British writer.

Chapter 139 "The Greatest"

the next day.

In his sleep, Arthur Conan Doyle turned over, but his right hand did not touch his beloved wife Hawkins, and he woke up slowly.

It's daylight,
Sunlight shines through the curtains into the house, casting mottled silhouettes on the floor and beds.

"Ha~~~~"

Doyle couldn't help but yawn.

Yesterday, he stayed up all night again, not because of writing the new series of Sherlock Holmes "The Return", but because of repeatedly reading a novel——

"Rural Teacher".

The book was first published in Paris,

But because it is bilingual in English and French, some booksellers in London also got the goods.

Doyle snapped up this book at a huge price.

He turned over and got out of bed and stretched, then opened the curtains, and cast his eyes on the novel on the bedside table again, his heart was itchy, and he wanted to read it again like a cat scratching.

At this moment, there was a loud noise outside,

And Hawkins’ cry: “Arthur!”

Doyle opened the bedroom door.
I saw Hawkins standing at the door, with bags full of various ingredients hanging on both arms,
"Arthur, give me a hand."

Doyle walked over and helped Hawkins remove the bits and pieces hanging from his body.

Hawkins asked, "Did you just wake up?"

Doyle nodded.

"Well, I'm just getting ready..."

His eyes were attracted by a piece of paper, and he didn't finish what he said.

Hawkins did not notice the strangeness of her husband. While wiping the sweat from his forehead, he scolded: "You should rinse your mouth and shave first, and then prepare to write the book quickly. If you don't hurry up, it will be bad for Smith." Explain."

Doyle didn't answer.

He narrowed his eyes, pulled out the piece of paper, and asked, "What is this?"

Hawkins glanced,
"As it is written above, "The 20 Greatest Britons" seems to be a poll, and many people participated. Next to the ballot box, there is also information introducing the deeds of the candidate celebrities, but it can only be read on the spot. I Didn’t bring it back.”

The corner of Doyle's mouth curled up,

"There are more than 20 great men in our British Empire."

As he spoke, his eyes slowly scanned the list.

Hawkins also leaned forward, suddenly with a surprised expression on his face, and walked quickly into her husband's study,
She came back not long after, holding a pen in her hand.

She murmured: "It's her."

There is a check mark next to a name.

Doyle:? ? ?
"what are you doing?"

Hawkins said: "I'm voting. Isn't it for the greatest Briton?"

Doyle looked at the name his wife had ticked——

Emmeline Pankhurst.

He doesn't even know him,
"Who is this?"

Hawkins sighed deeply and said, "Why do you still like to brag that men care about politics? This lady has spoken in parliament many times, and you don't even know?"

Doyle was even more confused.
"Speech? Woman speaking in Parliament? Westminster?"

Hawkins tosses his hair,
"It's Clough of Manchester."

Doyle was lost in thought,
After a long time, he showed an expression of sudden realization, and said: "Then I know, you are talking about the Independent Labor Party. By the way, wasn't the spokesperson of that party summoned by the police for the crime of disturbing order? They refused to pay the fine again. Most of them They're all in jail."

Hawkins nodded,
"So, the responsibility of speaking later fell on Emmeline."

Doyle was shocked,

"You actually called her 'Emeline'? Do you know her?"

He does not recall his wife having friends from the Independent Labor Party,

It's also a woman.

Hawkins glared at her husband and said, "It's true that I have never met Emmeline. But her spirit can infect me, and even every woman!"

Hearing this, Doyle understood,

It turns out that Emmeline Pankhurst is a leader of the feminist movement, and she is probably committed to changing the misfortune of poor women and supporting women's parliamentary suffrage.

Doyle scratched his head and rubbed the check mark with his fingers.

He complained: "You should use a pencil, but now you can't change it."

Hawkins was dissatisfied;
"Why change it!?"

Doyle couldn't help but was speechless for a while, and said: "It's better not to get involved in this kind of thing. I heard that some women in Paris have become obsessed and are fighting for their rights through violent means, destroying facilities, setting fires, committing suicide..."

Hawkins rolled his eyes.

"I just vote for this person, can't I?"

Doyle sighed,

"I just think you should vote for someone greater."

Hawkins complained: "What is 'greater'! You can't recognize all the people above, so how can you say who is greater than whom?"

Doyle was not convinced either.
"You're underestimating me! Great men in England, I'm so precious."

Hearing what her husband said, Hawkins pointed at him casually and said, "Okay, then tell me, who is this Edward Jenner? What great achievements has he made?"

Doyle: "..."

Unexpectedly, his wife silenced him on the spot with just one sentence.

Hawkins was slightly complacent, and hummed,
"So it's not a vote for the 'greatest' in fact, it's a vote for the 'greatest' in mind."

