The Count of Monte Cristo Chapter 54 The Storm of Public Debt His mansion is magnificent, like a palace

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After this gathering, a few days later, Albert Marcef went to the Champs Elysées to visit the Count of Monte Cristo. The Count was a great rich man, and although he was a temporary residence, he was also richly decorated, so from the outside he saw his mansion as if it were a palace. Albert had come to thank Madame Tengrale again, and the Baroness herself had written to the Count once to thank her, signed "Baroness Oftes Tengral, mother's family name: Emina Salvio". Accompanying Albert was Lucien Debre, who complimented the count with a few words when he was talking to his friend. The count himself also likes to play with his wrist, of course, it is not difficult to see the other party's intentions. He concluded that Lucien's visit was motivated by curiosity on two fronts, the main one of which came from the Avenida de Anton. In other words, Madame Tenglar could not see what kind of person the Count was, who could throw away a horse worth thirty thousand francs, and the Greek slave girl who had brought with her when watching the opera, who wore diamonds alone worth a million francs, was what she desperately wanted to know, but she was not good at visiting the Count herself, seeing with her own eyes the condition and furnishings of the Count's home, so she sent her most trusted eyes and ears to observe it, and then went back to report to her faithfully. But the letter lord pretended to be unaware, and seemed to be unaware of the relationship between Lucien's visit and the baroness's curiosity.

"So you and Baron Tenglar have been interacting with each other?" The count asked Albert Marsef.

"Yes, Count, I told you."

"So, that thing hasn't changed a bit?"

"This matter can be said to be completely foregone conclusion." Lucien said. He probably thought he should have said such a thing, so when he finished, he put on his monolithic glasses and bit the armrest of the golden-headed cane in his mouth, and swam around the room, looking at the coats of arms and pictures.

"Oh!" The Count of Monte Cristo said, "After listening to you, I really didn't expect this to happen so quickly. ”

"Well, things are on track, and we don't need to do anything." We've long since left this sort of thing behind us, and they can solve it on their own. When we pay more attention, we will unexpectedly find that they will immediately reach the desired goal. His father served in Spain with Mr. Tenglar, his father in the combat unit, and Mr. Tenglar in the catering department. The father was bankrupt because of the revolution, but Mr. Tenglar had no ancestral inheritance at all, and both of them laid the foundation there and started slowly. ”

"Indeed," said Monte Cristo, "I remember once when I visited him, he told me about it. "At this point, he glanced obliquely at Lucien and saw that he was flipping through a commemorative book." Also, is Miss Eugenie pretty, I remember as if she was called that name, wasn't she? ”

"Beautiful, so to speak, beautiful," replied Albert, "but I can't appreciate her type of beauty." I don't know good people. ”

"You speak as if you've already become her husband."

"Ah!" Albert replied, turning his head to see what Lucien was doing.

"Tell the truth," said Monte Cristo, lowering his voice, "it seems to me that you are not very enthusiastic about the marriage. ”

"Miss Tenglar is too rich for me to climb high," replied Marsef, "so I am a little timid." ”

"Oh!" Monte Cristo exclaimed, "This reason is so subtle! Aren't you rich yourself? ”

"My father's annual income is about fifty thousand livres, and when I get married, he will probably give me ten thousand or twelve thousand."

"Is this a great number, especially in Greater Paris," said the Count, "but not everything depends on money, and fame and social status are also important." Your reputation is good, your status is the envy of everyone, and Count Marcefe is a soldier, and the marriage of an officer's son to a civilian family is indeed a very celebratory thing, and it is a noble act to enter into marriage without consideration of interests. In my opinion, it is most appropriate to combine with Miss Tenglar, who can make you rich and you can make her noble. ”

Albert shook his head, looking thoughtful. "There are other cases." he said.

