Two days later, on the evening of January 7, the calm Seine flows unhurriedly to the west, reflecting the orange sunset on the mirror-like water.

A few ravens that have not yet returned south hovered on the rooftops of houses on both sides of the river, making a noisy chirping sound.

28 rue Tergarse on the banks of the river, the residence of Colonel Giovanni.

"Hey! Honey, it's time to come downstairs for dinner. The Colonel's wife took a large pot of fragrant potato goulash on the table, tasted her mastery with satisfaction, and then called out softly: "Today is your favorite beef stew, Giovanni!" However, there was no response from upstairs, and it was not until his wife frowned a little that she heard a long, decadent shout: "I won't eat, dear, hiccup... Just leave me a white bread. Listening to this thick nasal voice, the wife immediately reacted that her husband was probably drunk again.

She cautiously went upstairs and pushed open the door of the study, only to see empty wine bottles all over the floor. Even the air was filled with a faint smell of alcohol, the smell of a drunken person's exhaled breath mixed with alcohol.

Rum, champagne, brandy, gin... The empty bottles were well enough to run a tavern, and a drunken Colonel Giovanni was lying delirious in the middle of the pile, clutching an unopened bottle of Scotch whisky.

"Oh my God! How much did you drink?! The wife covered her mouth in shock, and screamed reproachfully and distressedly: "What the hell is wrong with you, dear, these two days are either talking nonsense or drinking, and you don't even go to the army, oh my God, I'm going to find you a psychiatrist if you go on like this." Colonel Giovanni muttered a few inarticulate words, rolled over and burped, but tried to open the whiskey in his hand and stuff it into his mouth.

The wife couldn't stand it any longer, stepped forward and snatched the wine bottle from his hand, bit her lip lightly, and then frowned and said, "Giovanni, what's wrong with you?" You came back the day before yesterday and you became like this! "My wife's impression was that the day before yesterday afternoon, Colonel Giovanni had returned home as if he had been a different person.

As soon as he got home, the valiant colonel-commander began to cry out loud and repeat to his wife and son: "I'm going to die, my dear, little Jack, I'm going to die!" After crying, Colonel Giovanni began to tell his wife to do some strange things as if he were insane, and at one time asked her to go and get a pen and paper for herself to leave a suicide note, and then told her to immediately pack up her belongings and prepare to leave Paris.

And less than half a minute after these orders were issued, he would withdraw them on his own: "Forget it, what's the use of writing a suicide note now, you don't have to pack up your things, you can't escape, you can't escape anywhere." After saying these crazy words, Colonel Giovanni began to drink, as it is today, God knows how much alcohol he drank in the past two days, and his wife only knew that the winter soju stored at home was drunk by Colonel Giovanni on the first day.

At this time, the drunken and delirious Colonel Giovanni lay on the ground on all fours, covered his forehead and sobbed, shook his head and said, "There is no need to explain, my dear, I don't want to implicate you and the child. ”

"At least I need to know what happened to you, dear." The wife said worriedly.

"What's going on?" Colonel Giovanni was still sobbing, but a self-deprecating wry smile was on his lips: "After all, I was so stupid, I was caught in a storm, and I was like a fisherman in a boat, and I fell headlong into the terrifying waves of the Norwegian Kraken and the North Sea Monster. The wife, apparently untouched by these metaphors, shook her head, crouched down and sighed, "Stop talking nonsense, my dear, go get something to eat..."

The wife was still stunned, wondering who would come to visit at this point. Colonel Giovanni, on the other hand, was extremely sensitive to the knock at the door, and he sat up at once, and muttered to himself angrily: "It must be the Duke of Aeguion's man!" He even dared to send someone to me, damn it! I, I'm going to shoot that damn brute! With that, Colonel Giovanni staggered to his feet, rushed to his desk, opened the lowest drawer, and pulled out a well-maintained silver-plated pistol.

"Oh my God, Giovanni, don't be impulsive!" The wife exclaimed, "Maybe it's not the same person last time, maybe... Just a friend in your troops? After all, you haven't been in the army for the past two days, and it's normal for them to be worried. ”

"I don't have any friends like that." Colonel Giovanni muttered as he slipped his pistol into his belt and began rummaging through bullets and gunpowder.

"Hey! Listen, my dear, I'm going to open the door and see who's coming, okay, you put your guns away, don't do anything stupid. With that, the wife hurried downstairs, came to the entrance, and carefully opened the door through a small gap, and looked out through the gap.

Standing outside the door was an old man with gray temples, who was politely waiting six feet from the door, standing gracefully and firmly.

The clothes on his body are also quite decent, the black wool trench coat is solemn and elegant, the head is a well-groomed high round hat, and he also holds a peach pine gold cane in his right hand, which looks like a private custom style.

In his wife's impression, such an elegant and dignified temperament and dress is like a personal butler of a certain duke.

Seeing that the door opened a small crack, the old man outside the door unhurriedly took off his top hat, bowed slightly under the support of his cane, and greeted: "Good night, madam, may I ask if Colonel Giovanni is at home?" The wife licked her lips hesitantly and asked vigilantly, "Colonel, he... At home, but it may not be convenient to receive visitors at this time, can you leave your name and contact address? ”

"No, ma'am, I beg you to tell the Colonel that I am from 10 Champs-Élysées, and I wish he could see him."

"Champs-Élysées...? Well, I'll go ask him, sorry to wait here for a moment. The wife closed the door in confusion, wondering what the 10th Champs-Elysées was.

She returned to the living room, only to find that the drunken Colonel Giovanni had rushed down with a pistol in hand, shouting, "Is that the bastard that day?" Is he outside the door?! ”

"No, it's not! Giovanni, put the gun down! The wife hurriedly dissuaded: "I don't know who he is, I just said that he came to you, but he looks like a gentleman." Colonel Giovanni was stunned for a moment, like a deflated ball, sighed and put the pistol back on his belt, and waved his hand as he walked upstairs: "Let him get out, I don't want to see anyone." ”

"By the way, he said he was from 10 Champs-Élysées." The wife reminded.

