shadow of britain

Chapter 754 Best Partner

There is probably no one in the world who has as many political insights as the Earl of Beaconsfield (Benjamin Disraeli), but he has never had any political beliefs. In this respect alone, he and Sir Arthur Hastings are indeed a perfect political partner.

—Walter Bagehot, legendary editor-in-chief of The Economist (1860-1877)

When Arthur stepped out of Kensington Palace, the sun had just passed noon and the air still lingered with the light scent of grass. Occasionally, a few gentle breezes blew through the tree-lined avenue, blowing the corners of his clothes.

As Arthur walked slowly along the garden path, Mrs. Letzen's words were still reverberating in his mind.

- You have also seen that Her Highness has become much more cheerful recently, and I guess this has something to do with the fact that she has stepped more out of that man's shadow.

This almost explicit hint is not difficult to guess; that person is obviously referring to John Conroy.

He had heard about Conroy's reckless behavior before he entered Kensington Palace.

But after spending these two months together, Arthur discovered that Conroy's control over the palace might be much stronger than he had imagined.

He was able to convince the Duchess of Kent to raise her salary with just a few words, and even though Arthur planned the memorial ceremony that caused a sensation in London, the salary surge from 800 pounds to 1400 pounds was still difficult to understand.

However, as he traveled more and more frequently between Kensington Palace and the University of London, Arthur also gained some unexpected benefits.

Now, when he entered the Allmark Club again, he was surprised to find that he was no longer regarded as a young man of a lower position. The London upper class that had politely rejected him in 1832 now opened its arms to him.

As he strolled around the club with a glass of wine in hand, not only the ladies but more and more noblemen began to stop and chat with him.

And when there is an empty seat at the table, he is always seen as an excellent choice to fill the vacancy.

People asked him about electromagnetism, his music composition, the Caucasus, and of course, what people were most concerned about was the internal gossip of Kensington Palace.

In Great Britain, from the nobles to the common people, a piece of royal news can always make them put down their work and gather around you spontaneously.

As a tutor at Kensington Palace and a member of the Kensington system, Arthur naturally could not leak too much information about Kensington Palace in order to avoid angering the Duchess of Kent and Conroy.

But even so, everyone was still willing to listen to Arthur talking about those trivial things over and over again.

For example, Her Royal Highness likes to eat mutton, she has grown taller this month than last month, and her eyes look a lot like her mother's...

Of course, publicly refuting rumors is also an indispensable part.

There had been rumors in London before that the reason Princess Victoria rarely appeared in public was because she suffered from a congenital leg disease, that is, she was a cripple.

The origin of this rumor cannot be verified now, but many people in the Allmark Club said that it was spread by the Duke of Cumberland, "Princess Victoria's rival for the throne."

But from Arthur's private conversation with Victoria, the princess obviously had a different opinion from everyone else. She blamed the rumor entirely on Conroy's daughter, Victoire Conroy, a playmate she disliked.

Sir Arthur Hastings, the former famous detective of Scotland Yard, was too lazy to investigate which explanation was the truth.

Maybe it's both, maybe it's neither.

Compared to the truth, Arthur was more interested in why Victoria hated Victoire so much that she even spoke for her "evil uncle" the Duke of Cumberland on the issue of the rumors.

This question was not difficult to investigate, and Arthur soon learned the truth from a conversation with the servants at Kensington Palace.

As we all know, the Duchess of Kent loved the Conroy family very much. Therefore, Conroy's daughter Victoire was actually named after the Duchess of Kent. At the same time, the Duchess of Kent was also Victoire's godmother.

If the Duchess of Kent showed her motherly strictness when dealing with Victoria, she only showed motherly tenderness when dealing with Victoire.

Such discriminatory treatment would be chilling even for an adult, let alone a little girl like Victoria.

This also explains why Victoria was so obedient to Mrs. Letzen, because this lady was perhaps the only person in Kensington Palace who wholeheartedly protected Victoria's interests, even though Her Royal Highness might be wrong sometimes.

Mrs. Letzen had been Victoria's governess for ten years, and during those ten years she had never taken a day off, nor had she ever been away from her husband.

In other words, when it comes to influence on Victoria, Lady Letzen may be even greater than the Duchess of Kent.

As for Conroy, Arthur sometimes really didn't know how to evaluate this butler of Kensington Palace.

In fact, Arthur's first impression of Conroy was not particularly bad. In social occasions, Conroy's treatment of others was absolutely decent, and his speech was modest and easy-going.

But once he returned to Kensington, Conroy seemed a changed man.

