mud buddha

West Street has only one gambling house, one restaurant and the innermost pawn shop.The pawn shop was opened by the Bentley family. It has been operating since their grandfather's generation, and it has grown to a large scale now.

Open the door and walk in. There is a glass between the customer and the boss, and a small semicircular hole is opened in the middle. The boss sits behind a long and narrow table and talks to the customer through the small hole.If the customer brings a large item, some employees will push open the secret door below and go around to get it.

At this time, Nibel and Benoit were standing in front of the pawn shop, listening to the yelling from the gambling house next to them, and looking at the words "Bentley's pawns come and go" above their heads, with ironic brushes underneath. Small print on the last line: Cherish life and stay away from gambling.

There was a man in the store holding a necklace, and he was blushing and thick necked with the boss for a few pennies.Nibel and the two walked in, and Benoit folded his arms and waited for the person in front to finish.

Soon, the boss handed out a sum of money from inside. Although the man was not satisfied, he counted the money, his brows relaxed a lot, and he took the money out of his pocket.

"Hello," the boss looked up from behind the glass, "Mr. Guy, Mr. Roswell!"

"Hi." Benoit nodded.

The boss looked at the two people who were empty-handed, and asked with a smile: "The two gentlemen are here today..."

"I want to ask you something." Nibel pressed Benoit's hand.

"Just ask."

"An enamelled vase with a fish's mouth opening about the length of a forearm."

"Wait a minute." The boss took out a notebook from the drawer and rummaged through it.Half a minute later, he turned the notebook over and showed Nibel a line of records:

"Here, Mr. Roswell, someone sold us this vase a month ago."

There is no registered name on the record, only the time and item name are displayed.So he asked the boss again: "Do you remember who sold this thing?"

"Excuse me sir, this needs to be kept secret."

"Even if the person who sold this thing is a thief?" Benoit couldn't help interjecting.

"This... sir, you have to have evidence to prove that the man is a thief."

"That vase was ordered by my father from a craftsman. Many people know it. It's not the first day you know me, so I don't need to lie."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Roswell, this is an industry rule. I told you today, and it will be difficult for me to do business in the future."

"Then how about I give you money?" Benoit approached the counter and lowered his voice: "You can have as much as you want."

"Mr. Guy, even if you buy the whole land, I can't tell you."

"Okay." Nibel took Benoit's hand and shook it: "Let's go."

"But……"

"Then do you know a man named Basile? Red-haired, thin and tall, a little taller than me." Nibel took out a gold pocket watch from his pocket and handed it to the person inside.

"Sorry, we can't disclose the privacy of the guests." The boss paused, stuffed the gold watch into his pocket, looked around, and whispered, "I've seen the person you mentioned, but his name is not Basile."

"And what's his name?" asked Benoit.

The boss shook his head and closed his mouth like a clam shell.

"It's okay, let's go." Nibel nodded to the boss, and pulled Benoit away from the pawn shop.

At that time, the two arrived at Roswell Manor and found that the manor was desolate, and it seemed that no one had lived in it for a long time.Nibel didn't bring the key, and after shaking the door for a long time, a servant came out of the room.

The man used to be the groom of the manor, and he was quite old.He should have retired at his age, but he was grateful to old Roswell on the one hand, and was reluctant to part with the horses, so Nibel left him in the manor.

He used to be a vigorous old man with neatly trimmed white hair, thick and long eyebrows, and a mouth buried in his beard. He was always smiling. handle.But today he is hunched over, his face looks like the land that has just rained, and there are many spots on his face.

"Robert?" Nibel held on to the door until the old man leaned over and opened the door, and then he barely recognized him by his white hair and bushy beard.

"My lord," said Robert, pulling the door open, and leaning on the post, "you are back at last."

"Don't worry, old man." Benoit supported Robert: "Speak slowly, what's going on?"

The three walked into the hall, and there was a musty smell that hadn't been ventilated for a long time.Trembling, Robert took a towel and patted the sofa before letting the two sit down.

"Robert, what's wrong with your leg?" Nibel pressed Robert and motioned him to sit down too.

