shadow of britain

Chapter 743 The Real Man
A huge crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling of the Rose Hall, sunlight poured in through the high windows, and there was still a little charcoal fire in the white fireplace from last night.

Princess Victoria was sitting at a small desk by the window, carefully writing the beginning of a speech. Her brows were slightly frowned, as if she was hesitating whether to use "sacred" or "unassailable" to describe the word "freedom".

Arthur stood aside, his eyes slowly moving away from her pen tip and falling on the bouquet of roses in a porcelain vase in the distance.

After taking off his windbreaker, one could see that he was still wearing the Flack suit that Disraeli had strongly recommended. His collar was buttoned tightly, but a part of the pocket watch chain on his chest was faintly visible.

The Duchess of Kent was sitting in a lady's chair not far away. She had chosen a gray-blue silk dress today and was looking down at a schedule for next month drawn up by Conroy. From time to time, she would whisper to Mrs. Letzen beside her. The two spoke in very low voices, but from time to time they would glance at Arthur, with some caution and a hint of curiosity in their eyes.

But it was no wonder that she was curious. After all, the Golden Cross Station Operation had occupied important pages in London's major newspapers for the past two days. Reporters on Fleet Street seemed to have never seen the news before, and they were all working hard to dig out the story behind this royal theft.

Whether it is the wired telegraph technology that played a great role in the case, or the unexpected comeback of Sir Arthur Hastings, once the best police officer in Great Britain, at the station, or Officers Mike Cowley and James Hughet who fought the criminals to the death regardless of danger, these news are very eye-catching.

After everyone got tired of it, a newspaper reporter interviewed Inspector Charles Field of the Police Intelligence Bureau. This famous detective from Scotland Yard kindly revealed to the citizens of London the usual police investigation process of cases, and even took Mr. Charles Dickens, a popular writer in the British literary world, to experience the life of a "detective for a day".

With his curiosity satisfied, Dickens then wrote an article titled "On Duty with Inspector Charles Field" in "The Briton", in which he elaborated on his fantastic journey to the London public and solemnly introduced this knowledgeable, charming and responsible police officer and the detectives under his leadership who worked tirelessly to protect the peace of London.

Of course, the most moving of all the news are those about the fallen police officer Robert Culley. If it weren't for this officer's continued investigation and tracking of the Pickett Street thugs during his lifetime, perhaps the theft would not have been solved until now.

The Duchess of Kent was particularly infuriated by what happened to Officer Culley's widow after her husband's death.

She couldn't stand people bullying widows in this life, and maybe she wouldn't stand it in the next life. Most importantly, Mrs. Carley was a widow with a child, which made the Duchess of Kent think of her own situation in the past fifteen years.

She remembers clearly that in the first few years after her husband's death, she frequently ran around and tried to defend the rights of herself and her daughter, but the bureaucrats in Whitehall also had this "under discussion" face. Meeting after meeting, letter after letter, in the end, she only got an empty reply and a sentence "regrettably cannot support".

Now Mrs. Culley is being treated in the same perfunctory way, and is even more voiceless and helpless than she was back then!
You know, Mrs. Cali has two children, one is eight years old and the other is five years old!
But to her surprise, Mrs. Carley did not accept the sympathy and donations from people around her like many helpless widows. Instead, she refused donations from Scotland Yard again and again, only asking the government to clear her husband's name.

The Duchess of Kent asked herself, if she were in Mrs. Carley's position, she probably wouldn't be able to make such a decision, which made her feel a surge of respect in her heart.

However, what moved her even more was the small print news she found in the margins of The Times.

——According to people familiar with the matter, Sir Arthur Hastings learned about the situation of the Carley family from his former colleagues at Scotland Yard a few weeks after returning to London from Russia. That evening, he personally went to Shoreditch to visit the family of Officer Carley. Although there were rumors that the pension he sent was allocated at the discretion of the Home Office, according to private verification by our reporter James Longworth, the money was actually paid by Sir Arthur personally, and in order to avoid Mrs. Carley refusing to accept it, he specifically lied that the money was actually "a reward from Whitehall for Officer Carley's fair law enforcement, and the Home Office will issue a notice to clear her husband's reputation soon." This Scotland Yard legend has demonstrated with practical actions why his portrait can still be hung in the entrance hall of Scotland Yard today.

