Leonard slept until noon before getting up, skipping his last morning class before the Easter holiday.
After drinking a glass of water, he decided to skip his afternoon classes too, officially starting his Easter holiday.
However, not many students went to class at the Sorbonne today, and the professors tacitly allowed this situation—after all, many students manage to stretch these two weeks of holiday into four.
During lunch, Leonard saw that Alice's eyes were red and asked with concern,
"What's wrong? Are you homesick?"
Alice wiped her eyes and shook her head,
"No... Leon, how could you be so cruel?"
Leonard: "Huh?"
Before Alice could speak again, Betty raised her hand and finished her sentence for her:
"Sister Alice read Young Master's novel and cried for almost an hour!
She said the fate Young Master arranged for the heroine was too tragic, always loving the man, but the man never remembered her..."
When Alice heard Betty's words, her eyes couldn't help but redden again, looking as if she was about to cry.
Leonard quickly comforted her:
"The novel is fictional, don't take it seriously—how could there be such a miserable woman and such a heartless man in reality?
It's all market demand, Alice.
Female readers need to satisfy their fantasies of a love involving separation by life and death, while male readers need to satisfy their yearning for the dashing life of a playboy..."
It has to be said, Letter from an Unknown Woman was still too intense for readers of this era!
People's reading experience with 'angst romance', at its most extreme, was merely the love-hate drama after the landlord's eldest son seduced a maid.
They absolutely could not imagine someone loving another for an entire lifetime like the heroine of Letter from an Unknown Woman, with the other person remaining completely unaware.
To some extent, this novel redefined "love."
In traditional views of love, regardless of the process or outcome, there must always be a process of mutual acquaintance and understanding between the man and woman.
This novel, however, told readers that love could also be pure unrequited love, with one party devoted unto death, and the other completely oblivious.
Alice looked at Leonard with a mixture of belief and doubt:
"Really?
Leon, don't lie to me...
I think you've changed.
The Leonard in Paris and the Leonard in the Alps are completely two different people!"
She struggled hard to hold back from saying the proverb,
"Men go bad when they come to Paris."
Leonard didn't rush to refute.
Instead, he smiled faintly:
"Oh? What was the Leonard in the Alps like?"
Alice seemed to fall into thought.
After a long while, she said:
"The Leonard in the Alps... was smart, polite, spoke slowly, was shy, and always walked with a slight hunch, afraid that others would think he was too tall..."
Leonard listened while cutting a piece of meat from his plate and putting it into his mouth.
With one bite, rich juices filled his mouth.
"So, is my change not a good thing?" Leonard asked her.
Alice shook her head:
"I don't know...
You're still so smart, so polite... even smarter now, able to write such a good novel.
But... but..."
She didn't finish her sentence after all and began to quietly lower her head and eat.
But what exactly came after "but," Leonard didn't press.
Such questions inherently had no answer.
However, to ease the awkward atmosphere, Leonard suggested:
"How about we go for an outing tomorrow?
Saint-Cloud Park?
Boulogne Forest?
Versailles?
Or would you like to row a boat on the Seine?"
This topic finally swept away the gloomy atmosphere at the dining table, and Betty also smiled.
Alice thought for a moment:
"How can the parks and forests of Paris compare to the Alps?
...I want to see the Seine River.
I've read about it many times in books, but I've never really seen it properly."
Leonard snapped his fingers:
"Alright, then we'll go to the Seine!"
————
Not everyone was as relaxed and cheerful as Leonard.
For example, Gabriel, the owner of Le Vacarme.
Busy with various negotiations, it wasn't until this morning that he received replies from "An Honest Parisian."
There were two letters in total.
One was a refusal, and the other was also a refusal.
Gabriel didn't expect the other party to be so cautious, refusing to take the 3,000 francs right in front of them, and even returning the 300 francs that had been paid in advance.
He even immediately wrote another letter, but that same afternoon he received it back.
The post office's return receipt stated:
"Address deactivated."
"What a cunning old fox!"
Gabriel remarked.
He then asked Pierre, his valet, who was standing before him:
"Are you sure it was only that young man from beginning to end?"
Pierre nodded and added:
"I've tracked him twice.
The first time, two months ago, he went to an old and dilapidated apartment in the 11th arrondissement.
The landlady there was like a witch straight out of a knight's novel.
This time he didn't go to the 11th arrondissement but headed towards the 5th arrondissement.
However, there were too many carriages on the way.
I was held up for a while, and the public carriage he was on disappeared.
I could only deduce from the public carriage routes that he probably went to Boulevard Saint-Germain, Rue d'Antin, or Boulevard Haussmann."
Gabriel asked again:
"Are you sure he's a Sorbonne student named Leonard?"
Pierre replied:
"His neighbors at that apartment in the 11th arrondissement told me!
But as soon as I tried to ask more, that old witch kicked me out."
Gabriel fell into thought.
The 11th arrondissement was basically a slum, so it wasn't strange for a poor university student to live there.
Boulevard Saint-Germain and Rue d'Antin were both areas where the middle class gathered, so that "Leonard" certainly couldn't afford to live there.
The only possibility then was that "An Honest Parisian" lived there, or at least they met there.
Paris had twenty thousand cafes, any one of which could be used to pass messages and mail, and absolutely no one would notice.
Gabriel had been under immense pressure these past couple of days—
He visited Bishop Guibert twice, but was told both times that the bishop was accompanying the cardinal on a diocesan tour and was not at the cathedral.
He also visited Director Gigot.
He wasn't turned away, but the meeting was in a public reception room, not an office.
Furthermore, he sought out several council members he knew; either they avoided him, or they spoke in officialese.
Only one frankly told him,
"You should go hide in London or Berlin."
All signs pointed to the worst possible outcome.
However, the Easter holiday gave him two weeks of breathing room.
During these two weeks, even if Napoleon IV led the British army across the Channel, French civil servants would not give up their holidays.
Gabriel could calmly leave Paris with his money.
The only regret was not being able to take the second part of The Decaying City.
When he would return was unknown, and whether he would still be able to contact "An Honest Parisian" then was also an unknown.
He then took out a piece of letter paper, scribbled a few lines on it, put it into an envelope, and handed it to Pierre:
"I'll be leaving for England in a few days.
Keep the newspaper running as before for a while.
If it really can't be maintained, shut it down.
If the police come looking for me, give them this letter."
Pierre, long accustomed to such situations, tucked the letter into his breast pocket and bowed to Gabriel:
"As you wish, sir!"
(End of this chapter)
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