shadow of britain

Chapter 724 The Ladies’ Favorite
Family gossip is exchanged within the family, colleague gossip is exchanged within the company, and celebrity gossip is exchanged within the society. If you want to achieve success in your career, you must first withstand the test of rumors.

—Arthur Hastings

Whether in Britain, France, Germany or Russia, Arthur's schedule was filled with social banquets and cultural salons. But to be honest, he did not like these common social activities in the upper class.

On the one hand, it is because maintaining the relationship between the two parties in a hypocritical and cautious manner in front of everyone is a very energy-consuming and life-consuming matter; on the other hand, because his status is no longer the same as before, he always encounters matchmakers in these social occasions who volunteer to match him with a certain lady.

According to the current average marriage age in Britain, Arthur, 25, is far from being old.

Even in the lower classes, where marriage is generally recognized to be relatively free and people get married at an early age, it is not particularly uncommon for men to not get married until they are 28 or 29 years old, and for women to not get married until they are 26 or 27 years old.

Moreover, even though the marriage age is so old, about one-third of newlyweds still get pregnant before marriage, so according to British traditional customs, they have to get married with a baby.

As for why the marriage age in Britain is generally higher?
That's naturally because this is the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution.

Since the 17th century, the age of first marriage for British people has been delayed by one year almost every to years.

Girls' standards for choosing a partner have not actually changed. Most people are mainly concerned about whether their spouse can shoulder the responsibility of raising a family in the future.

In the agricultural society before the Industrial Revolution, this standard required a strong body, hard work, loyalty and honesty. It would be even better if the husband's family had a few acres of land or some fixed industry.

But nowadays, due to the accelerated pace of urbanization, these abstract requirements have gradually become more concrete.

For example, you have to have a decent job in an organization like a railway company or the postal department, or as a craftsman, you have to at least ensure that you can earn a certain amount of money every month.

Even if some girls are willing to lower their standards for their beloved boys, the lucky guy who instinctively wins the beauty will ridiculously reject the other party's hints and may even avoid his lover because of this.

The reason for this is mostly because they believe that they have not achieved the social status they expected and have no confidence in raising a wife and children.

Arthur could understand the lower-class men of his age very well, because when he was a smelly foot patrol in Greenwich, he basically looked at marriage with a similar mentality.

With an annual income of just over thirty pounds, after deducting the rent of the small suite and daily food and drink, and occasionally "splurge" at a second-hand bookstore, he worked on the street for nearly two years and saved a total of ten pounds.

He's living an ok life on his own, but if you add a wife and children to the mix, my God, you might as well shoot him under the Tower of London.

Although Arthur is now considered a decent person and getting married is not a particularly far-fetched thing, but at this stage, he has begun to worry about other things.

He was a knight and a natural philosopher, and it is true that he was a respected figure in this society.

But above his level, there is a level that is more respected than him.

Such class differences are not implicit but explicit, and are laid out in the open.

For example, an earl in the House of Lords clearly stipulated in his will:

If his daughter married an earl or above, or his heir, she would be given a dowry of £5000.

If the woman married a baron or a baron's heir, the dowry would be reduced to 3000 pounds.

If she married a baronet or his heir, or even a knight, she would only be entitled to a dowry of 1000 pounds.

What? You asked what to do if your daughter married a commoner?
Haha, then such an unfilial daughter doesn’t deserve anything, and he will also drive his daughter out of the house and sever their blood ties.

Of course, this nobleman is not completely old-fashioned.

If his daughter married a commoner like Mr. Gladstone, the rising star of the Tory Party politics, then considering that Gladstone might become prime minister in the future, I believe he could reluctantly forgive the girl's temporary willfulness.

And this is where Arthur is embarrassed now.

He was indeed a knight, but a knight without an official title was not even as valuable as the "woodcutter" who spent his days persuading prostitutes to become good people.

France's "little giant" Mr. Thiers took advantage of his appointment as Minister of the Interior to sell himself at a high price, and exchanged a marriage certificate for a dowry of 200,000 francs and inheritance rights from his real estate developer father-in-law.

Sir Arthur Hastings, a potential stock that was scrambled for by thousands of people on the London Stock Exchange a few years ago, has experienced "profit growth" lower than expected in the past two years, sluggish growth in the company's main business, and a bumpy transition to the diplomatic market. In addition, the company's Russian business was caught up in the "Caucasus financial fraud scandal" and was even ordered to delist by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently.

So since Arthur Hastings resumed trading at St. Martin's Church, its share price has been halved compared to its heyday, and has been pinned to the floor at the limit down for nearly a month. The closing price at the social ball last Sunday was only 650 pounds.

Although Miss Emily Dresset and Miss Fiona Evans had both made acquisition offers in the past two years, intending to help this insolvent company with bankruptcy reorganization, they were all flatly rejected by the ungrateful Sir Arthur Hastings without exception.

In short, do you want Sir Arthur to sell at a loss at this time?
Sorry, Yorkshire pigs, who were deeply influenced by the Cambridge stock god Sir Isaac Newton and have serious small farmer mentality, have no concept of stopping losses in time.

He also likes to lie in his own mud pit and dream, self-hypnotizing that his own stocks are still in great demand in the market, and as soon as the next fiscal year's financial report is released, the scene of investors flocking to him will appear before his eyes again. Is Arthur's conjecture reasonable?
To be honest, it's not completely unreasonable.

Although his reputation in Whitehall has been terrible in recent times, and although his old units, Scotland Yard and the Foreign Office, have always praised his outstanding abilities and bright future and thanked him for his contributions over the years whenever his name is mentioned in public.

