I think so. What else can a burly young man in his twenties think about a beautiful 17-year-old girl?
Do you say that dantes has gone to the Catalans?
He went without a building.
Let’s go this way, then. We can wait at Risef’s restaurant and listen to the news while drinking Ramarg.
Who will inform us?
We’re waiting for him halfway. Let’s see how he looks.
Come on, Caderousse said, but first of all, you pay for the drinks.
Of course, Danglars said. They hurried to the appointed place and asked for a bottle of wine.
Dad Bonfield saw that Dantè s had just passed ten minutes ago, and they knew that he was still in the Catalan village, so they sat at the bottom of the big maple tree with tender leaves, and the birds were singing the good times in spring in a moving chorus.
Chapter 3 Catalan villages
While drinking frothy Ramarg wine, the two friends kept their ears on a hundred paces away. There was a small village behind a bare hill eroded by wind and rain, where the Ronians lived. A group of mysterious immigrants left Spain a long time ago and settled down in this sudden bay. No one knew where they came from and no one could understand them. One of the immigrants knew Provence and begged the Marseilles municipal authorities. Give them this barren promontory, so that they can tow their boats to the shore and settle down like ancient navigation. The authorities agreed to their request. Three months later, a small village was built around the 14 or 15 small sailboats that originally transported these immigrants across the sea. The architectural style of this village is unique, half Spanish and half Moorish. Now the residents are descendants of those people. They still speak the language of their ancestors. For three or four hundred years, they have been attached to this promontory wholeheartedly like a group of seabirds, dividing their ethnic marriages.
Reading still follows me through the only street in this small village and into one of the rooms. The walls of this room are covered with vines with rural flavor. The sun shines on the dead leaves and the room is painted with a beautiful color. It is the same as in a Spanish hotel. A beautiful young girl leans against the wallboard. Her hair is as black as jade and her eyes are as gentle as antelope’s eyes. Her slender fingers, which are rich in ancient Greek sculpture, are caressing a bunch of heather flowers. The petals are torn and scattered on the floor. Bare to the elbow and browned by the sun, the part is as beautiful as the hand of Venus. Her soft and beautiful feet are wearing gauze socks, and gray-blue flowers are embroidered at the ankles. Because of anxiety, one foot is patting the ground as if to show her plump and symmetrical calves on purpose. A tall young man of about 22 years old sits not far from her. He lifts his chair and shakes his arms on an old table corroded by moths. He is watching her face with a worried look.
He asked her in the eye, but the young girl’s firm and calm eyes controlled him.
You see, the young man in Mercedes said that Easter is coming. Don’t you think it’s a good time to get married?
I’ve told you a hundred times, Fernand, you’re asking for trouble again.
Oh, say it again, I beg you to say it again, so that I can believe that even if I say it a hundred times, you refuse my love, but your mother once promised to let me know more about your indifference, my happiness and my life and death. Alas, I have been dreaming of becoming your husband Mercedes for ten years, and now you have dashed my hopes, which is my only hope in the world.
But after all, this is not what I asked you to hope for. Fernand Mercedes replied, no wonder I never tempted you. I always told you that I treat you like my brother. Don’t ask me for love from my brother and sister, because my heart already belongs to another person. Didn’t I always tell you that, Fernand?
But I know it very well. The young man of Mercé dè s replied, "It’s good to be honest with me, but it’s cruel after all. Have you forgotten that intermarriage is a sacred law for us Catalans?"
You’re wrong, Fernand. It’s not a law, but a custom. I beg you not to rely on this custom to help you. You have reached the age of military service. At present, it’s a temporary reprieve. You may be drafted into the army at any time. When you become a soldier, how can you arrange for me? I rely on orphans without property, and my cabin is about to collapse. Is this poor legacy my father gave to my mother, and my mother gave it to me? Fernand, as you know, it’s been more than a year since my mother died, and I almost got it with the help You want me to help you make a living, so that I can share what you get from fishing. I accepted Fernand, because you are my cousin, and we grew up together. It will hurt your heart if I refuse, but my heart is white. I will sell these fish for flax spinning. What is the difference between Fernand’s charity?
So what? Mercedes, although you are so lonely and poor, you still deserve me like the proudest daughter of a shipowner or the richest banker in Marseilles. For me, I want a loyal woman and a good housewife, but where can I find someone better than you in these two aspects now?
