Shadow of great britain

In the office, Arthur looked at Disraeli, who was lying on the sofa and breathing heavily, and took a calm sip of tea.

He put down the tea cup and said, "What's wrong with you? Aren't you just doing moral persuasion? When people see you like this, they think you've been taking care of the ladies' business for a month."

Disraeli looked up at the sky and muttered: "A month in a row? Arthur, you really think highly of me. If you really want me to do that, I would rather pay you directly and save the follow-up services." .After all, just dealing with Mrs. Sikes has exhausted me."

"Um?"

Arthur picked up a small biscuit from the snack box on the table: "It seems that Mrs. Sykes's purpose of approaching you is not very pure..."

Disraeli smoothed his collar when he heard this, and said seriously: "Arthur, Mrs. Sikes and I have not progressed to the level you imagined."

Arthur put the cookie into his mouth, put an arm on the back of the chair and said, "Benjamin, don't get me wrong, I'm just complimenting you on your charm."

Disraeli smiled slyly: "Arthur, not only am I attractive, but you are too. As we all know, good men will always attract the attention of ladies. I heard this from ladies at banquets often. your name."

"Oh? Really?" Arthur asked: "Why did you discuss my affairs with the ladies when you were attending the banquet? According to my understanding, this kind of behavior is not normal."

Disraeli asked: "What common sense?"

Arthur took out his handkerchief and wiped the cookie crumbs on his hands: "As far as I know, when dealing with sexual relations, men usually think with their lower body. Benjamin, although we are good friends, I don't believe you are using your lower body." When you think about it, you can still think of seeking benefits for your friends. Of course, if you really think about it, then I think it's best for me to stay away from you."

Disraeli retorted: "Damn it! Arthur, what do you think of me? I am not Elder. Although I love this friendship with Mrs. Sikes, I have not yet She has fallen to the level you mentioned. When I was dating her, my mind remained very clear!"

"Really?" Arthur took a sip of tea and said, "Then I think Mrs. Sikes is about to fall into your hands."

Disraeli frowned and said, "Why do you say that?"

Arthur said: "Mrs. Sikes has a crush on you. The relationship between you is very close, but your mind remains extremely clear. This shows that the love you gave her was actually fake. A friend of Alexander said: In fact, pretended love is more perfect than real love, which is why many women have been deceived. That’s why I am sure that Mrs. Sykes will definitely fall into your hands. No wonder she will show her love to you. The Earl of Lyndhurst recommends you so much, Benjamin, and she is fascinated by you."

Disraeli asked: "Why don't you just say that you said that? Why are you talking to me about what Alexander's friends said. Arthur, you don't need to beat around the bush if you want to tease me."

Arthur shrugged innocently and said, "Benjamin, those words really weren't what I said."

"Who said that?"

"Honoré de Balzac. Having said that, his "Comedy Humane" is quite good. If you want to borrow it, you can ask Alexander. He has a French version. You can put that I'll share this book with Mrs. Sykes and ask her to teach you French. Upper-class ladies usually speak French well, and it's much safer than learning Polish."

"Polish?" Disraeli grinned: "That is indeed too risky, but learning Polish also has its benefits, that is, being able to be in the Times, which is something that many politicians can't ask for! "

Arthur picked up the spoon and stirred the black tea cup: "Then do you want me to make arrangements for you?"

"Thank you for your kindness, but I think there is no need to make such a big fuss about foreign language learning." Disraeli wiped the sweat from his forehead and said: "Besides, I said it, just to deal with Sikes Madam, it’s enough to tire me out.”

"What do you usually do with her?"

"Oh, that's a long story."

Disraeli counted on his fingers: "Mrs. Sikes has quite a wide range of interests and hobbies, and she is curious about everything, especially new things that have not been around for a long time. She will ask me out whenever she has free time. I went out to various places to find excitement. In the past month, I accompanied her to attend lectures at the Royal Society, and also went with her to enjoy the dark wind under the Tower of London. I also accompanied her to buy many luxury goods in various luxury stores on Regent Street. Gadgets with unknown functions, Arthur, you know you can always find something new in Regent Street."

