shadow of britain

Chapter 182 Arthur's Wind (4K)

In the drizzle of late autumn, Arthur, wearing a big-brimmed hat, was standing in front of a single-family house in Kensington holding two gramophones.

Angled roof, beautifully decorated triangular ivory white walls, five marble steps in front of the door, and a wide portico with spindle-shaped columns, coupled with double red cedar doors with intricately carved carvings.

This luxurious residence will definitely stand out from the crowd no matter it is placed in other areas of London, but it is nothing more than a mediocre residence in Kensington, which is located in Kensington Palace, Knightsbridge, High Street and other political and business gathering areas. odd residence.

And the hostess who lives here is the fifth Mrs. Cowper, who Arthur is going to visit on this trip——Emily Cowper.

According to Arthur's information from Elder, and his observations of Mrs. Cowper at the previous banquet, this leading figure in London society was almost the opposite of her taciturn and reserved husband, the [-]th Earl of Cowper.

As a woman who enjoyed a prominent position in the Whig camp, her warm and gregarious personality naturally brought her a considerable number of supporters.

Even, because she was born in the British mainland, she can almost be called the most popular in the Almark Club.

Her limelight should overwhelm the veteran Mrs. Castlereagh and Mrs. Sefton, as well as Mrs. Levin, who is good at dancing but suffered from Russian nationality.

In the contest between Mrs. Jersey and Mrs. Drummond-Burrell, who was about her age, Mrs. Cowper almost won.

According to Elder's information, Mrs. Jersey was too lively to appear rude and uncultured at times, while Mrs. Drummond-Burrell was too obsessed with decorum and form.

Only Mrs. Cowper has a good grasp of the middle value between the two, and can not make the other party feel offensive when closing the distance between people.

In short, Mrs. Cowper's famous Shakespeare dictum does not apply to Mrs. Cowper - woman, thine name is weak.

Obviously, Arthur is more like a weakling in front of Mrs. Cowper.

Arthur was holding two gramophones and couldn't spare any hands, so he could only tilt his head and use his hat brim to ring the bell hanging in front of the door.

There was a jingling sound, and the mahogany door was pulled open from the inside, and an old butler wearing white gloves, a black tuxedo, and a white shirt appeared behind the door.

The old butler looked up and down at the young man whose hat was dripping with water: "May I ask who you are?"

Before Arthur could reply, a gentle female voice came from behind the old butler: "Cox, that's Mr. Hastings from Scotland Yard, please bring him in. It's raining heavily today, if He fell ill from the rain, and it is estimated that the whole of Scotland Yard will be paralyzed. The people of London cannot bear such a loss."

Arthur looked past the old butler and fell on the lady standing on the stairs with her hands on her stomach.

Maybe it's because of the heavy rain today, Mrs. Cowper didn't plan to go out. Her makeup today is very simple and elegant, and the skirt is not as wide as the one she wore on the day of the banquet. But even so, this dress made of real silk satin and velvet The main material, the light blue dress similar to the Lolita style, is probably not cheap.

Not much else to say, it must have been fairly easy to top Arthur's salary for a few weeks.

Thinking of this, Arthur began to think about the matter of having a concert with Mr. Mochelles again.

Although now he has become the superintendent of Scotland Yard, his salary has also risen accordingly.

Even though his salary has exceeded 150 pounds per year, as a gentleman living near Hyde Park, Arthur's income still cannot match his required expenses.

However, although his nominal income is only 150 pounds, if anyone really thinks that a superintendent of Scotland Yard is only worth so much, he will underestimate the power of the government department.

Because in addition to normal income, he also enjoys many miscellaneous subsidies and hidden benefits.

For example: Enjoy the free delivery service provided by the UK Post Office,
On major festivals, receive gifts and gift money issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs,
Get free newspapers from big newspapers such as "London Gazette", "The Times" and "Manchester Guardian" at a discount of about 25 pounds.
Routine gifts from various business associations and companies in the jurisdiction. Although Arthur has not received these things yet, according to the old police superintendents, the total value of the gifts depends on the type, quantity and scale of the companies in the jurisdiction. Appointments fluctuate in the range of 10-50 pounds.

