shadow of britain

Chapter 282 The Bishop's Visit
Greater Scotland Yard, 4 Whitehall Street, Westminster, London.

Today's Scotland Yard is particularly lively. In addition to the police officers who are still busy, there are also many clergy wearing seminarians' black robes.

They are priests who were invited by Scotland Yard to volunteer to give moral advice to ladies who have fallen behind.

Among them were Anglican priests appointed by the respected Archbishops of Canterbury and York, as well as members of other Protestant denominations such as Scottish Presbyterians, Baptists, and Quakers.

Although Catholics who are loyal to the Pope have always been unpopular in the British upper class circles, perhaps out of respect for Superintendent Hastings, who claims to be a Catholic, or considering the diversity of women’s beliefs, today Several Catholic priests were invited to Scotland Yard to absolve them of their sins.

Arthur stood in front of the window sill of the office and looked out. He took a sip from the steaming tea cup. He sighed softly and said, "You obviously don't need to give me face like this. Please invite some Catholic priests. What if they get interested and insist on discussing a few passages of scripture with me?"

The red devil also laughed sarcastically and said: "Oh, my dear Arthur, now you have shot yourself in the foot. Who let you do nothing to do what you call a Catholic? Just so that you can do it without going to the Anglican Church. Pray and save half an hour to sleep, you see what a fuss this is."

Arthur stared at the priests and priests who were getting out of the car in groups on the street downstairs in Wuyang Wuyang, and just shook his head: "Well, it seems that I'd better not show up casually today."

The red devil teased: "Don't you take advantage of the presence of so many priests to change your religion or something? With all due respect, Arthur, if you want to get involved in British politics, it is quite important to have an Anglican faith. You guys The king and the big shots at the top will not trust a Catholic who swears allegiance to the Pope. If you want to go further, you must make this plan sooner or later."

When Arthur heard this, he neither agreed nor disagreed. He just said: "Agares, I am very grateful for your suggestion, but the time has not yet come."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Arthur took a sip of tea, and the warm tea slid down his throat little by little. Arthur smiled and said: "I mean, I have to see who will bid for my faith in the end. Although everyone says that faith is priceless, I am different from them. Faith is clearly priced here. By the way, Agares, your bid is currently the highest."

Agares grinned when he heard this and said: "Oh, really? My dear Arthur, it is a great honor for me to hear this from your mouth."

Arthur looked at the attire of the priests, and then looked at the superintendents and Director Rowan downstairs who were responsible for welcoming them as if they were faced with a formidable enemy. He couldn't help but shook his head: "There are actually two bishops here, look. Director Luo Wan is very busy today."

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw two neatly dressed young men getting out of the carriage. One of them was very familiar to him, and that was naturally his old friend Mr. Benjamin Disraeli.

As for the other stout young man in a neat tuxedo, one can guess from Disraeli's disgusted expression that he was probably the rising star of the Tory Party, William Grice, whom he regarded as a thorn in his flesh. Mr. Dayton.

As soon as Disraeli got out of the car, he did not choose to go straight to Scotland Yard. Instead, he looked around and found a familiar priest who joined the conversation. Under the recommendation of the priest, this Jewish young man who believed in the state religion quickly Soon he became familiar with several other priests.

Judging from the smiles on their faces, it seemed that the priests liked this young man with a lively personality and good words.

Although Gladstone was not as eloquent as Disraeli, he obviously knew people.As a distinguished graduate of Oxford University and a staunch believer in the Anglican Church, Gladstone soon discovered several clergymen from the Oxford University diocese.

Coincidentally, Arthur was also familiar with these Oxford priests.

One was his old friend, the strange Oxford vicar Mr. John Newman.As for the others, although they did not know Arthur, Arthur knew their information well.

The reason is that last year, as the MP for the Oxford University constituency, Sir Peel failed to fulfill his promise to Oxford University and blocked the Catholic Emancipation Bill for them in the House of Commons.Not only that, when Oxford University criticized the cabinet policy, Sir Peel, the former pride of Oxford, in order to share the firepower for the Duke of Wellington, actually turned the gun and hit back at Oxford, saying that they should keep up with the changes of the times and stop being vain. Slave of the heart.

Because of this incident, Sir Peel was directly removed from the alumni list of Oxford University.Not only that, the clergy in Oxford also launched an anti-Robert Peel movement.When I had nothing to do, I would give a few speeches and hold several demonstrations and protests. From time to time, I would pull Sir Peel out and criticize him.

At that time, Arthur was appointed by the Ministry of the Interior and Scotland Yard to take people to Oxford University to conduct a certain degree of investigation and surveillance of the movement.After observing for a while, Arthur finally submitted an investigation report to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, believing that the Oxford priests were just making small fuss to vent their violent tempers that had no place to rest, and there was no need to worry too much.

