World Literature Classics Library: The Count of Monte Cristo

Chapter 181 The Bell Bottle Hotel (1)
Let's leave Miss Tangra and her girlfriends alone now, and let's not talk about how they drove down the road to Belgium, and let's look back at this poor Andra Cavalcanti, and say that he is going to make a fortune , But unfortunately, what happened after being blocked halfway.

Although Mr. Andra Cavallecanti is young, he has a sharp mind and a quick mind.As soon as the sound of the wind entered the living room, we saw him leaning towards the door step by step, passing through two or three rooms, and finally escaping.There is one fact that we forgot to mention just now, but this fact should not be omitted, that is, in the room that Cavalle Conti just passed through, there is a room where the bride's complete dowry is placed, there are boxes of diamonds, there are cashmere Shawl, there is Valencier, a city in northern France.lace, English veils, in short, all those seductive things that make a girl's heart beat with delight at the mere mention of the name, what is called a wedding present.And so, as Andra walked through the room, it was really evident that he was a quick-witted young man, and a man of forethought, for he swept away the most expensive jewels that were there.Having obtained such a sum of money, Andra suddenly felt half relieved, so she easily jumped out of the window and slipped away from the gendarmerie's grasp.

Andra was as tall as an ancient warrior, agile in movement, and as strong as a Spartan. He ran for a quarter of an hour without knowing where he was going. There was only one thought in his mind, to get away from that almost horrific place. where caught.He came out of the Rue Mont Blanc, with the instinct of a thief to escape the checkpoint, and like a rabbit with the instinct to find his nest, he has run to the end of Lafayette Street.He was out of breath now, puffing, puffing, and stopped there.There was no one in the front, back, left, or right. On the left was a large empty garden surrounded by the Saint-Lazare Church, and on the right was the dark city of Paris.

"Am I really doomed?" he asked to himself. "As long as I am better than my enemy, I will not be. Whether I can be saved now depends on how far I can escape."

At this moment he saw a cab approaching from Poissonier's side, the driver was smoking a pipe lazily, and it seemed that he wanted to go back to the corner of the street from Saint-Denis, where he usually stopped to wait for passengers.

"Hello, friend!" cried Benedetto.

"By carriage, sir?" asked the coachman.

"Is your horse tired?"

"Tired of running? Ah, yes! He didn't do much work all day today, and he only ran four times, all short distances of a few steps, and at 20 sous each, the total was only seven francs. I have to pay the dealer for ten francs!"

"The seven francs don't count, do you want another twenty francs from me?"

"Of course, Monsieur. Twenty francs is not a small number. Where? You speak."

"As long as your horse is not tired, the road is not difficult."

"Let me tell you this, this horse runs like the wind, tell me which way to go?"

"The direction of Louvre."

"Ha! Ha! Got it, isn't that the place where sweet wine is made?"

"That's right. I'm going after a friend. Tomorrow I'll go hunting with him at Chapelle-Seval. He said he'd wait for me in a buggy until half past eleven, and it's twelve o'clock now. He'll be sure." I got impatient and left alone."

"Maybe."

"How about it, do you want to chase him for a walk?"

"I can't ask for more."

"Twenty francs if we don't catch him by Bourget, and thirty francs if we don't catch him by Louvre."

"What if we catch up?"

"Forty francs!" said Andra.He hesitated for a moment, but then he thought about it, there is no danger in talking big words first.

"Okay!" said the coachman, "get in the car, let's go—drive!"

Andra got into the light carriage, and the carriage quickly passed through Saint-Denis, followed Saint-Martin, passed through the gate of the city, and embarked on the endless avenue to Villette.This fictitious friend is absolutely impossible to catch up with, but Cavalle Conti from time to time asks pedestrians walking at night or small roadside hotels that have not closed their doors if they have seen a car drawn by a bay red horse. Green two-wheeled buggy.And on this road leading to Holland, buggies abound, and nine out of ten are green, so every time you ask, people will say a lot of things like this.Everyone said that when they saw the carriage passing by, they were 500, 200, and 100 steps ahead, and finally caught up, but it was not the friend's car.On one occasion, Andra's buggy was overtaken by someone, it was an open four-wheeled carriage drawn by two stage horses, galloping past. "Ah!" said Cavalle-Conti to himself, "if I can get this carriage, these two fine horses, and above all the passports that are necessary to rent the carriage and the horses, then How wonderful!" He couldn't help but sighed deeply.And this open four-wheeled carriage happened to be the one in which Miss Tanglar and Miss Amely were traveling. "Quick! Quick!" cried Andra, "we must not dawdle, we must overtake him." And the poor workhorse, which had been galloping since it left the city gate, galloped again, steaming all over. Rush to Louvre.

