shadow of britain

Chapter 169 Paganini at Scotland Yard

Miss Byron?

This kind of banquet, this kind of location, plus the identities and ranks of the guests, Arthur could never think of a lady from the Byron family who could be qualified to stand here besides the Byron family.

Arthur thought for a while, and was about to compliment Ada's father's work, but before he could speak, he saw Ada put her index finger between her lips.

She may have had similar encounters too many times, so she said like a prophet: "Shh! Don't read my father's works. My mother hates his poems, and hates him even more. I reach out to other poets. Better talk about something else if you don't want to be turned off by her."

Arthur was stunned for a while, and then changed his words quite tactfully: "Why? It's because of Byron Hoon... No, did that man break your mother's heart?"

Ada nodded solemnly: "That's right, even before the man died, she was unwilling to tell me why the two of them divorced. I didn't know until later that it was all because the man had no He loves her so much, the reason why he wrote so many rhetorical love letters to her is just to suppress the publication of "Granalvain" through this marriage. Moreover, he is still with my aunt... ..."

When Arthur heard the words, he didn't ask the other party to explain clearly, he just nodded sympathetically.

"He did go too far in this matter. Though he is a great poet, in his attitude to marriage and children he has nothing to do with our Scotland Yard cobbler sergeant who can't read many words. "

"Officer Cobbler?" Ada looked a little surprised: "Is there any police officer in Scotland Yard who has ever been a cobbler? I thought the police officers there were all outstanding scientific researchers like you."

Arthur smiled when he heard the words: "Actually, the distance between scientific researchers and cobblers is not that far away. Do you know Mr. Faraday?"

Ada nodded: "My mother asked him to give me lessons. He is a very cultivated gentleman, and he fully deserves all the compliments everyone has given him."

Arthur pursed his lips and said: "Actually, Mr. Faraday used to be a blacksmith. He told me that his family is a family of blacksmiths. Although his father didn't want him to continue working as a blacksmith, he still secretly learned how to make iron nails. He also joked with me that the reason why he can twist the wires quickly and well is entirely because he inherited the fine blacksmith tradition of the Faraday family."

Ada laughed out loud when she heard the words, but in an instant she realized that this was not appropriate for her, so she raised her hand to cover her mouth to restrain her smile, and quietly changed the subject.

"But it's true. Police officers have to fight criminals. Scientists rubbing wires is also physical work. If you choose a poet who can only write love letters to do it, you will definitely not be able to do it.

If my mother had realized this, she would not have been deceived.Don't look at her talking about telling me to stay away from poets, but she herself has never stepped out of that circle.

Divorced and not remarried, just holding the big box of love letters written to her back then, and has been single until today. You may not know that the reason why she plays math for two hours less than me every day is because she spends those two hours I spent all my time recalling those love letters..."

Ada had just said this, when she suddenly stopped talking, she straightened up suddenly, and showed a bright and innocent smile behind Arthur: "Mother, Mrs. Somerville."

Mrs. Milbank lifted her wide skirt slightly, and walked to Ada and Arthur with her friend Mrs. Somerville in small steps.

She nodded to Arthur first and said: "Mr. Hastings, I am really sorry for your trouble. Thank you for helping me take care of my daughter."

Arthur smiled and said, "Ma'am, it's not a big deal. It's much easier to take care of your daughter than Mr. Elder Carter. If you don't believe me, you can ask Mrs. Cowper."

"Really?" Mrs. Millbank turned her head and looked at Elder, who was talking loudly with the ladies, and she couldn't help but wondered: "I think Mr. Carter is a very easy-going young man!"

Upon hearing this, Mrs. Somerville also pulled Mrs. Milbank and said, "Annie, forget it, you have always been inaccurate in seeing men."

After finishing speaking, Mrs. Somerville asked Ada kindly: "You should have learned about the things I gave you last time, right?"

Ada nodded obediently: "I have finished reading Lagrange's Theory of Analytical Functions and Laplace's Theory of Probability Analysis."

Mrs. Somerville asked: "Did you have any problems watching?"

Ada nodded again: "There is only one question."

"what is the problem?"

Hearing this, Ada shook her hands hesitantly, as if she didn't know whether she should ask a question or not.

