shadow of britain

Chapter 92 Touching What?

Girls with parasols held Arthur by the arm and led him through the narrow, crowded streets.

Although it was not the first time for Arthur to come to this kind of place, the choking smell still forced him to frown.

Although the parish of St. Giles is equally dirty, it was once a wealthy area, and its glorious past can still be seen from some buildings and road planning.

The Tower Hamlets area, however, did not have a good foundation from the very beginning. The roads here are built with a mixture of mud and garbage. There is a cold atmosphere in the alleys, and even the brick ash is soaked in wetness. The air is moist and sticky.

Although some basic drainage ditches have been built next to the house, the ditches here are often blocked because no one has dredged them for a long time. All kinds of black and rotten garbage are blocked in the corners, emitting bursts of light that make people feel dizzy after sniffing. The astonishing stench.

However, the people in the Eastern District cannot be blamed for this. After all, if any area has gathered docks, shipbuilding, brewing, slaughtering, and a leather industry that needs to use urine to tan leather, then it is difficult not to form such a poor hygienic environment.

Perhaps feeling that Arthur's footsteps had slowed down, the girl thought he was suspicious, so she hurriedly comforted him.

"Sir, you probably haven't been here before, have you? In fact, I also want to find a clean hotel, but we rarely see that kind of thing here. In our business, we usually take guests to our rented house If you don't believe me, you can look around, and if you find the hotel, it will be my fault, and I won't charge you a shilling."

On this point, the girl was telling the truth.

It's hard to find a hotel in the East End, largely because 200 years ago it was nothing more than a field next to London.

The Colebrook family, which holds the property rights of the local land, has always managed it as a manor. The land in the East District was sold in small pieces and eventually leased in the form of strips.

The lease term of these lands ranges from decades to several years.

Numerous simple and crowded small houses were built on these narrow plots. The architectural layout did not have any concept of urban planning, and no space was left for public buildings or roads.

Perhaps if the tavern owners who got into the money's eye tried their best, they could deduct a few more stools from the not-so-large road.

It's no surprise, then, that buildings with such large footprints as hotels are rare.

At best, the architectural layout of the East End is like an impromptu work inspired by an artist.

To put it bluntly, this is human beings personally interpreting what kind of behavior can be called anti-humanity.

Under the leadership of the girl, Arthur walked through two narrow and deep alleys, and came to a back-to-back dense blue-roofed row house made of red bricks.

They are crowded together, and the windows on the red brick wall are densely packed, looking like two pieces of cheese squeezed into a ball by a violent maniac.

In addition, what impressed Arthur the most was its unique structure, perhaps because it was located at the intersection of three narrow streets, and the house was designed as a triangle.

The protruding part of the triangle is a red door with rust. When the door is opened, a narrow staircase that can only pass through by one person is revealed.

In order to maximize the utilization rate, a locked compartment was actually stuffed under the stairs. Judging from the dirty floor and some cotton wool footprints, the tenants here may work in a nearby textile factory. .

The room the girl rented was on the second floor. Arthur followed the girl into the room, and he glanced around. The environment here was better than he had imagined.

A clean and tidy big bed, a window with decent lighting conditions, a teapot and cooking utensils on a small round table, and a wardrobe against the wall.

The full breath of life convinced Arthur that this might really be the girl's residence, and perhaps this was why she picked foreign sailors to attack.

Foreign sailors are not familiar with the place of life, and most of them will not stay in London for a long time. Even if they are tricked, they will not have much trouble.

And if it is to attack local sailors, then these people will have to weigh the possible consequences.

Everyone knows that most of the sailors who run merchant ships these days are not good at anything.

The reason why some of them choose to make a living at sea is not only for the salary, but also because some people have some unspeakable secrets, so they can't continue to stay in their hometown.

Scotland Yard's major crime archives also support this view. The Ratliff Highway serial murder in London's East End in 1811 is suspected to be a sailor's masterpiece.

At that time, because the case could not be solved for a long time, the local magistrate's court was almost attacked by angry people. In order to deal with these emotional public, the magistrate had to order the arrest of a suspect.

Although according to Arthur, the suspect may not be the real murderer.

Because he never admitted his crime, but inexplicably chose to hang himself in prison.

But the dead couldn't speak after all, and the murder case didn't happen any more, so the magistrate court insisted that he committed suicide in fear of crime, and deliberately put his body on a straw cart to parade the public.

In order to prevent the resurrection of the murderer, the angry and superstitious people climbed into the straw cart and nailed an iron nail on his chest.

Arthur has slowly begun to get used to this kind of plot.

This era is like this, with a little civilization in the barbarism.

Call it immoral, it has indeed gone through the trial process.

You say it talks about the law, this case reveals a trace of indescribable weirdness everywhere.

If you look closely, this is like a comedy scene full of black humor, and there is always a hint of humor in the helpless sadness.

Arthur sat on the edge of the bed and puffed out the smoke ring from his pipe.

He was thinking about the cases he had seen before, and when he came back to his senses, he found that the girl had taken off her long skirt at some point, revealing her fair thighs and tight corset.

The girl noticed that he was not moving, and thought he was being shy, so she smiled and leaned against his side.

"What? Are all the men in India as reserved as you? Although I have never been to India, I have heard sailors say that India is full of wool, spices and tea.

Many domestic gentry young masters went to the East India Company for a few years, and when they came back, they all became rich and powerful.Surely your father was one of them?How did you become a sailor? "

Arthur asked while smoking a cigarette: "You are different from ordinary ladies. Most ladies know about beautiful skirts and cosmetics, but you actually know about India."

Arthur's compliment was very helpful to the other party, she put her hand into Arthur's coat with a smile.

"To be honest, I was actually born in Cambridgeshire. When I came to London from the countryside a few months ago, there was a Cambridge student with excellent character and learning in the same car. His father used to be an employee of the East India Company. I heard him say it all."

Arthur looked down at the girl's hand that was stretched into his coat, shook his head slightly and sighed: "I said, don't mess with my things, and don't put your hands into my coat, or you may Touch something that shouldn't be touched."

The girl thought Arthur was flirting with her, and her brows and eyes were full of smiles: "You guys have always said that, so let me touch it, what is it that I shouldn't touch, I guess Guess...that must be..."

Suddenly, her hand touched something cold and hard in the inner pocket of the coat.

The smile on the girl's face froze suddenly, and she carefully checked the thing.

After a while, she also looked at Arthur with a trace of panic and panic in her eyes.

She already understood what it was. Although this thing was not common, every time she encountered it, it would probably kill someone.

"You...you..."

The smile had disappeared from the girl's face, and her voice was trembling when she spoke: "I can give you whatever you want, and I don't want any money for this order, just please don't kill me."

Arthur took a drag on the cigarette, and let out a puff of smoke leisurely, and even his accent became normal.

"Don't be afraid, ma'am. I didn't mean to hurt you at all, just treat me as an ordinary guest. I don't understand the rules of your business, so I want to ask, where are we now? Next Do you just scream, or shall we go through the procedure?"

　Thanks to Shiri and Lingyi, the two leaders who like me most for their rewards. Currently, I owe 2 chapters to the leader to add updates, and 1 chapter owes the day before yesterday's update, a total of 3 updates.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)