"I admit it." Monte Cristo said, "I really don't understand why you would reject a rich and beautiful lady. ”

"Oh!" "This feeling of disgust, if I can call it, is not entirely my fault," Mulsev said. ”

"So who can cause it?" You told me that Ling Zun was very much in favor of this marriage. ”

"The mother of the house does not approve, her judgment has always been clear and profound, but she is not optimistic about the marriage under negotiation. I couldn't tell what it was for, but she seemed to have some prejudice against the Tenglar family. ”

"Oh!" The count said in a slightly reluctant tone, "It is probably easy to explain that Countess Marcefe is the most valuable nobleman, so it is only natural that you are not willing to marry a family of lowly origins." ”

"I don't know if that's her reason," Albert said, "but one thing I know is that if the marriage is successful, she will feel a lot of pain." Six weeks ago, we were going to talk together to settle the matter, but suddenly I fell ill..."

"Is it?" The count smiled and interrupted him and asked.

"Oh, will there be any fakes?" Of course it's rushed out. In this way, the negotiations were postponed for two months. You know, I'm not yet twenty-one, and Eugenie is only seventeen. But those two-month periods are due next week. Things had to be done. Dear Count, you cannot imagine how much trouble is in my heart. Yikes! How happy is someone as free as you are! ”

"Good! Why don't you be a free man too? Who wouldn't let you do that? ”

"Oh! If I hadn't married Miss Tenglar, my father would have been so disappointed. ”

"Then marry her." The count said, shrugging sarcastically.

"But," replied Marseff. "That will make the mother miserable."

"Then don't marry her." The count said.

"Hey, I'll watch it. I've got to think hard and come up with the best way to do it. Would you please give me a piece of advice, and if possible, rescue me from this embarrassing situation again, okay? I thought that rather than make my good mother sad, I would rather have a stomach offense. ”

Monte Cristo turned, and the last words seemed to touch him. "Ah!" He asked debray. Debray was leaning back in an easy chair at the other end of the living room, with a pencil in his right hand and a copybook in his left. "What are you doing there?" Copying Boson's paintings? ”

"No, no! What I'm doing now is a hundred and eighteen thousand miles away from painting. I'm solving math. ”

"Math?"

"Yes, I'm counting—slowly, Marceff, this has something to do with you, and I'm calculating how much money the Bank of Tenglar made last time the price of Haiti's bonds went up, and within three days it went from 206 to 409, and the cautious banker bought most of the shares at 206. He must have gotten three hundred thousand livres. ”

"It's not his job," Mr. Mulsef said, "didn't he make a million dollars on the Spanish stock market last year?" ”

"My good sir," said Lucien, "here the Count of Monte Cristo is, and he can quote you two verses from the Italians: What is the promise of life, riches and freedom." When they told me about it, I always shrugged my shoulders and didn't say anything. ”

"But aren't you talking about Haiti's public debt?" Monte Cristo said.

"Ah, Haitian bonds! That's another matter! Haitian bonds belong to the 'Alcades' in French securities gambling. They may like to play 'poker', 'Whistler', indulge in 'Boston', but those who are bored after a long time, and finally they have to come back to play 'Echo', because this is not boring. Monsieur Tenglar threw it yesterday at 406 and fished out three hundred thousand francs into his pocket. If he had waited until now, the price would have fallen to twenty-five, and he would not only have earned less than three hundred thousand francs, but he would have to lose twenty thousand or twenty-five thousand. ”

"How did it suddenly fall from 409 to 205?" Monte Cristo asked. "Forgive me, I'm so ignorant of this kind of security gambling trick."

"Because," Albert laughed, "the information comes one after another, and the information before and after is often very different." ”

"Ah," said the Count, "I see it is a common thing for Monsieur Tenglar to win or lose three hundred thousand francs in one day, and he must be very rich. ”

"It's not him gambling," cried Lucien, "but Madame Tenglar, who is so bold." ”

"But you're a very sane person, Lucien, and you know how unreliable the information is now, and since you're a source of information, you certainly should stop this kind of thing." Marsef said with a smile.

"Her husband can't control her at all, so how can I make a difference?"

