shadow of britain

Chapter 753 The Queen’s Guide
Arthur remembers the night after the Robert Carley memorial service.

That night, the lights in Kensington Palace were kept on for two hours longer than usual.

At first the palace servants thought that Her Royal Highness the Princess was pestering Mrs. Letzen to read Scott's Ivanhoe again, but they soon discovered something was wrong.

Because the kitchen was heating up oxtail soup for two people, not the honey milk that Her Royal Highness prepared for bedtime.

The response to Her Royal Highness's first public speech was almost immediate.

After all, the Duchess of Kent is one of the most emotionally controlled women in the royal family.

She didn't praise Arthur or thank him, she just left him a bowl of oxtail soup.

But this is not politeness in Kensington Palace, it's a signal that you need to stay and talk business.

No one in the palace knew what the Duchess, her lady-in-waiting Miss Flora Hastings, her private secretary Sir John Conroy, and Sir Arthur Hastings talked about in the study that evening.

Victoria and the Duchess of Kent, painted by William Beecher in 1822, now in Kensington Palace, London

Sir John Conroy, 1837st Baronet, by Henry William Pickersgill, , National Portrait Gallery, London

Portrait of Miss Flora Hastings, now in the collection of Dick Institute, Scotland
Portrait of Sir Arthur Hastings, by William Turner, 1832, now in the collection of the Royal Metropolitan Police

But everyone noticed that early the next morning, there were several groups of suspicious guys, or rather, police officers from Scotland Yard, near Kensington Palace.

It is interesting to note that although these "plainclothes patrolmen" do not wear uniforms, they all wear identical black felt hats with the brims pulled down very low, as if it is some kind of unwritten rule.

Even more surprising is that all the plainclothes patrols around Kensington Palace appear to report directly to Sir Arthur Hastings.

After a two-year absence from Scotland Yard, this admired leader of London's literary and scientific communities finally got a taste of commanding the police force again.

For Arthur, after a busy month, there could be no better reward.

Especially considering that this plainclothes police team even included the progressive young man Ledley King who was "exiled" here.

The walls of the Rose Hall are decorated with brocade with light pink and gold threads, and the ceiling is embossed with circles of vine wreaths. The soft morning light shines into the room through the stained glass windows, making the small devices made of copper wire and picks on the desk seem to be covered with a faint halo.

What was placed on the table was neither tea sets nor embroidery, but a set of modified Hastings resistors. In front of the table was a small teaching blackboard that Arthur had personally bought from old Fagin's maritime shop.

"Electricity is not some kind of magic that appears randomly in a storm." Arthur flicked the resistor lightly, and the pointer at the end of the coil trembled: "It is a kind of..."

Arthur paused for a moment, and moved his eyes from the instrument to Victoria's face, as if he was choosing words that were more suitable for the little girl who had not received systematic natural philosophy education to understand: "Well... the power of extremely measured behavior."

"Like the government?" Victoria blurted out, but as soon as she said it, she realized that it seemed inappropriate. She quickly added, "I'm not being sarcastic, it's just... I suddenly remembered that you said before that the government relies on balance to maintain its operation."

From a grammar teacher's perspective, Arthur had little to complain about Victoria's answer.

Although the Crown Prince had only taken his rhetoric class for more than two months, his harsh writing style had indeed begun to bear the Hastings style.

Victoria tilted her head, looking at the resistors with screws and copper wires, not quite understanding them. The tip of her pen drew a few curved patterns on the notebook that could barely be called "induction coils."

She said nothing, but bit the end of her quill thoughtfully, but she soon stopped this action because of Mrs. Letzen's frown.

Biting the tip of a pen is the little thing the Duchess of Kent hates the most.

Although the Duchess of Kent was out for something today and did not attend the class, Mrs. Letzen was always watching her.

"So..." She said hesitantly, "Mr. Faraday...he does these things every day? Wrapping a piece of iron with wire and making it move?"

"This is just the basics." Arthur nodded, his tone gentle, as if describing some daily trivialities: "Mr. Faraday's daily work is much more complicated than this."

Victoria was stunned for a moment, her expression revealing a pure wonder that only a young girl could have: "Then he must be able to make a lot of money, right?"

This innocent and direct question made Arthur laugh. It was obvious that Victoria was much more lively today because her mother was not around.