As soon as Arthur heard this, he suddenly remembered what happened when he and Disraeli went to Regent Street to investigate the perfume shop. He said: "I hope Mrs. Sykes has not bought lipstick in Regent Street recently, otherwise she will If you don’t do it well, you’ll get into trouble.”

Disraeli asked: "What's the matter? Have the followers of St. Jerome recently started preaching the same thing again? Wearing lipstick is an act against God because it changes a woman's appearance." Appearances? Come on, I'm almost tired of hearing this."

Arthur shook his head and said sarcastically: "No, neither. It's because last week the Westminster Local Magistrate's Court almost used the Lipstick Act promulgated in 1770 to solidify a case. .”

Disraeli recalled: "The Lipstick Act? I seem to have heard of this thing, but it seems that this bill does not prohibit the sale of lipstick, right?"

"The Lipstick Act is much worse than banning the sale of lipstick."

Arthur pulled out a document from the pile on his desk, opened it, pointed to the line above and read: "The bill stipulates that all women, regardless of age, rank, occupation or education, whether they are virgins, maids or widows, shall be entitled to Who shall, from the date of the enactment of this Act, compel, seduce and betray any subject of His Majesty the King into marriage by means of scents, colors, cosmetics, shall be punished by the laws in force for witchcraft and similar misdemeanors, and shall have their marriage void upon conviction. .”

Having said this, Arthur closed the document and threw it aside, and said: "It's fair to say that Judge Norton has dug out all the bills from more than sixty years ago. Fortunately, it's no longer the Middle Ages. , otherwise with this "Lipstick Act", he could also file a witchcraft accusation, and then burn the prisoner on a pile of firewood. Not only that, he also dug up ancient Greek period in the court The law said that only Greek prostitutes would wear lipstick as a sign of beauty at that time. This was a manifestation of moral corruption. They also wanted to use the topic to continue to give the defendant more jail terms. If you ask me, he simply wanted to do this for political achievements. He’s crazy, he’s really using all his tricks.”

Disraeli waved his hands after hearing this: "Who do I think it is? It turns out to be this idiot Norton. Didn't I tell you? He was like this when I was a classmate at Lincoln's Inn. He was arrogant, retaliatory, and incompetent. With such magnanimity, he could even sell his parents and brothers for a small profit. Of course, he would have no psychological pressure to solve a case with a prisoner who has nothing to do with him. "

Disraeli only thought that Arthur was angry because Norton decided the case based on his temper, but he did not understand the specific details.

The reason why Arthur had to fight against Judge Norton and the Westminster Court on this case was because he felt that the sentence was too harsh, and on the other hand because the defendant in this case was Bernie Harry. Mr. Sen's Polish 'teacher' and Fiona's little sister Delfina.

Although Bernie Harrison had to resign his seat as a member of Parliament due to the prostitution scandal, Delfina was also sued by the Westminster Magistrates' Court. The Magistrates' Court found several of Delfina's former benefactors from nowhere. , they accused Delfina of stealing their property, whipping them, and intentionally seducing them into marriage.

But Scotland Yard obviously couldn't stand to watch this beautiful lady who had just achieved great success for the Metropolitan Police fall into such a predicament.

In order to help Delfina win the case in court, Scotland Yard used special funds to privately hire an experienced and well-known London lawyer as her defender. Coupled with the continued fermentation of the Harrison incident at that time, public opinion also sided with Delfina. Na's side, and the various laws quoted by Judge Norton were too outrageous, so the jury finally acquitted Delfina.

However, although the court released the man, the feud between Scotland Yard and the Magistrates' Court was finally settled.

Or, to be more precise, the feud between Mr Norton and Scotland Yard ended. Because Arthur knew with his butt that it was impossible for the Westminster Magistrates’ Court to just find trouble and get Delfina to go to the court. This was most likely Mr. Bernie Harrison’s good friend George. ·Judge Norton’s idea.

