Chapter 3 Three, a few strange things

Witnessing this unbelievable scene, the crowd turned pale with fright, and all of them were dumbfounded, not even daring to breathe, like children telling ghost stories who suddenly saw the devil come among them.They looked at Alan Rock as if they saw a ghost, and no one was sure that he was really a flesh and blood person. Natalie asked innocently: "Where are you from? You can't go there." "I can come up anywhere as long as Natalie Manolson calls me." However, she didn't believe it, and her tone of voice seemed to blame him for doing something against the laws of nature.

"Impossible," she said, "there are cliffs on three sides." Maxime Duthiere echoed: "Absolutely impossible. I simply cannot conceive..." The man smiled slightly. "I can assure you that you are wrong: I am not from hell." "Ah! You overheard us?" "You can hear without hearing, and you can see without seeing." Natalie slowly calmed down, a smile began to appear on her face, and she asked, "But where do you always come from?" "certainly." "Where?" "Nice," he replied. "Did you swim here?"

"No, it came from the top of the waves." "You are the Baron de Ellen-Roque?" "That's what people call me." He was about thirty-five years old, tall, and though he looked thin, he was muscular.A jacket with two rows of gold buttons accentuated the line of his upper body, with broad shoulders and sleeves bulging out of his strong biceps.On his head was the hat of a yachtsman.There are two long Gaulish mustaches on the left and right. Above the beard is a hooked nose and prominent cheeks. Due to frequent exposure to the sun, the skin is ocher and orange like an old Latin oil painting.There is a long, light-colored scar across the right cheek.

The whole popularity is extraordinary.Although he is a bit flamboyant and domineering, it is more than made up for by his commanding and unrestrained temperament, which is necessary for a leader.His elegant and outstanding appearance is very impressive, and he is powerful, reminiscent of a warrior wearing a bronze helmet and iron armor and wielding a sword that makes the enemy fearful. Natalie held out her hand to him happily. "Anyway, Baron de Ellen-Roque, you came as soon as I called, and you are welcome. We were talking about you, and we were all charmed by the doctor's story..."

"Dr. Shapro is a good friend of my friend Verlage, and he is also the author of the book "Psychological Analysis". This is a very interesting book." He then greeted Sister Godouin and Maxim respectively. "Miss Henriette, is it not? Mademoiselle Janine? . . . Monsieur Duthier?" Another burst of surprise. "So you know everyone here?" Natalie said. "No. I remember...or rather, I was just guessing. Get used to it." "We knew you were a wizard!" cried Janine Godouin. "Sometimes, ma'am," he said, "it's one of my little social talents."

The girl clapped her hands. "Wizard! God, it's so strange! By the way, I lost a coral necklace here the day before yesterday. Can you help me find it?" "Too easy, miss." "Give me the necklace." "Here." As he spoke, he took out a coral necklace from his pocket. "Ah!" Janine was astonished. "What about me? And me?" Henriette yelled. "Quick, sir, please create a miracle for me too." Alan Rock waved his hand as if grabbing something by the girl's wrist, then pinched it with his fingers and threw it away.

"What?" asked the girl, a little confused. "A bee; almost stung you." "Oh!" Maxim cried. "What a good eye! You are said to be of great strength! An athlete..." "Where! Just exercise regularly." Allen Rock said. He took a deck of cards from the living room table and tore it in half. "Damn it!" Maxim was stunned. The above things passed quickly, and Alan Rock had no other purpose, just want to have fun and tease Natalie. "And you, Forville," she said, "won't you ask the Baron de Ellen-Roque?" Falwell, who had been keeping himself out of them, shrugged his shoulders lightly, and then said with a hostile sneer: "I find that Monsieur has all the talents that people say..."

