Ball of Suet: Selected Short Stories by Maupassant

Chapter 23 Boar Moran (1)
—To Mr. Woodino
Businessman Moran was sued in court for offending a girl.Not only did he lose his reputation, but he also suffered anger everywhere in the family.Seeing that the trial was about to start, he needed to find someone to help him mediate the matter. Finally, he found a newspaper editor. After his hard work, the story was happy in the end.

一
I said to Rabarbe: "My friend, please wait a minute, you just mentioned 'Boar Moran' again. When everyone talks about Moran, why do you always add the word 'Boar' in front of it?" ? This really baffles me."

Right now, La Barbe is already a member of parliament.After hearing my question, he glared at me and said, "Isn't it? As a native of La Rochelle, you don't even know the story of Moran?"

He looked like an owl.

I admit that I have never heard of Moran's story.

Labalbu had no choice but to rub his hands, and explained the whole thing: "You know Moran, right? Do you still have an impression of him? At that time, he opened a very large clothing store in Near the La Rochelle."

"I still remember it."

"That's good. In fact, the whole thing is like this. Moran once went to Paris to stay for half a month under the pretext of purchasing goods. In fact, it was for sightseeing. If it was not 1862, it would be 1863.

"Half a month in Paris means to a foreigner, I think you know very well. Performances of different forms will appear here every night, and women of all colors will pass you by every day. In this case The blood in your whole body is like being ignited, and it is difficult to get out of the extreme excitement until you lose your normal sanity. Those dancers in leotards, as well as scantily clad actresses, use plump Her fragrant shoulders and jade legs fill your field of vision. These are clearly in front of your eyes, but they are as far away as the ends of the earth, and even touching them with your own hands is a delusion. The occasional consolation of poor food. On the day you say goodbye to Paris, you are so horny and thirsty that you wish you had a small mouth to kiss yours to relieve the dry itching of your lips.

"Molan intends to take the express train back to La Rochelle at 8:40 in the evening. He has even bought a train ticket, but the anxiety mentioned above is still controlling his body and mind, and there is no sign of easing up. He was walking back and forth in the waiting hall of the Orleans train station. At this moment, his mind was in a mess and he was full of reluctance for the city of Paris. He walked in front of a young girl and suddenly stopped. At this time, the girl was saying goodbye to an old woman, and the two hugged each other. The girl's face was covered with a small veil, but now the veil was lifted, revealing a beautiful face. Moran saw Immediately, he was deeply attracted, and he sighed in a low voice: 'My God! She is so beautiful!'

"After the farewell ceremony with the old lady was over, the girl went to the waiting room. Moran followed her quietly, and followed her across the platform and onto the train.

"The carriages were empty because few people would take the express train. After the whistle sounded, the train departed.

"Except for that girl, Moran is the only one left in the whole carriage.

"Moran stared at the girl. She was about 19 or 20 years old. She was tall, with blond hair, and she behaved very well. She used her legs Covered with a travel blanket, he lay down on the chair, closed his eyes and took a nap.

"Looking at this scene, Moran couldn't help thinking, what kind of girl is she? Many thoughts flashed through his mind. He told himself to himself: I don't know how many times I have heard of people's accidents on trains. Aventure, maybe this kind of situation will happen to me today. Who says it is not? The so-called luck is an unexpected surprise event, which happens without warning. Judging the situation, the only thing I have to do now is to be brave One point, take the initiative. Danton once said: 'Courage as much as you can.' However, it is also possible that this sentence was Mirabeau Danton and Mirabeau were both leaders of the French Revolution. The famous saying, in short It's one of them, and it doesn't matter which one it is. Courage is exactly what I lack now. You know, success or failure depends on it. I wish I could make others You can see all your ideas clearly!
"Every day, there are countless great opportunities that we miss in vain, but we don't realize it. I can guarantee that this must be the case. She must also hope to make friends with me, alas, if she If you can give me a little hint, I can understand...

"Molan immediately began to think of various ways to make this affair continue to develop. At first, he thought of an elegant way to strike up a conversation:

"First make some small gestures to please her, and then talk to her. During the conversation, you must be humorous and show your interest in her at the right time. When the conversation is about to end, express your heart directly. Confess to her, and you can imagine what happens next.

"It's a pity that Moran thought for a long time, but he couldn't even find a reason to strike up a conversation, and he didn't know how to make up the first line. His mind was disturbed, and he didn't know what to do. He could only stand still and wait for the opportunity to come.

