The Happy Life of a Duchess

"So what?!"

Margaret stood in front of everyone, on a platform in the square.

It was just the right platform, right in the center, slightly higher than the surrounding ones.

Under the eyes of everyone, she looked calm, and she looked calm when facing the man who tried to attack her personally, she was so brave and fearless, and she didn't flinch in the slightest.

Facing the slander of her past experience and life experience by strange men, and even insulting her personality and everything, she showed surprising strength.

It's no longer the look of the past, where she would have a headache and feel sad when she encounters anything. She already has firm beliefs and beliefs, and she will never feel pain easily due to such insults.

"Who's going to judge me..." Margaret slowly raised the corners of her lips. She looked straight at the other person with sharp eyes. She opened her arms, "God."

"I once prayed devoutly in the church and wrote the Bible over and over in front of the statue of the Virgin Mary. I wish I could replace it with blood. The bishop is very clear about my sincere repentance. I will no longer be afraid of your slander, no one is completely innocent."

"Do you dare to say, sir, that you have never had an inappropriate relationship with a courtesan, can you say that you have never imagined in your head with those wonderful whores... No, I believe, No." She sneered.

"Then, if you are so sorry to your wife, why do you blame all the mistakes on the prostitute?"

"You know, you once promised God in the church that you would take good care of your wife forever. You broke the agreement first. And the prostitutes, they certainly committed fornication, but I and many others once The same, we are all single, what is wrong with single men and women?"

"It was you who broke the oath. You have said so badly about a person like me, so what kind of noble person are you?" Margaret looked at the other party and smiled again.

"I am standing here, and I have never concealed my identity. Just as I came into this world innocently and with nothing, I will leave this world with nothing. Everything I have done, my whole life, It takes people like you to come from a judgment that is right because you are unworthy. I will walk before God as an equal with those who are high or low."

"Angels will come to us, the fallen should go to hell, and the redeemed will return to heaven and the embrace of God."

"Those black and white, cruel, kind, repentant, despicable...all will be judged in the end, just like God judges all life in the world!"

At this time, no one can question the orthodoxy of religion, even though everyone knows that the absolute dominance of Catholicism has been threatened, but for the vast majority of French and Parisians, they are still devout Catholics. I can't deny what Margaret said, and I know her words are reasonable.

"However, I have never prevented you from judging me with worldly morals." Margaret narrowed her eyes slightly, showing a cute look, with her usual cunning, just as bright and attractive as she used to be.

All eyes were on her, and everyone listened to her quietly.

Listening to a prostitute who has repented, telling her past, her guilt and innocence, her reflections, and her self-blame, Margaret's undisguised frankness has become a different kind of shock.

Because everyone knows that I can't do it myself, I can't express myself boldly in public like this.

I don’t dare to put God on my lips like her, express it bravely, and let God judge or punish.

They dare not.

The man who mocked her was even more afraid.

They are all guilty.

But he never dared to reflect on himself.

Margaret dared, in her pure heart and kindness, she showed firm belief and courage for her own beliefs, just as Faust was still devout after going through the world, even if he was bewitched halfway, he was once Contaminated with badness and sin, but can always turn to God in the end, and clean up the last trace of dirt in one's soul.

Margaret was not even afraid of sin—

She dared to face the ending of going to hell, if it was because her past sins had not been washed away.

She has done better than many people, donating money, doing good deeds, writing the bible, praying...

She has achieved a pious and clear heart that many nuns may not be able to achieve.

For priests, bishops, etc., it is their "merit" to purify a prostitute.

No doubt the old Bishop in charge knew her too, knew about it, even talked about it in private, and she was a return from the wrong path, to the great delight of his devout Bishop.

Therefore, no one can refute her.

Margaret opened her arms again, and she spoke loudly.

"Judge me, God will judge me. Even if I will fall into hell, I will always reach out to heaven! My heart will always belong to my faith!"

Then, she withdrew her gaze towards the sky. She looked at the other party and the crowd, as if she was looking at something else:

"And you, dare you? Do you dare to swear by your soul to God, to the king, to everyone, to your wife, family and friends, that you are pure and innocent, an upright and devout believer like the bishop? Do you dare to say that your heart is pure and flawless, and you have never made a mistake? Do you dare to say that you are qualified to criticize a person's life's merits, demerits, and sins?"

She walked down the high platform and walked towards the embarrassed gentleman step by step.

Like Moses dividing the sea, the crowd naturally dispersed in a gesture of awe, clearing a path for her.

Let her walk in front of some dirty person like an angel descending.

Their souls are worlds apart, and her bravery only makes the other's villainy and meanness all the more disgusting and repulsive.

"When you realize that you can no longer suppress everyone's voices, and that you can no longer treat the reasonable demands of women as if you have not heard them, you suppress me, slander me, slander me, insult me... through all kinds of despicable treatment of me. attack, to try and shut me up?"