Seeing this, Mrs. Somerville quickly comforted her: "Don't be afraid to ask, it's normal to encounter problems in the process of learning mathematics."

After finishing speaking, Mrs. Somerville pointed to Arthur beside her and said, "Not everyone is as talented as Mr. Hastings in the process of studying natural philosophy. I don't understand until now. Why can Mr. Hastings associate the Davy lamp with the Faraday cage, and combined Mr. Dalton's atom theory to analyze the conclusion that atoms are charged."

When Arthur heard Mrs. Somerville complimenting him, he quickly said modestly: "Ma'am, you won the award, it's just luck. Even if I don't discover this conclusion, Mr. Faraday or other researchers will sooner or later see the clue. At best, I just advanced the conclusion by a few years."

Arthur was telling the truth, but Mrs. Somerville and Mrs. Millbank thought otherwise.

Mrs. Milbank sighed: "No wonder you will establish a great friendship with Mr. Faraday. The two of you do have something in common in terms of personal character."

Mrs. Somerville also echoed: "You have achieved so much at a young age, but the most commendable thing is that you can still remain humble. Mr. Hastings, I believe that the theory of electrification of atoms will definitely not be the end of your scientific career. A humble beginning, perhaps. Your name will forever be etched in the history of Britain, and may you continue to make great contributions to the scientific community."

"Thank you both for your blessings, thank you very much." Arthur couldn't help sweating in his heart when he heard this.

There are three main reasons why he went to find Faraday every now and then and came up with those weird things.

One reason is being forced by Faraday, the other reason is to increase chemical knowledge in order to improve the ability to solve crimes, and the last reason contains a little selfishness.

To put it bluntly, he also wanted to satisfy some simple personal desires.

For example, Arthur thinks there is a possibility, that is, whether he can give Faraday some trivial hints through his lack of physical knowledge, so that he can make things like refrigerators as soon as possible.

Although there are shops selling all kinds of fruity carbonated water in the streets and alleys of London, for Arthur, whether it is winter or summer, it is best to have a sip of ice.

For reasons like this, Arthur must have found it difficult to talk about it, so he hurriedly brought the topic back to Ada.

"It just so happens that an outstanding mathematician and astrophysicist like Mrs. Somerville is standing here. Miss Byron, what problem did you encounter? Tell me, and I believe Mrs. Somerville will be able to answer it for you .”

When Ada heard this, she first glanced at Arthur slyly, and then said aggrievedly: "The only problem I have is that I have no problem."

As soon as Ada said this, the two ladies present were stunned.

Then Mrs. Millbank said angrily: "Ada! You are so rude and immodest."

Seeing this, Mrs. Somerville also hurried up to smooth things over: "Annie, it's nothing, we were young too, don't kill her creativity, you are too strict with her education."

Seeing her mother getting angry, Ada became a little scared for a while, and she hurriedly changed her words: "But...but although I have no problems in mathematics, Mr. Hastings told me a lot of new things just now, and I do There are still a lot of things that I don’t understand.”

As soon as she said this, Mrs. Somerville also became interested. She had been wanting to ask Arthur about the electrification of the atom in detail before, but because she had to deal with the communication issues of the banquet first, she couldn't do it for a while. Find time to find Arthur.

At this time, she seized the opportunity, and she just happened to be able to clean up the theory of electrification of atoms.

"Mr. Hastings, what you just said to Ida was about..."

However, before Mrs. Somerville finished speaking, Arthur, who took the landmine, spoke first. Superintendent Hastings, who had just suppressed the riot in Hyde Park, knew that it is not suitable to fight for a long time, otherwise, once these women A pedant is sandwiched between two breadwinners, he will die without a place to bury him.

It was too late, and then it was too late, Superintendent Hastings caught a glimpse of the orchestra musicians outside the ballroom who were about to enter the door, and he immediately decided to implement a strategic shift.

Arthur took off his hat and said goodbye: "About the issue I just discussed with Miss Byron, I will explain it to you in the second science demonstration project. So, in order not to delay everyone's dancing time, I will go to the back to prepare first."

Hearing this, the Red Devil on the side couldn't help mocking: "Scotland Yard's marching speed is indeed faster than the British lobster soldiers, Arthur, your relationship with Wellington is barely close, have you considered joining the army?" Be a general?"