A word to wake up the dreamer.

Doyle didn't expect that his wife could see things more clearly than he did.

He leaned forward and kissed his wife,

Hawkins was a little shy, pushed him in disgust, and said, "Let you rinse your mouth first, you...that's all, I forgive you."

Turning his gaze to the voting paper,

"Who are you going to vote for?"

Doyle said: "First of all, there must be Shakespeare. This is beyond doubt, right? He is the greatest English-language writer, and his plays can be said to represent our British culture. I can even assert that Shakespeare is equal to Britain."

Hawkins shrugged noncommittally.

Doyle asked, "What's the matter? Are there any disagreements?"

Hawkins curled his lips and said, "No objection. After all, you are a writer, and I am the writer's wife. It is natural for us to vote for Shakespeare, a great writer."

There is a hint of irony in this statement.

Doyle heard it, but did not feel dissatisfied. He said, "You just said that this is not a vote for the 'greatest' in fact, but a vote for the 'greatest' in your mind. I am not following you." Do you want to follow this idea?"

Hawkins: "(ˉ▽￣~)Tch~~"

"Don't blame me."

Doyle continued to look down and drew a checkmark next to Charles Dickens, William Tyndale, William Wallace, and Robert I,
Needless to say, Dickens
the last three,

William Tyndale, translator of the English Bible;
William Wallace, a Scottish national hero;

Robert I, King of Scotland, defended Scotland's independence at the Battle of Bannockburn.

Doyle's choice is very consistent with the identity of the Scottish writer.

Hawkins lacks interest,
"You can do it yourself. I'll scramble some eggs and cut some bread."

After speaking, she took the ingredients and prepared to enter the kitchen.

Doyle scratched his head,

"Do you have anyone else you want to vote for?"

Hawkins thought for a while and replied, "You must choose Her Majesty the Queen anyway?"

……

Palace of Westminster.

Wodehouse's office.

Churchill held the cigar between the index finger and thumb of his right hand, took a slow puff, and showed a happy expression.

Opposite him, Wodehouse looked helpless.
"Can't you stop snatching my cigar?"

Churchill spread his hands,
"No."

He chuckled, glanced at the paper on the table, and said with an arc at the corner of his mouth, ""The 20 Greatest Britons"? Interesting! Really interesting!"

Wodehouse asked curiously, "Why?"

Churchill said: "Do you think voting and ranking are objective?"

Wodehouse pondered, obviously hesitant.

After all, even elected members like them can’t be considered truly “objective”.

Churchill took a cigar and burned a hole next to the name "Robert Gascoigne-Cecil",

This behavior is like a fire seal,

Very ceremonial.

Wodehouse frowned and asked: "What? Are you dissatisfied with the current Prime Minister? Or do you think he is one of the greatest British people?"

Churchill held his cigar in his mouth with a smile and replied vaguely: "It's up to you to interpret it."

Wodehouse looked at Churchill,
He always felt that the other person's smile was not funny, but had a slightly sinister feeling.

Churchill spread his hands,
"Hey, don't you think he's not great? He's really not great. After all, the Anglo-Boer War led to this, and he has an unshirkable responsibility. But it's not appropriate to draw conclusions like this. He is Disraeli's heir, in Berlin Isn’t it great that you were just a sidekick at the time, and kept the Conservative Party alive when Gladstone was in full swing?”

Wodehouse looked dark;

"According to what you said, then I also..."

Churchill interrupted the other party's boasting, and continued: "Speaking of Disraeli, he is also a great prime minister. He almost begged all the way to become prime minister. He is also a bad writer. He is good at dancing, talking and laughing, and has done a lot of big things. , Petty theft is not rare."

Wodehouse raised an eyebrow,

Faintly, he sensed what Churchill wanted to say.

Churchill chuckled,
"If you ask me, there's nothing 'greatest' in the world."

He might not have said so had he known he would have been voted top of the 2002 Greatest Britons in a BBC poll in 100.

The corner of Wodehouse's mouth curled up, looking at the list,
"Unfortunately, there is no Benjamin Disraeli."

Churchill laughed,
"Hahahahahaha! We politicians can't keep thinking about electing our own people, can we?"

Wodehouse complained: "Just like you, you come to grab my cigars every day. The cat stays in my office for a whole morning. It smells like cigarettes. How dare you say that you are with the Conservative Party? Come on soon." !"

Churchill waved his hand,
"Don't say that."

He picked up the pen and marked next to Queen Victoria,

Prime Minister of Flowing Water,
iron queen,
No matter how good the prime ministers are, they can't compare with Lafayette.

……

Isle of Wight.