Fernand Mercedes shook her head and said, it’s hard to say whether a woman can be a good housewife, but if she loves another person more than her husband, who can say that she is a loyal woman? Be satisfied with our friendship. I can promise you these things again. I promise I can’t give you anything.
I see. Fernand replied, you can stand being poor, but you are afraid that I will be poor. Then Mercedes will work hard if she wants you to love me. You will bring me good luck and I will make a fortune. I can expand my fishing industry and maybe find a warehouse keeper position. Then I can become a businessman.
You can’t do such a thing. You are a soldier. You can still stay in the village because there is no war now. You’d better be a fisherman.
Don’t be paranoid, because dreams will make you feel that reality is even more unbearable. Just be satisfied with my friendship, because I really can’t give you feelings beyond this.
Then you’re right, Mercedes. Since you despise our ancestors’ clothes, I’ll take them off and become a sailor. It’s time for you to wear a flashing hat, a sailor’s shirt and a short blue coat with buttons and iron anchors.
What do you mean? Mercedes glanced at him angrily. I don’t understand what you are talking about.
I mean, Mercedes, you are so cold to me because you are waiting for someone who is dressed like this, but maybe you can’t rely on waiting for this person, that is, he is reliable, and it is hard to say whether the sea is reliable to him.
Fernand Mercedes shouted, "You are a kind-hearted person. Now I know that I was wrong." Fernand, it’s really despicable that you prayed for the emperor’s anger to help you vent your personal anger. But I don’t deny that I am waiting. I love you. I don’t believe that he will be as unreliable as you said, even if he doesn’t come back. I believe that he will love me all the time.
The Catalan youth looked angry.
I know what you’re thinking, Fernand, because I don’t love you, and you hold a grudge against him. But what will you get after all? If you fail, you will lose my friendship. If you defeat him, you will see that my friendship has turned into hatred. Believe me, I want to win the love of that man and woman by fighting with a man. This method is simply stupid, Fernand. You must not think like this. I will be your wife, and you can still treat me as your friend and sister. With tears in his eyes, he said blankly, wait, wait, Fernand. You just said that the sea is unpredictable. He has been there for four months, and there have been several dangerous storms in these four months.
Fernand didn’t answer, and he didn’t want to wipe away the tears on Mercedes’ face. Although every tear seemed to be in his heart, these tears were not him. On the contrary, they were another person. He got up and walked around the hut. Then he suddenly clenched his fist in a sullen way and said to her, Mercedes, please say it again. Is this your final decision?
I love Edmond. Miss Dantè s said calmly that no one can be my husband but Edmond.
Do you love him forever?
I love him every day I live.
Fernand hung his head like a defeated soldier and took a long breath. Suddenly, he looked up at her and gnashed his teeth and said that he was supposed to die.
If he dies, I will die with him.
Mercé dè s suddenly cried excitedly outside the house at this moment.
Ah, the young woman’s face flushed with excitement and jumped up with excitement. Look, he hasn’t forgotten me. Here he comes. She rushed to the door and knocked on the door and said, Edmund, I’m here.
Fernand was pale and trembling like a tourist who saw a red snake. He shrank back and staggered back in his chair. Edmund Mercedes hugged each other tightly. The dazzling sunshine of Marseille came from the concierge and shone them in the light waves. They instantly forgot everything, as if they were isolated from the world. They were able to talk intermittently. This is because they were extremely happy. When people were extremely happy, they seemed to be sad. Suddenly Edmund found Fernand’s gloomy face, which was buried in the shadows and threatened. The Catalan youth unconsciously moved.
Ah, I’m sorry. Dantè s turned around with a frown and said, I don’t know there are three people here. Then he turned to ask Mercedes who this gentleman is.
This gentleman will be your best friend, Dantè s, because he is my friend, my cousin and my brother. His name is Fernand. Besides you, Edmond is my favorite person in the world. Don’t you remember him?
Yes, I remember Edmond said that he didn’t let Mercedes hold her hand in one hand and extended her hand affectionately to the Catalan, but Fernand showed no reaction to this friendship and remained motionless like a stone statue. So Edmond took back his hand and looked at it carefully. Mercedes looked at it with anxiety and hostility. Fernand turned white and his face turned a little angry at once.