The facts also verified Arthur's view. After the collapse of the Tories, the anti-Robert Peel movement quickly died down, and they began to turn their attention to other things.

However, although the movement ended, the leaders who initiated the movement at that time were not forgotten by Arthur.In addition to Arthur's old acquaintance, Mr. Newman, a fellow of Oriel College, Oxford University, and an Anglican priest, these leaders also include John Newman, a distinguished professor of poetry at Oriel College, Oxford University and an Anglican priest who also visited Scotland Yard today. Mr. Keble, as well as the equally important Anglican priest Mr. Edward Pyudz, the Imperial Professor of Hebrew and Canon Law at Oriel College, Oxford University.

Arthur felt a big headache when he saw these older people. Although he didn't mind chatting with Mr. Newman for a while, if he brought other people along, it would be a big deal.

Perhaps Director Rowan took into account the sensitivity of Arthur's faith, so he did not arrange for Arthur to come out to receive these priests today, but allowed him to stay in the office and work on some gadgets that he cared about.

Arthur casually took out a letter from the pile of letters beside his desk. It was some official communication letters transmitted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Scotland Yard this morning.But even though it was said to be official business, everything written in it was all private matters.Or to put it more bluntly, there are resumes of ladies from Poland.

Although Viscount Palmerston is not a trustworthy friend, you have to admit that he is very effective in doing things.

Since Arthur gave him the suggestion last week, he has already recommended dozens of suitable candidates to the editorial office of "British" and Arthur's mansion.

As soon as Arthur opened the letter, he saw a familiar name on the top of his head.

"Defina?"

Arthur leaned back in his chair and thought about it. He remembered that the woman who was sent to lure Bernie Harrison seemed to have this name.

Arthur had previously thought that Delfina's Polish experience was fabricated. After all, he had been dealing with Miss Fiona for so long and knew that in most cases, it would be difficult for you to get even half of it out of the mouths of these ladies. Tell the truth.

However, occasionally there are people like Delfina who polish their real experiences and then go out to do business.

Just when Arthur was thinking about whether to circle a name first, suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"come in."

As soon as he finished speaking, Arthur saw Tom leading two people into the office.

Tom walked up and winked at Arthur while the two were not paying attention, and said: "Sir, these two are..."

Arthur just smiled and put down the letter: "Mr. Newman and I are old acquaintances. As for the gentleman next to him, I guess he must be Mr. William Gladstone, right?"

Gladstone was a little surprised that Arthur recognized him immediately: "How do you know who I am?"

Arthur smiled and gestured for him to sit down first, and then said: "It's very simple, most of the people visiting Scotland Yard today are priests. The fact that you are not wearing a monk's robe means that you are not a priest, and not a visitor to the priest today." There are only two. One is Mr. Disraeli, and the other is you. Mr. Disraeli did not go to university, and you are an outstanding graduate of Oxford University. If you can appear together with the Oxford vicar Mr. Newman, then I can only guess that you are Gladstone."

After listening to Arthur's analysis, Gladstone couldn't help but nodded: "I have to say, your reasoning ability is really as amazing as what the newspaper said."

Newman also smiled softly: "William, I told you. Mr. Hastings is different from ordinary police officers. His ability is very outstanding, which is not only reflected in solving cases, but also in speeches. More importantly, he also has a fair and kind heart.”

When Arthur heard Newman praising him continuously, he just said modestly: "Mr. Newman, you still praise me. I was just doing my job. If the police can't even do these most basic things, If you are neither kind and fair, nor capable of solving cases and reasoning, then what is the purpose of setting up this department?"

At this point, Arthur stood up and poured them a pot of tea: "But having said that, you and Mr. Gladstone came here specifically to catch up with me today, or did it have something else to do?"

As soon as Arthur finished speaking, Newman took out a newspaper from his arms and spread it flat on the table.

Arthur glanced at it, and sure enough it was the report about the number of prostitutes and a series of exaggerated descriptions by the Bishop of Exeter.

Newman asked seriously: "Arthur, I know you won't lie to me. For the sake of God and your devout faith, can you tell me what the situation in London is now?" "

Gladstone also reminded: "Mr. Hastings, you may not know that since I graduated from Oxford, I have been doing similar persuasion work on the streets of London in the past few months. So... I hope you "I think the current situation may be far worse than Scotland Yard's official figures."

When Arthur heard this, he just took out a document from the filing cabinet behind him and handed it over. He said: "Mr. Gladstone, there is no need for Scotland Yard to lie in this regard. I also know that the situation may be worse than ours." It's worse. But we can only speak on the part that has been confirmed so far. According to the request of the Bishops of the House of Lords, we recently conducted a detailed investigation of prostitutes in London. There were 1895 people in brothels and 2612 street prostitutes. , of course, the most important one is prostitution, of which we can identify 3864 people."

"Credit prostitution?" Gladstone was stunned by this new term: "What is clandestine prostitution?"

(End of this chapter)