He put the pick in his hand back on the table and gently closed the small blackboard used for teaching.

"According to your logic, Your Highness," Arthur replied, "then the two richest people in the world would be Newton and Pascal."

"Is not it?"

"Of course not." Arthur paused, as if considering whether this fact would be too shocking to a girl who had never paid for a handkerchief with her own money, but in the end he decided to tell her the truth. It would not hurt to let her know more about the lives of ordinary citizens. "Although Mr. Faraday is currently the director of the Royal Society's laboratory, due to financial constraints, his current annual salary is about a hundred pounds."

"What?!" Victoria felt as if she had heard some kind of utter injustice. Ever since she gave that speech, the future queen seemed to have felt a kind of weight that could not be explained in words in the support of the citizens. Victoria was very proud to be able to respond to the expectations of her subjects.

She found it hard to tolerate Faraday's low salary: "This amount of money is much less than the cost of repairing Kensington Stables last year! Faraday is the most beloved natural philosophy researcher in Britain, and he is still doing such a difficult job. How could the Royal Society treat him like this?"

"Indeed." Arthur slapped his head. "Oh, no, Your Highness, I have to apologize to you. I forgot to tell you that in addition to the 100 pounds salary, Mr. Faraday can also receive free heating charcoal in the winter, and the Royal Society has also selected a rent-free house in Gresham College as his residence."

"How big is the house where Mr. Faraday lives?"

"Hmm..." Arthur paced in the Rose Hall, as if measuring the length and width of the place. Suddenly he said, "It's probably one-tenth of the size of this place."

After hearing this, Victoria was silent for a few seconds and she was furious.

Mrs. Letzen stood quietly by as usual, without interrupting or showing any emotion.

She held the notebook in her hand as usual, but her eyes moved slightly, as if she noticed a slight change in Victoria's tone.

"That is to say..." Victoria suddenly straightened up: "The smartest person in our country may not even have a living standard as good as that of a postmaster?" It was obviously Arthur who started the fire, but now he came out to pretend to be a good guy.

Arthur said comfortingly, "Your Highness, you don't need to care about these things. As long as Mr. Faraday is willing, he can always get more than 1000 pounds. Previously, on behalf of the University of London, I invited him to be our professor of physics experiments with an annual salary of 1200 pounds, but Mr. Faraday still refused. For a scholar like Mr. Faraday, material enjoyment is far less than the sense of accomplishment brought by continuous progress in scientific research."

"But, even though that's what I said... 100 pounds is too low..." Victoria said gloomily, "Can't we give him a raise? He can get 1200 pounds without leaving the Royal Society. And not only Mr. Faraday, other scientists, such as the scholars and professors at the Royal Observatory, should also get better income."

Arthur shook his head slightly and said, "Oh, Your Highness, I advise you to give up this idea."

"Why?" Victoria looked surprised, for she knew that Arthur was a natural philosopher himself. "Don't you think you deserve a high salary?"

Arthur smiled and said, "Of course I hope to get a high salary, and I also hope that other poor scientists can get enough compensation for their scientific careers. But, Your Highness, if you raise the salaries of the Royal Society and the Royal Observatory too high, it will be difficult to guarantee whether the people sitting in those positions are still scientists."

Victoria blinked, as if she didn't understand the hidden meaning of Arthur's words.

"If it's not a scientist... then who could it be?"

"You'll understand later." Arthur made an analogy: "Just like a member of the Royal Society is not necessarily a researcher of philosophy or natural philosophy. There are always many strange things in this world."

When Mrs. Leizen heard this, the corners of her mouth twitched, as if she was about to laugh out loud, but she quickly returned to normal.

Of course she knew which gentleman Arthur was referring to. Sir John Conroy had just been included in the list of alternate members of the Royal Society. As long as he could pass the review of the Royal Society's Academic Committee, he would be a noble member of the Royal Society by this time next year.

And judging by Conroy's cocky attitude in recent days, his style of occasionally throwing in a few scientific terms in his conversations, he must be very confident that he can pass the committee's review.

Mrs. Letzen has never been on good terms with Conroy, and although she dared not accuse Conroy to his face, Arthur's harmless "Conroy jokes" did please the governess.

So...

Mrs. Letzen would certainly not go out of her way to record the joke Arthur just told in the Crown Prince's diary.