This guy who relied on his wife's nepotism to become a judge, after helping Bernie Harrison frame Scotland Yard, he didn't know whether it was because of anger or fear. Before Scotland Yard could find him, he rushed to the judge. Miss Delfina, who had put Harrison in a quagmire, took the lead.

However, from this incident, it can also be seen that Norton was already a little ill and wanted to seek medical treatment. There must be something involved in the case between him and Harrison. Therefore, Arthur was not in a hurry to find trouble with him. With Norton's temper, he would probably cause some trouble on his own.

Arthur was thinking about this when he suddenly heard Disraeli, who was sitting opposite him, say: "Arthur, when Lionel and I were eating out last night, he and I talked a little bit about you and About Bertrand’s fencing match.”

"Huh?" Arthur leaned back in his chair and asked, "What did Lionel say?"

Disraeli replied: "Lionel saw no problem in including a concert in the fencing match, and even if you didn't mention it, he was going to have some extras to set the stage for the show. After all, almost all the theaters in London They only accept full-day bookings, and the swordsmanship competition lasts for more than ten minutes at most. It would be too uneconomical to waste all the remaining five hours of night performance time.

And considering the special nature of the swordsmanship competition, Lionel planned to arrange this competition at the Astley Amphitheater on the south bank of the Thames. You should know that place, which is mainly for circus performances and war drama performances. In order to better present the scenes of war and siege, they built the theater into a circular semi-open-air style, just like the ancient Roman arena. Perhaps you have also guessed that Lionel plans to package you and Bertrand, and we will have a Roman-themed duel, like Spartacus. "

Arthur couldn't help but frown three times when he heard this: "What do you mean? You plan to let us deal with two crocodiles or lions before Bertrand and I start fighting?"

Disraeli laughed loudly when he heard this and said: "There is no need to be so realistic. After all, if everything is based on reality, we will not only have to put a few lions, but also the scene where you two are summoned by the noble lady. To show you, the small amount of money the audience paid for the ticket should not be enough for The Juggernaut of Paris and Wellington of Scotland Yard to do this. It should be enough for the two of you to shout "We are free" to keep the audience entertained. .”

Arthur frowned and leaned on the chair and asked: "Benjamin, is the fight between Bertrand and I a swordsmanship match or a WWE match?"

"WWE?" Disraeli asked in confusion: "What is that?"

Arthur replied: "It's just putting two young and strong guys in an octagonal cage to act."

"Octagonal cage?" Disraeli thought for a moment: "Arthur, don't say anything, this might be a good idea."

Arthur asked: "Are you still going to let us prepare some props?"

Disraeli said nonchalantly: "Even if I don't mention it, aren't you still ready?"

Arthur took a sip of tea: "Benjamin, this is top secret. And I think if there is a cage as a barrier, it may affect the trajectory of the bullets flying out of the auditorium."

Disraeli stood up and pressed the coffee table, arguing: "Arthur, do you not trust Alexander's marksmanship? He is a fucking French artilleryman!"

Arthur shook his head slightly and said: "It's not that I don't believe Alexander, I don't believe you. Have you forgotten your shocking shooting practice yesterday? There was a gunshot, the target was fine, and an eagle fell from the sky. I hope You don't hit Jesus or God on game day or it's not something you can explain with just 'We are free'."

Agares, who was leaning on the sofa, heard this and just yawned: "Hit Jesus? Why do Jews always do this kind of thing? But times have changed, and it seems reasonable for nails to turn into bullets."

Disraeli did not give up and said: "Arthur, seriously, think about it. You dare to arrange Mr. Chopin's piano debut after the swordsmanship competition. Isn't this enough to show your confidence in winning? ? I don’t believe that you are really determined to die in a duel with Mr. Bertrand. You must have some secret weapon that I don’t know about yet. Am I right?”

Seeing his persistence, Arthur just stretched out his hand and rubbed his fingers at Mr. Prime Minister.

Seeing his posture, Disraeli could only grit his teeth and shouted sadly: "Okay, more money, more money is not enough! I will go back to discuss the share ratio with Lionel, although Lionel and I Angnel is the organizer and funder of the game, but you risked your life anyway, so I have to give my old friend an extra half of the ticket revenue."

