Chapter 13 Chapter Thirteen

The sky was as dark as the eyes of a desperate man, but even under this terrible vault, Major Portman's fair hair was dazzlingly beautiful. He smiled at me and was not displeased by my unfriendly question: "I don't mean anything malicious, Lord Earl, don't be nervous. The air is good tonight, I just want to find someone to accompany me." I snorted coldly, put on my coat, and got into the car without saying a word: I didn't expect to be able to simply send him away with a verbal refusal, and it's not impossible to satisfy his boring interests, but I A rare peaceful night has to be sacrificed.

The young officer seemed very happy with my cooperation. He stamped out his cigarette, nimbly got into the driver's seat and started the car. Then the soft light in the room behind him gradually shrank and finally disappeared. There are very few pedestrians on the street, and occasionally some women hang around on the sidewalk shivering, 'greeting' to the men who pass by, their high-heeled shoes knocking on the slate to make a fragile sound.From time to time, you can see German soldiers patrolling with guns on their backs, and the sound of neat and powerful leather boots can be heard far away, which makes people tremble with fear.The dim street lights were dim in the fog at night, stretching in rows into the distance, and I opened the car window to let the wind blow in.

The autumn cold was already starting to make my face feel uncomfortable. Major Portman tilted his head at me, with a sense of reproach: "I didn't know you would like to taste the cold, my lord, please don't push me." Get on me." "You're much stronger than you thought, Major." I shook the glass up angrily. He laughed: "Oh, it looks like you're in a bad mood." "Then how do you think I should 'enjoy' this unexpected event?" Would it still be nice to be pulled out to wander the streets in the middle of the night?I don't think it is necessary for me to give him a good face and let him know what I think.

But to my surprise, the major didn't fight back as sharply as before.He glanced at me, raised the corners of his mouth slightly, and focused his full attention on the steering wheel.I sensitively found this atmosphere to be very special, but I couldn't tell what was wrong.So in the precious silence between the two of us, the car drove past the Sacred Heart Basilica, came to Montmartre, and finally stopped by the Seine River. From the windshield, we could see the black river flowing quietly in front of us, three or two small boats shaking gently in the distance, and the lights hanging on the mast were like cat's eyes.

The man who invited me out took out his cigarette and lit it, then exhaled a choking cloud.The dark cloudy sky finally cracked a corner, and the gray moonlight shone on his face, blurring the compartment together with the smoke. "There won't be a third person coming here." What he said was the truth, the places with the busiest nightlife in Paris had become deserted under the shadow of the Germans, and the closed cafes behind them showed their depressed status. I leaned against the soft backrest and endured the unpleasant smell in the carriage: "You didn't bring me here to breathe this kind of air, did you, Mr. Major. If you have anything to say, just talk about it."

His blue eyes flickered for a moment, and there was a faint brilliance that I was not familiar with: "... Is it necessary for us to create this kind of atmosphere every time we meet?" "Then you should be complaining that God gave us a terrible start," I sneered, "and it went in the worst possible direction." "Oh, I'm sorry..." His tone was filled with annoyance, "I didn't expect you to have such a serious... misunderstanding." "I don't think there is any 'misunderstanding' in it. There is no peace between us."

"I have not come to quarrel with you, Monsieur the Count." "Ah, I'm sorry." I sneered, "I forgot that you asked me to come here for a 'drive', but I would prefer you to be more frank, and just say what you have to say." The major seemed helpless, he took off his hat, and crawled over the soft golden hair with his hands: "Actually...today is October 27th..." "Exactly, but I don't see anything special about—" "It's my birthday!" "Ha, happy birthday!" "Please don't doubt." He smiled forcedly, "I just hope that there is another person in the world who can say this to me besides myself."

My tongue stiffened, and I didn't know how to answer. "It shouldn't be too much to find someone to celebrate with." He grabbed a bottle of champagne from the back row, and took out two goblets from a box under the seat. "I'm not familiar with French things. The only thing I know is : You are more romantic than us, so I always hope to have an authentic French to accompany me to spend tonight." "Perhaps you should arrange a more voluptuous date?" "With whom?" He laughed. "Who else thought of celebrating my birthday?" I watched him gracefully open the champagne and pour the wine into the glass, suddenly I was at a loss.

This was a situation that was completely out of my expectation. He did not play his cards according to common sense, which made it difficult for me to come up with countermeasures.I don't know if he planned to have other plans long ago, or he was just having fun; if it's the former, I have to tighten my nerves and deal with it carefully, if it's the latter... why do I feel like a child about to cry at this moment. "What kind of expression do you have, my lord Earl." He handed me the wine, "Don't look at me with such compassionate eyes, you know I don't care for this! Come on, let's have a drink first, for the 20 years I have lived Six years."