"You are so ridiculous." Margaret shook her head, "Look around, so many people, so many women have bravely stood up, questioned the most unfair things in the world, and challenged us The power that should have been born reached out."

"Even if I fall down and I'm gone, with an outstanding person like the Duchess, and many distinguished ladies with advanced ideas, our voice will never fade away—"

"Do you want to shut up all the women in the world? That's impossible. Open your eyes, stupid and arrogant people."

Margaret didn't look at him anymore, but turned her eyes to the people around her.

She saw people she knew or didn't know, her neighbors, friends she had met in the past or the first time, people she knew arranged by Mr. Duval, and some famous people she had roughly heard of. Even noble wives, of course, there are many strange women who have their own desires and hope to fight for reasonable rights for themselves and all the girls...

"Everyone is here." She smiled and looked at everyone.

"Thank you for your participation in protecting our press, protecting the innocent princess ... and, for our rights, in order to eliminate this long-standing inequality and backwardness ..."

"Thank you again." Margaret raised her arms like a hug.

"History will remember us, and future generations will thank us. We are doing the right thing, just as we were born to breathe and live in this world."

In the silence, Ms. Joyce applauded first, and she saw Mrs. Dupont not far away smiling gratifiedly.

Immediately afterwards, the applause in the crowd grew louder and louder, and the contemptuous person had already disappeared somewhere.Shirley's palms were red with the people around her, and so was Miss Mandela.The more she read it, the more she understood, the more she realized all kinds of irrationality, and she knew that what she did was right.

Although she was treated fairly under Adele, there are too many working women and children, mothers doing double work and not getting half of the men's pay, and the money earned by men can keep whatever they want Spend in clubs or pubs, but women have to subsidize the family and raise children...

This is unreasonable and should not be done. The people around her also agree with her, but anyone who has participated in social work knows this, and the wives have to endure their large dowry being taken away by their husbands. Their daughter's fate is controlled at will, and they themselves are at risk of being imprisoned in a monastery, which is even more unacceptable to them.

Although Mrs. Castellana and the others did not come in person, they asked their servants to be there to join in the fun or directly support it.

For nobles, especially women, this kind of struggle for property freedom or personal rights will only benefit and not lose, it is beneficial to themselves and their children, and they can also control their husbands. The money bag prevents him from throwing large sums of money to his mistresses without any punishment. Anyone with a little bit of thought and courage will not fail to join in the fun.

This is really the rarest opportunity since the revolution.

At this moment, everyone is standing together, regardless of their class and status, they are just expressing the same reasonable appeal.

At this time, Adele was dressing up and heading to the palace.

Probably because he realized that it would be better to let the problem spread to the original extent than to let this matter become a political struggle between the Napoleon, Orleans, and Bourbon factions that would affect his current position as the king. A question of women's rights.

It's like a discussion of women's rights and unreasonable "Napoleonic Code" that didn't start but has actually become.

Originally, Adele didn't want to do it in one step, even though she always hoped that women could inherit property reasonably and equally, at least to have an equal political fairness, instead of not being regarded as an adult like the original.

But the current situation is that the trouble has become like this, the problem has been magnified, and the original huge wound has been uncovered. Mr. Duval led people to find a way to simply change the direction of the topic, and it has become what it is now.

Of course she knew that Margaret and the others should be taking sex outside at this time, and it was possible that Morgana, Leo and the others had gone to secretly support this second parade with a larger scale.

However, at the moment, the king's attitude has actually softened, probably after he slapped his head and gave the order, he also realized that things had become difficult to control.

It was as if he touched some hornet's nest, and the sting was suddenly enlarged, and it might affect his stable political rule.

During this period of time, his life was not so easy, especially the exposure of Mr. Big Becker and the Barry family's offending people's livelihood and public opinion, which also had a considerable impact on his reputation.

And I don't know what's going on--

In fact, he had already found out that it was Adele who sponsored and supported those poor student writers.

In the sphere of letters, the Juradi family, and especially the Princess Adele, spoke a great deal for the intellectual opinion they possessed.

During this period of time, I flipped through any tabloid at random. Although Adele and the others were temporarily unable to see more detailed content because they were surrounded, the king’s source of information was not affected. He was on almost every newspaper. , You can find some writers beating around the bush to criticize him.

Not only is there a conflict within the supporter group, but now he has offended people, especially the writers and thinkers who have the right to speak. The innocent young lady made a move, trying to suppress Duke Juradi, who had made a lot of contributions when he was young.

It can be seen from the blue sky that when he learned about it from Sophie Barry, he didn't understand it at all.

In order to coax this woman who might be pregnant with his son, he listened to her and believed her, so that he had fallen into such a situation.

The lady who thought she could do it with one sentence, and could be suppressed by just finding a name, turned out to be a tough lady, and she was a lady with excellent reputation inside and outside the circle——

These were all things he hadn't thought of.