"Acrobatics, magic tricks..." Allen Rock interrupted him. "I won't go into specifics," Forville said. "However, I don't know if Mr. is born with extraordinary eyesight, can you see through my mind?" "Of course," Allen Rock replied without hesitation. "Well, do you know what's going on in my mind?" "Thinking of a very beautiful woman." Falwell glanced at Nathalie. "Is it the woman I propose to?" "You have a picture of her in your wallet." Natalie laughed. "I never gave you a photograph, Forville, so..."

"So, this gentleman made a mistake...whether on purpose or not." Forville said coldly. "In the photo," Alan Rock explained very calmly, "it's the beauty who accompanied you to the opera at the Monte Carlo Opera House yesterday." Falwell turned purple with anger.Natalie knew him well, and jokingly helped him out by saying: "Don't make excuses, Forville! I will accept anyone who pursues me." "Including those who flirt with flirtatious women," Maxim added. "Okay, Baron de Allen-Roque, you are a master. Please tell me about Natalie Manolson's mentality."

"No need," Natalie said. "For myself, my current state of mind is an attack of curiosity." "Can I satisfy your curiosity?" Alan Rock said. "I can answer any questions you may have." Natalie thought about it, or tried to think about it.She had always had a polite and indifferent attitude towards men, and no matter what they said or what they did, she didn't seem to be interested.But when he spoke, she showed undisguised inner turmoil. "I only ask three questions," she said. "First the most insignificant question. Why did you leave the clinic at Marseilles?"