I mechanically put the mellow wine into my mouth, looking for a suitable way to speak to break the embarrassment: "Well... I would like to apologize for my tone just now, Mr. Major, but please allow me to ask you a question: why did you Take me here...well, I mean: if you want a happier birthday, there should be someone else." "What if I tell you no?" He looked at me with a smile. "You are a senior officer—" "Come on, that doesn't mean much. I know that many people, including you, would rather that I hadn't been born at all!" I was at a loss for words; he was really frank and caught me off guard, and I didn't know how to answer.

My predicament seemed to make the man next to me very happy, and he poured wine for me again: "Compared with hypocritical 'relatives and friends', I would rather stay with a sincere opponent." "We've always hated each other." "Yes, in a way." He shook the wine glass with his pretty fingers, "but I soon discovered that you also have a lot of things that I like; such as your stubbornness, your impulsiveness, your Bitter, and... infatuated." Is it the effect of alcohol?I felt that there seemed to be some intimacy in his words. "When I first saw you, I thought I was dealing with the fallen nobles who had no airs of arrogance, but what happened later proved me wrong; your willpower far exceeds my estimation, and you can I was very happy to play against each other. I was even thinking maybe we could be friends..." "Are you drunk, Major?" I sneered, frowning. "I'm going to be friends with the man who killed my wife and child?" There was a moment of frustration on that chiseled face, and he turned quickly, putting his glass down by the steering wheel. "I understand." There was no change in his tone, "Even I find it ridiculous, but I still want to try, I even... tried hard." "So you arrested Mr. Raymond Dess." Was his "goodwill" to me also premised on hurting others? "I just don't want you in the police station for the third time." The Nazi didn't think he was too much at all, "you have to give the Gestapo enough sweets to keep you. Trust me, I know what you're doing, 'swan meat' yes Better bait for them." "...I won't say thank you to you." He smiled wryly: "I didn't expect this." Holding the wine glass, I calmly watched every tremor of his facial muscles.In the gray moonlight, I can feel that the Major presented another aspect to me tonight; this aspect can be equated with the information I have access to-a person who lacks affection and love, he Vulnerabilities can become surly and insidious weapons, sharply hurting others and ourselves. I almost feel sorry for him... Another kind of silence spread in the carriage, at this moment the major's mouth twitched slightly: "I said don't look at me like that!" A powerful force suddenly grabbed the glass in my hand and threw it outside. With the clear sound of glass shattering, I was firmly fixed on the seat by this force. A straight face suddenly approached me, and only then did I realize that his upper body was almost touching, and his strong hands were clasped on my shoulders.His breathing became heavy, as if he was suppressing his rage.Even with the moonlight behind my back, I can clearly see something crazy in his eyes. If I don't understand everything by this time, then I'm an absolute idiot— "Do you... have desires for me?" As soon as the words fell, the palm on the shoulder suddenly increased its strength, as if confirming my guess. Instead, I calmed down in the next moment: "If you deliberately teased me the first two times, then what is this time?" I looked straight at him, "I am also a man, don't think that I will always treat your actions as a joke. It's a joke." There was a sharp pain in my shoulder, and my bones seemed to be breaking.Is he angry?No, I don't think he is a man with such a strong sense of shame! Major Portman almost gritted his teeth: "Should I say you are smart or dull? It might be better if you pretend you don't know." "It's you who taught me to be honest about danger, and... if I play dumb, it's just to make you less embarrassed, and it doesn't do me any good." The black flames burning in the blue eyes seemed to be jumping fiercely, as if they were struggling hard, and finally gradually extinguished, and the strength on my shoulders also retreated bit by bit. The major slowly sat up straight and stared at me: "You have indeed matured a lot, Lord Earl. Now you can find the best way to wear down your opponent's will to protect yourself, but you must know that I am a stubborn person .” "It's crazy, and I don't appreciate it." "I don't care." He raised his eyebrows, "I never cared." The haughtiness and cynicism I was familiar with appeared on this young and handsome face.I knew very well in my heart that maybe he didn't take this shocking behavior too seriously at all, he was just desperately trying to fill up the empty desire, not just the body...it should be using the body to crave the soul. Too bad he picked the wrong one.Since I can accept his challenge head-on, then I will definitely not let him succeed. This is another new contest of will—— "Okay, Lord Earl." The man beside me quickly put on his usual mask and threw the champagne out of the car window annoyedly, "Anyway, thank you for staying with me tonight. It will probably be dawn soon, and I I have to send you back." We didn't speak any more as the wheels rolled over fragrant shards of glass and left the river.Until the car drove into the Boulevard of Selby Pierre I, I saw a lamp hanging in front of the door from a distance. "Okay, just stop here," I whispered, "don't let the sound of the motor startle my mother." The major cooperatively turned off the fire.I reached out to push the door