If the Duchess of Kent saw this joke, she would inevitably feel resentful towards Arthur, and Letzen didn't want that to happen.

After all, Kensington is such a big city that not many people dare to make fun of Conroy.

At this moment when Conroy wanted to kick her out of Kensington, every additional person like Arthur would give Letzen more confidence to stay in Kensington.

Seeing that the atmosphere had subtly stagnated, Mrs. Letzen closed the record book, coughed lightly, and said in a calm voice: "Your Highness, what Sir Arthur said just now was indeed a bit harsh, but it was also insightful."

Although her English accent was mixed with some Hanoverian German, it seemed particularly steady at this moment, as if the pace was deliberately slowed down.

"The list of members of the Royal Society has indeed expanded in recent years," Mrs. Letzen continued. "I heard that even the cousin of the vicar of Kensington was nominated once. Of course, at least his letter of recommendation quoted Boyle, so he is not completely ignorant of science."

Arthur pursed his lips slightly without saying anything, tacitly agreeing to the help.

"Okay." Victoria exhaled and sat back. "I'll check the latest list of members of the Royal Society myself."

"This is part of learning." Leizen nodded with a smile, "However, before we understand the list, should we first complete the rest of the experiment today?"

"Of course." Arthur returned to normal and said, "Your Highness, let's take a look at the effect of current changes under different resistances... You see, the larger the resistance, the smaller the current. If you want to increase the current, the resistance must be as small as possible. This is like a general election. If the Conservative Party has more seats, the Whig Party will have fewer seats. So how do we adjust the resistance? Look, it's this paddle that plays a role. Of course, if you like, you can also call it Mr. Disraeli. Oh, Disraeli of this rheostat is quite slippery..."

Victoria chuckled, and even Mrs. Letzen lowered her head slightly, as if the initial lighthearted atmosphere had returned.

The lesson continued between laughter and copper wire until the sunlight slid through the last piece of stained glass in the Rose Room and fell on the resistor in Arthur's hand.

After class, Arthur was putting his utensils into his bag and preparing to leave the Rose Hall, but he saw Mrs. Letzen standing quietly at the door, as if she happened to pass by, or as if she had been waiting there for a long time.

"Sir Arthur," she said calmly, "Would it be convenient for you to chat for a few minutes?"

Arthur nodded, and she led him into the small library next door.

This is where Victoria learned to spell as a child, and now it is only used to store books and hold occasional tea parties.

The curtains in the library were half-drawn, and the sunlight passed through the gaps and fell on the carpet, like a deliberately spread-out deck of cards.

Mrs. Letzen walked in front, and instead of inviting Arthur to sit down directly, she walked around to the fireplace, picked up a feather duster, and gently brushed the dust between the two china bottles on the mantelpiece.

"The lecture schedule in the Rose Hall seems to have become more rational recently." She spoke slowly, with a hint of emotion in her tone: "I remember that at this time last winter, His Highness was still worried about the conjugation of Latin verbs."

Arthur placed the cloth bag full of resistors on the back of his chair and replied with a smile: "Natural philosophy is more interesting than Latin. At least we don't have to worry about the differences between genitive and accusative cases."

"But the difference between the genitive and the accusative..." Leizen turned around gently: "It is one of the important foundations for this palace to maintain its dignity."

The words were spoken so lightly that they seemed almost casual.

Mrs. Leizen raised her voice slightly: "Her Highness seems very interested in what you are teaching, but what I care more about is that she is beginning to learn to look at the world from another perspective."

She paused and continued, "It's not just about electricity, nor is it just about Mr. Faraday's annual salary. She began to question: How is the world maintained? Who is adjusting these resistors? And who decides which forces can travel freely?"

Arthur did not respond immediately. He leaned against the cabinet by the window, his eyes sweeping over the neatly arranged rows of leather-bound books: Overview of National Finance, British Yearbook, On the Obligations of Subjects...

He finally spoke: "Her Royal Highness is no longer satisfied with being an appropriate symbol, which is a good thing. She can realize the burden of this country on her shoulders. For the Crown Prince, nothing can be more precious than this awareness."

There was a glimmer in Leizen's eyes, but she didn't expect Arthur to openly speak in favor of this trend, and this sentence was exactly what she was most looking forward to hearing.

(End of this chapter)