The young and beautiful girl fell asleep, and in the blink of an eye, most of the night had passed.Sitting next to her, Moran has been painstakingly planning how to have a good night with her.The night was getting lighter and lighter, and it didn't take long for the sunrise to usher in.The bright sunlight shot out from the distant horizon, just falling on the girl's beautiful face.

"The sleepy girl finally woke up. She sat up, looked around for a while, then looked at Moran, and smiled at him. Her smile was very pleasant, with a kind of power to touch people's hearts, and she looked different from anyone in the world. An identical happy girl made Moran shudder, and for a moment he felt like an electric shock. The girl's smile was directed at him, he was sure. To get this implicit signal of invitation, he He has been waiting for a long time. He saw the words from her smile: "You stayed in the seat for a whole night like a piece of wood, but you didn't have the courage to take any action. Are you a fool or a fool?" wood?'

"'Don't you think I'm not pretty enough? Then take a closer look at me. You're too stupid to spend a fool's night with a beautiful woman and get nothing out of it.'

"The young girl looked at him with a smile, and couldn't help laughing. Moran was in a daze at the moment. He wanted to strike up a conversation with the girl, say something casually, and show her affection. But he didn't even Can't think of a word, really can't think of a word. Finally, he made up his mind and said to himself: Well, I don't care about anything, just act directly! He decided to put all his eggs in one basket and said nothing, He rushed straight to the beautiful girl, put his arms around her, and kissed her little mouth impatiently.

"The girl immediately jumped up and shouted: 'Help! Come on! Help!' She shouted and screamed. She opened the car door, and then stretched out her arms, desperately She trembled, and even wanted to jump out of the car and run away—she was so frightened that she was almost insane. Moran was also terribly scared, and hurried forward and pulled her skirt in her hands, lest she would really Jumping on the train. At this time, Moran was so frightened that he couldn't even speak smoothly, so he could only stammer and beg: "Oh... Miss... Miss..."

"The train gradually slowed down, and finally stopped. After receiving the distress signal from the girl, two conductors rushed here. When the girl saw them, she leaned on their chests and explained vaguely: 'He wants to Put me... put me...' Before she finished speaking, she had already lost consciousness.

"The train stopped at Moser station and Moran was arrested by the gendarme on duty at the station.

"The young girl was violently assaulted by him. After she regained her senses, she filed a lawsuit against Moran. Her testimony was recorded by the police. By the time Moran returned home, the night had come again. This costume The owner of the store, what a bad year! Next, he will wait for the court to issue a verdict on himself because he committed a crime of indecent publicity. This is undoubtedly a heavy blow to him."

two

"At that time, I happened to be working as editor-in-chief of the Charente Lantern. Morin and I met every night in the Trader's Café.

"He didn't know what to do next. So the day after this happened, he came to me for help. I said straight to him: 'You're no different than a boar. .Who would do such a good thing if it were a normal person?'

"He cried and said that after going through this incident, his reputation has been discredited, all his friends ignored him, and his wife was so angry that he beat him up, and the business of his clothing store also suffered. It's getting worse and worse, and it's about to go bankrupt. After listening to him talking like this for a long time, I finally felt sympathy for him. I think of my colleague Li Wei, who is short in stature and loves to joke, but he can always think of Some good ideas. So I asked him to come over and help Moran with ideas.

"I used to have friendship with the state prosecutor, so Liwei asked me to seek help from the prosecutor. Before I went to the prosecutor, I told Moran to go home and wait for news.

"I learned from the prosecutor that the disgraced girl had just passed the qualification examination in Paris not long ago, and her name was Henriette Bonnelle. Her parents were dead, and she My uncle and aunt live in Moser, they have a little money, and they are serious people. This time, Bonner took the express train just to go to his uncle's house for vacation.

"Now the girl's uncle has filed a lawsuit against Moran, which is obviously very fatal to Moran. If you don't want the prosecutor to sue Moran, you must ask the girl's uncle to withdraw the lawsuit. Next, I will That's what you're striving for.

"I left the prosecutor's office and went straight to the Moran's. He was sick and bedridden with anxiety. His wife kept cursing at him. The lady was big-boned, tall and mighty, There was so much hair on her face that it looked like she had a beard. She ushered me into the bedroom and yelled at me, 'You want to see that boar Moran, look, that bastard is right here Well!'

