shadow of britain

Chapter 180 The Desire to Survive at a Historical Turning Point

Today's London is under heavy rain, and the thick rain curtain is pressing from the northernmost point of London to the southernmost point.

Of course, Greenwich was also caught in the majestic rain.

In Wheatstone Musical Instrument Store, Arthur, wearing a big-brimmed hat, had a lot of rain on his shoulders. He leaned against the counter and puffed out the clouds. Between the clouds, his sharp black eyes scanned back and forth as if being caught by a bandit. Ransacked the general store interior.

After a while, Arthur said: "Mr. Wheatstone, why didn't you call the police?"

"Call the police?" Wheatstone's head came out tremblingly from under the counter, and there was still a trace of happiness on his face: "How dare I call the police? Those people said they were introduced by you of!"

"Oh?" Arthur squeezed his chin and recalled this sentence: "You mean, I brought the devil here?"

"Who else but you? Those people are crazy! They count one by one, and they all say they want to buy a gramophone. I told them that the store is out of stock, and they seemed to be crazy, scrambling towards the I put a deposit in my arms.

I said that I couldn't do so much in a short time, but none of them believed it.And that group of people threatened me that if they can't get the goods when the time comes, they will definitely have a hard time in the future, and if their life is hard, then I won't think about it either.

After they said these harsh words, they snapped up all the other instruments in my store.Before you came, a drunk came into the store. He saw that there was nothing on my shelf, and thought I was a furniture seller, so he dragged my chair away. "

Arthur put his arm on the table, and he said while smoking his pipe, "Isn't this good? Mr. Wheatstone, I congratulate you, business is booming recently!"

"Yes! Thanks to you, my business is booming!"

Maybe it was out of breath, Wheatstone, who has always been afraid of socializing, swears directly in front of Arthur: "The tricks you taught me are not easy to use at all, and the gun can't scare anyone at all! I took out the gun In less than two seconds, it was snatched away by that group of people!"

Arthur couldn't help frowning when he heard this: "Can't guns scare them?"

When Wheatstone said this, he tapped his knuckles on the table angrily: "Isn't it? That group of people's heads are as if their mother's head has entered the Thames River. They snatched my gun and blew it there. Me, those asses say I made a damn thing of a gun! Tell me, Mr. Hastings, if I can't scare the asses, will I Can you frighten the gang of apprentices in the Royal Society?"

Arthur shook his head slightly when he heard the words: "This is different, Mr. Wheatstone. According to my experience in handling cases, it is precisely because they are donkeys that they are not afraid of guns. People who don't read much or have nothing are usually the least afraid of death." , if those gentlemen and ladies came to buy gramophones in person today instead of their servants, I think you would not have encountered such embarrassment. You know, that group of high-class people can almost be regarded as the most life-saving group of people in Great Britain."

Hearing this, Wheatstone just said angrily: "What did you tell them? I have never seen so many guests in my life, and the situation has been the same for the past few days. If it wasn't raining today, I'm afraid my small shop will be overwhelmed by them again."

Arthur shrugged: "Actually, I didn't say anything, Mr. Wheatstone, you have to believe that it is your excellent product quality that has brought so many new customers, and I am just embellishing it a little bit. "

Wheatstone couldn't believe Arthur's nonsense. He curled his lips and said, "Retouching? You can attract so many flies just by retouching? Oh! Then I really have to thank God for everyone! It's a good thing you are speaking for the phonograph, not the toilet and toilet .”

When Arthur heard this, he just glanced at the Red Devil, and he replied apologetically: "Actually, if the price is high enough, I can also consider endorsement of toilets and toilets. But since one of my friends has a relationship with the toilet I feel that at some point, it is necessary to take care of his feelings."

Speaking of this, Arthur suddenly changed the subject: "But I came here specially today, not to discuss the toilet with you. I came to ask you, have you finished the phonograph I ordered privately with you a while ago? "

Hearing this, Wheatstone said with a displeased face: "Where is the gramophone so easy to make? You don't even think about it. It's only a few days since you informed me? Mr. Hastings, you have to understand one thing, everyone There is a limit. I am a human being, not a donkey."

Arthur frowned slightly, he leaned forward slightly, and said in a low voice: "Mr. Wheatstone, if you say that, then I have to discuss with you the matter of your throwing the gun. You know that the robbery of a Scotland Yard Is the police officer's pistol a crime?"

"Theft?" Wheatstone's whole body trembled, "Didn't you give me the pistol? I lost the pistol. At worst, I'll go to the arsenal to buy one and return it to you."

"That can't be done." Arthur shook his finger lightly: "Mr. Wheatstone, you may not know. Since there was a serious firearm loss case in Scotland Yard in the first half of this year, since then, Scotland Yard's Each pistol is marked and numbered."

Wheatstone couldn't help widening his eyes when he heard the words: "This..."

But soon, his eyes rolled, and he looked like a dead pig who is not afraid of boiling water: "The gun is not in my hand, how can you prove that I stole the gun?"