"Forget it," Andra said, "I think my friend will not be able to catch up, and your horse will be exhausted by me. It's better, I won't chase at all, this is for you 30 Francs. I will stay overnight at the Red Horse Hotel, and I will get into the carriage tomorrow if there is a seat. Good night, friend." Andra put six five-franc silver coins into the driver's hand, and then jumped to Stone paved road.The coachman happily put the money in his pocket and drove slowly back to Paris.Andra pretended to walk towards the Red Horse Hotel, and then stood at the hotel entrance for a while, listening to the carriage gradually go away, and at last the sound ceased, so he started on his way again, trotting all the way for two miles.

At this time, he stopped to take a rest. Not far ahead was probably Chapelle-Sébar, where he said he was going.It wasn't because Andra Cavallecanti stopped because he was tired, but because he had to make a decisive decision now, and he had to find a way out.It is impossible to travel in a stagecoach; it is also impossible to rent a stagecoach, either of which requires a passport.Staying in Oise like this is the most difficult province in France to hide and the authorities have the most stringent precautions, so it is impossible to stay here, and if a habitual criminal like Andra wants to stay, it is even more difficult Impossible.Andra sat on the slope of the roadside gutter, holding her head in her hands and thinking hard. After 10 minutes, he looked up, his idea had been made.

As he slipped out, he passed the vestibule and pulled a coat from a hanger just enough to cover his ball attire, dusted half the coat with dust, and asked Sharpay. Le-Serval walked and knocked on the door of the only hotel in the area with a big face.The boss came and opened the door. "My friend," said Andra, "I came from Montelfontaine, and I wanted to go to Sanly, but my horse, which is a strong horse, twisted in the road and threw me ten paces. Today I must go to Compiègne in the evening, so as not to worry about me at home. Can you rent me a horse?" No matter if it is a good horse or a poor horse, as long as there is an inn, there will always be a horse.The owner of the Chapelle-Seval Hotel then called the man in charge of the stables and told him to saddle the horse named "Little White Colt", and then woke up his 7-year-old son, let him and the gentleman Ride the horse together, and then ride the horse back by yourself.Andra took out 20 francs to the boss, and when he took the money out of his pocket, he dropped a business card on the ground in a daze.This card belonged to a friend he made in a Paris café, so when Andra left, the hotel owner picked up the card that had fallen from Andra's pocket, thinking that he had rented the horse to St. Mr. Count Morleon, No. 25 Dominique Street, in fact, this is just the name and address printed on the business card.

The "little white horse" was not walking fast, but his pace was even and he did not slack off. In three and a half hours, Andra completed the 70 miles to Compiègne, when he arrived at the stage of the stagecoach parking lot. At that time, the big clock in the city hall just struck 4 o'clock in the morning.Compiègne has a very fine hotel, and anyone who has stayed there, even once, remembers that it was really good.Andra, who often travels around Paris, stayed in this hotel once, so he still remembered the bell bottle hotel.He looked around and saw the hotel's sign through the dim street lights.So he gave the boy all the little money he had left, sent him away, and went to knock on the door himself. At this time, he had an idea, thinking that he still had three or four hours, and he had better have a good meal. , and then sleep comfortably, and then run again will not be powerless.It was a guy who came to answer the door. "My friend," said Andra, "I came from Saint-Jean-Aupova, and when I left I had just finished dinner, and I wanted to take the carriage at twelve o'clock in the middle of the night, but I lost my way. , As a result, I wandered around in the forest for 12 hours. You can open me a more comfortable room with a window facing the courtyard, and send me a plate of frozen chicken and a bottle of Bordeaux."