"I'm bored." "What about the ten thousand francs?" "I found that I was still wearing a ring on my hand, with a jewel in it, a very beautiful ruby, because the jewel was facing the palm of my hand, so that my assailant did not notice it. The window of the ward was facing the road. I kept close Watching the passers-by, I finally found a man who looked the most honest and the most stupid. I entrusted him with the ring. He sold it to the jeweler and sent the money back. I kept a quarter, and the reward was for me with the rest of the money I made more money. Do you understand now the nature of my miracles?" Natalie continued: "Second question: your past?" "I don't know, I don't even know about my attacker, about the blow I received on the head, about the hardships and dangers that ensued. My life began the moment I woke up in the clinic A whole new life, like a baby opening his eyes for the first time and seeing before him a white wall, a bright window, a nurse knitting. Before that, there was a blank... a dark... a blackness, The impenetrable darkness, like hitting a solid wall." "However, your faculties are not affected." "No, except for memory. The things acquired through the brain in the past have been completely preserved, only my personal life experience is missing. I think like a normal person, and I am educated and knowledgeable like a person who has read books. I observed , I imagine, I understand, I appreciate. I read books that I must have read and learned from. But the original me disintegrated and I couldn't put it back together. Especially the visual memory was completely lost. Of course, I find all shapes very natural, and I don't find anything strange in the appearance of things. But I can't say for sure about anything: 'I've seen this particular shape. I've seen this place. scenery.'” "That must be hard work." "I find it particularly ridiculous." "ridiculous?" "Yes, there's a funny side to all of this, and I'm always the first to laugh. There used to be a story about a man who lost his shadow. But imagine a man who lost his past, and he chased Look at yourself, like one runs after one's dog. Sometimes, though, it's delicious. Yes, untroubled by memories! Find yourself! Make yourself an inexhaustible enigma! Keep asking' who am I'." "At any rate, you are French, judging by your accent." "Initially, I thought so too. However, once I heard an Englishman speak and I spoke to him, he thought I was British. Similarly, some people thought I was German or Italian." "However, based on your current understanding of your hobbies and nature, you have some idea of ​​your past, right?" "The concept is there, but it is very bizarre, very complicated, very vague, and very contradictory! I have a lot of messy ideas in my mind! I spent time sorting out and sorting out, hoping to rearrange the order of front, back, left, and right. But it was useless .I was lost in my own kingdom. My people were running around like madmen, and I asked myself: Is this one mine? Is that one mine? It's a mess!" "Even so, there is always something that stands out, right?..." "I don't know. I feel like I'm a battlefield, where crazy teams from the past are fighting each other brutally. It's my ancestors who are fighting, and they make me defiant, furious, and horrifying. or, on the contrary, they ask me to do more good, give me a strong desire to do well, and attack all injustice, hypocrisy, evil and ambiguity. Amongst all these things, what am I? Woolen cloth?" "Still an unsolved mystery," Dr. Shaporo said.He looked at his watch and stood up, as if it was time to go. "It's possible that your severe trauma has changed your personality so that you were a nice guy and now you're an outlaw, or you were a devil and you're Francis Francis." Allen Rock laughed. "An angel or a devil? I don't really want to be either. But seriously, doctor, how do you think I can get out of this situation?" "Treatment, needless to say!" "Really, will memories grow back like flowers and trees?" "It depends on the severity of the shock. If it's just a concussion, that is to say, it's just a molecular shock in the brain--this kind of brain shock, colloid shock, I don't know. If it's a deep shock , may also affect the material surrounding the cell, or even the cell itself - in which case, to use your words, the memory will grow, there is a high probability, yes. However, if it is proved to be A brain contusion, that's serious." "Why?" Allen Rock asked. "Because of the trauma it caused, the function was lost in hindsight, irreversible. This is natural because the cells themselves disintegrate in the process of forming the scar." "Then how do you diagnose it?" "Diagnosis can only be made with time. Haven't we seen cases of patients who have been scientifically determined to have lost their cognitive abilities permanently due to trauma to the cells, and who have regained their former knowledge years later?" "However, does trauma cause amnesia without affecting intelligence at all, does it make sense?" "Why doesn't it make sense? We've found that injuries have an unexplained selective power. An injured man who speaks several foreign languages ​​recovers from his injury and finds he's forgotten only one of them. Another man's loss of language is limited to a few words. .After he recovered from his injury, he replaced the words that had disappeared from memory with words with completely different meanings, and he was completely unaware of his mistake." "But, doctor, what about my case?" "In my opinion, sir, your case should be classified as retrograde amnesia, that is, forgetting everything before the accident. It can be assumed that in various areas of the brain gyrus, the violent impact severed only the part related to memory, No other areas of brain power were damaged at all." "So, how can I heal?" "It's hard to say. But, I guess if one day you get hit again..." "Thank you very much!" "I'm talking about a psychic shock. Tomorrow, next month, next year, occasional and intense shocks, emotional shocks, can cause the current to re-pass through deactivated cells, as in the experiment, a gentle shock It's like making a stopped clock tick again. That's