Shadow of great britain

Under the night, the sky is filled with stars.

At General Codrington's residence, it was time for the banquet to end.

Mrs. Cowper wore her lace wide-brimmed hat at one side, and while responding to the compliments of other ladies, she walked out of the black iron gate with the help of a servant.

She was about to board the carriage home that had been waiting for her for a long time, but before she could get there, she saw a middle-aged butler with a mustache, white gloves, and short blond hair walking three steps at a time. Come to her.

The housekeeper put a hand on his chest and bowed slightly: "Mrs. Cowper, our wife has been waiting for you for a long time. It's still early. If you're not busy, would you like to go have a drink with her?"

When Mrs. Cowper heard this, she couldn't help but look in the direction where the housekeeper came. The luxurious carriage parked across the road had raised its curtains. The breeze blew through the street and brought the lady behind the curtains to her ears. The black hair on her side, the hazy night and the dim street lights more and more highlighted the beautiful smiling face that has fascinated countless influential people in Europe.

"Dorothea?"

Mrs. Cowper was slightly surprised, but she didn't say much. Instead, she smiled at the housekeeper and nodded, and then followed him into the carriage.

As she boarded the carriage, the butler quickly closed the door for the two ladies from the outside, decorated with the double-headed eagle that symbolized the Russian royal family.

The coachman who straightened his back and sat at the front of the carriage shook the reins, and the low-key and luxurious black carriage soon began to drive slowly.

Mrs. Cowper sat on the crimson velvet seat, looking at the leaf-shaped necklace composed of blue topaz and emerald malachite that fell on Mrs. Levine's white chest opposite her, and her eyes lit up.

"What a beautiful piece of jewelry! Which master made this?"

Mrs. Levin just smiled faintly: "The specific master is now unclear, but His Majesty the Tsar said when he gave this thing to me last month, it was collected by Catherine the Great. One of the accessories, so this was probably made by a royal craftsman at that time, right?”

"Emperor Catherine the Great?"

When Mrs. Cowper heard this, she couldn't help but gently hold up the pendant hanging on Mrs. Leven's chest and looked at it a few more times: "Looking closely, the style of this piece is similar to the one passed down by Mrs. Castlereagh." There are some similarities, maybe they are actually made by the same royal craftsman."

After hearing this, Mrs. Leven smiled and blinked: "When you said that, I remembered that Mrs. Castlereagh's father, John Hobart, Earl of Buckinghamshire, seemed to have served as the British ambassador to Russia, right?"

Mrs. Cowper smiled and nodded: "Yes, the old Earl of Buckinghamshire stayed in St. Petersburg from 1762 to 1765. He happened to attend the coronation ceremony of Catherine II. The emerald set of the Hobart family The necklace was given by Catherine II at that time.

I was lucky enough to see that set of necklaces once when I was a guest at her home. If I remember correctly, the set of jewelry consists of an octagonal cut emerald and a drop-shaped emerald as the center, alternately surrounded by 14 cushion-shaped diamonds and 13 rectangular emeralds. In addition, there is a pair of emerald drop-shaped earrings.

The old Earl of Buckinghamshire left that set of jewelry to Lady Castlereagh when she got married. But perhaps because it was too expensive, Mrs. Castlereagh would only wear that set of jewelry on extremely important occasions. I have to say, that set of necklaces and earrings paired with a low-cut evening dress is simply a must-have! "

As soon as Mrs. Cowper talked about jewelry, she seemed to open up a chatterbox instantly, and even her tone was much more lively than at today's dinner.

The two ladies talked about jewelry, outfits, and the latest fashion trends.

Having said this, Mrs. Levine took out the red wine from the wine cabinet in the car and added a little more to the goblet in front of her.

"But it's really strange. There was obviously a dinner hosted by Henry at the club today, but not only did you not attend, you also went to General Codrington's house to attend the Blue Stocking Club party. Is it because there is something interesting here today? Got your attention?"

Mrs. Cowper smiled helplessly: "Mrs. Codrington has invited me many times before. It would be too rude for me to always refuse with excuses. Moreover, because of my troublemaking sister-in-law who joined the Blue Stockings and Byron My lordship's mixed feelings, I had some unpleasant troubles with the ladies of the Bluestocking Society.

This time I came here specially to ease some relations with them. After all, we all live in London, and we don't meet each other when we look up, and those two people have passed away, so let the past go. "

"So that's it..." Mrs. Levin covered her mouth gently: "But you didn't come this time, and Henry was a little unhappy. Without you, he seemed to have lost his soul, and he was absent-minded in everything he did. He also lost a lot of money tonight while playing cards."

Mrs. Cowper couldn't help but blush on her cheeks when she heard this. She pretended to be angry and said: "Henry is always like this. He is forty-six years old, and he always shows these tempers for nothing. Besides, I'm not here, so there are you and Jersey." Is Madam there to accompany him?"

Mrs. Levine took a sip of red wine. In the dim carriage, her red lips were made more and more bright by the wine.

"Emily, everyone knows that he is yours. He and I are just playing around. As for Mrs. Jersey, please forgive me, how can she match your charm? Don't let Henry down."

Mrs. Cowper thought Mrs. Levine was joking with her, but when she heard this, she immediately realized the seriousness of the problem.

She asked softly: "Henry really lost his temper?"

