shadow of britain

Chapter 119 The Million Pounds Youth Edition

Arthur glanced at Elder, then pulled him and Dumas beside him out of the gate of the police station, and walked all the way into the coffee shop across the street.

Sure enough, as soon as he entered the coffee shop, he found that Darwin was also waiting in the corner seat.

Today Darwin seemed to be in a good mood as well. He changed into a new hat that seemed to be worth a lot of money, and was sitting on his seat playing with a brand-new set of taxidermy tools.

Arthur pulled Elder and the others into their seats, and as soon as he sat down firmly, he couldn't help but took out the check in his pocket and glanced at it.

The bright and dazzling mark on it suddenly dazzled his eyes.

It was a £1000 deposit note from the Bank of England.

Arthur took a deep breath. It was more than his salary as a police inspector at Scotland Yard for ten years.

Elder proudly held his pipe in his mouth and asked: "How is it? I just said, after finishing this big business, the salary must be not low, right? Arthur, with this 1000 pounds, you can also be regarded as 30 years old in London." The following young people have achieved grades in primary and secondary schools.”

Arthur glanced at him, first reached out for a cup of black tea, and then asked, "How much did the 'Black Thorn' ship cost? Colonel Fitzroy's offer is too generous, right?"

Elder smiled and picked up the donuts on the plate, and said, "The recent economic recovery has been good, so the black thorn was sold at a pretty good price, and after deducting depreciation and maintenance costs, there is still a surplus of nearly 5000 pounds. "

Arthur picked up a lump of sugar and put it into the teacup, and asked while stirring: "But even if there is a surplus of 5000 pounds, Colonel Fitzroy will only take 1250 pounds, and the rest will be given to the crew. Although I helped him a little in the battle that day, isn't it a bit too polite for him to pay me so much at once?"

He wanted to hand the check back, but Elder pressed his hand back: "Arthur, you just accept it. If you don't accept it, Colonel Fitzroy won't feel at ease."

When Darwin heard this, he couldn't help but smirked and said, "That's right, Arthur. You may not know that, apart from indentured slaves, the ship 'Blackthorn' also contained a lot of gold coins and smuggled goods."

"Smuggled goods? What smuggled goods?" Elder seemed to have lost his memory. He blushed and reprimanded Darwin with a thick neck: "Charles, I warn you, don't talk nonsense here! Bundles of banknotes, don't you just block them?" Not in your mouth?"

Arthur was not polite to him when he heard this.

He asked directly, "How much did you and Charles take?"

When Elder heard this, he just smiled and stretched out two fingers: "We can't compare with you, we are already very satisfied with this number. Thanks to you, Charles and I are both awarded according to the standard of military officers. .”

When Dumas at the side heard this, he couldn't help being a little envious: "Oh, why didn't you assign it to me?"

Elder glanced at the fat man, and criticized mercilessly: "Come on, you've already lost your life, and you're not satisfied? If it's according to Fred's plan, you should also be classified as a commodity. Sold to Santo Domingo in the West Indies, cheap labor at 20 pounds each."

Arthur thought Elder's words would ignite Alexandre Dumas' temper, but the fat French man sighed mockingly.

"Perhaps there's nothing wrong with going to Santo Domingo. After all, my ancestors made their fortunes there."

Elder frowned and said, "Your ancestors were slave manor owners in West India?"

Alexandre Dumas poured a cup of tea by himself: "No, my ancestors were black slaves who worked in the manor."

"Black slave?!"

Elder almost dropped his jaw when he heard this.

He looked Dumas up and down, and asked strangely: "Dude, are you kidding me? You are not black!"

Darwin, on the other hand, had already begun to think deeply about the appearance and physique of Alexandre Dumas.

As for Arthur, although he was equally astonished, after a while, he looked at Dumas's hairstyle with some understanding: "No wonder you have curly hair and shaggy hair. I said that no matter how much the French pursue fashion, they still don't care about it." You can't spend so much effort on such a troublesome hairstyle."

Dumas took a sip of tea and said, "I thought you guys already knew my origin. After all, my surname is here. Dumas, this is not a normal French surname."

Elder waved his hands and laughed loudly: "What's so strange? Last time I met a Frenchman, he still said his surname is God!"

Dumas glared at Elder when he heard the words, and jumped up: "Sir, I'm telling you the truth!"

Elder took a look at Dumas's muscular physique, smacked his mouth twice, and then obediently picked up the teacup: "You continue."

Dumas finally calmed down. He sat back on the chair and said, "My grandmother was a black slave who was sold to a plantation in the West India. Her name was Marie Sesset Dumas. It was the manor who gave birth to my father after being raped. Speaking of which, my bastard grandfather is still famous, do you know the Payetelli family in France?"

Arthur thought about it carefully, nodded and said: "I have a little impression, I seem to have seen this surname somewhere, it seems to come from Normandy."

Dumas nodded in surprise: "I really underestimated you before. That's right, my grandfather was from Normandy, the Marquis de Payetrie of Normandy. He used to be a French artillery colonel and chief quartermaster. But Later, due to extravagance, he went bankrupt in France, so he could only go to Santo Domingo to manage the plantation.