The hotel clerk was not suspicious.Andra spoke calmly, with a cigar in her mouth, and her hands in the pockets of her jacket. He was elegantly dressed, clean-shaven, and his boots were faultless. Look at him. It looked like he lived somewhere nearby, but he was delayed on the way and came late, and nothing else.The man went to prepare the room for him, when the proprietress also got up.Andra went forward with a smile on her face and asked the proprietress if he could live in room 3, because he also lived in room 3 when he came to Compiègne last time.Unfortunately, room 3 already lived in a young man who was traveling with his sister.Andra seemed to be very disappointed. It was only after the proprietress told him that the location of No. 7 room prepared for him was exactly the same as that of No. 3, and he was relieved.So he warmed his feet in front of the fire, chatting about the recent race at Chantilly, and waited for the chap to come and tell him the room was ready.

Andra praised the rooms facing the courtyard, not without reason.The vestibule of the Bell Bottle Hotel is surrounded by porches on three sides, much like the main hall of a theater. The porch columns are as light as natural carvings, and frangipani and clematis are coiled on them.Such a courtyard can really be said to be the most exquisite and lovely courtyard among all the hotels in the world.The frozen chicken was delicious, the wine was old, and the fire was crackling brightly in the fireplace, and Andra couldn't help but wonder that his appetite was still so good, as if nothing bad happened to him at all.Then he went to bed, and as soon as he lay down fell asleep, a relentless drowsiness that a young man of twenty could not resist, even when his conscience was condemned.

However, we have to admit that Andra, who should have been blamed by her conscience, still feels at ease at this time.Andra has already figured out a method that seems to him to be foolproof.He got up at dawn, paid the bill properly, and then left the hotel and went straight to the forest, saying that he was out to practice painting.Spend some money to stop at some peasant's house, try to get a lumberjack's suit and an axe, change my dandy outfit, put on that lumberjack's suit, and paint my hands mud, and browned his hair with a lead comb, and made his complexion as sunburnt as his former companions had taught him.He just went from forest to forest, forest to forest, and walked towards the nearest border, only walking at night, sleeping in bushes or quarries during the day, and occasionally buying a piece of bread in a populated place.As soon as he crossed the border, Andra could exchange all those diamonds for money, plus the 10 banknotes that he always carried with him in case of unexpected accidents, the total was 5 livres. According to his philosophy, this It can't be said that the mountains and rivers are exhausted.Moreover, he always felt that the Tangla family would cover up their misfortune if they thought about themselves.So Andra felt very at ease. Coupled with being tired, he fell asleep very quickly, and slept so soundly.

Also, in order to be able to wake up early in the morning, Andra did not close the blinds, but just bolted the door, and put a sharp knife with an open blade on the bedside table.Andra is very knowledgeable and knows that this knife is well tempered, so she always carries it with her wherever she goes.At about 7 o'clock in the morning, Andra was awakened by the warm and bright sunlight shining on her face. All orderly minds have a main idea at any time. We can say that this main idea begins when falling asleep The last one relaxes, and the first one emits a flash when waking up, illuminating the whole thinking activity.Before Andra had fully opened his eyes, his main thought was tugging at his heart, whispering in his ear that he had overslept.He immediately jumped out of bed and ran to the window.A gendarme was passing by in the courtyard.

The gendarme is one of the creepiest things in the world, and even a relieved man would be terrified at the sight of it, and to a man who is terrified, and for some reason really terrified, the yellow and blue on his uniform The three colors of white are indeed depressing. "How could there be a gendarme?" Andra thought to herself.But in an instant, he found the answer for himself—readers must have noticed that he had his own logic; "It's not surprising that a gendarme comes to the hotel, but it's true that I should get dressed quickly." So the young man Get dressed quickly.For the past few months, he had been living a fashionable life in Paris, but the speed of dressing was not unfamiliar because of the servants. "Okay," Andra said while getting dressed, "I'll wait for him to leave first, and whenever he leaves, I'll slip away."

(End of this chapter)