insists on coming..." Mrs. Daubina brought a chair, and Schmuck sat down quickly. The children were dumbfounded when they saw a stranger, and huddled together, looking at Schmuck carefully without saying a word. After a while, I quit. Children, like dogs, have a characteristic, that is, they are used to smelling with their noses instead of judging with their hearts.Schmuck opened his eyes and looked at the group of beautiful children. Among them was a five-year-old girl with beautiful golden hair, who was the one who blew the charge just now. "She's like a little German girl!" Schmuck motioned her to come to him. "Sir, it must be very uncomfortable to live here," said the usher. "The children must live with me, or else we'll be giving up our bedroom." She opened the door and let Schmuck in.This bedroom is the luxury of a full apartment.A mahogany bed with a blue drapery trimmed with white tassels.The same blue curtains hung on the windows.Although the wardrobe, desk and chairs are all made of mahogany, they are neatly tidied up. There is a clock and a pair of candlesticks on the fireplace, apparently given by the fallen manager. A portrait of him hangs in the wardrobe The top, like it was painted by Pierre Grasso, is pretty crappy.Children were never allowed to enter this room, so they all tried their best to look inside curiously. "It would be better if you live here, sir," said the usher. "No, no," replied Schmuck, "Oh! I can't live much longer, as long as I have a dead corner." After closing the bedroom door, they climbed into the attic.Once inside, Schmuck exclaimed: "That'll do it! . . . I never lived in a better place before I came to live with Bunce." "Okay, now we only need to buy a cot, two mattresses, a long pillow, a square pillow, two chairs and a table. This will kill people...even the washbasin, kettle, and Adding a small blanket in front of the bed only costs fifty ecu..." Everything is settled.But the fifty crowns are missing.Schmuck lived only two steps away from the theater, and seeing that his new friend was in such a difficult situation, he naturally thought of asking the manager for a salary... He left as soon as he said, and went to the theater to find Godisal.The manager received Schmuck with the same polite but somewhat stiff manner he deals with artists, and was surprised to hear him ask for a month's salary.However, after some verification, it was found that his request was not wrong. "Ah! Oh, my friend!" said the manager to him, "the Germans are always good at reckoning, even when weep... I gave you a thousand francs, thinking you would appreciate it." ! That’s the last year’s salary I gave you, you must have a receipt!” "We have received nothing," said the good German. "I came to you today because I am living on the street and have no money... Who did you give the bonus to?" "To your concierge! . . . " "Mrs. Siable!" cried the musician, "she killed Bunce, stole from him, sold him... and she tried to burn his will... That's a bad woman! devil!" "But, my friend, how can you, by virtue of your legatee status, be penniless, out on the streets, homeless? It's not logical, as we say." "They kicked me out of the house... I'm a foreigner and I don't know anything about the law..." "Poor man!" Godisal thought to himself, seeing clearly the possible outcome of this disparate struggle. "Tell me," he said to Schmuck, "you know what to do?" "I have a proxy!" "Then make peace with your heirs at once; then you can get a sum of money from them, a life annuity, and live your life in peace..." "I want nothing more!" Schmuck replied. "Then let me arrange it for you," Godisal said.The day before, Frazier had spoken to Godisard about his plans. Godisal thought that if he could get this dirty deal right, he would surely win the favor of the young Vicomtesse Bobino and her mother, and at least be able to become a state councilor in the future. "I entrust you with carte blanche..." "Well, that's all right! You take it first, here's a hundred crowns..." said the Napoleon of the comedy world. He took fifteen louis d'or from his purse and handed them to the musician. "This is for you, an advance of six months' salary; if you leave the theater, pay me back then. Let's figure it out! How much do you need every year? How much do you need to be happy? Tell me! Speak! Even if you live the life of Sadanapalus! . . . " ①The legendary king of Assyria, known for his extravagant lifestyle. "I just need a winter suit and a summer suit..." "Three hundred francs," said Godisal. "Shoes, four pairs..." "Sixty francs." "sock……" "A dozen! Thirty-six francs." "Six shirts," "Six plain shirts, twenty-four francs, six linen shirts, forty-eight francs, a total of seventy-two francs, all add up to four hundred and sixty-eight francs, plus handkerchief and tie, let's say five hundred francs, Plus one hundred francs for laundry... Six hundred!How much do you need for living expenses? ... three francs a day? " "No, there are too many!..." "You need a few more hats... so that's fifteen hundred francs, plus five hundred francs for rent, a total of two thousand. You want me to get you a life annuity of two thousand francs? . . . Guaranteed to pay you……" "And tobacco?" "Two thousand four hundred francs! . . . Ah! Father Schmuck, do you call that tobacco? ... Well, here's the tobacco.A life annuity of twenty-four hundred francs in all..." "There is more! I want a cash..." "Even needles! ... That's right! These Germans! How naive they are! They're just Robert Mackel! ..." Godisal thought to himself. "What more do you want?" he asked. "Don't ask any more." "It was to pay a sacred debt." "A debt!" thought Godisard. "What a liar! Worse than a prodigal! He's going to make up some kind of bill! Stop now! That Fleziere doesn't have a big eye." He said. Hastily said: "What debt, my friend? Say! ..." "Only one mourns Bunce with me...he has a sweet little girl with beautiful hair, I saw her just now, as if I saw my poor German elf, and I should never have left Germany... ...Paris is not good to the Germans, and they try to play tricks on the Germans..." He shook his head slightly as he spoke, as if he had seen through everything in this world. "He's crazy!" Godisal thought to himself. The manager suddenly felt pity for this honest man, and a tear came out of the corner of his eye. "Ah! Mr. Manager, you understand me! That little girl's father is Daubina, he is in the orchestra, he is in charge of the lights; Bunce liked him very much when he was alive, and often helped him, and he was the only one who mourned for my only friend. , to church, to the cemetery... I want three thousand francs for him, and another three thousand for the little girl..." "Poor man! . . . " thought Godisal to himself. Schmuck's nobility and gratitude touched the heart of this greedy upstart; in the eyes of the world, it was a trivial matter, but in the eyes of God's sheep, it seemed like a big deal. The glass of water mentioned by Shu Ai is more important than the victory of the conqueror.Although Godisal loves vanity and wants to use all means to climb up and be on an equal footing with his friend Bobino, he still has a kind heart and a kind nature.So he dispelled his flippant opinion of Schmuck and sided with Schmuck. ①Bossuet once said that a glass of water for the poor will play a decisive role in judging the balance of good and evil. "You will get all this! My dear Herr Schmuck, I will do more. Daubina is an honest man..." "Yes, I met him just now. His family is very poor, but he is very happy with his children..." "Father Bodran is leaving me, I will give Dabina the position of cashier..." "Ah! God bless you!" exclaimed Schmuck. "Then, my dear fellow, go to the house of Monsieur Berdiere, the notary, at four o'clock this evening; everything will be arranged for you, so that you will have nothing to worry about in the days to come... Your six thousand francs will be given to you." , you will work with Galange in the future, which is what you used to do with Bunce, and the salary will remain the same." "No!" said Schmuck, "I can't live anymore! . . . I'm not interested in anything anymore . . . I feel like I'm dead . . . " "Poor sheep!" thought Godisal, saluting the retiring German, "after all, one must live on meat. The excellent Berenger said: "Poor sheep, they have to be shorn!" He couldn't help singing about this political point of view to drain his indignation. "Let the carriage come over!" he told the clerk in the manager's office. He went downstairs and shouted to the coachman: "Up Hanover Street!" He regained all his careerist features: he saw the State Councilor's Room.