open, but he grabbed my arm from behind. "I have something to tell you, Chartres—whether you believe it or not, the person who killed Miss Guild... was not me..." A dim wall lamp was on in the living room. I moved my stiff legs to the sofa and woke up Miss Dorio who fell asleep on it.After I tried my best to convince her that I was fine, I told her not to tell anyone about tonight, including my mother.Although she was puzzled, she assured me. After persuading this kind old lady to go back to the room, I sat down weakly. I couldn't ignore what the major said at parting, what he was really trying to tell me I could feel vaguely.But I don't want to think too deeply.Because I had a new idea, which even frightened me.But I knew I had to try or I would lose a great opportunity.I don't think the major will expose his weakness in front of me like today. Now that he has made his purpose clear, I should think about what I should do... Time passed by, and I heard the old big clock ticking, knocking a few times to remind me from time to time.When it rang six times in a row, there was a faint mist outside the window, and thin frost had condensed on the glass. I stood up and stretched - I had to get myself in order before my mother could see that I hadn't slept all night, or I'd be in big trouble.So when she came down from upstairs at about seven o'clock, I was drinking milk in the living room pretending to be about the same as usual. "Good morning, Mom." "Good morning, dear." Her warm lips kissed my forehead, "You didn't read the newspaper, what were you thinking?" "A small question." I intimately supported her and walked towards the restaurant. "It's mainly about the good and evil tendencies in human nature?" "Any advice, my philosopher?" "No. I just want to know if it's possible to make a bad guy good." She smiled and patted my hand: "Believe me, child, don't simply say that a person is a 'bad person' or a 'good person'. You have to understand that even murderers have loved their children and helped their neighbors; In the past, even famous philanthropists would bankrupt others because of commercial considerations. If I were me, I would not use simple words to judge 'people'." Her wise blue eyes made me feel clearer: "Is this why father married you despite grandfather's objection?" "Maybe." There was a happy look on her face. "It's good to have you by my side." I thank God from the bottom of my heart. My mother was right.Not just people, but everything as well. Because of Major Portman's secret actions, the assassination case at the Valette Theater was blamed on Mr. Daisy.I don't know what method he used to convince the Gestapo of his nonsense, but the execution of Mr. Deiss did include "planning and carrying out the murder of the Berlin special commissioner and senior police inspector". Yes, executions.They brutally beheaded the publisher. I seemed to be safe, but only under the protection of Mr. Dace's life.While I understand that Major Portman directed it all in order to sell me a favor, I will not be able to shake off the guilt for a long time. "You don't have to be sad about this." He once called me afterward, "In fact, he has no hope of surviving based on the "Giant" incident alone. Instead of sacrificing another person, it is better for him to bear it alone." .Besides, he didn't object when I proposed the idea to him!" Major Portman spoke to me in a chatty tone, and I could see the disapproving look on his face.As far as he is concerned, as long as it is something he doesn't care about, it can be regarded as garbage. So the white terror that had been pervasive for a while in the late autumn of 1941 subsided a little.The troupe of my friends and I resumed normal operations under German supervision. Operation "Swan" is also beginning to recover. I have been concerned that the murder of Mr. Deiss and my safe escape will cause doubts among the members of the operation team.Because it's a strange thing to accept help from a Nazi out of nowhere.I know that explanations are useless, the only use is to draw darker and darker.Fortunately, everything was easier than I thought, because my colleagues trusted me, and when I told them I had some new ideas, they participated in the planning and discussion as before. "Transformation?" François felt wrong at first, "Sir, you said to transform an SS?" "Yes," I said patiently, "I think we can turn him into our helper." "That's too risky!" Daisy shook her head, her beautiful curly hair in big waves, "I don't need to say whether it is successful or not. If he intends to betray, then we will be in the most dangerous situation." "Of course that has to be taken into account." I understand their concern, "but think how convenient it would be if we had an eye inside the Germans. In a few weeks we'll pick up three British pilots and send them to At Le Havre, if you have the help of an SS major, you will be much safer when you pass through the checkpoints along the way. This will greatly reduce the danger of Lou Wangseau and their actions." "That's true." François agreed somewhat. "However, sir, how can you get a Nazi officer to help his enemy?" "First of all, he is different from other fanatics. He has no minimum respect for their head of state. He regards the war as a game of revenge rather than fighting for the 'living space of the Germanic people'. This point I I'm sure! As for how to convince him, it's hard for me to tell you clearly, but I'm sure." "Too risky." "Then let's do this." I knew their worries were justified. "Give me a chance and let me try. If I can convince the British before they come, we will have an extra chance of winning." My young colleagues looked at each other and finally nodded solemnly.