The Duchess of Kent secretly felt lucky that she had hired Arthur as her daughter's tutor. Previously, she was a little unhappy because Conroy asked for a salary increase for Arthur.

But now it seems that such a loyal and righteous gentleman definitely deserves a pay raise, and an increase from 800 pounds to 1000 pounds a year is still too little. It should be at least 1200 pounds to match his worth.

No, maybe it should be even higher!
The Duchess of Kent suddenly remembered the surprised expressions of Princess Esterhazy, the wife of the Austrian ambassador, and Madame Dinaud, the niece of the French ambassador Talleyrand, when they heard that Sir Arthur Hastings was a tutor at Kensington Palace at a social dinner the day before.

Princess Esterhazy even complained that if she had known that Sir Arthur Hastings was willing to condescend to teach the children, she would have been the first to invite him to her home to teach.

Compared with Arthur's image, the image of former Home Secretary Viscount Melbourne appears very dirty.

The Duchess of Kent remembered speaking to the Whig nobleman at a private dinner at Buckingham Palace just a few months earlier.

At that time, he was gentle and well-spoken, showing the propriety and cultivation of a middle-aged Whig gentleman.

She remembered that Viscount Melbourne had praised Victoria's intelligence and said that her speaking style had "the charm of the eloquent Charles Fox", which even made her feel a little fond of the leader of the Home Office.

But now it seemed that all this was nothing more than the usual empty talk at Whitehall parties.

She could even imagine Viscount Melbourne's expression when he received the news of Officer Culley's death. He was not angry, but frowned and sighed, then ordered his secretary to draft an ambiguous and vague reply letter, putting the matter "on the agenda" and having it "studied by the committee", but in the end it fell into the sea and never received a response.

Fortunately, she thought he was "gentler than Peel and more delicate than Gray", so his unhappy marriage with Caroline Ponsonby, "a mad woman obsessed with Byron", could not be blamed on this gentleman.

When the Grey cabinet fell and William IV ordered Melbourne to form a cabinet, the Duchess of Kent wrote a letter of congratulations to him.

Now that I think about it, she was really blind!
No matter how gentle and delicate he is, this time, Viscount Melbourne, the sleepyhead in the House of Lords, has gone too far!

The Duchess of Kent calmly sorted out the schedule in her hand, her movements were slow and graceful, but the anger in her heart had already crackled.

She was not naive, and she would never be naive enough to think that a political gentleman would lose sleep over a widow's letter of complaint, nor would she expect a former Whig Prime Minister to spend even an ounce of energy on the death of a low-level police officer.

But she was a person with a good memory after all, and she always remembered those who helped her during the difficult times in her life, and she also kept a cold account of those who stood by and watched when others were in trouble.

Asking her to publicly criticize the Whig leader, Viscount Melbourne, the Duchess of Kent asked herself, she couldn't do it. After all, in order to stabilize Victoria's position as the crown prince, she still needed the support of the Whig Party.

But this did not prevent her from appreciating those young people who "do good things without worrying about the future". The news said that Sir Arthur gave the Carly family a pension of 200 pounds, so she would double it on this basis and give him a salary increase of 400 pounds. Of course, this was based on the 1000 pounds annual salary suggested by Conroy.

What an outstanding young man this is!

This morning, when Arthur first stepped into Kensington Palace, the Duchess of Kent was waiting for him to mention the glorious deeds he had experienced a few days ago, but the young gentleman did not say a word. Instead, as usual, he came to the Rose Hall without delay and started teaching directly, as if nothing had happened.

When the Duchess saw Arthur's attitude, out of respect for his professionalism, she had to sit here patiently and supervise her daughter's class.

However, the Duchess of Kent felt that if Arthur did not mention it after today's class, she would take the initiative to talk to Arthur.