Mrs. Levin nodded slightly: "It's his birthday in two days. Don't you want to give him some creative little gifts to calm him down? I don't have anything to do tomorrow, so why don't I accompany you to the street to pick out something?" "

Upon hearing this, Mrs. Cowper just pondered: "Dorothea, what do you think of me giving him a gramophone? And with it a record of Paganini etudes adapted from "La Campanella"?"

"Gramophone? Record?" Mrs. Levin asked in confusion: "What is that?"

Mrs. Cowper saw that she didn't understand, so she smiled and explained to Mrs. Levine what she had seen at the banquet today.

When Mrs. Levine heard this, she suddenly seemed to remember something. She couldn't help but said: "Ah! I seem to have seen the Mr. Hastings you mentioned."

"Have you met him?"

"Well, he came out before you." Mrs. Levin winked at her friend and playfully teased: "He is very tall, and the muscles in his chest look very strong. His face is sharp and angular, and he looks gentle. And he is still a young man in his twenties..."

Mrs. Cowper teased: "Dorothea, are you attracted to him? I remember that you don't seem to like such a young man."

"Um……"

Mrs. Levine tucked the strands of hair behind her ears: "Oh, Emily, I only see how I feel about people after getting in touch with them. In fact, whether they are young or not is not the most important factor that I consider. Moreover, Why do you think Mr. Hastings is young? Emily, young does not mean young. Although the young gentleman looks very polite and is an outstanding scientist, he looks like him in every move. A standard British gentleman, but..."

"but what?"

Mrs. Leven lowered her voice, covered her chest, and leaned forward. She spoke mysteriously in her friend's ear: "I assure you, Mr. Hastings must have killed someone, and there was definitely more than one person. If you If you are deceived by his good-natured appearance, you will definitely suffer big losses in the future."

"Killed someone?" Mrs. Cowper asked in surprise: "How did you find out about this?"

"It's very simple." Mrs. Levin pursed her lips and said with a smile: "Because he has a temperament close to that of my father. No matter where he stands, he can't help but stand like a straight sword, and he walks sharply. The movement is like a swinging blade.

Although he has tried his best to soften his temperament, if you are accidentally glanced at by him, you can still detect the danger hidden in his eyes. If you hadn't told me he was a scientist, I would have thought he had emerged from the bloodbath of the Napoleonic Wars. "

When Mrs. Cowper heard this, she couldn't help but cover her mouth: "Dorothea, you are so good at judging people! Mr. Hastings's job is the Superintendent of Scotland Yard, and he is also a very capable person. Young Superintendent, you may not know that he is only 20 years old this year, and he climbed to this position completely on his own. Not long ago, he participated in the rescue mission of the Frenchman at sea.

Today I heard Captain Fitzroy, the captain of the Beagle, say that he personally saw Mr. Hastings kill seventeen pirates by himself at sea. He also said that if Mr. Hastings was willing to go to the Royal Navy, he would be able to become a general sooner or later. "

"Ah...so he is also a Scotland Yard police officer?" Mrs. Levine was slightly surprised.

Mrs. Cowper wondered: "What do you mean?"

Mrs. Levine said: "It's nothing. In fact, at today's club dinner, Henry also brought two Scotland Yard police officers to accompany him. One was the Chief of the Metropolitan Police and Army Colonel Charles Rowan, and the other was Deputy Minister Sir Richard Mayne.”

When Mrs. Cowper heard this, she couldn't help but laugh: "What's going on? Are the senior police officers of Scotland Yard taking advantage of their Sunday off, so they all came out to relax?"

Mrs. Leven did not answer directly when she heard this, but just smiled and said: "Who knows? But I think they need to relax, especially Mr. Hastings. I just remembered that there seem to be several large items at Scotland Yard this year. The cases are all supervised by Mr. Hastings. He is so busy at work on weekdays, but he still has to participate in Mr. Faraday's scientific research and even help his friends promote new works.

By the way, is that "The Count of Monte Cristo" you just talked about really that good? There was also the matter of the gramophone, which made me a little curious. How about we go to Mr. Wheatstone's musical instrument store some other time and buy two pieces? "

When Mrs. Cowper heard this, she suddenly remembered: "Dorothea, I forgot about it even if you didn't mention it! Almost all the guests attending the banquet tonight want to get a gramophone back. If we want to take advantage of it, I want to buy something before Henry’s birthday, so I’m afraid it won’t be possible to go directly and place an order.”

When Mrs. Levin heard this, she also understood that the problem was a bit tricky: "Did you leave Mr. Hastings's business card? Why don't you send someone to ask him directly? Isn't Mr. Wheatstone his friend? Let's let him Come forward and help with the reservation, so that Mr. Wheatstone can prepare the next gramophone directly for us."

Mrs. Cowper thought for a while and suddenly said: "This matter should be done sooner rather than later. It just so happens that my carriage is empty now. I will ask them to take the money to Mr. Hastings to book it immediately. God! I hope Scotland Yard The young man's sleep schedule should not be too regular, and he'd better not go to bed now."

Hearing this, Mrs. Levin couldn't help but purse her lips and smile: "It doesn't matter if he sleeps. What we are afraid of now is that he did not sleep at his own home tonight."

Mrs. Cowper couldn't help laughing when she heard this: "Dorothea, you..."