Lucien asked, "You know the baroness's personality, no one can influence her, she can do whatever she wants." ”

"Ah, if I were in your place," Albert said.

"How's it going?"

"I'm going to change her, and that's a boost to her future son-in-law."

"How can you help?"

"Ah, that's simple, I'm going to teach her a lesson."

"Lesson?"

"Yes. Your position as minister's secretary gives you authority in disseminating political information, and as soon as you open your mouth, the securities speculators immediately record your words. You let her lose a hundred thousand francs at once, and you can teach her to be cautious. ”

"I don't understand what you mean." Lucien whispered.

"It is obvious," replied the young man bluntly in an unpretentious tone, "to pick an appropriate day to reveal to her a piece of information that the outside world does not know, or an urgent news that only you know, for example, that henry IV was seen yesterday at The House of Gablari. That would make the price of public debt go up. She would make her decision on the basis of the news, and the next day, when Beauchamp announced in his newspaper, 'It was rumored that the king had been witnessed yesterday in the House of Brari, and the news was baseless.' This newspaper can confirm that Her Majesty has not left the new bridge' when she will certainly eclipse the book. ”

Lucien had a smirk on his face. Monte Cristo, though seemingly indifferent, took the conversation to heart without missing a word, and his insightful gaze had even read a secret implicit in the secretary's confused attitude. This confused attitude Albert paid no attention to, and Lucien hastily ended his problems; he was clearly disturbed. The Count whispered something to him as he sent him away, and he replied, "Very well, Your Excellency, I accept your suggestion. The count returned to the little Marsef.

"Don't you think," he said to him, "is it inappropriate for you to talk about your mother-in-law in front of Debray?" ”

"Your Excellency," said Marsef, "please do not use that title too soon. ”

"Now, tell me honestly, is Ling Tang really very opposed to this marriage?"

"Very much against it, so the Baroness rarely came to our house, and the mother, I think, she never visited Madame Tenglar more than twice in her life."

"Then," said the Count, "I can speak to you with confidence and frankness." Monsieur Danglar was my banker, and Monsieur Villefort had come to visit me very politely because I happened to have helped him once. I guess the banquet will come and go. Now, in order to show that I do not expect them to ask, and to be one step ahead of them, I would like to invite Mr. and Mrs. Tenglar and Mr. and Mrs. Villefort to dinner at my Otey cottage. If I had invited you and the Lingzun Lingtang at the same time, it would have looked as if it were a banquet to facilitate the marriage, at least Madame Marsef would have seen it, especially if Baron Tenggrar had brought her daughter with her. Then Lingtang will feel disgusted with me, and that is exactly what I absolutely do not want to see; on the contrary, please explain to her that you will have time to explain to her that I would like to be respected by her. ”

"Really, Count," said Malseff, "I sincerely thank you for your frank confession to me, and I gratefully accept your suggestion of excluding me. You say you want to get your mother's affection, and I can assure you that her affection for you is already extraordinary. ”

"Do you think so?" Monte Cristo asked with interest.

"Oh, I'm sure of that. After you were gone that day, we talked about you for an hour. Now let's talk about what we just said. If my mother understood your consideration, I would explain it to her, and I am sure she would be very grateful to you, but if my father knew, he would be very annoyed. ”

The count burst out laughing. "Oh," he said to Marseff, "I suppose it is not only Ling zun who is greatly annoyed." Mr. and Mrs. Tenglar would also see me as a very unpretentious person. They know that I am close to you, and indeed, you are one of the people I have known for the longest time in Paris, and if they don't see you, they will have to ask me why I did not invite you. You have to make an excuse for your idea that has been arranged in advance, and you have to look like it's real, and then write a note and tell me. You know, dealing with a banker without written proof won't work. ”

"I have a better way," said Albert, "and my mother was going to the beach, but on what day did you plan to entertain her?" ”

"Saturday."

