On the rest of their journey, Adele and Roda became inseparable friends, and the two often went to church, went to a show, or attended a tea party together. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

John spent most of his time in the room sorting through the pile of Foundation materials, and didn't communicate much more with Victor. They had talked enough that afternoon, and John was afraid that he would accidentally slip through the cracks if they continued to talk. And he knew that Victor had listened to his advice, and he had seen Victor and Groc playing bridge with a French father and son in the common room more than once.

On the surface, the Johns' life on the "Normandy" seems to be comfortable and pleasant, but in fact they encounter a terrible thing.

Adele has an anonymous suitor on board. Every day she receives a large handful of beautifully packaged irises. In the bouquet, John did not find any signature, but there was a line of handwritten French on the ribbon used for bandaging: "To my beloved Rainbow Goddess." (Iris means rainbow in Greek)"

At first, John didn't take it too seriously. He was so confident in his relationship with Adele that he even felt a little proud of his wife for being so attractive. But when this kind of thing happened one after another, he was also a little annoyed.

In his bones, John is still the traditional Chinese man. The love story of Jack and Rose in the movie "Titanic" is very beautiful and romantic, but the second male number Carl will definitely not think so. Similarly, John, who loved his wife deeply, would never tolerate other men coming to Adele twice in three days to express their affection for Adele.

Adele herself was confused by this, she really couldn't think of how this headless suitor came to be. She did meet a few men who offered to be attentive when she went out with Rhoda, but she wasn't sure if this man was one of them.

Eventually, John found Captain Renault. This is clearly not the first time this French captain has encountered such a "romantic vignette". He asked his steward to inquire, and soon found the waiter who was delivering flowers to the "mysterious man". In less than twenty minutes, John got the information of this guy who "covets Adele's beauty".

The man's name was Bauer Duvier, a few years older than John, and he was a businessman from Lyon. Duvier served in the French colonies of North Africa and later traded between France and Algeria. His business is very mixed, but it is not large. He also had an uncle who was vice-president of the Lyon City Council and had a little influence in the local silk processing industry.

Accompanied by Captain Renault, John and Adele found this Duvier in the common room of first class. This guy was wearing a coquettish floral shirt and was chatting with someone. John: They didn't come closer, but looked at the entrance to the common room from a distance.

Duvier was very tall, about 1.9 meters tall, and emaciated like a bamboo pole. It can be seen that he pays attention to his appearance, and his hair is smeared with a lot of oil, and it is very neatly combed. If you ignore his French-style hooked nose, which is big enough to ruin the overall layout of his face, this Duvier can barely be considered a handsome old man.

This would be an argument in French with people. There is a strange intonation in his voice, some deliberately subdued, and the long tail note combined with rich body language makes people feel that he is performing a stage play or reciting poetry. Well, maybe this guy is still a literary old man.

Because of the distance, John did not hear what he was talking about, and only vaguely heard the words "Jew", "conspiracy", and "despicable". John speculated that the Lyonnais businessman was an anti-Semite, or at least a supporter of "Jewish conspiracy theories."

This is not surprising, the "Jewish conspiracy theory" was not invented by Song Hongbing, who wrote "Currency Wars", and was already popular as early as the Roman Empire. The Jews are like nightpots in power in Europe, their preferred scapegoats to divert the focus of social contradictions.

It is not difficult to see the general impression of Jews in European society from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. Shylock's image of a selfish, greedy, insidious, cunning, cruel, mean-spirited, and unscrupulous Jewish businessman has long been deeply rooted in Europe.

"Small businessmen" like Duveyer must have suffered a lot from previous economic crises, and it is only natural to transfer this resentment to the Jews.

John was not concerned with whether De Vière was an anti-Semite or not, but more concerned with the eyes behind his gold-rimmed glasses. For some reason, those eyes always gave him a hint of danger, like the African hyenas he saw in a cage at the zoo as a child. His instincts told him that this Duvier was not a soft-hearted man, and that he had probably seen blood.

"John, I remember." Adele whispered to him, "He asked me to dance the first night at the dance. We talked, and he lived on Avenue Hugo in Lyon, just a block away from where I lived when I was a child. ”

"Did you see each other again?" John asked.

"I met him once in the church, when he was sitting in the back row of me and Roda I." After thinking about it, Adele added: "After Mass, he said he wanted to invite us to coffee, but at that time Ella was clamoring to go to the children's playground, so I didn't agree. I haven't seen it since. ”

Love at first sight, or with a married woman. John muttered to himself whether this Frenchman was too romantic, or if he was a drunkard with a sperm brain. Well, seeing that he is so thin, and his eyes are still a little blue, the latter is more likely. John suddenly remembered his cousin Reginald, who had died young, and who had been so overindulgent during his lifetime.

"Mr. Vanderbilt, do you need me to warn him?" Captain Renault asked. He is very experienced in this kind of thing, and the first-class guests are all people who have status and want to save face, and it is generally inconvenient to come forward directly when encountering this kind of dirty matter, and he usually does it for him.

"Forget it, there's no need." John thought about it for a moment and refused. "I'll be in Southampton tomorrow morning and won't see this guy again. Just ask your crew to stop delivering things for him. ”

Originally, the Normandy only sailed between New York and the French port of Le Havre. However, due to the poor load factor, in order to attract more customers, it has recently called at four ports: Southampton in the UK, Le Havre in France, Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Hamburg in Germany.

Southampton was the first stop of the Normandy in Europe, where there was only a narrow English Channel from the French port of Le Havre where John and his trip would be. Arriving at Southampton meant that their voyage had come to an end.

"As you wish, Mr. Vanderbilt. You can rest assured that no one will bother you and your wife again. Captain Renault smiled and saluted John.

"Let's go, dear. I don't want to see this person anymore. Adele took John's arm and turned to leave the lounge.

After echoing the room, John and Adele both tacitly agreed not to mention the incident again, and both wanted to forget about it as soon as possible. John didn't dig through the pile of Foundation materials again, and decided to spend the rest of his time with Adele.

In the evening, the two of them went alone to the ship's "Crystal" restaurant for dinner. This small dining room, reserved for first class guests, is very chic. Its 12 crystal lamps, designed by the famous luxury brand Lalique, are not hung from the ceiling, but are upside down on the ground, forming 12 crystal "fountains" interspersed between the dining tables.

After dinner, they also went to the business district together and bought some small souvenirs from the ship. Although little Ella later expressed strong dissatisfaction with her parents for leaving her alone, this short time between the two of them has well smoothed out the little mustard in their respective hearts, and the relationship between the two is better than before. This made Mr. Degallo, who had been secretly observing from the side, very satisfied.

The next morning, Captain Renault greeted all the first-class passengers to the dining room. There, they can enjoy their last breakfast on board and have the opportunity to say goodbye to the new friends they have made during this short trip. Each female guest has a white orchid on the table, and under the flower is a gold and white powder box, which is a small souvenir from the cruise line.

In the restaurant, the children all wore paper hats and happily tossed colored paper ribbons, as is traditional. John and Victor said goodbye, and Adele reluctantly took Mrs. Roda by the hand, agreeing to be a guest when they went to Berlin.

Shortly after breakfast, the Normandy arrived in Southampton, where some of the passengers disembarked. John and his family went back to their room to pack their belongings, and they would arrive at the port of Le Havre in the afternoon. They will then switch to a river yacht and travel along the Seine to Paris.

"Oh, Paris!" Adele put her arm around Ella and said excitedly to John, "I really can't wait!" ”