shadow of britain

Chapter 83 The Breath of Mammon (please subscribe!)

Today's Gresham College is still full of traffic and overcrowded.

Today's keynote speaker is George Ally, but to Arthur's disappointment, he is neither a chemistry expert nor a medical expert.

He is a professional in astronomy, physics and mathematics.

As a person who became a professor of mathematics at the University of Cambridge at the age of 25, a professor of astronomy at the University of Cambridge at the age of 27 and the director of the Cambridge Observatory, Mr. George Ally is certainly a rare gifted scholar.

The only downside is that the content of his speech made Arthur feel a little confused-"Planetary Motion Trajectory Taking the Moon as an Example".

Compared with the blackboard full of formulas, Arthur is more interested in the personal grievances between George Airy and Mr. Faraday.

Mr. Airy is rumored to have been a staunch and forceful critic of Faraday's 'lines of force' hypothesis, arguing that it was absurd to use a few imaginary lines to deal with electric or magnetic fields.

By the way, he also criticized Arthur who used the concept of 'line of force' in the latest special issue of the Royal Society, and Arthur was even more criticized than Faraday.

Because Faraday's "line of force" concept is at least backed by iron powder experiments, while Arthur's Hastings force is completely in the imagination.

For George Airy's attack, Arthur chose to maintain the maximum silence, which is certainly not because he has no temper.

It's because Arthur really doesn't have the confidence to fight back against scientists.

Under normal circumstances, Arthur believes that the basis for two normal people to communicate and quarrel is based on the knowledge reserve of the same dimension.

But as far as physics is concerned, he and George Airy are indeed at different levels. More importantly, what if he and Airy quarrel and introduce a lot of new concepts and new things?
Since the incident with Hastingsley, Arthur has felt more and more that he should be cautious in his words and deeds in the field of science.

Even if he does have some insignificant vanity, as a great man from the East said, even if Arthur wants to be vain, at least he should consider his personal efforts and the process of history.

Arguing with professional astrophysicists is really exciting.

The Red Devil squatted on Arthur's head, staring at George Ally who was standing on the podium to make a speech, and suddenly spoke.

"Arthur, you just let this little thing slander your scientific research achievements? In my opinion, his level is not very high. How about this, you bleed a little, and I will explain it to you in detail The law of parity non-conservation of the universe.

Professor Agares, I am the number one scholar in hell in the field of astronomy, do you want to know why the distribution of stars in the universe is very irregular? "

Arthur heard this, lowered the brim of his hat slightly, and covered his eyes.

"Agares, you should be done soon. Return the law of parity non-conservation, do you know that even Neptune has not been discovered yet?"

The Red Devil was taken aback when he heard that: "Neptune? Which planet are you talking about?"

Arthur lowered his voice and said, "Of course it's the eighth largest planet in the solar system, and it's the one whose periphery always deviates from its orbit."

When Agares heard this, his jaw dropped to the ground.

The Red Devil scolded: "Damn! How did you know it? I thought it was well hidden. How did you find it? Arthur, fuck it! I just said, when night falls, you Don't always look up at the stars! What if you see something you shouldn't?"

Arthur shook his head slightly: "I don't want to look up and count the stars, but you know, Mr. Brown and Mrs. Brown who live in the room next to me will start a passionate 'Brown Movement' when night falls. That voice , it’s really too inappropriate for children.”

"Then can't you change houses!"

The Red Devil rubbed his index finger and thumb, and made a gesture of counting money: "Arthur, you are now a decent gentleman with half a foot in the middle class, it shouldn't be difficult to change to a house that matches your status. ? How much savings do you have in your trouser pocket now?"

Arthur took out the small account book from his coat pocket, and while checking it, he read in detail: "Counting the previous deposits and the wages paid in the past few months, I have a total income of 39 pounds and 15 shillings.

In terms of expenditure, the study subsidy for Tom and Tony is 2 pounds and 11 shillings.

Reimbursement for Darwin's school day meals and carriage travel expenses 5 pounds 8 shillings 8 pence.

房租每周支出1先令10便士，17周总计支出1镑11先令。

£10 for the appeasement provided to Robin's parents.

My personal daily meals, wine for you, and other miscellaneous expenses, totaled 5 pounds 18 shillings 3 pence.

So, my current balance is..."

Arthur took a pen to write and draw in the notebook, listed a few calculations, and he quickly came up with the answer.

"14 pounds 6 shillings 1 pence."

Hearing this, the Red Devil couldn't help holding his head and shouting, "Arthur! So, you've worked as a police inspector for 17 weeks, but your deposit has only increased by 4 pounds 6 shillings?!"

Arthur waved his hand, and he sternly corrected: "It's 4 pounds 6 shillings and 1 pence, Agares, don't try to swallow my 1 pence secretly."

The red devil angrily took out a penny from Arthur's pocket and threw it on the ground, only to hear a jingle, and the coin rolled down the steps to the bottom of the skirt of the lady in the front row.

At this moment, Arthur's face turned black: "Agares, what are you doing? You are crazy! Bring me back that penny! Do you know what a penny can buy?"