"Today is Tuesday, we will leave tomorrow evening, and the day after tomorrow we will arrive in Le Harbor. Really, Your Excellency, Count, you are indeed a person to like and to put everyone at ease. ”

"You're so much of an award, I just don't want to embarrass you."

"When do you send the invitation?"

"Send it today."

"Well, I will at once visit Monsieur Tenglar and tell him that my mother and I are leaving Paris tomorrow. I haven't seen you, so I don't know anything about your hospitality. ”

"Look stupid! Have you forgotten that Mr. Debray didn't see you here with me just now? ”

"Oh, really!"

"On the contrary, I have met you and invited you informally, and you immediately say that you cannot be invited because you are going to The Port of Loei."

"Well, then, that's it. But you come to visit your mother once before tomorrow, right? ”

"Before tomorrow?" It's not easy to do, and besides, you have to be busy preparing for your journey. ”

"That's great! Let's get a hand more beautiful. You used to be cute, but if you take my advice, you're admirable. ”

"How can I get this honor?"

"You are as free as air today, please join me for dinner." We don't invite anyone else—just you, your mother, and me. You can say that you have not yet met your mother, and you can have a chance to observe her more closely. She is an extraordinary woman, and the only thing I regret is that there will be no woman in the world as good as her and twenty years younger than her, and if so, I assure you that it will not be long before there will be another Viscountess Of Marsef besides Countess Malceff. As for my father, you can't touch him, he attends official events and goes to the royal house for a banquet. We can talk about our past travels, and you, you are the one who has traveled all over the world, you can talk about your adventures. You can tell us about the Greek beauty who accompanied you to the theater that night, where you called her your slave and actually treated her like a princess. How about accepting my invitation, my mother will thank you too. ”

"Thank you very much," said the Count, "your invitation is the most admirable, but I am truly sorry that I really cannot accept it." I'm not as free as you might think, on the contrary, I have a very important date. ”

"Oh, beware! You just taught me how to make up a credible excuse to push back when I meet someone for dinner. I'm going to see if you have any evidence of dating beforehand. Although I am not a banker like Mr. Tenglar, my paranoia is not inferior to his. ”

"I'll give you the evidence." The count replied, and he pulled the bell.

"Ahem!" "This is the second time you've avoided eating with your mother, and you're obviously trying to avoid her," Mr. Morsef said. ”

Monte Cristo was taken aback. "Oh, you're kidding!" He said, "Besides, the one who proves my word has come. "Papustin came in and stood at the door." I didn't know you were coming to see me, did I? ”

"To be honest, you are such an extraordinary person, I am not willing to answer this question."

"In a word, I don't guess you're going to invite me to dinner, right?"

"Probably."

"So, listen to me, Papustin, what did I tell you this morning when I asked you to go to the lab?"

"As soon as I knock at five o'clock, I close the door and thank you." The follower answered.

"And then what?"

"Ah, Your Excellency, Earl," said Albert.

"No, no, I want to dispense with the mysterious title you have given me, my dear Viscount, and it is very uninteresting to always play Manferet. I want my life to be made public. Put it on, Papustin. ”

"Then all the guests, with the exception of Major Bartholomeo Cavalcanti and his son, declined."

"You heard it: Major Bartholomeo Cavalcanti, one of the longest-lasting nobles in Italian history, whose family's daimyo, Dante, is highly praised in the tenth verse of Hell. Do you remember, don't you remember? And his son, a lovely young man about the same age as you, with your viscount title, who was about to take his father's family fortune into Parisian society. The Major came this evening with his son and entrusted me to take care of him. If I see that he is really worthy of my care, of course I will try to help him, and you will also do me a favor, how about it? ”

"Absolutely no problem! So, is Major Cavalcanti your old friend? ”

"Absolutely not. He was a respected nobleman, very courteous and very easy-going, and most of the descendants of Italy's ancient giants were like this. I had met him a few times in Florence, Bologne and Lucca, and he was now informing me that I was coming here. People you know during your trip often ask you this way. You have happened to have some kind of interaction with them on your travels, and they expect to be received the same wherever you go, as if you had dedicated an hour of hospitality to make you care for them forever. This Major Cavalcanti came to Paris for the second time, in the Imperial era, when he was in Moscow and passed through this place. He entrusted his son to my care at a meal, and I could promise him well. No matter what he does, I will always have to do what he wants, and then my responsibilities will be fulfilled. ”

"Of course, I found you to be a rare mentor," Albert said.