Arthur just glanced at the Red Devil, and then non-stop came to the musicians who had already stepped onto the stage to test the pitch of their instruments.

He glanced at the musicians, and soon spotted a pianist in a tuxedo, a white shirt, and a bow tie sitting in front of the piano, adjusting his breath with his eyes closed.

He came to the piano and asked softly, "Sir, can I do the first song tonight?"

Hearing this, the gentleman was taken aback for a moment, and then asked, "Are you also the musician invited by Mrs. Codrington?"

Arthur apologized: "I'm a science guest visiting tonight. I'm sorry to inform you that I need to borrow your piano for a science demonstration."

When the other party heard this, he suddenly realized: "Ah! You are Mr. Arthur Hastings, right? Mrs. Codrington mentioned you to me before."

Speaking of this, the other party was very interested and asked: "I heard that you are an electromagnetist. Are you going to show us how to release lightning from the keyboard today? If you really want to do this, Please be merciful, don't break the piano, I will need to play music with it later."

Arthur smiled: "It's true that I'm a researcher in electromagnetism, but the purpose of borrowing the piano today is just to play it."

Hearing this, the other party became more interested: "Are you also fond of music? No problem, just let me know what piece you want to play. As long as your piece is not too out of the ordinary, we musicians from the London Philharmonic Association can do it." Accompaniment for you. If it is too biased, you can leave us a copy of the score, and we can practice it twice on the spot."

When Arthur heard this, he just bent down and whispered something in the other's ear.

Only seeing Arthur's lips move, the smile on the pianist's face suddenly became stiff.

His smile slowly faded, he stared at Arthur's face solemnly, and asked word by word: "Mr. Hastings, are you sure?"

Arthur nodded slightly: "Do you need me to provide the music score?"

"No, it's not necessary at all." The pianist suddenly stood up, looked at Arthur seriously and said, "To be honest, a considerable part of his concert in London this year was accompanied by our London Philharmonic Association. We are so familiar with this song that we can't be more familiar with it."

Arthur smiled and said, "That's good, I'll trouble you later."

"No, it's not troublesome." The pianist seemed a little annoyed: "But I must remind you that this piece is already difficult to play on the violin. You may not know that because of this piece, many people even guessed that Par Gnini probably made a deal with the devil, that's why he got the hands that can play this piece. I can't imagine now that anyone dares to say that he can present it on the piano. May I take the liberty to ask you How many years of professional piano education have you received?"

When Arthur heard this, he just flicked the back of his tuxedo, and slowly sat on the bench in front of the piano.

He responded with a smile: "Sorry, sir, I have no professional piano education."

"Huh?!" The pianist was really annoyed at this moment: "Are you kidding me? A beginner actually said that he can play this piece."

Arthur shook his head and said, "Don't worry, sir. Although I haven't received professional piano education, please rest assured that I did make a deal with the devil. You may not know that this piece of music is not cheap with the devil."

The pianist laughed angrily when he heard this: "Really? Don't blame me for not reminding you, you are still young now, if you make a fool of yourself at this kind of banquet, it may be difficult for you to get along in the social circle in the future."

Arthur also responded with a smile: "Thank you for your kind reminder. Then, this gentleman...well, I haven't asked for your first and last name yet."

The pianist was so angry that he didn't want to pay attention to this ignorant young man, but his deep self-cultivation finally forced him to give his name reluctantly.

He wanted to use his famous name to let the young man retreat: "Member of the Academic Committee of the London Academy of Music, chief conductor and pianist of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Ignaz Moscheles."

Unexpectedly, when Arthur heard this name, not only was he not afraid, but he also complimented him politely: "Ah! It's you! I once wanted to go to the Royal Theater to listen to your performance, but because I was short of cash, I could only Listening to it outside, although it was raining heavily that day and I couldn’t hear it clearly outside, I still think your "Fourth Piano Concerto" is very beautiful."

Mocheles thought that Arthur was either afraid or retorted, but Arthur's compliment embarrassed him instead.

He pursed his lips and said, "Young man, listen to me, you can change the song. That song is too difficult and not suitable for you."

Arthur took a deep breath and put his hands on the keys: "Don't worry, Mr. Mocheles, you may not know that my nickname is 'Paganini of Scotland Yard'."

(End of this chapter)