After all, she had just asked the kitchen to prepare tea and snacks in advance, and she planned to have a good chat with Arthur to satisfy her curiosity and reward this gentleman who had made great efforts in the theft case.

The Rose Room was silent except for the rustling of pens across paper and the occasional crackling of embers in the hearth.

Arthur was whispering about a slightly redundant parallelism in Victoria's draft: "The sentence structure is good, but the emotions are piled up a bit too much. 'We are willing to go through fire and water for freedom' is enough, and adding 'and not be subdued by tyranny' seems redundant."

Victoria nodded and said softly, "Understood, sir."

At this moment, there were slight footsteps at the door.

The attendant standing by the door walked in quickly and whispered in the Duchess of Kent's ear, "Madam, Sir Charles Rowan, the Commissioner of the Royal London Metropolitan Police, and several senior police officers came to visit. They claimed that the police investigation has been completed, and this trip is to return the stolen items to the palace."

The Duchess of Kent sat up straight, the surprise on her face quickly replaced by proper joy.

She stood up, smiled softly, and turned to look at Arthur: "Sir, it seems that our lessons need to be temporarily interrupted for a while."

Arthur, who had been waiting with his watch for Rowan and the others to arrive at Kensington Palace, frowned slightly and said, "Your Highness, what's wrong?"

"Your old colleagues are here." The Duchess of Kent called Victoria: "Delina, you should come too, to meet these heroes who have recovered your beloved writing box."

Hearing her mother's call, Victoria stood up quickly, looking a little restrained for a moment. She hesitantly put the quill pen into the pen holder, closed the ink bottle, and gently pressed the half-written manuscript paper under the book.

Mrs. Letzen brought her the shawl and placed it smoothly and naturally over her shoulders.

"What should I say?" Victoria asked in a low voice, frowning slightly, looking a little nervous.

Although she was often introduced to various celebrities by her mother, she had never met so many people at the same time, not to mention that today's guests were a group of police officers.

"Say what you want to say." Arthur walked slowly. "Haven't you been learning how to write a speech for three weeks in a row? It doesn't have to be as polite as a speech, but the main idea is the same."

"You mean, like your speech?" Victoria whispered, afraid that her mother, who was walking in front of her, would hear. "We are here for Britain? Or are the years I spend with you the most beautiful sunny days I have ever experienced in my life?"

Arthur's face turned red when he heard what Victoria said. He pretended to be calm and said, "Your Highness, where did you see this speech? I don't remember that this material was included in my syllabus."

"Do you remember Gabriele?"

"Of course, I have met your friend, the eldest daughter of the Prussian Minister Heinrich von Bulow, at Kensington Palace."

Victoria saw her teacher's rare embarrassment and couldn't help but chuckle. "Gabrielle found it. She heard that I was learning to write a speech recently, so she dug out your speech from that year. She also emphasized to me that this speech is very difficult to find. It's not even in the newspaper."

Rather than the difficulty of finding the speech, Arthur was more concerned about where the little girl had found his old account.

"It's not in the newspapers, it's not in the magazines, so where did she find it?"

Victoria replied, "She said it was given to her by Mr. Dumas. Her family often went to the West End to watch plays, so she knew Mr. Dumas very early. She said Mr. Dumas was a very easy-going and kind person, and he didn't have the airs of a great playwright at all. She told Mr. Dumas that she was a big fan of Arthur Hastings, so Mr. Dumas gave her this speech. She has kept it at home, at the bottom of the cabinet. If I hadn't told her this time that I was learning to write a speech, I wouldn't have known that there was such a good thing in her collection."

As they were talking, they arrived at the front hall.

When we arrived at the front hall, the sun was pouring in from the dome window, shining on the row of figures standing upright. Charles Rowan was wearing a dark blue uniform, and the silver buttons reflected a solemn and cold light in the light. Next to him were Hughett, Cowley and several other plainclothes detectives, one of whom was holding the neatly wrapped brocade box in his hand.

When the police officers saw the Duchess of Kent and her entourage coming, they all raised their hands and saluted: "Your Highness, we are rude to visit you without notice."

(End of this chapter)