The Shadow of Great Britain-Chapter 728 - 349 - The Trouble with Great Dumas_2

"Alexander, although I haven’t told you directly, you should know that I have been in long-term correspondence with Mr. Victor. In fact, this correspondence is not limited to mutual exchanges between friends but also serves as a channel for the heads of the British and French crime intelligence departments to discuss new criminal techniques and share information on international criminals."

Of course, our conversations are not always so formal, and we often talk about other things. I don’t like prying into others’ private lives, but as you know, Mr. Victor, while generally good at keeping secrets, becomes quite talkative with non-confidential information, sometimes almost as much a blabbermouth as Mr. Hugo."

Great Dumas heard this and felt even more uneasy, "You know about Hugo’s blabbermouth too? If so, Victor must have also told you about Balzac’s pettiness, hasn’t he?"

"Well... in a sense, I know much more than that. And Hugo’s blabbermouth, Balzac’s pettiness, are almost linked to what I’m about to discuss next."

"What on earth do you know?!"

Arthur took out the lawyer’s letter from Paris and the note added by Victor from in front of his desk.

"Mr. Victor informed me in the note that Paris’s top-selling actress Mary Dovar has already set out for London to prepare for the leading role in your new script ’Anthony.’ And the news I got from Astley Circular Theatre confirms this. Moreover, the theatre manager told me that they invited this exceptionally talented lady from Paris at a high cost on your recommendation."

Of course, if it were purely a business matter, there would be nothing to say. You have worked in the Parisian theater for a long time, as a director, stage manager, stage assistant, and I trust your professional judgment in this regard."

However, I regret to inform you that before deciding to do this, you did not assess the legal risks, nor did you consult with our editorial department’s specialist lawyer, Mr. Disraeli, and you failed to inform other shareholders about Miss Dovar’s tangled and complex personal relations within the Parisian literary circle."

As a notable scandalmonger in the Parisian literary world, Great Dumas had a clear understanding of Mrs. Dovar’s private relations.

But for Arthur, a Scotland Yard detective who led a simple life and occasionally took a bullet, Victor’s revelations in the note were truly an eye-opener.

When Mrs. Dovar first arrived in Paris, she was a lowly actress. According to Victor, she was a woman with a melancholic expression, a square face, a high forehead, a long, thin nose, full lips, and black curls scattered around her face."

Perhaps it was her dark eyes that moved the director, after some struggle, she finally made a name for herself in Paris by performing in ’Thirty Years or The Gambler’s Life.’"

After that, the clever Mrs. Dovar capitalized on her rising status and moved her residence to the corner of Melle Street that leads to Saint-Martin Road."

She knew that it was near this location that the struggling poets and writers who longed to make a name for themselves in Paris congregated."

It was through such a locational advantage that she became acquainted with serial novelists like Suliye, Saint-Beuve, Hugo, and composer Puccini, among other now-famous or future-famous theater industry professionals; and she developed romantic relations with a few based on personal taste, and many friendships where there was no romance."

Since then, Mrs. Dovar had an unending supply of new plays to perform."

While Mrs. Dovar was making waves in Paris, Great Dumas was still an unknown youngster. But even though he wasn’t famous yet, Mrs. Dovar still showed goodwill towards Great Dumas."

Grateful for this, Great Dumas was also more than willing to introduce his writer friends to this lovely and amiable lady continuously."

Among the friends introduced by Great Dumas, one playwright with a head of golden curls and aristocratic birth became the death of Mrs. Dovar.

This was none other than Alfred de Vigny, one of the three giants of the Parisian playwriting world."

Vigny, although married, evidently had a strained relationship with his English wife, who was nationalistic and adamant not to learn French."

And Mrs. Dovar fell head over heels for this talented and handsome playwright at first sight."

In short, they got tangled up with each other."

Their relationship was so close that they spent almost every night together."

But the problem was that both Dovar and Vigny had a character flaw—they were both extremely jealous."

Vigny couldn’t even tolerate someone else touching Dovar’s arm, and Dovar was always demanding loyalty from him."

However, they never truly believed that a lover could keep their promises.

This resulted in the two of them falling into a vicious cycle of mutual suspicion—betraying each other as retribution for perceived infidelity and continuing to use betrayal as a form of revenge upon discovering the other’s unfaithfulness.

This is also why, when Madame Dovar cried out, ’Your love has kept me chaste,’ during Hugo’s "Marion de Lorme," the theatre was filled with laughter.

Such incidents only heightened Vini’s suspicions and desire for control, to the point where he would insert personal messages into his plays, preaching to Dovar through his characters on stage.

—Madame, I tell you, women should no longer trust men like us. A poet’s affections are fickle; it’s best not to love them. Frankly speaking, poets love no one; they are all selfish spirits.

Of course, Dovar paid no heed.

Even if she were to stop loving poets, she would find something else to love.

Although Vini was inherently suspicious, always watching over those who might court his lover, his guards were entirely ineffective. If a man was rejected by Dovar, it merely meant she was not inclined to accept him.

Among the ardent suitors of Dovar was a chubby man, long harboring ulterior motives, who had never dared to reveal his affection—let’s not name names.

It is rumored that this chubby man once sent a letter to Madame Dovar’s home in the dead of night.

—My beautiful neighbor, I must spend another two sorrowful hours alone until midnight. Are you at home? May I come over to see you and perhaps have a cup of tea? I assure you, I only wish to kiss your beautiful hand and would dare not entertain any other untoward thoughts.

Following that night, the encounters between Great Dumas and Dovar at the theatre, their dining together, and visiting one another’s homes, evidently became much more frequent.

Perhaps guilt-ridden after these actions, feeling he had wronged his friend Vini, the chubby man even hypocritically treated the oblivious Vini to a meal, taking his hand and saying,

—My dear Alfred, frёeωebɳovel.com

There are two things I must tell you: you are one of the finest friends I have ever made; in the world today, there are only three poets—Lamartin, you, and Hugo.

If I have done something to make you feel even slightly uncomfortable, it’s not your fault; it’s because I’m no good.

Upon reading this, Arthur could not help but feel glad that he was neither married nor had a lover.

Speaking of which, the affair between Great Dumas and Dovar was meant to fade as he fled to London.

But as the warrant for his arrest in France was canceled by Talleyrand’s order, and his status in the London literary world continued to rise, he began to think again of his old flame back in Paris.

And the blabbermouth Hugo, upon learning that Dovar was about to travel to London, accidentally leaked Great Dumas’s good fortune to Balzac in casual conversation.

The vengeful Balzac then poked the beehive by passing the information to Vini.

As for the infuriated Vini, he announced his intention to sever ties with Great Dumas immediately and also used his influence in the Paris theater scene to pressure Dovar, demanding she not go to London.

As for Dovar, the woman just wanted to infuriate Vini; she paid no heed to any warnings. Even without Vini’s plays, those seeking her as the lead actress would have to wait until next year.

And Vini, driven to desperation, spent a significant amount of money to start collecting dirt on Great Dumas in Paris.

There is a saying that nothing is difficult for the willing.

Being so desperately agitated, he indeed managed to dig up something particularly damning from the trove of Great Dumas’s dark past.