When Arthur heard this, he nodded slightly and said: "Since you said so, if you continue to disagree with the cage, it will be stingy on my part. But I think that just the cage is not enough. For the audience, such a sense The excitement is still not enough.”

"So your lower limit can be lower?" Disraeli suddenly stopped wiping his sweat with a handkerchief, and he slammed the handkerchief on the coffee table: "Damn it, I knew you were so bad It’s definitely a sure win.”

Arthur said: "Do you still want to make this competition more successful?"

"Of course I thought about it." Disraeli asked: "Arthur, if you have any high opinion, just say it. Anyway, Lionel has already invested heavily in this competition, and he should be able to spend another amount." Don’t care.”

Arthur took out a copy of the "Proceedings of the Royal Society" from his desk drawer and said: "As everyone knows, I am a researcher in the field of electromagnetism. Therefore, I think it is reasonable to add a little element of electromagnetism to the duel. Especially On a dimly lit London night, with a few flashes of lightning and thick smoke, the stage performance is absolutely outstanding.”

When Disraeli heard this, he was a little shocked by Arthur. He was stunned for a moment and asked: "So your trick is to kill Bertrand with lightning? But I have to say, this of yours The idea sounds good, but the key question is, how do we convince Zeus and Odin? Are you familiar with them?"

When the yawning Agares heard this, he scratched his chin and said: "I do have some ideas, but the success rate is not high, and I'm afraid you can't afford the price. But after thinking about it, it's not a big deal. Yes, Arthur, isn’t there a Jew here? If they are not happy, you can ask your good friend Benjamin to nail them to the Octagonal cage.”

Arthur glanced at the red devil and said: "Benjamin, there is no need to invite Zeus and Odin. It's just a few lightning bolts. It's enough for us to ask Mr. Faraday. He has many cutting-edge discharge poles and hand-operated generators. On the day of the competition, if you get a few big iron rods, they will be enough to create a splendid stage effect, and I guarantee that the audience will be surprised."

"Is it really that magical?"

Disraeli expressed doubts about Arthur's words, but he did not directly object. After all, Arthur was the authority in electromagnetism.

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a knock on the door of the office.

Louis Bonaparte opened the door, and behind him stood an American young man with sailor-red cheeks.

"Sir, Mr. Colt said he has something to see you for."

Colt walked into the office. The American guy didn't say much nonsense. He straightened his hat, took out a cowhide holster from the shoulder bag at his waist and patted it on Arthur's desk: "Black Mr. Stings, although the performance of this gun has not reached my ideal state yet, since you are eager to use it, let's make do with it first. Although this is just a trial piece, I promise that even if The technology is not mature yet, but its effective range and convenience have exceeded or are at least equal to Mr. Dumas's Collier flintlock revolver."

Arthur picked up the brown cowhide holster and took out the pistol inside. The wood grain of the mahogany stock looked as smooth as milk poured into a coffee cup, and the silver gun drum close to the stock It is also thoughtfully engraved with the dazzling St. Edward's Crown emblem just like Arthur's shoulder straps. As for the hammer of the firearm, Colt finally chose the perfume bottle design agreed upon with Arthur, but the style of the perfume bottle hammer was also very fancy, perhaps because it was specially customized from the factory. He made the image of a Scotland Yard police officer holding a police officer's knife in his hand.

Arthur leaned on the office chair and pointed the gun at the sun outside the window. The luster was shining, and his eyes and face with a reddish light were printed on the silver-white gun drum.

Arthur couldn't help but sigh: "What a masterpiece, Samuel, you not only brought me good news, but also brought me a surprise."

Disraeli was also fascinated by this beautiful firearm: "This gun is much cooler than Alexander's. His long-collected Thirteen Years of the Republic may not be as good as it. Mr. Colt , what’s the name of this gun?”

When Colt heard the flattery from the two men, he just proudly held his head high and said: "Gentlemen, please allow me to solemnly introduce to you the latest masterpiece of firearms master Samuel Colt, the .55 caliber M1831 Hastings. Type revolver-fired pistol!"