"Maybe it's freezing this winter." Robert rubbed his knees: "This winter is extraordinarily cold."

"Find a blanket to wrap your legs in a while—why don't you light a fire?"

"You're not here, and I'm the only one here. It would be too wasteful to light a fire."

"What about the others? What the hell is going on here?"

"After you left, at first everyone just thought you were going to recuperate, and you were doing what you were doing. I kept raising horses and gardening flowers and plants as before. Basile said that you left all the family affairs to him, because That time he accompanied you to Mr. Guy's birthday party, and we all believed him only when he saw you at the end."

"I didn't tell him to take care of me." Nibel frowned.

"We all believed him at the time, but later we found out that wasn't the case." Robert sighed and squinted his eyes: "When he came back, he was housekeeping with Annie at first, but soon he made an excuse and said that Annie She's getting old and can't work well, let her have a good rest and go to work in the kitchen instead."

Seeing Robert rubbing his legs while talking, Benoit stood up and went to check the stove, but found that the firewood was damp.

"Afterwards," continued Robert, "he went to Mrs. Robinson and said you had ordered him to take over the business. Mrs. Robinson jumped up and scolded him for his evil intentions, and we learned that you hadn't seen him since the ball began."

"I hear Mrs. Robinson is ill."

"Yes. We all threw Basile out after we found out he was a heartless liar. But within a few days, Mrs. Robinson fell ill with a terrible headache, and later she said she was shutting up, but in fact—" Robert was so angry that his beard was trembling slightly: "Actually, she is already unconscious! She can only wake up for a few hours a day, and she also ordered Basile to handle her business matters."

"Then where is she now?"

"I don't know, I don't know where Basile put her."

"What about those servants?"

"Butler Basile is very strict, and even let his servants treat him the same way you were treated. Some of them left when they couldn't stand it. Later, he caught Annie stealing and found a receipt from Bentley's Pawnshop from her. It was the vase that was pawned. Everyone got the stolen goods, and Anne was kicked out by him." Robert hunched like a shrimp: "I don't believe that Anne could do that kind of thing, but at that time she had a younger brother who was seriously ill , is in need of money, may be desperate..."

"Then where is she now?" Nibel leaned forward and asked anxiously.Benoit patted the back of his hand.

"We don't know either."

"She works at Heinz, I saw her today, but I asked her and she wouldn't say anything."

"The woman wiping the counter?"

"Yes."

"At least she was fine," Robert said. "We were worried at first that she would do something extreme. Because her brother didn't seem to be cured, and died of illness that winter."

Benoit sighed and took out his handkerchief, ready to wipe away his tears.

"After Anne left, several maids who had a good relationship with her also left, and went back to their hometowns. The rest of us don't know what happened. More and more people come to the door every week. Basile doesn't know where to go. Where is it, let us deal with the guests. Soon the gardener was fired, and then the sweeping maid was also dismissed, and gradually there were fewer and fewer people. Basile told us that your eyes can't be cured, and Dr. Mill said the same , so everyone said that this place is no longer reliable, and we have to find another way out.”

"So you're all alone now?"

"Leave here, where can I go?" Robert's eyebrows drooped: "Everyone has gone, but I have stayed here all my life, and I think this is your home, so it is impossible for you not to come back? You I didn't bring the key either, so I have to stay and open the door for you."

"Where is Basile now?"

"We don't know, he left early."

"We will go to him now." Benoit said: "By the way, find out about Anne. I believe she was wronged."

"Then let's go to the pawn shop first." Nibel went upstairs and walked around, then came down again: "I think there are quite a few things missing at home."

Coming out of the pawn shop, Benoit asked Niebel, "Why don't you ask?"

"It's not necessary. If you ask him again, he won't say anything."

"Then where are we going to find that Basile?"

"He didn't tell us, it means that the person who went to pawn is not Anne."

"why?"

"Because if it's a woman, especially a maid, you don't have privacy."

"That's true." Benoit sighed: "It's not easy for her to be a woman."

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Pushing the plot forward