This dinner was a few hours earlier than the normal meal time.

Inviting her over so early probably meant to explain the matter.

"..."

While thinking in her heart, Adele went to the palace in a carriage.

Accompanied by the duke's father and Mr. Duval, the uneasy emotions in her heart were not so obvious.

Last night, when the post from the castle was handed over, the guards outside had already quietly withdrawn.

They came here in a big way, led by Mr. Becker who is showing off his might, most of them are not so high-profile, only this one is eager to prove his "love" for Miss Sophie Barley, his fiancée, and express his heartfelt heart to the king Reliable sir, only to do many things that offend others.

However, unreasonable is unreasonable, but right now they can only leave in despair.Just as they didn't know the reason for doing such a mindless thing in the beginning—some of their wives read Adele's magazines, which Jenny found out later.

Adele has also told Mr. Duval of her appeal. Since they don't want her newspaper to continue, she simply—

"What did you say?"

The king's expression was full of shock.

"Yes, as you can see, I want to organize a women's alliance organization, aiming to provide services and help for women in all aspects." Adele smiled.

"You want to participate in politics?" He raised his brows, as if a little unbelievable.

Adele didn't mind being exposed by the other party's ultimate goal at all, she just kept a smile.

It seemed that for a moment the not-so-young king wanted to yell, but he finally restrained himself and even looked at Mr. Duval at the dining table with a smile.

"Does your fiance know?" He sneered.

"I'm always very tolerant to my wife. If it's a reasonable request, I don't think there's anything wrong with it, isn't it?" Mr. Duval replied calmly.

The dinner was very unpleasant at the end, and it felt a little bit unhappy, but they all knew that the king was in a difficult position right now, and even if Adele wanted to take advantage of the opportunity, he would take him for a while no.

Compared with her affairs, he should worry more about his rule and his throne.

After all, the voice of revising the code has become louder and louder.

He, the king, naturally had to carefully consider this matter before stepping down.

Not impossible.

As long as there is maximum benefit.

Two months later, after a short period of time, long after social season had passed and Ladies' Magazine finally got its regular release...  

This matter was acquiesced.

The entire "Women's League" organization initiated by Adele, whose participants included high-society ladies and civilian workers, was finally successfully established.

Everyone was shocked, but they were even more aware that apart from her own multi-faceted efforts, this matter could not be separated from the participation of many people. Among them, the most involved and helpful in politics was her fiancé Duval. gentlemen.

They were astounded by what Adele was capable of.

But it cannot be denied that this is indeed a lady with a charismatic personality and excellent wrists.

She has made many women crazy about her, and she can dominate the wind direction of Paris with a casual word.

There is no such thing as Bally or any other beauties, she is the core aristocratic lady of the well-known Paris celebrity circle.

Her charm was astonishing, and many men chased after her. Who could have imagined that a year ago, this young lady almost died on the spot, and her lung disease was so severe that she was sent to a nursing home, and even received an unfortunate echo.

Since she came back, she has proved that she is outstanding, whether it is in housekeeping, or in dealing with people, communicating with wives, or personal ideals and ambitions, etc., she has shown amazing talent and superhuman Thought.

That's it, even though she already has a fiancé, knowing that she has done so many "amazing acts", there are still many gentlemen who write poems for her and are crazy about her, especially in the cafes on the Rhine River. the sound of.

However, the relationship between Miss Adele and her fiancé, Mr. David Duval, is well known.

But at this time, the name of this cunning Mr. Politician has become——

Infatuated Mr. Doting Wife.

Also, the lucky ones with the light of France.

-Fin.-

The author has something to say:

In the 19s and 20s, due to the development of the British Industrial Revolution, more women participated in industrial labor and social activities, and first launched a campaign for political rights. In 30, when the electoral law was revised, British women began The struggle for one's own social status.

In July 1848, chaired by Mrs. Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the first American Women's Rights Conference was held, and the "American Women's Declaration of Independence" was passed, which gave the American women's rights movement a relatively clear direction. Fighting for women's suffrage was included in the goals of the feminist movement. At the end of the 7th century, fighting for women's suffrage has become the main purpose of the American women's movement.

The French women's suffrage movement started with the establishment of suffrage organizations and women's newspapers. In 1869, Regin Richet and Maria Dressme founded the Women's Rights League. In 1881, Bertina Oakley founded The Citizen, the first suffragist newspaper. In 1900, under the influence of the International Women's Rights Conference, French women took various forms, such as posting advertisements, giving lectures, burning civil codes, and holding conferences for women's political participation, etc. French working women supported the women's political suffrage movement in the form of strikes .The French women's suffrage movement lasted for decades and played a role.But did not win women's suffrage.It was not until 1944 that the French Constitution recognized women's right to vote and to be elected.