In Kensington, Conroy was the only person other than the Duchess of Kent who dared to boss Victoria around.

Although Arthur had not seen it with his own eyes, he had heard from the servants' whispers that Conroy had definitely lost his temper with Victoria more than once.

Of course, Arthur did not think Conroy was entirely wrong, for Victoria sometimes showed a wilfulness which was indeed excessive, which was spoiled by the fawning palace servants and the great men who regularly visited Kensington. When Victoria was a child, bishops would crawl on the carpet to play with her, and now, from time to time, groups of nobles would sit in on her lessons.

Last week, when some noble ladies came to Kensington to visit with their parents, Arthur discovered a hilarious episode.

At that time, seven-year-old Miss Alice wanted to play with Victoria's dolls. Unexpectedly, Victoria not only did not allow her to touch any of the dolls, but she said: "You are not allowed to touch them, they are mine. And, I can call you Jane, but you can't call me Victoria."

Moreover, the targets of Victoria's pranks even included Arthur's old benefactor, the President of the Royal Society and Victoria's sixth uncle, the Duke of Sussex.

According to the servants, when Victoria was a child, someone once told her that if she cried, the Duke of Sussex, who also lived in Kensington Palace, would punish her. But instead of being afraid, she deliberately started crying heartbreakingly whenever the Duke of Sussex passed by for several months, leaving the confused uncle confused as to how he had made his niece angry.

Perhaps it was because of this, coupled with the brotherly relationship between the Duke of Sussex and the Duke of Cumberland, that the uncle later became one of the supporters of the Kensington system. He supported Victoria's succession to the throne, but also believed that the girl needed strict discipline.

Strict discipline certainly meets the requirements of the royal elite education, and is within Arthur's understanding. What makes him feel even more fortunate is that Victoria's most difficult period has passed. As a 15-year-old girl, she is much more sensible now than when she was a child. Perhaps because Arthur and Victoria are not close enough, at least Arthur has never seen Victoria lose her temper in front of him. Even if she occasionally loses her temper, it is usually not directed at him.

However, what Arthur couldn't understand was that in addition to getting angry with Victoria because of her upbringing, Conroy often said strange things to Victoria, such as "You look like the ugly Duke of Gloucester" and "You are nothing special, you are special because of your mother and me", which was beyond the scope of discipline. What was even more incredible was that even though Conroy said these things, Victoria didn't dare to contradict him at all. She was more afraid of Conroy than her mother.

Every time Conroy pushed the door open during class, Arthur could see that the girl would tremble all over and lose her concentration.

However, it is impossible to get rid of Conroy, who is supported by the Duchess of Kent, in Kensington at the moment.

Not to mention, behind Conroy, behind his Kensington system, there are the Duchess's lady-in-waiting Miss Flora Hastings, Victoria's aunt Princess Sophia, her half-brother Prince Karl Leiningen and her sixth uncle the Duke of Sussex.

Moreover, Conroy's powerful friends were also happy to see the Kensington system. Conroy might not be a stupid man, but he had no financial management ability. A steady stream of funds flowed into Kensington Palace through parliamentary approval, and then disappeared without a trace under Conroy's "strict supervision."

It has to be said that Conroy's method of embezzling funds was not sophisticated, at least not as sophisticated as the method used by diplomats to embezzle Young Italy aid funds.

But at the same time, you have to admit that even so, what Conroy did was not risky at all.

Because the two royal family members who handed over their financial expenditures to him, the Duchess of Kent and Victoria's aunt Princess Sofia, trusted this Irishman wholeheartedly.

But at the Foreign Office, Viscount Palmerston wished he could hang Arthur Hastings.

However, such worries will soon disappear, because the throne of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will now be taken by someone else.

Before Arthur stepped out of the iron gate of Kensington Palace, he saw a four-wheeled open carriage parked under the tree-lined avenue beside the road in the distance.

The gentleman sitting next to the driver, chatting and gossiping, was wearing a fashionable and decent top hat, with the brim pulled down low, covering half of his face, as if he was afraid of being recognized. But just by the way he was leaning lazily on the seat, Arthur knew who it was.

"Hey, look who's here?" Disraeli raised his cane, a smile pouring out from under his hat brim: "It's Sir Arthur Hastings, our famous London electromagnetism expert, tutor of the Crown Princess Victoria, and the man who has troubled Palmerston and the Whigs!"

Arthur walked forward and opened the car door casually. "Benjamin, I think you'd better save your energy and avoid getting into any more trouble. You haven't had enough of the sticks from Scotland Yard at the street cockfight last time. How long has it been since you dared to show off in public again?"