Of course, in fact, according to the usual practice, Scotland Yard is an agency under the Ministry of the Interior, and the police officers should have the same priority as the officers of the Ministry of the Interior to enjoy the official housing apartments planned by the Urban Construction Committee under the Ministry of the Interior.

However, perhaps because of the nature of the work and the overall low level of income in the department, Scotland Yard has been disliked by its colleagues in the Home Office since its inception.

For most Scotland Yard officers, they can only be described as government employees, not government affairs officers.

If you use an oriental concept to explain it, the senior police officers of Scotland Yard are at most a career number, and the patrol officers who are working hard on the front line are not even a career number. They are a group of labor dispatch employees who can be fired anytime and anywhere.

The office clerks of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are serious civil servants. Compared with them, Arthur can't be regarded as a class.

A secondary department like Scotland Yard, which is full of mud legs, also wants to divide the official apartment of the Ministry of the Interior?
None of the doors!
As for the superintendent Arthur, whose income level is higher than that of the general affairs officer of the Ministry of the Interior, he is even more jealous.

After all, as a police superintendent with an annual salary of 150 pounds, his income has already exceeded the minimum income of a civil servant in the Ministry of the Interior, so why doesn't he know how to be grateful?
While thinking about the income issue, Arthur was led by the old housekeeper to the sofa by the fireplace to have a fire.

He sat on the sofa, looked at the brown-red Persian-style carpet under his feet, and just took a sip of coffee from his cup.

Mrs. Cowper sat opposite him with a smile in the corner of her eyes. She looked at the two gramophones on the coffee table and said, "Mr. Hastings, I am very grateful to you. I took the liberty to send someone to order gramophones from you earlier." At the time, I didn’t dare to hold out too much hope. After all, there are too many people who want to order phonographs, and you must have spent a lot of effort to get two of them so quickly, right?”

Arthur waved his hand: "Ma'am, this can't be called my credit. It's just a coincidence that Mr. Wheatstone happened to have two just finished. He was reluctant to hand over the things to me directly. Because there was a higher bid elsewhere. But when I told him that it was you who placed the order, Mr. Wheatstone immediately decided to make your order first. After all, it was all because Mr. Wheatstone admired your reputation , I was just delivering a message for you."

When Mrs. Cowper heard this, she narrowed her eyes with a smile: "Really? I didn't know that my reputation could still be affirmed by young and promising scholars like you and Mr. Wheatstone."

Arthur just smiled: "Ma'am, you underestimate the influence of the name Emily Cowper in London. Everyone knows that you are not only a beauty who is proficient in dancing and good at communication, but also always keen on all kinds of new things. We researchers of natural philosophy have all heard the story of your sponsorship of scientific research, so everyone respects you. To tell you the truth, Mr. Faraday also mentioned you to me."

"Mr. Faraday mentioned me?" Mrs. Cowper put her flattered hands on her chest: "Oh, God! I never heard of such a thing."

Hearing this, the Red Devil followed Mrs. Cowper's lead and shouted: "Oh, Arthur! I've never heard of such a thing! And I bet Faraday has never heard of it either! "

Arthur glanced at the red devil while drinking coffee, and warned him not to mess around with his eyes, then put down the coffee cup and smiled happily: "You don't know, Mr. Faraday is a shy person, if you ask him directly, He must be embarrassed to speak. Mr. Wheatstone is also very shy, and most of us philosophical researchers are of this character, and so am I."

Mrs. Cowper blinked her black eyes, and with the trembling of her eyelashes, she teased: "Come on, Mr. Hastings, you must be making me happy. Everyone knows that Mr. Faraday will not take the initiative to praise For other women, he left all the sweet talk to his wife.