"Hmph, I won't see him even if he's from Versailles... Wait a minute? In the middle of his words, Colonel Giovanni suddenly froze in place, he suddenly turned his head to look at his wife, and his eyes paralyzed by alcohol instantly became clear: "You said 10 Champs-Élysées?!" There it is... The mansion of Lord Bonaparte... Is it Bonaparte's man?! Before his wife could react, Colonel Giovanni rushed down the stairs, and without even having time to change his clothes, he ran to the door in his pajamas and pulled the door open.

The old man outside the door looked at Colonel Giovanni's pajamas and the pistol stuck in his waist with some surprise, and couldn't help but greet: "Hello, Colonel... Sorry, did I disturb your rest? Colonel Giovanni swallowed violently, and he recognized the old man as the butler of the mansion of His Excellency Bonaparte, whom he had seen when he had broken into the Corsican embassy: "No, no, sir, please come in." At this time, even the drunken Colonel Giovanni knew very well that since His Excellency Bonaparte had sent someone to see him, it meant that he still had a chance to live.

Otherwise, it would not have been the old butler who knocked on his door, but the officials and executioners of the Paris High Court.

Thinking of this, he hurriedly and excitedly invited the old butler into his house, as if he were serving a king.

The two sat facing each other on a sofa next to the fireplace in the living room, and his wife also kindly brought hot tea to the coffee table in front of them.

The flames of the fire danced in the fireplace, stretching their shadows long on the floor, and the living room was so quiet that only the crackling of firewood could be heard.

"Sir, you have come on the commission of His Excellency Bonaparte?" After a moment of deliberation, Colonel Giovanni asked nervously, "I'm really sorry... I did not intend to offend Lord Bonaparte, but it has come to this, and if the Lord wants to punish me, I will have to accept it willingly. ”

"Don't be so nervous, Colonel, Your Excellency Bonaparte is merciful and has not punished you." The old butler unhurriedly took a sip of hot tea from his cup and saucer, and before Colonel Giovanni could be pleased, he continued, "But... It is a solid fact that you have led men to smash your estates and wound your employees, and therefore Lord Bonaparte wants you to do something for him to make up for these losses. Master Bonaparte promised that when it was done, you would owe him nothing more. ”

"Errands? If you open your mouth, I swear that as long as I can, I will go to the trouble for His Excellency Bonaparte! Before he knew what to do, Colonel Giovanni couldn't sit still, and he patted his chest again and again and made a pledge.

"Good." The old butler glanced at the colonel indifferently, nodded, took out two envelopes from his arms, and solemnly placed them on the coffee table: "If you are conscious, please open the envelope on the left, it is what His Excellency Bonaparte wants you to do, and the content is only known to you and your lordship." Colonel Giovanni knew that he had no second option, so he gritted his teeth and picked up the envelope on his left and opened it.

Inside was a letter from Lawrence, which was only five lines long, and Colonel Giovanni read it by the light of the fireplace.

However, as he read more, the Colonel's eyes widened, and by the time he had finished reading the letter, Colonel Giovanni was speechless in shock.

After a while, he raised his head and stared at the old butler, and said in embarrassment: "This... This, how is it possible, Your Excellency Bonaparte should do such a thing?! And... Isn't that ... Am I going to be killed, too? How could His Majesty the King spare me?! The old butler shook his head, and said in a deep voice, "Please do not mention to me the contents of the letter, for I do not know, nor do I want to know what His Excellency Bonaparte asks you to do." Now, if you have memorized the contents of the letter, throw it in the fire. Colonel Giovanni was stunned for a moment, but he bit his lip, looked down and scanned the contents of the letter a few more times, and soon engraved the five lines of text in his mind, and then threw the letter into the fireplace next to him.

Stunned as the letter turned to ashes in the churning flames, Colonel Giovanni held his forehead and said, "So Your Excellency Bonaparte still didn't leave me a way out...?" ”

"Ahem," the old butler looked at the depressed Colonel, gently pushed the second envelope in front of him, and said, "No, this is your way of life, Colonel." Colonel Giovanni looked at the obviously much heavier envelope, and hesitated to open it.

It was stuffed with three things: a ticket for a United Shipping Company with a destination of Ajaccio, Corsica; An identification document with the official seal of the Corsican government with the name Grus Goodman, a common and typical Corsican name; Finally, there is a bearer deposit slip from the Banco de la Valuelle de Marseille in the face of 50,000 livres.

"This is—" Colonel Giovanni looked at what he was doing, stunned.

"Colonel, after completing your mission, Your Excellency Bonaparte will buy you enough time to leave Paris with your family and go to Ajaccio, Corsica." The old butler pointed to the three documents in turn and explained: "When you arrive in Ajaccio, you are Grus Goodman, and no matter how the king condemns at that time, all the charges of Colonel Giovanni have nothing to do with you, and the last fifty thousand livres should be enough for you to spend the rest of your life in Corsica rich and stable." Colonel Giovanni listened silently, lying limp on the couch, unable to speak for a long time.

"I know it's a difficult choice, Colonel, to give up all your current status and go to a faraway land." The old butler sighed, and his voice was very gentle: "However, from the moment you intervened in the struggle between those big people, such an ending was doomed. ”

"Yes," Colonel Giovanni smiled bitterly, and finally accepted his fate: "I am a grain of loose sand in the storm, and I have to go wherever the wind takes me." I beg you to tell Bonaparte... Or Your Excellency Prime Minister, I, Grus Goodman, will not let him down. ”