World Literature Classics Library: The Count of Monte Cristo

Chapter 176 Father and Daughter (1)
As we have said in the last chapter, Mrs. Tangra officially notified Mrs. Villefort that Miss Eugenie Tangra and Mr. Andra Cavallecanti will be married in the near future.The announcement of the marriage date is said in a serious manner, so it is stated, or it seems to be stated, that the parties involved in this important event have agreed, but before that, there is one more thing that we should explain to the readers.So we have to invite the reader to take a step back and go back to the morning when disaster ensued, and look at what happened in Tanglar's living room.Tangra is very proud of his living room. We have already introduced to the readers that it is a resplendent and resplendent living room.

About ten o'clock this morning the Baron had been pacing up and down in his drawing-room for several minutes.He looked restless, thinking about something, and watched every door in the drawing room, stopping at the first sound.At last he could bear it no longer, and called in his servant. "Etienne," he said, "go and see why Mademoiselle Eugenie told me to wait for her in the drawing room, and then ask her why she kept me waiting so long." After losing his temper, the Baron I felt a little calmer.

When Miss Tanglar woke up this morning, she sent a servant to tell her father that she had something to see the Baron, and she appointed to meet him in this splendid living room.This method was unique, and it was so solemn that the banker would not ignore it, so he immediately agreed to his daughter's request and went to the living room first.Étienne, who inquired about the situation, returned in a short time. "Miss's personal maid said," he said, "Miss is almost done dressing, and she will be downstairs in a while."

Tang La nodded to express his satisfaction.In front of servants, even in front of his subordinates, Tangla always pretended to be a nice gentleman and a talkative father.His face at this moment was exactly what he would have looked like in the pulp comedy he had set himself to play.He chose for himself what he thought was the right face, the right half was like the mask of the father in ancient dramas, with the lips curled up in a smile, and the left half was the mournful face with drooping lips .But we have to mention one more thing, in front of the family, the lips that are smiling and upturned are drooping, just in line with the lips that are drooping down in mourning, so most of the time, the good man is gone It was the rude and domineering father who played.

"Why is this girl so crazy that she wants to talk to me?" Tangla murmured, "Why don't you just come to my study?" He then thought, "What else does she want to talk to me about? When this disturbing thought was turning over and over in his mind for the twentieth time, the door of the living room opened, and Eugenie walked in.She wore a black satin dress embroidered with dark dark flowers, her hair was flowered, and she wore gloves, as if she were going to an Italian theater. "Well! Eugenie, what's the matter?" cried the father. "Can't we talk in my study? Why do you have to come to this serious drawing room?"

"You are quite right, Monsieur," replied Eugenie, beckoning her father to sit down, "that the two questions you have just asked sum up in advance all that we are about to discuss, and therefore I will Answer each of them. But I want to break with the routine and answer the second question first, because it is easier. I chose the drawing room as the place of interview, sir, to avoid the unpleasant impression in the banker's study and its possible appearance. The psychological effect. The carefully bound and gilded books, the drawers that seemed to be closed tightly like the gates of a fortress, the piles of bank notes from nowhere, the piles of bank notes from England, Holland, Spain, India , China, and Peru, all of which usually have such an inexplicable effect on a father's energy that he forgets that there are more important and sacred things in this world than social status and customer evaluation. Needs care. So I settled on the living room, where you can be delighted and delighted to see portraits of you, mine, and my mother in these beautifully ornate frames, all kinds of idyllic and heartwarming. Pleasant pastoral scenes. I value external appeal, and perhaps, especially to you, this idea is specious, but what can I do? If I don't even have that bit of imagination, I'm not much of an artist gone."

"Very good." Mr. Tangra replied. He listened to this long monologue calmly, but he didn't understand a single sentence. A calculating person like him always wants to find something according to his own way of thinking when he listens to others. implication.

"The second point has been made, or almost made," said Eugenie, with poise, and a manliness in her gesture and tone, "and I see that you seem to be satisfied with my explanation. Now we come to the first point." A question. You ask me why I am looking for you, and I can answer it in one sentence, that is, I do not want to marry the Count Andra Cavalleconti."

Tang Gela jumped up from the chair, raised his eyes to the sky and raised his arms.