when you can tell it's just a normal concussion." "Okay!" Allen Rock said jokingly. "Hopefully I just had a concussion and not a contusion." "I am sure," said the doctor, "that the change of circumstances will cause you to suddenly face yourself and tell you the past without knowing it. In this way, the past will break through the darkness. I have another idea, such as taking you through the The place of childhood. The emotions of the past will slowly reappear, and the miracle will eventually appear." At this time, Falwell called someone to drive the car.Henriette and Janine asked him to take them to their parents' house in Saint-Raphael, and Nathalie would send for them the next day.However, Natalie was still pestering: "Baron de Allen-Roque, you still have to answer the third question." "I am waiting for your question, miss." "What are you doing here? Of course, everyone is very pleased with your visit, but they don't know what your purpose is." "You are right, madam, I did not come to talk about myself, I have already said too much out of politeness; not to help Mademoiselle Janine find her coral necklace, this is me climbing the little trees Found on the top of a small tree while climbing up; nor to protect Miss Henriette from the sting of a bee that did not exist; There's a photo of the pretty lady presenting him in the theater almost in front of me. No, I'm here for something else...no big deal. But...can I explain? A few words will do..." Everyone surrounded him again.He calmly explained: "This morning, I drove a motorboat to Nice and I was sitting next to a small bush in the park. Suddenly, I heard two Spaniards whispering on the other side of the bush. , two ordinary people, I think they are sailors, my ears are very good..." "Do you speak Spanish?" said Maxim. "It's okay, I understand that they belong to a gang and are going to rob a villa by the sea tonight." Maxim was very excited and blurted out: "Needless to say, it must be Jericho's gang!" "That's what I thought too, though I didn't hear anything concrete. They'll meet at eight-thirty, however, under the said villa, which seems to be visible from some steep reef out in the sea. Someone will then Blow the whistle on the adjacent hill to report that all is well. There will be a second whistle in five minutes. Order the attack to begin." "That's all?" Forville said with a sneer. "That's all. Unfortunately, those two guys ran away. I only know that two people who looked like them got on the train to Cannes, that is, they were approaching the Mont Estelle, and I was walking. At that time, I noticed the precarious location of Mirador Villa many times. Is the villa they are going to rob here? Just in case, I drove a motorboat." "That's right, that's right," Maxim said loudly. "Villa Mirador is their goal. This is an obvious fact, and it is impossible not to admit it." Sisters Nathalie and Gorduin were silent.Falwell went on with his sarcastic remarks. "The material you provided is too hollow, it is likely..." "It is very likely that my worries are unnecessary." Alan Rock said, "This is just my opinion. However, I am not afraid of 10,000, just in case, I am still here, and I have to see if necessary. You can't climb the cliffs here. It's really difficult, but as you can see, it can be done." He picked up his hat, bowed his head, and walked straight towards the parapet as if he had completed his task. "You won't just go away, sir?" said Natalie. "My God, miss..." "Are you going back the way you came?" "My boat is down there, and..." "Listen to me, there is still a path, Maxim and I, we will take you there." The doctor suggested: "Natalie, if you are in danger here, Forville and I can go tomorrow." "Of course," said Forville, "but it would be childish to believe such nonsense." The two sisters followed closely and asked, "Natalie, are you really not afraid?" "What are you afraid of?" she said with a smile. "You are ridiculous. Hurry up, the sun is going down." Falwell looked carefully at Baron de Ellen-Roque.He found this man extremely annoying. He wanted to pull Natalie aside, remind her to be on her guard.But instead of buying him, she pushed them one by one to the garden steps, where Forville's car was already waiting. "Janine," she said, "I'll send for you two to-morrow, won't you? When will we meet again, Fauville? I'm going to Paris in a fortnight." "I'll be there then," said Forville. She kissed the doctor goodbye. "You, doctor?" "Oh! Me," he answered, "I'm not going to Paris for a month and a half. I'm going on a lecture tour to Germany and Sweden." She quickly dismissed them and hurried back to the open space in front of the house. When she returned, the two men were still talking by the parapet.They saw the car driving on the right hand side, and as soon as it turned the road between the steep walls, the car disappeared. "So, Monsieur," said Maxime Duthier, with a certain uneasiness in his tone. "Are you sure there is no danger at all?" "I don't really think there's any danger," Aaron-Rourke said, "but there's always a place to be on the downside." "Really?" said Maxim.He wanted to make a joke, to embolden himself. "So, I took some defensive measures. You see, Natalie, I'm not wrong, maybe the boiled bean water and those guns are really useful." "Ah!" said Alan Rock. "Have you a premonition, sir?" "Of course," said Maxim. "I'm always on the lookout for Jericho. There's no doubt that he's on the coast here and there, as the conversation you heard not long ago confirms that. Besides, there's the trouble with the Italian singer... Alas! Nathalie , you are really careless!" Alan Rock felt strange and asked, "What singer?" "Several singers, Miss Manoelson let them into the garden just now... Don't you think there is something strange about it?" Everyone was silent for a while.Then Alan Rock said in a low voice: "Those two Spaniards mentioned the Italian singer and said they would pass near the villa." "Well! What did you say?" said Maxim. "They said there was a woman and two men," Alan Rock explained. "One woman and two men, not bad at all." Maxim stammered. He slumped down on the chair. Natalie's face also looked a little pale.