The Red Devil glared and said, "What are you buying? This penny is enough to buy a serving of French fries! You can spend as much as you want with 10 pounds, and you can keep your money with 1 penny. What? Are you a seagull? Your life The meaning is for this order of French fries?"

Arthur fixed his eyes on the penny that slipped under his skirt, hesitated for a long time, and decided to give up with a sigh.

For this little money, it is really not a wise move to provoke a lady who doesn't know where she came from.

As for the concept of money, Arthur has always been rather vague. Perhaps he was used to simple and convenient conversion ratios in his previous life, so after switching to the British system of conversion rules, he is still a little confused until now.

But generally speaking, Arthur can probably vaguely feel that 1 British pound is equivalent to 1500 RMB. As for the remaining small denomination currencies, he is a little confused.

Just when Arthur was about to leave the table to change his mood, he suddenly heard a somewhat familiar voice from the front row.

He looked in a blink of an eye, and it was Elder who was pretending to be polite.

He bent down, took out a coin from the bottom of the other party's skirt, showed a gentle and polite smile, and said to the lady in the front row: "Madam, is this your coin?"

Almost at the same moment when Elder finished speaking, a crisp and loud slap sounded in the venue.

Immediately afterwards, there was an extremely angry shout: "Excuse me!"

Countless gentlemen eager to show their masculinity swarmed up, instantly pressing Elder to the bottom of the crowd like a stack of arhats.

Master Elder panicked and shouted, "Help!"

Arthur got up in a hurry and planned to leave the venue. He was very grateful for the plainclothes duty order issued by Sir Peel just yesterday.

Fortunately, I didn't wear a police uniform today, otherwise Elder would recognize him, and I would be dragged into the Thames River by this kid who couldn't even wash it off.

Anyway, he didn't come to the Royal Academy today to listen to lectures, but to report to the Duke of Sussex on the findings of the St. Giles diocese and to further revise the new paper with Mr. Faraday.

He continued to lower his hat, and then walked across the aisle towards the VIP room on the second floor of the venue that belonged exclusively to the Duke of Sussex.

As soon as he walked to the door, the attendant came forward with a smile: "Mr. Hastings, we thought you had gone to Mr. Faraday's laboratory before, but we didn't find you there. I didn't expect you to be giving a speech In the venue."

Arthur smiled and said, "I wanted to come back after listening to the lecture, but today's content feels a bit boring. By the way, is His Highness the Duke in?"

The attendant smiled and opened the door of the VIP room: "His Royal Highness is discussing art with friends inside. He has ordered you to go in directly when you arrive."

Arthur nodded slightly, and walked in along the red carpet of the VIP room.

As soon as I walked in, I saw the Duke of Sussex sitting under the landscape oil painting, leaning on the leather sofa, holding a red wine glass and listening to the speech through the window glass.

He was wearing a light red tailored tuxedo today, and sitting next to him was a young man about Arthur's age, wearing a black suit and a pleated white shirt.

The young man was pointing to the half-meter-long sea turtle specimen on the table, while introducing its origin with a smile.

"Your Highness, this thing is probably only appreciated by people like you who understand natural history and art collection."

The Duke of Sussex leaned forward slightly, and looked at the specimen carefully: "The carapace is emerald green, the head has light red spots, and the belly has yellow-green lines. This is a South American turtle."

Hearing this, the young man immediately smiled and complimented: "I knew it was right to give it to you, you really know how to do it."

At this time, the attendant knocked lightly on the door and said, "Your Highness, Mr. Hastings has arrived."

The Duke of Sussex looked up, and immediately clapped his hands with joy: "I have read the newspapers these days. You have saved countless lives, so I know how to investigate such things. I will definitely have no problem looking for you!"

Arthur humbly made an audience salute first, and then said, "Your Highness, you're flattering yourself. It's my job to investigate the case, so it's no big deal."

Before the Duke of Sussex could reply, the young man standing beside him asked with a smile, "Your Highness, is this the best policeman in Great Britain, Inspector Arthur Hastings?"

The Duke of Sussex winked at the young man: "Lionel, you are very well informed."

Hearing this, the young man couldn't help but nodded with a smile and said, "Your Highness, you know that those of us who are in financial business will lose a lot of money if we don't get the information well."

After finishing speaking, the young man took the initiative to step forward, stretched out his hand towards Arthur and said, "Hello, Mr. Hastings. I heard about you from His Royal Highness the Duke a long time ago. I don't know May I have the honor to meet you?"

Arthur was confused by the other party, he asked: "What is your name?"

As soon as Arthur said this, the young man realized that he was abrupt, and he hurriedly laughed to break the embarrassment: "I almost forgot to introduce myself, my name is Lionel Rothschild.

Occupation is a banker, hobby is hunting.If you need stocks, loans, etc. in the future, or want to find a hunting companion, you can come to the City of London to find me at any time. "

Hearing this, the phantom of the Red Devil suddenly appeared behind Arthur.

Agares flicked his long tongue, he licked his dry lips, and the saliva almost dripped onto Arthur's shoulder.

"Arthur, guess what I smelled? It's a strong, seductive, mammon scent!"

(End of this chapter)