Arthur heard this and couldn't help applauding Wheatstone: "Excellent logic, Mr. Wheatstone, the gun is indeed not in your hands, so I can only go door to door to the homes of gentlemen and ladies Ask, whose servant took the gun."

"That's right! They took the gun, so what does it matter to me?"

"Yes, but where did they get their guns?"

"its me."

"Where did your gun come from?"

"You!" As soon as Wheatstone said this, his face instantly darkened like a dark cloud outside the door. He raised his finger tremblingly, pointed at Arthur and said, "Black... Mr Hastings, you...you want to frame me?"

Arthur took out the tin box with the shredded tobacco in his pocket and filled it with a clean pipe, and said, "No, I didn't intend to frame you. You must know that Scotland Yard never framed good citizens. Especially in my jurisdiction In the police district, such situations are strictly prohibited.”

Wheatstone took a deep breath, leaned forward, and asked softly, "What is your definition of a good citizen?"

Arthur took out a match and re-lit the pipe: "It's very simple, if you are willing to cooperate with the police, you are a good citizen."

Wheatstone continued to ask: "Then how can we be called willing to cooperate with the police?"

"It depends on the situation."

"What about today's situation?"

Arthur took a sip of his pipe: "A good citizen today means being able to hand over two phonographs before I leave."

Wheatstone slapped his face, he closed his eyes and let out a long sigh: "Mr. Hastings."

"Ok?"

"I'm starting to regret meeting you." Wheatstone looked up at the ceiling, his face full of exhaustion: "If I had had the courage to stand on the podium of the Royal Society, maybe I wouldn't have met you." You meet."

Arthur unceremoniously lifted the teapot on the counter, poured two cups lightly, handed one to Wheatstone, and held the other in his hand.

Only a jingle was heard, and Arthur held the teacup and touched Wheatstone: "We salute our great encounter!"

Wheatstone picked up the teacup and drank it down in one gulp, then slammed the teacup on the table heavily: "Respect for your damn courage!"

After finishing speaking, Wheatstone sighed and walked to the back room of the musical instrument shop, and went to fetch the phonograph that Arthur was thinking of.

Agares, who was smirking at the side, pushed his glasses, and the Red Devil said, "Arthur, it seems that your special speech training for him was very successful! But this Charles Wheatstone is really a weirdo, I still This is the first time I saw someone get angry because too many customers came to give money."

Arthur shook his teacup, and said, "It's nothing, as an expert in science, you should have a little personality. Given Mr. Wheatstone's outstanding talent and hands-on ability, I think I can tolerate his little temper. After all, the work of LPS in the future will depend a lot on talents like him. Just relying on a donkey like me who can only wield knives and swords, I can't do any big things."

The Red Devil rubbed his hands and laughed, "Oh! My dear Arthur, don't underestimate your ability to do evil. You can do many things that others dare not even dream of, but the premise is that you must You have to be able to let go of some things. For example, in order to keep your Bureau of Statistics, maybe you need to do some shady things first."

When Arthur heard this, he was taken aback for a moment, then raised his brows and asked, "From your tone, it seems that there is something wrong with the Prime Minister's Question on Wednesday?"

The Red Devil excitedly said: "It's not just a problem, it's explosive!"

Arthur's heart skipped a beat when he heard this, and he asked, "Anyone planted explosives in the Parliament building again?"

"That's not the case. Arthur, I didn't mean explosive when I said that."

Arthur breathed a sigh of relief: "As long as there are no dead people. I don't want to run around for a bunch of corpses of parliamentarians. London has finally calmed down recently."

Hearing this, the Red Devil pretended to be mysterious and said, "But even if no one is dead, the ministers in Wellington's cabinet are almost dying."

"Huh?" Arthur narrowed his eyes and looked at the Red Devil. He chased after him, "Agares, what are you doing?"

The Red Devil grinned, and between his razor-sharp fangs was his bright red tongue: "Arthur, don't you understand? The Whigs have formally lodged their objections to the cabinet to Parliament today." Confidence motion, judging from the current situation, Wellington's cabinet is already in jeopardy! Don't blame me for not reminding you, if you don't want to be kicked out after the cabinet change, you'd better find a way to save your life."

Who knew that Arthur was not surprised when he heard this, but was extremely calm.

"I thought what was going on, didn't it mean that the cabinet fell? I thought all those people were sent to see God. Even if the Whigs came up, Scotland Yard would still do those things, at most it would be my boss The boss has just changed."

The Red Devil raised his eyebrows and said, "Aren't you worried?"

"Worried, of course I'm worried."

Arthur smiled and said: "Otherwise, what do you think I am here today? Have you forgotten? Didn't our beloved and reliable friend Charles, who is engaged in parliamentary interviews, just bring back the latest news for me a few days ago?
Among the several options he gave, after analysis, I think that if the Tory Party falls, the most likely to take over as the Home Secretary will be the Viscount Melbourne who likes to lie in the parliament and sleep soundly.And my most important itinerary today is to deliver the previously ordered gramophone to his sister, Mrs. Cowper. "

(End of this chapter)