Writer 1879: Solitary Journey in France

Chapter 91 Rasputin among literary giants
It took Lionel a whole day of subtle questioning and piecing together the fragments to figure out what had happened.

Although he did not attend the Sorbonne's "Poetry Gathering" held on the last weekend of Easter, the college still received a huge amount of sponsorship.

One of the donations of 15 francs will establish the "Rothschild Sorbonne Literary Scholarship" at the Sorbonne, which will be awarded annually to Sorbonne students who have made outstanding contributions to their writing, with a prize of 5000 francs.

This year's prize money is almost certainly going to be awarded to Lionel.

However, since Lionel will graduate next year and can only receive it once at most, everyone only felt envious and rarely jealous, and there was not much speculation about the relationship between Madame Rothschild and Lionel.

After all, she was one of the major patrons of the Sorbonne in previous years, but this year she sponsored an exceptionally large amount.

But another donation of 30 francs was almost explicitly given because of Lionel.

With this small sum of money, I pay my highest respects to the Sorbonne literary son who could have attended the "Poetry Gathering" but chose to be absent for the sake of dignity and conscience!
—From Baroness Balf Alekseyevna Durova-Sherbatova

After a haughty baroness's servant finished reciting these words at the "poetry gathering," a luxurious carriage with heavy wheels drove into the square where the "poetry gathering" was being held at the Sorbonne, in front of everyone.

Several burly men unloaded several boxes from the carriage, and the servant immediately opened the lids. In an instant, the golden light dazzled everyone's eyes.

The box was full of gold Louis coin, which had been out of circulation for almost 100 years, each one bearing the image of the Sun King, Louis XIV.

Each "Gold Louis" coin contains 6.45 grams of gold and can be exchanged for 20 to 24 francs, so the nearly 15,000 gold coins on site at the time truly shocked everyone.

What's even more remarkable is that the "Gold Louis" was withdrawn from the circulation of currency in France as early as 1795 and replaced by the current franc. Most people exchanged their Gold Louis for the new currency for convenience.

Even in some aristocratic families, "gold Louis" were mostly used for appreciation and decoration, and were not actually used to buy things.

It's hard to find a wealthy person in all of France who could afford so many "golden Louis" bills.

As for who the "son of Sorbonne literature who could have attended the poetry gathering but was absent for the sake of dignity and conscience" is, it's obvious even to a fool.

As for how the donation would be used, the servant haughtily stated, "Baroness Alexievna has left the Sorbonne to handle the money as it sees fit; she trusts in the noble character of the Sorbonne people!"

Then he got into a carriage and left, leaving the Sorbonne students and faculty and guests looking completely bewildered.

The teachers and students at the Sorbonne were going crazy—30 francs for any purpose?! Could such a good deal even exist?!

It's important to know that the 15 francs donated by Madame Rothschild was used to establish a scholarship, which not only had a dedicated account management system, but the college also had to submit a usage report to her every year, and was subject to audits by her private accountant at any time.

Even trying to divert a little bit of it is extremely troublesome.

According to some gossips, after Baroness Alexievna arrived in Paris, she was ostracized by the Parisian aristocratic circles due to her lavish and generous style, and this money was intended as a show of defiance against them.

However, the choice of Lionel as the reason is a matter that requires careful consideration. Inspired by her, the ladies attending the "poetry gathering" began to compete, and in the end, the Sorbonne received or was about to receive donations exceeding 200 million francs.

In this way, although Baroness Alexievna's 30 francs still topped the list, her share decreased as the total amount of donations increased, thus preventing the Parisian ladies from losing too much face.

Two million francs is also the largest single-year fundraising amount in the history of the Sorbonne.

And the one who brought all this together was Lionel, who did not attend the "poetry gathering" and "mysteriously disappeared" for two weeks during the Easter holiday!
It is rumored that Lady Alexievna was born into one of the oldest noble families in Russia—the Shcherbatov family.

His father was Prince Sergei Ivanovich Shcherbatov, and his mother was the daughter of Count Vorontsov, so he had half Georgian royal blood.

The inheritance she received after her father's death included:
Four estates located in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Russia, and Chernihiv, Ukraine;
Shares in the Baku oil field;
A 40% stake in a salt mine located in the Don River basin;
A three-story villa on Rue de la Valencia in the 7th arrondissement of Paris—of course, she didn't like living there, finding it too small.

Baroness Alexievna earns more than 140 million rubles (about 350 million francs) annually from her share of the inheritance and the dowry she controls.

This annual income is among the highest in all of Russia, and even in all of Europe.

As famous as her wealth was her appearance—round face, large ears, straight nose, square mouth, eight feet tall, ten spans wide at the waist, a raccoon-like beard on her cheeks, and a palm-width of hair covering her chest. She possessed the courage of ten thousand men and was truly a hero.

It is said that Baroness Alexievna left Moscow to live in Paris permanently with the strong support of her husband.

The fact that Lionel could engage in a two-week battle with her is even more remarkable than his literary talent—after all, in this continent of Europe, literary giants are easy to find, but Rasputin is hard to come by.

Today, throughout the entire Sorbonne, no professor or student dares to underestimate Lionel.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Knowing everything, Lionel was also helpless. He couldn't very well tell people, "During the Easter holidays, I first went to Jersey to visit Mr. Hugo's house, then encountered a sensational three-way murder case that shocked all of Paris, and finally moved away in a panic..."

Even if I explained, everyone would probably just give me a "you don't need to explain, I understand" look.

Moreover, he had no idea what Mrs. Alexievna was thinking.

Is it because you admire "The Old Guard," or because you admire his character of confronting Professor Terry and speaking up for Chen Jitong?

But the other person spent 30 francs on him, and although not a single penny has gone into his pocket, the goodwill he showed was so great that it was like a hurricane.

Lionel was having a headache about how to "repay" the other party in the future. Did he really have to repay the debt with his body?
Two days passed in this daze, and on Tuesday, Lionel was finally able to escape the suffocating, ambiguous atmosphere of the Sorbonne and attend a historically famous literary salon to catch his breath—

"Tuesday in Charpentier"

(End of this chapter)