Southern Rose [Gone with the Wind]

What a child!Even 26 years old is still a child! He was just 5 years old 21 years ago, and she was only 19 years old. Compared with 5 years ago, he didn't seem to be much mature.

But speaking of it, she can talk casually when she is with Thomas, and Raphael is too thoughtful, no matter what she says, Raphael can come up with subtexts that don't exist at all; and Philip is too serious , will take her words seriously.

Thomas grew up in an overly favorable environment. In a way, he was extremely naive, and also had the pretentiousness of a smart person. The big aristocratic class itself is quite pretentious, thinking that they can get everything.

They got everything too smoothly, and they didn't allow others to refuse.

"No, I don't want to go to Egypt now, I want to go to—Greece," she said casually.

"Why did you change your mind?" He also said casually, "That's okay, anyway, we are all going to Italy. When you get to Italy, you can decide whether to go to Egypt or Greece."

It seems that when he said he threw her on board, he said it casually. "Take the train to Paris first, and I have to see you settle my mother and children. Oh, maybe my father and brother will be in Paris in a few days."

"I should meet your father. How do you Americans do things? Do I have to ask your father's permission too?"

"I think so. Now I'm sleepy, you go, and you come back in the daytime."

He casually kissed her on the forehead, "I'll come over in the afternoon."

He rode away quickly.

Josephine was about to go upstairs to her room when Emile stood on the stairs and asked anxiously, "What's wrong?"

"It's all right, mother, it's Thomas."

"this late……"

"he has gone."

Emile wondered what could make Wolfe come here in the middle of the night.Josephine didn't seem preoccupied or anxious, but rather relaxed. In this way, it must be good news rather than bad news.

She breathed a sigh of relief, "It's good news, right?"

"Yes, mother, don't worry, he has already taken care of it."

"Have you caught that man?"

"I think so. He will come over tomorrow, oh no, this afternoon. I'll ask about it later."

Emile hesitated to speak, but after thinking about it, he said, "Go back to sleep."

She had a good impression of Wolfe, but felt vaguely uneasy that Josephine could only ask him for help when something happened. She thought it was "bad", but she couldn't explain why it was "bad". .

If Josephine hadn't asked Wolff for help, she couldn't figure out how her daughter would deal with this matter. She was so scared that she couldn't sleep all night, worried about Josephine, and worried about the children, no matter which one happened to her. I can't stand it.

well!She was troubled again by the thought of Hastings who had died too early.She had never met Hastings, Josephine said he was "too shrewd", she never understood what a man who was too shrewd was like, nor did she understand how Hastings, who was "very shrewd", died in India ?

Josephine has been ambiguous about her ex-husband's death, and she can understand it. She has never experienced it, and what can she understand based on a letter or a wedding ring from someone else?

What was she thinking after receiving Josephine's letter?She thought a lot about it, maybe Hastings died at the hands of Indian natives, so even the body was never found; maybe Hastings was killed by a partner, and the partner wrote a letter to report the funeral, and used a The small bag of rubies sent Mrs. Hastings away; or Hastings wanted to abandon Josephine, so he faked death.

This last point was vetoed by John. French law allowed Catholics to divorce. It was easy for a husband to file for a divorce without even needing any reason. And what reason did Hastings have to abandon Josephine?Josephine was young and beautiful, had Victor again, and had only been married for a few years, and even he couldn't think of any reason why Hastings would want to abandon his wife and children.

Maybe Hastings just died of bad luck.There are so many French and British people who die in India every year!

Distraught, she returned to her bedroom, tossed and turned on the bed, and fell asleep after a while.

Thomas came by in the afternoon during the day.

"Josephine," he always called her by her Christian name, "do you want to hang out?"

"It's too cold these days, I don't want to go out."

He didn't seem to hear, "I asked someone to prepare the tent, and we're going to the beach."

It's already December, and the winter in Lisbon is still quite cold, and the seaside in Lisbon is not as lively as that in Marseille, but a rich nobleman wants to enjoy the view of the sea and sky on the beach, and he doesn't need to blow the cold wind on the beach.

There are steps going down from the back of the villa, leading directly to the beach. A flat-topped sheepskin tent was set up on the beach at this time, surrounded by three sides, and only the side facing the bay was open.

There are tables and chairs inside the tent, several layers of Persian carpets are spread on the sandy ground, and several charcoal basins are set up, so the tent is still warm.