Osborne House, the Queen's bedroom.

All the descendants of Her Majesty the Queen gathered around the bedside and looked at the old Queen.

They all had a premonition,

The old man in front of him is about to lose his life.

Although the queen closed her eyes tightly, her eyelids were visibly shaking, and it could be seen that the eyeballs inside seemed to be turning restlessly, as if she was dreaming.

At this time, the doctor beside the bed slowly stood up and said,
He took off his gloves and shook his head imperceptibly at the Prince of Wales.

The silence speaks.

If the queen feels something, open her right eye,

I don't know if the left eye is because of exhaustion or because it is not controlled by the brain, it is slightly closed and only narrowed.

The queen scanned everyone in this "one-eyed" state,
"what time is it?"

Everyone looked at each other.

Margarita was the first to react and whispered: "A quarter past three in the afternoon."

the queen sighed,

"Today, Fossey came to see me."

Fossey is the abbreviation of Francis,
And Francis is the name of the queen's husband, Prince Albert.

For a moment, the room fell silent.
"..."

"..."

"..."

Margarita couldn't hold back at first, and turned sideways, tears streaming down her face.

Kaiser Wilhelm II reached out and patted Margarita on the shoulder comfortingly.

At this moment, the door was gently pushed open.

The female officer came in, leaned over to the Prince of Wales, whispered for a while, and then handed out the voting paper for "The 20 Greatest Britons".

The Prince of Wales looked disbelieving,

He didn't expect that Lu Shi would use this way of solving problems.

The imagination of this Chinese is too wild!

The Prince of Wales stepped forward;

"Mom, in my hand is the voting paper for "The 20 Greatest Britons"."

The queen's originally chaotic brain suddenly became clear,
Lu Shi took action!
She said, "You read it to me."

The Prince of Wales immediately said: "The list seems to be sorted by initials, including Edward Jenner, Isaac Newton..."

The Queen interrupted: "Wait a minute. Who is Edward Jenner?"

The members of the royal family were stunned.

They have never heard of this person.

The queen sighed: "I don't know anything. Who are you to find out, who is this Edward Jenner?"

As a result, after she asked, the doctor next to her spoke,

"Dr. Jenner is a medical scientist who is famous for his research and promotion of cowpox vaccine to prevent smallpox. He is known as the father of immunology. He opened the way for future research and prompted Pasteur and others to seek solutions for other diseases. Approaches to treatment and immunity.”

I have never heard of Jenner, but I have always heard of smallpox.

The queen showed a satisfied expression,
“The British Empire is full of talented people.”

He then asked the Prince of Wales to continue.

The Prince of Wales read out the list slowly, and whenever he came to an unfamiliar name, he sought help from the sidelines.
Fortunately, Osborne Palace has an independent library and archives, so it is not too difficult.

Just like that, more than an hour passed,

The list is over.

As if just experienced a long science popularization, the room fell silent.

After a while, the Queen said: "I never thought that I could stand alongside King Charles III, Elizabeth I, Henry VIII, Henry V, Henry II, and Edward I."

The kings and queens she mentioned all achieved immortal achievements during their reign.
Taking Henry V as an example, he defeated the French army in the Hundred Years War, defeated and severely damaged France, captured almost half of France, became the heir to the French throne, and even established the idea of ​​​​"British and French Empire".

This is simply a script that only traversers can afford.

Margarita said: "Grandma, you are the greatest king."

This sentence is said sincerely, without the slightest meaning of flattering.

But the queen didn't express anything when she heard it. Instead, she asked, "From a global perspective, which one is greater, Jesus or the Prophet Muhammad?"

Margarita was asked,

"This……"

The queen said again: "Then let me ask you again, is Euclid greater or Sir Newton greater?"

Her words stunned everyone.

No one knew what the queen wanted to express.

The Queen did not explain much, but stretched out her thin hand and said to the Prince of Wales: "My child, hand me that ballot paper."

The heart of the Prince of Wales beat violently,

For some reason, he didn't really want to hand over the paper in his hand, as if after handing it over, he would face unspeakable suffering.

However, the queen was extremely determined,
"give me."

The Prince of Wales stepped forward and handed over the ballot papers.

The Queen took it and murmured to herself: ""The 20 Greatest Britons"... cough cough cough..."

Her voice was drowned out by a barrage of coughing.

Margarita hurriedly said: "Grandma, don't read it yet, you need to rest! When you recover from your illness, there are plenty of opportunities."

As he said that, he went to draw the voting paper in the queen's hand.

But the Queen clenched it tightly, muttering something that seemed to be the word "Greatest".

The Prince of Wales patted Margarita on the shoulder,
"Let's go out."

(End of this chapter)