"Well, goodbye, we'll be back on Sunday. By the way, I got news from France. ”

"Really? Is he still playing in Italy? ”

"I think so. However, he feels very sorry that you are not there. He said you are the sun of Rome, and without you everything would have been dark and gloomy, and I don't know if he said it was like it was raining. ”

"So did his opinion of me change?"

"No, he still insists on seeing you as the most incredible and mysterious person."

"He was a lovely young man," said Monte Cristo, "and the first time I saw him was that night when I heard that he was looking for dinner, and I invited him to come and eat with me, and I became very interested in him. I seem to remember him as the son of General Epinay, right? ”

"Yes."

"The one who was shamelessly assassinated in 1815?"

"He was assassinated by the Napoleonic Party."

"That's right! I really like him very much, isn't he also talking about a family affair? ”

"Yes, he is about to marry Miss Villefort."

"Really?"

"Just as I am about to marry Miss Tenglar." Albert said with a smile.

"You're laughing!"

"Yes."

"Laughing at what?"

I laughed because his object was like mine, and he hoped that this marriage would come to fruition. But seriously, dear Count, we are talking about men like women now. This is unforgivable! Albert stood up.

"Do you want to go?"

"Really, you're so nice! I delayed you for two hours and annoyed you to death, but you still asked me so politely if I was leaving! Truth be told, Count, you are the most elegant person in the world! And your servants, who also have a great attitude. They were all very personable, especially Mr. Papustin, and I would never find a man like him, and my servants seemed to be imitating the most clumsy characters on the stage to come out and say a word or two. So if you dismissEd Papustin that day, please let me know. ”

"Yes, Viscount."

"One more thing. Please greet on my behalf to your honorable guest, The Kavalkanti of the Kaval kanti, who can help if he intends to start a family for his son, and if he wishes to find a very rich wife for him.

"Oh, oh! Are you really willing to do this kind of thing? ”

"Well, really, things in this world are inherently uncertain."

"Oh, Count, you've done me a great favor!" If I had your intervention, I could still be a bachelor, and I would have liked you a hundredfold, even if I had been single for another ten years without regrets. ”

"There is nothing impossible in the world." Monte Cristo answered solemnly. After sending Albert away, he returned to the house and rang the bell three times. Bertuccio came in.

"Mr. Bertuccio, you know I'm going to be entertained at Otey on Saturday."

Bertuccio winced. "I want you to supervise everything. That house is beautiful, at least it could be furnished into a beautiful house. ”

"To be called beautiful, you have to make a big effort, Your Excellency, because those curtains and curtains are too old."

"Then replace them all, but you don't have to change the bedroom with the red satin curtain, and you don't have to touch it in that room." Bertuccio bowed.

"You don't have to touch that garden either. As for the vestibule, whatever you want to arrange it, I hope it will be completely unrecognizable. ”

"I will do my best to do as you wish, Your Excellency, Count. But with regard to hospitality, I would love to be instructed by an adult. ”

"To tell you the truth, my dear Monsieur Bertuchio," said the Count, "since your arrival in Paris you have become insane, and it is evident that you are not as you were, and you no longer seem to understand what I mean. ”

"Can you please ask the adults to give me the guests you want to invite first?"

"I don't know it myself, and you don't have to know it. Who invites whomever eats, it is enough to understand this. Bertuccio bowed and left the room.

Click on the links below to review past highlights:

Count of Monte Cristo Chapter 53 Villain Roberto Royal Theatre, Lion Box