As for your being shy?I don't believe it.How could a Scotland Yard police officer be shy?If you are a shy person, how can you face criminals and solve so many big cases?I heard Colonel Fitzroy say that you killed seventeen pirates on the high seas by yourself. "

Arthur said seriously: "Ma'am, you don't know, the reason I was able to kill seventeen pirates was because I was shy."

Mrs. Cowper covered her lips with one hand, and asked doubtfully, "How do you say that?"

Arthur sat upright and said with a serious face: "Because if I let them come back alive, they will definitely tell about my shy appearance."

After hearing this, Mrs. Cowper slightly raised her hand to cover her mouth, but the upturned corner of her mouth could still be vaguely seen between her fingers.

"Thank God, Mr. Hastings, for God directed you to Scotland Yard, otherwise, with your troublesome shyness, if you become a criminal, you will surely disturb the peace of the whole of Britain."

Upon hearing this, Arthur just took off his hat and said in thanks: "It's okay, ma'am, it's the same when I stay at Scotland Yard."

As soon as these words were uttered, Mrs. Cowper finally couldn't hold back, and she burst into tears with a chuckle.

She took out her handkerchief and wiped the tears from her eyes, and said, "Mr. Hastings, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. But having said that, Mrs. Levin's evaluation of you is really correct, you are indeed a very special young man. A man like you will succeed sooner or later, whether it is on Scotland Yard, on the battlefield of Waterloo, or even on the field of love. If my half-witted brother could talk as much as you do, he would not let Lord Byron intervene in his affairs Marriage, my deceased sister-in-law likes your type."

"Lord Byron?" Arthur, who knew the story of Lord Byron and Lady Ponsonby clearly, just pretended to be stupid, and he said modestly: "Madam, you are so overrated, how dare I compete with that British 19th century star?" Compared with the most shining literary stars? But is there any story between your sister-in-law and Lord Byron?"

When Mrs. Cowper heard this, she half-opened her mouth to say something, but when she got to her mouth, she took it back: "Forget it, it's all in the past, and it's normal if you don't know. After all, you were young at that time, If I remember correctly, you seem to be only 20 years old this year, right?"

Arthur nodded and said, "I will be 1 on January 15 next year."

When Mrs. Cowper heard this, she couldn't help but said: "You young people, you always wish you could be bigger. But a lady like me who is really old, I always wish I could be younger.

But at your age, you can consider marriage. You have a stable job with a decent income, and you are so eloquent and physically strong. It must be very easy to find a suitable girl.

Have you ever thought about this?Maybe it's a little presumptuous of me to say this, but don't mind, because my eldest son is about to get married, so I will always think of this aspect more or less. "

When Arthur heard this, he immediately smelled a hint of the possibility of getting admission tickets to the Almark Club.

Arthur sorted out some of his own needs, and thought of the possibility of the Whig Party coming to power.

Therefore, he took the opportunity to complain to him: "Madam, you should know that I am a police officer of Scotland Yard. Scotland Yard is usually very busy with work, and there are not many opportunities for vacation, so I have no chance to socialize on weekdays."

Mrs. Cowper blinked in surprise: "Ah... Is that so? The patrol officers at Scotland Yard are indeed working very hard, I know that. But aren't you the superintendent of Scotland Yard now? Why are you still Like this? I remember that senior officials like you should be very free!"

Hearing this, Arthur suddenly thought of the senior members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the bad water in his stomach suddenly boiled again: "Madam, what you said is actually not wrong. Some departments in the various government ministries Laid back indeed, but not in all sectors.

Some departments, such as the Audit Office of the Ministry of Finance, or the Police Supervision Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, of course they can work late and leave early, and work 5-6 hours a day lazily, with weekends and various holidays.However, some departments, such as Scotland Yard, work more than 10 hours a day, and everyone is exhausted and overloaded for days.

But Scotland Yard's high-intensity work is still good, after all, we are really doing something.However, some departments are exhausted, and what they do is make up lists, make false stories, perfunctory to the top, and add chaos to the bottom.But in fact, with it or without it, it is the same for the operation of the British government. "

　The next chapter may be later

　　
　
(End of this chapter)