"It's a misunderstanding, a complete misunderstanding!" Disraeli got into the car with a smile on his face. "I came here specially to pick you up to go hunting."

After saying this, Disraeli shouted to the coachman, "Andrew, let's go. If we start early, we may be able to catch up with Alexander and Charles."

Arthur turned his head and looked at Disraeli, who looked very pleased with himself. "So happy? What good news has happened? Could it be that Sir Sykes has passed away, and you can finally be with Lady Sykes forever?"

"How is that possible? I am not that kind of villain." Disraeli said seriously: "As for Sir Sykes, I wish him a long life."

"Oh..." Arthur took out a matchbox and lit his pipe. "You changed your constituency from out of town to London, and you didn't lose your seat as a member of parliament. Are you dumping Mrs. Sykes and falling for someone else?"

Disraeli covered his face with his hands and pretended to be disappointed. "Arthur, do you think I am such a heartless person? Don't forget that the reason I was able to join the Tory Party and get in touch with Earl Lyndhurst was all due to the introduction of Lady Sykes."

Arthur asked casually, "Oh, I almost forgot, it seems that Peel intends to let Earl Lyndhurst take over the position of Lord Chancellor?"

Disraeli looked up sharply. "Damn it! How did you know that?"

"There is no such thing as an impenetrable wall," Arthur said. "Besides, the ladies at the Allmark Club are very knowledgeable about social etiquette. As long as I tell them the gossip about Kensington, they will give me the list of appointments for the next Peel cabinet in return."

Disraeli asked, looking at her with wide eyes, "Which lady is so well-informed? Even I only learned about this this morning."

"Why do you care so much? It's enough for you to know that I know."

"Of course I will take care of it," Disraeli said in a serious tone. "Sir Peel has just stressed the issue of discipline within the party at the party conference. Leaking the cabinet list is a serious political issue. I want to see which guy is so bold and has no control over his words that he can talk about such things with his wife."

"Mrs. Peel told me."

"That's okay."

Disraeli's change of expression was amazing. He had just emphasized party discipline righteously, but now he was flexible and asked about Arthur's relationship with Mrs. Peel: "Um... are you on good terms with Mrs. Peel?"

"I guess so. I have nothing but respect and gratitude for this lady." Arthur exhaled a puff of smoke. "I have known Mrs. Peel for a long time, when I was a street patrolman in Greenwich. By the way, if she hadn't helped me in time, I would probably be drifting on the sea with Elder right now."

Disraeli was disappointed when he heard this: "I thought that Peel and Mrs. Peel's image as a model couple was just an act."

Hearing this, Arthur couldn't help but teasing, "Benjamin, everyone is black to a crow."

Disraeli said disdainfully: "Come on, do you still expect to catch a swan in politics?"

At this point, Disraeli could not help but straighten his tie again: "But... since you know that Earl Lyndhurst is going to be the Lord Chancellor... then I'm sure you must have heard about it..."

Disraeli deliberately dragged out the last word, as if waiting for Arthur to take over, but Arthur showed no interest in joining him, so Disraeli had to tell the truth himself: "Sir Robert Peel intends to appoint me as Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign Office."

Arthur took a puff of his pipe, as if trying to recall something. After a long while, he nodded seriously: "Ah, it seems to be true."

Disraeli was caught off guard by Arthur's indifferent reaction. His smug expression froze on his face. "What do you mean by 'it seems to be the case'? Weren't you surprised, even shocked, when you heard the news?"

"My dear Benjamin, I am of course shocked. I had no idea that the Foreign Office was so strapped for cash that it could only afford one Under-Secretary of State."

When Disraeli heard Arthur's words, the expression on his face suddenly changed dramatically, from smug to shocked and then frustrated. He looked at Arthur with almost begging eyes: "Please, Arthur, this is the Under-Secretary of State, the Under-Secretary of State of the Foreign Office! Can you show a little jealousy, even if it's just pretending."

Arthur looked at his frustrated face, which looked as if the Prime Minister had just returned his appointment letter, and finally couldn't help laughing: "Benjamin, of course I am jealous."

Disraeli immediately looked up, his eyes lit up: "Really?"

"Of course." Arthur nodded and said seriously, "I'm jealous that you finally have a decent title. Now you can finally move the unofficial title of 'Mrs. Sykes's dream lover' to the back of your resume."

Disraeli choked, then couldn't help laughing and raised his hand to punch Arthur: "Arthur, fuck you, you bastard!"

(End of this chapter)