"My God, yes, monsieur," continued Eugenie, always in the same calm and composed tone, "you are astonished, I can quite see it, since I have never expressed the slightest objection since the beginning of this little matter." , but I have my own ideas. When necessary, I will openly express my true and firm thoughts to people who don't listen to my own wishes, and to things that I don't like. But this time, this calm, In the words of philosophers, this passivity is due to other reasons, as an obedient and filial daughter..." There was a faint smile on the girl's bright red lips, and she continued, "I think I should obey."

"What's the matter?" Tangra asked.

"Why, monsieur," continued Eugenie, "I have exhausted myself in obedience, and now, at the last moment, in spite of all the efforts I have made, I still feel that it is impossible for me to be obedient." .”

"However, all in all," Tangra said, his intelligence was second-rate, and the reasoning he heard at this time was not only ruthlessly stated, but also sneering due to prior consideration and self-willedness. Man, he was stunned, "The reason for disagreeing, Eugenie, what is the reason?"

"The reason," replied the girl, "hey! My God, it's not that this man is uglier or stupid or hateful than others, no, for those who judge people by their looks and their stature, Andra Kava Monsieur Le Conti is a pretty handsome model. Not because he fails to impress me less than others, that's just the reason boarding-school girls say, and I think I'm way past that stage. I'll never fall in love with any Man, sir, you know that, don't you? So I don't understand why I should attach to my own life a burden that must be a constant companion when it is not absolutely necessary. Didn't the philosopher say it long ago? One said: "Don't covet what is superfluous", and the other said: "You can never take what is outside you." These two maxims were learned when I was studying Latin and Greek. The first sentence, I I think it’s Phaedo (Ancient Roman fable writer (10-54 B.C.).), and the latter sentence is said by Pias, a Greek writer in the sixth century BC. So, my dear father, in this dangerous life boat Because life itself is a catastrophe, sinking all our hopes into the sea, I throw all my useless things into the sea, it is as simple as that. I can stand in this world because I do my own way, because I All I want is to be alone, so that I can be completely at ease."

"Unfortunate! Unfortunate!" Tangla muttered, his face gradually turned pale, because based on his long experience, he knew how solid the obstacle he encountered suddenly was.

"Unfortunately," said Eugenie, "unfortunately! You said it, Monsieur! No, this emotion seems to me purely staged, an affectation. On the contrary, I am happy because, I ask you, I What's missing? People say I'm well-groomed, which is great, and I'm welcomed everywhere. I like the warm and friendly reception, everyone's faces are happy, and the people around me are not so ugly. I have a bit of talent and a bit of inspiration. I can absorb what I think is good from the lives of ordinary people and integrate them into my life. This is like a monkey smashing walnuts to pick up walnut kernels. I am rich because You are one of the richest men in France because I am your only daughter, and you are not so obstinate as the fathers at the Porte Saint-Martin and the Keiler, that you will not deprive your daughter of the privilege of having no grandchildren. Inheritance. Besides, the rainy day law does not allow you to disinherit me, at least not all of my inheritance rights, nor does the law allow you to force me to marry this gentleman or that gentleman. So beautiful, smart, as the comedy theater said Yes, 'some talent', and money besides, that's happiness, sir! Why do you say I'm unlucky?"

Seeing her daughter's smiling face, Tang Gela was conceited to the point of arrogance, and could no longer restrain his violent temper, so she yelled suddenly, but it was just a yell.As soon as he saw his daughter's questioning eyes, and saw her beautiful black eyebrows locked together, showing a questioning expression, he turned around knowingly and calmed down instantly, which is called prudence. His iron hand held them down. "Indeed, my daughter," he replied with a slight smile, "you are boasting about your strengths, except for one thing. I don't want to tell you what it is right away. I think it's better to let you It's better to guess."

Eugenie looked at Tangra, and she couldn't help being surprised. She never expected that she had just put on a crown of flowers so proud of herself, and someone raised objections to a certain flower in the crown.

"My daughter," continued the banker, "you have explained to me very clearly the reasons why a girl like yourself should decide never to marry. Now I shall tell you You, why on earth would a father like me decide that his daughter should marry."

Eugenie got up and curtseyed, but her air was not that of a submissive daughter, but that of an opponent preparing to debate and waiting for the moment to retaliate.

(End of this chapter)