"She was standing by the bed, pinching her waist with both hands, looking extraordinarily arrogant. I told Moran what I learned from the prosecutor. Moran begged me to go to the girl's uncle's house and help He was a lobbyist. I granted him the request, although it was obviously a hot potato. Poor Moran kept emphasizing to me: 'I didn't actually kiss her, I swear I didn't, I did of!'

"I said to him: 'Since you've become a boar, you can't change that fact by kissing her or not.' He handed me a thousand francs and said I could do it myself if necessary. Use the money. I collect the money.

I asked Li Wei to be my companion and to be Moran's lobbyist together, because it was not my wish to go to the girl's uncle's house rashly alone.Since Liwei had important business to do in La Rochelle the next afternoon, he had to come back before then.In view of this, although Liwei agreed to my request, he asked to set off with me immediately.

"We walked for two hours and finally arrived at our destination. It was a beautiful country house, and we rang the doorbell right in front of it. The door was answered by a young and beautiful girl. She must have been offended by Moran. I thought about it, and whispered to Li Wei: "Why Moran would do that, now I finally understand."

"Coincidentally, the girl's uncle turned out to be a loyal reader of the "Charente Lantern" where I belonged. We called him Mr. Donarai. He very much agreed with the political views held by our newspaper. Seeing the two The editor of the respected newspaper came here. Mr. Donarai was obviously very excited. He extended a warm welcome to us and shook hands with us warmly. : 'It seems that it is not difficult to eliminate the trouble of Boar Moran.'

"The girl had already avoided it by then. I brought the embarrassing case to the fore. I said that if this story got out, people would almost inevitably be embellished. Who would believe it? The girl was just kissed by Moran, which is unbelievably simple. After that, people will definitely look at the girl through colored glasses, and it will hurt her more. I keep asking Donna Mr. Lai instilled such a concept.

"It seems that Mr. Donarai's faith has been shaken. However, no matter what decision he makes, he must listen to the opinions of his wife, but his wife will not return home until late at night. He suddenly An idea came to mind, and I couldn't help shouting: "I thought of it! You just stay here and don't go for a while. You stay tonight and have dinner, and then you will rest at our house for the night. As long as my wife comes home at night , we will be able to negotiate a solution to the problem, and it won't take you long.'

"Faced with such a proposal, Liwei seemed very embarrassed. However, he finally accepted it, because it was his wish to help the boar Moran solve this problem. So the two of us agreed to Mr. Donarai's arrangement .

"Mr. Donarai got up and called his nephew, and excitedly suggested that we go out for a walk together, and the place was chosen in the yard of their house. Mr. Donarai said: 'It is useless to discuss business matters in the evening. Late.'

"While walking with him, Li Wei discussed politics.

"I fell behind, walking side by side with the girl, keeping a few steps away from the two in front. This girl is so attractive that I can't think of a better word to describe her charm. endless!
"I mentioned her tragic experience with the utmost care in my words, and tried my best to put my opinion on this matter in her position.

"She seemed to think that I was talking about other people's experiences, and the expression on her face was not at all uncomfortable, it was purely as if she was listening to an innocuous story.

"I said: 'Miss, you will encounter more troubles in the future, please think carefully. You think you have to testify in court, and then people will look at you with evil eyes, And you have to tell them about your misfortune on the train, down to the smallest detail. If you didn't call out the conductor when it happened, but warned Stop that shameless guy, then go to another car and avoid him far away. Do you think it would be more appropriate in this way? Of course, I will only treat you in private say that.'

"The girl smiled and replied: 'I agree with your proposal! Unfortunately, I just couldn't do it at the time. I was terribly afraid. Anyone who is so afraid can't think calmly.

"'Afterwards, I finally came to my senses, and I also felt that it was inappropriate for me to yell at that moment. The pig didn't say a word, but just jumped on me like a madman. What he wanted to do with me, I can't guess at all.'

"The girl looked at me calmly and frankly. I thought to myself, she is really a good girl with a calm demeanor. I understand more and more why the boar Moran did such a stupid thing.

"I said to her in a joking tone: 'Miss, everyone has a love for beauty. You are so beautiful, no matter who sees you, they will have an urge to kiss you from the bottom of their hearts. So that There's a reason why the guy did that extravagance, you can't deny that.'

"The girl grinned, and she said: 'Sir, everyone should maintain a minimum of respect for other people, and impulsiveness is no excuse for wanton behavior.'

(End of this chapter)