But in fact, the old foxes who say one thing in public and another behind the scenes all understand that if you want to destroy a person, you must first praise his bright future, because this is actually preparing to sentence his future to death.

But just because gentlemen disliked Arthur and kept their distance from him didn't mean that his reputation among ladies was equally bad.

Even though he was invited to a private party in Kensington with the help of John Conroy, it was thanks to Arthur's good deeds over the years that he became the center of attention among the ladies at the party.

Or to be more specific, this is all thanks to the fact that "The Limey" stood firmly on the side of Viscount Melbourne and Lady Norton in their extramarital affair.

Although this case was heard and concluded during the cholera epidemic in 1832, it was not actually finalized until early 1833 because Mrs. Norton appealed to the court in 1834 for custody of her child.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Norton still did not get custody. The only thing to be thankful for was that she could at least get 300 pounds a year in separation living expenses from her husband, Judge Norton.

Yes, she got the money from her husband, Judge Norton, and they were not divorced.

However, this was not because Mrs. Norton did not want to divorce, but because divorce was almost impossible in that era. Even Arthur, who had studied British law in depth, could not remember the last time the church court approved a divorce.

The last divorce case that caused a sensation in Britain was that of King George IV and Queen Caroline. In that case, the lawyer hired by the Queen was Arthur's teacher, Lord Brougham, who refuted the King's attorney, the Attorney General of the United Kingdom, in court and successfully defended the Queen's request - no divorce, no divorce no matter what.

In the eyes of the ladies, such inheritance naturally means that like teacher, like disciple.

During the trial of Mrs. Norton's extramarital affair, "The Limey" would often use the plot of the novel to make sarcastic remarks about Judge Norton. Dickens' "The Pickwick Papers" even imitated and ridiculed the trial plot in the chapter "The Trial of Bardell Pickwick".

The hard work of these novelists is worth it, as the ladies usually spend so much money to support their subscription business.

Among today's guests, Mrs. Cowper most appreciated the performance of "The Limey", because the case after all involved her brother, Viscount Melbourne.

This lady, who had always been close to Viscount Palmerston, seemed to be unconcerned about the recent friction between her lover and Arthur. She even took the initiative to apologize to Arthur for Palmerston's recent behavior.

"Sir Arthur, I hope you won't be angry about Pam's behavior. He has that kind of temper. I don't know exactly what happened between you, but I think that the only reason for friction between two gentlemen of impeccable character is a misunderstanding."

Arthur was well aware of Mrs. Cowper's preference for him and Palmerston, but even so, he could not help twitching at the corners of his mouth when he heard the adjective she used.

Mrs. Cowper saw this and asked with wide eyes, "Did you have a stroke?"

Arthur seemed very calm about this: "I'm sorry, ma'am, I have been ill since that night in 1832. The doctor said that the bullet not only penetrated my chest, but also seemed to have affected my mouth muscles."

"What a poor man." Mrs. Cowper looked at the young man, who was about the same age as her son, with sympathy in her eyes. "Thank goodness God has blessed you. I can't imagine if the bullet had been a few centimeters off that day, we would have lost such an outstanding young man. Integrity, courage, enthusiasm, you endure such physical discomfort all day long, but you still care about the suffering ladies, even Caucasians."

"Yes! He cares about quite a few people." The Red Devil's sinister voice rang in Arthur's ears: "Let me count, there are also the royalists in Paris, the exiled young Italians, the students in Göttingen, and the new Decembrists in Russia..."

Arthur glanced at the malicious red devil and was about to say some nonsense to the enthusiastic lady in front of him, but unexpectedly Mrs. Cowper took the initiative to volunteer before him.

After her brother became the new Prime Minister, Mrs. Cowper's status in London's social circle rose steadily. Therefore, there were many people who wanted to take the opportunity to curry favor with her every night, but not many people could successfully make her open her mouth.

But she was very happy to chat with Arthur more.

From the first time she saw Arthur, she had a good impression of this York boy. Of course, this was not entirely due to Arthur's personal charm. The phonograph Arthur gave her must have played a certain marginal role in it.

"I heard that since you left the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, you have devoted yourself to the publishing industry?"

"Thank you for your concern, ma'am." Arthur smiled politely, "But this statement is not accurate enough, because I am actually still teaching at the University of London. I was just appointed as the Dean of Academic Affairs there some time ago."

"Dean?" Mrs. Cowper raised her lace glove to her lips. "I only remembered that you were a great musician, an excellent police officer, and a novelist. I almost forgot that you were also a great scholar."

As soon as Mrs. Cowper finished speaking, she saw a figure in a long skirt walking towards her slowly.

When Mrs. Cowper saw that person, she felt a little embarrassed, because the visitor with a smile on his face was her best friend, Mrs. Leven, a famous Russian lady.

Everyone knew that Mrs. Leven's brother was the Tsar's right-hand man, and Arthur had caused so much trouble in the Caucasus. When the two met under such circumstances, the atmosphere would naturally become subtle.

Arthur had been warned by Conroy before, so he didn't feel caught off guard. Instead, he bowed slightly to greet Mrs. Leven: "Good afternoon, ma'am. The last time I saw you was probably in Paris."

Mrs. Leven did not show any unnatural expression, as if she had met an old friend. Although her tone was normal, her words made people feel strange: "Good afternoon, sir. I thought I might never see you again. After all, my brother praised you in his letter and said that His Majesty the Tsar also admired you. I once thought you might stay in Russia to be an official. Maybe the chief of police in St. Petersburg or Moscow, or the commander of the Semyonov Guards Regiment, but who would have thought that you would return to Britain in the end?"

(End of this chapter)