It was there that he bought my grandmother and raped her to give birth to my father, Thomas Alexander de la Payetri.

Later, one of my grandfather's relatives in France died, and he sold my grandmother and father to pay for his trip back home.Fortunately, he still has a little conscience, or because he was too old to have children, so after inheriting the property of his relatives, he went to redeem my father again after two years.

Since then, he has raised my father as his heir, but you know, it is impossible for my father to forgive that old bastard after being hurt so much in his childhood.Therefore, when my father became an adult, the conflict between him and his grandfather was intensified because of his newly married stepmother.

My father was determined to join the army, he changed his surname from Payetri to his grandmother's Dumas, and joined Napoleon's army.

With his brave spirit and indomitable courage, he rose all the way to the post of commander of the French Alps Army.The Austrians he beat were crying for their fathers and mothers, and they called him the 'black devil'. My father also followed Napoleon to conquer Cairo, and he made many achievements and honors.It's just that later..."

Speaking of this, Alexandre Dumas seemed a little annoyed: "I still don't understand why Napoleon alienated my father, maybe because he disagreed with Napoleon, or because of my father's unique surname?

I don't understand, but I don't think my father should have been in prison for his bravery, and I don't understand why Napoleon refused to pay my father's pension, or even see him.

For what my father had done to France, he deserved a decent life, or at least a decent funeral.

Instead of dying on a small plank bed at home in poverty, there was only one cane he used to be buried with him, and even the golden handle of the cane was asked by him to take it off and leave it at home, because he felt that the property he left to his family was too much. is too little. "

Hearing this, Elder couldn't help cursing: "Napoleon is really not a thing! I just knew what good things a French dwarf can do?"

Alexandre Dumas waved his hands and said: "Napoleon is Napoleon, and France is France. He is a good man, but he is not worthy to be the emperor of France. No one is worthy of the emperor of France. I just learned from Napoleon. Putting him in that position, no matter how good a man, always becomes imperious and ruthless, and that is why I am a staunch republican.

People like Napoleon began to become arbitrary after becoming emperor. What is Louis Philippe, he is also worthy to sit on the throne of France?I just can't understand this, that's why those who were persecuted by him had to flee France. "

Hearing this, Darwin thought about it and asked, "So, you have escaped this catastrophe, and I'm afraid you can't feel at ease for the time being. Judging from your description, the French government may not murder you again."

"Murder?" Elder's eyes lit up when he heard this: "This means that there may be another vote? Then I have to urge Colonel Fitzroy to find someone to take the Beagle away." fix it."

Arthur glanced at Elder, and he took a sip of tea: "No matter how stupid the French are, they can't repeat their tricks. If Louis-Philippe and Mr. Dumas really have such a big hatred, it is estimated that next time they will directly send killers to do it." Just drop him.

Since he wanted to capture Mr. Dumas alive this time, he intended to use him to show his power to the ultra-republican elements in the country.If the first attempt was unsuccessful, if you persist in coming for the second time, this is no longer an ordinary diplomatic provocation.

And Sir Peel informed me that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has ordered the ambassador to France to make solemn representations and protests to the French government. As for the reaction of the new French government, that is beyond our consideration. "

Hearing this, Elder couldn't help being a little discouraged. He waved his hands and said, "It's all the damn blame on General Codlington! It's okay to have trouble with the Ottomans, but why would he have trouble with money? If we leave that pirate ship to us , it is estimated that we can get another seventy or eighty pounds of loot rewards."

When Elder said this, he suddenly changed the subject: "That's right! Arthur, you have so much money in your pocket now, have you considered starting some investment business?"

Arthur was holding the teacup. Seeing Elder's smiling face, he subconsciously covered his pocket with the other hand: "What? You want to make me rich?"

Elder said carelessly: "Where do I have that ability? I mean, why don't you just consider buying a house? The house can be bought in London or in your hometown of Yorkshire.

The advantage of buying a house in London is that you can easily rent out the vacant room in addition to living in it yourself.

If you buy it in your hometown, you have to buy a bigger one, or you can just buy some land.In this way, during the election period, someone will come to your door and beg you to sell the votes in your hand, which is also a lot of income. "

Arthur heard this, pondered for a while, and felt that what Elder said seemed to make sense.

Not to mention buying a house for rent or not, the task given to him by the Ministry of the Interior is to monitor and protect Alexandre Dumas 24 hours a day, but how easy is it to do this?
During the day, he could find some police officers to accompany Dumas around, but at night, when he was sleeping, he couldn't send a few more people to guard Dumas' room, right?

Even if Alexandre Dumas agrees, the landlord and other tenants may not be able to agree.

He took out the one thousand pound check from the Bank of England, glanced at it, and then turned out the five hundred pound money order from the Rothschild Bank that he had been holding in his arms for several days.

He looked up at Elder and asked, "What kind of house do you think fifteen hundred pounds can buy?"

(End of this chapter)