Josephine couldn't help but feel that this noble young master really wanted to come out, and even lighting a charcoal basin would not be as warm as being in a room with a fireplace.However, after they entered the tent, the servants drew down the curtain door of the tent to keep out the cold wind.

Just... it's okay.

"Did I tell you? Austria is a landlocked country with no coast. When I saw the sea for the first time, I was both happy and scared." Thomas sat at the table and said with a smile.

"Fear?"

"I know water drowns."

Strange words.

"and then?"

"There's nothing else. I like the sea, but I'm afraid of it. What about you? You're so seasick, so you definitely don't like the sea."

"As long as I don't take a boat, I still like the sea. Tell me, have you found out what the hell is going on?"

Thomas' narrative ability is not very good, and a not-so-complicated matter was fragmented by him. He started from the first letter sent to Marseilles, trying to distinguish the "facts" from the intermediate details that he thought up. Difficult, his description is very vague, in short, this is not a particularly complicated case.

According to him, someone came from India—this person was code-named A-man—and learned that Mrs. Hastings (here is a bit strange, she changed her surname after remarriage, how could the other party be sure that she belonged to Mrs. Hastings? ) in Marseilles, so he had the idea of ​​extortion, deliberately cut out the letters from the newspaper, and spelled out a plausible sentence; this person knew that Hastings died 5 years ago. Hastings.

There is a piece of news about Hastings that he sent to India five years ago to inquire about Hastings. It is said that Hastings married the daughter of a native king in India and became the husband of the princess.

Josephine's pupils trembled, and she blurted out: "What?!"

"And then he died." Thomas ended the interlude very succinctly.

"Bastard!" Josephine yelled angrily.

"Who are you calling an asshole?"

"Of course it's Raphael!" she yelled angrily, "Damn it! It would be better if he died!"

"He did die. Well, do you want to hear it?"

"Say it!" Josephine shouted angrily.

Man A didn't expect the former Mrs. Hastings to run away decisively, so he chased him to Lisbon and planned to kidnap Josephine's son for a ransom. The criminal plan was in progress.Luckily, Josephine was not that stupid, so she knew how to send him a telegram——Josephine wrote him a letter, but then felt that the letter was too slow, so she sent a telegram to the Duke’s residence in Vienna on the same day. After receiving the telegram, he immediately took the The train is coming to Lisbon.

Thomas has never dealt with this kind of thing, but the way of thinking of the rich is to spend money. As long as the money is spent in the right way, there is nothing that cannot be done.

It was so simple and rude, Josephine suddenly realized.

She can also spend money to do things herself, but women in this era are not happy to show their faces, especially if you have to deal with criminals in Lisbon, your lady can't do something that is a crime in itself.She didn't have anyone available, and it was impossible for a black servant to handle this kind of thing in the white-majority European continent, unless the black man had lived there for several generations.

She didn't have a father or a brother to rely on, and if John or Charles were around, she could do it with money, without her asking Thomas.

Man A was not arrested at the first time. After a few days of investigation, he found that there was a man B behind him. Man B was of British-Indian mixed race and grew up in India.Thomas guessed that the mixed-race man knew Hastings, but B-man refused to say how Hastings died in India.

So now they solve the immediate trouble, the trouble 5 years ago is still unsolved.

"You have to make sure that you have solved this matter and can't leave any trouble behind."

"Don't treat me like a child." He said unconvinced.

She smiled at him, "Well, I just don't want to find out in a few years that someone will come to trouble me again."

He thought for a while, "You're right, I will send someone to go there again to make sure no one will try to blackmail you."

She sighed softly, "Everything has a price, and I'm not sure I can bear the price now."

"Don't worry, I will protect you, as long as you are willing to accept my protection." His bright gray-blue eyes stared at her, "And I will not accept rejection again."

"Yeah, you are no longer the boy you were 5 years ago." She stretched out her hand to press the back of his hand, and quickly retracted it.

"Tell me, what have you done in the past five years?"

"Go back to America, get married, have a baby, have a honeymoon."

"Is that lucky and unlucky fellow treating you well?" he thought, envious.

"Be nice to me, he won't say stupid things to piss me off."

"Who? Who said stupid things to anger you?" He asked knowingly.

"It's you idiot."

He didn't take it seriously, but he was very happy, "But you still want me, an idiot, to help you with things, so, who is the idiot?"