Writer 1879: Solitary Journey in France

Chapter 19 The Poor but Honest Lionel

What was placed in front of Lionel at that moment was 100 francs in cash and a telegram.

The 100 francs was the advance payment Gabriel received from Le Bourget for his article for the next week. Gabriel had eagerly begun serializing his submission, "An Honest Parisian," as a column in Le Bourget, even moving it from the side page to the second page.

Since the publication of the "Priest Trilogy," Le Bourgeois has suppressed a host of toilet reading materials such as Le Lantern and Le José, becoming the favorite of Parisians while using the toilet with a growth rate of more than 2 copies per issue.

Those stories, one after another, incorporating elements of eroticism and homosexuality, while being subtle and clever, make them irresistible to everyone who reads them.

These Frenchmen never imagined that such a thing could be expressed through so many roundabout hints; they thoroughly enjoyed the joy of that "aha" moment.

However, this also has side effects—

Doctors in Paris have recently seen a surge in patients with ruptured hemorrhoids, all caused by laughing too much while using the toilet, which led to the hemorrhoids breaking open.

For a time, the toilets in Paris were a scene of chaos and violence.

In this case, Gabriel not only agreed to increase the fee for "An Honest Parisian" to 13 sous per line, but also agreed to pay it in advance in the form of 100 francs per week.

"An honest Parisian" must submit a manuscript of no less than 150 lines to Le Bourgeois by Tuesday each week.

Le Bourgeois knew that since the other party was using the "anonymous deposit" method to receive payment, if these conditions were not agreed to, "an honest Parisian" might submit the article to competitors such as Le Lantern at any time.

This is the characteristic of tabloids—the payment for articles often has no "middle value." On the one hand, they extremely exploit and deduct from the earnings of fledgling writers, while on the other hand, they can pay high rewards for good works that promote sales.

A price of 13 sous per line is already the standard for authors who are "somewhat famous" in the Parisian publishing world.

Maupassant, who established Lionel's reputation for "poverty" and "integrity," now earns less than 10 sous per line in royalties, and his published works can be described as "very few."

But Lionel was far from happy, because the telegram from the Alps brought bad news—

The day before Lionel's telegram arrived home, the Sorel family had already handed over 5000 francs in cash to the swindler known as "Émile," instructing him to take it to Paris to purchase "Panama Canal" bonds.

Lionel's actions were already swift enough. After receiving the previous letter home, he investigated "Emil's" background within just three days and even sent a telegram back to dissuade his family.

However, even the telegraph was not available in every town during this era.

Lionel's telegrams were first sent to La Lagné, the largest city near his hometown, and then the telegraph office in La Lagné would notify the recipient through the postal system. The recipient would then have to travel to La Lagné to receive the telegram.

Three days passed in the round trip.

At this time, Emil had already disappeared without a trace, taking with him his sister Lionel's dowry and most of the family's savings.

The Sorel family panicked after receiving the telegram. They first checked the gifts "Emil" had given to their daughter and found that the rings, necklaces, and other dazzling jewelry were all fakes.
They then went to the provincial capital, Gapu, and visited the office of the Orby Trading Company, where they were told outright that they had never heard of any "Emir" and had no connection to him. As for the large farm in Guyana, the Sorel family had neither the ability nor the need to verify it.

The Sorel family was devastated—the father was so shocked by the bad news that he was in a daze and had no heart for work; the mother could still do housework, but she would secretly shed tears when she thought about it.
Needless to say, my sister is in even worse shape; she cries every day and no longer goes out.

At the end of this long telegram, the father made a difficult "request," just like in the previous letter: drop out of school and go home.

However, this time when I go back, I certainly won't have an office job that pays 260 francs a month. Instead, I'll probably be like my father, working in some company or large farm, starting as a lowly copyist who pays 120 francs a month. Even if I work until I'm as old as my father and both my eyes are ruined, I can only raise my salary to 200 francs.

Lionel sighed and folded the long telegram away.

He is now even less likely to return to the Alps.

It wasn't that he didn't have a deep emotional connection with these "unfamiliar" family members, but going back now would only ruin his future and wouldn't help anything.

If Le Bourgeois hadn't changed its mind, he would now be earning almost 400 francs a month, which would be about 5000 francs a year. In the "commoner" class, that would be enough to live a "decent" life—of course, it's not stable.

If The Buzz is banned (which happens often), or if the appeal of its story diminishes, the money could be halved at any time.

In addition, there is another hidden danger: "Anonymity" can protect one's own safety on the one hand, and avoid standing in the dock in court and being judged for moral depravity after one's identity is exposed to the greatest extent;

On the other hand, it also means that he has no control over the pseudonym "an honest Parisian". Paris is full of talented but unappreciated writers who are down on their luck. Le Bourgeois can find someone to replace him at any time and save at least 50 francs every week!

After all, "Xiaolin Guangji" contains short jokes, and its genre has limited capacity. In terms of technique, it can only be considered "new" to the French, but by no means "profound".

This novelty will last at most two or three months, after which "an honest Parisian," "a simple Parisian," "a real Parisian," "a robust Parisian," and so on will probably spring up like mushrooms after rain.

However, the opportunity to resolve the Sorel family's crisis lies not in the Alps, but in Paris.

Lionel first wrote a letter home, saying that he had found a part-time job as a tutor in a noble family, earning 200 francs a month, which would be enough to cover his living expenses and tuition at the Sorbonne. He also attached 100 francs in cash to prove that he was telling the truth.

Then he asked his family to describe "Emil" in detail, preferably to have an artist draw him and send him to him; he would search for clues about this fraudster in Paris.
Finally, he sincerely stated that although the family had lost a huge sum of 5000 francs, the most important thing was that the family should not be defeated; as long as he and his father could still work, the Sorel family had hope of "making a comeback".

After finishing the letter, the bright moonlight streamed through the round skylight. He sighed, stuffed the letter into the envelope, and then took out a stack of manuscript paper.

He first filled a whole page, then took a second sheet of paper, but only wrote one line—

[Dear Mr. Gabriel, this is a section of my novel. If you are interested, we can discuss its publication plans in more detail...]

(End of this chapter)