Shadow of great britain

Since entering December, the streets of London have been filled with fog almost every day, and occasionally there will be a little drizzle.

In the editorial office of "The Englishman" in Fleet Street, Tennyson sat at an empty desk, holding a cup of hot black tea in his hand.

After taking a sip of black tea and chewing a bite of freshly baked bread and onion rings, with the flames rising in the fireplace behind him, he finally felt that his stiff fingers had relaxed a lot.

These days, because Alexandre Dumas, the other editor-in-chief of "The Englishman", followed Arthur to Liverpool to investigate the case, the editor-in-chief's office, which can accommodate three desks, only has Tennyson alone every day.

Although the absence of the fat Frenchman who liked to tell wisecracks made his ears quieter, it also made Tennyson feel a sense of loneliness that he had not seen for a long time.

As a shy and introverted young man, Tennyson's social circle was not particularly extensive, and since his father died of illness, he even stopped contacting some relatives frequently.

Although on Arthur's recommendation, he immediately entered the University of London to major in classical literature after dropping out of Cambridge, but apart from daily classes, he did not have much interaction with his classmates.

He still prefers to interact with old friends than meet new ones. After all, human energy is limited, and in his limited life, he hopes to carefully manage a few sincere friendships.

Thinking of this, Tennyson couldn't help but take out a few letters from the drawer of his desk.

The letter from the German Duchy of Weimar was signed by William Thackeray.

Although this good friend he met in Cambridge was introduced to Mr. Goethe by a local person, Goethe's literary and artistic atmosphere obviously failed to rescue Thackeray from the manic and depressive mood defeated by "Farewell to Cambridge".

On the contrary, Thackeray received a new round of blow after seeing Goethe's strong classical literary atmosphere. He began to doubt his ability to embark on the path of literature, and began to seriously consider the business route that his mother suggested for him to take.

However, although Thackeray complained almost throughout the letter, he did not forget to send Tennyson some souvenirs at the end.

Tennyson turned and glanced at the two books wrapped in cowhide at his hand.

One is "Western and Eastern Poems" and the other is "Faust". Both are works by Goethe, and both are also in German.

Seeing these things, Tennyson couldn't help but sigh with a wry smile.

In fact, it was not just Thackeray who was manic and depressed, he himself was also the same.

The contributors to "The Englishman" are many experts. When it was first published more than a year ago, they were all unknowns in the British literary world.

But a year later, Alexandre Dumas, Dickens and Disraeli have been hailed as the troika of British fashion novels.

The popular science articles by the cross-border writer Darwin also received applause from the naturalists of the Linnean Society.

Arthur became a pioneering figure in detective fiction, and now many people in London literary magazines are clumsily imitating his writing style. However, due to professional reasons, other people's imitations could not reach the level of realism of Scotland Yard's real superintendent.

After Elder's "Robin Hood" was polished by Alexandre Dumas, it soon attracted the attention of Sir Walter Scott, the leader of British historical novels.

What's more coincidental is that Sir Scott passed away not long after he reviewed "Robin Hood", so his review of Elder accidentally became the final work.

And this kind of pie-in-the-sky luck has also caused Elder to cause a heated discussion in the circle of history and literature lovers.

And after the publication of the novel "St. George's Flag Rises" based on Elder, this guy gained many more devout fans.

At the same time, the historical and literary circles also spoke highly of Elder, and everyone agreed that there was a reason why Mr. Carter was able to write "Robinson".

Elder's experience illustrates the long tradition of British history within him.

Piety, optimism, perseverance, courage and unyielding are synonymous with Elder Carter.

Accompanying the rise of these new forces in the literary world, there has also been a surge in the popularity and sales of "The Brit".

Many characters that Tennyson would never have thought of before began to consider "The British" as one of their choices.

In the past half year or so alone, he had met famous figures in Europe such as Heine, Mickiewicz, Thomas Campbell, etc. from the manuscripts handed over by Arthur.

Of course, what shocked Tennyson the most was that Arthur was able to obtain Shelley's unpublished posthumous work "Prometheus Unchained".

Moreover, this is far from Arthur's limit. There are still many strange things in the supplement "The Economist".

For example, there are many posthumous works by Prince Czartoryski, the leader of the Polish exiles, Mr. Louis Bonaparte, Napoleon’s nephew, and David Ricardo, the leading figure in British classical economics.

Compared with these people, Tennyson only felt that he was insignificant.

If you want to list the most failed author since the founding of "The British", then it must be him.

This can be seen from the literary criticism articles published by "Blackwood" and "Monthly Review", the two main competitors of "The Englishman".

They focused their main output on Alexandre Dumas, Dickens and others. When referring to Tennyson's "Lyric Poems", they usually only make an understatement - it is useless, rough and boring.

Although several major shareholders of the magazine did not care about Tennyson's mediocre market performance, and even took the initiative to comfort him not to take it too seriously, Tennyson himself could not lie down calmly.

However, the more anxious he was, the more rubbish he wrote, so rubbish that even he himself couldn't read it.

Looking at the mountain-like collection of poems by Wordsworth, Southey and Coleridge, Tennyson was so ashamed that he wished he could bury himself in the ground with scraps.

"well……"

Tennyson couldn't help shaking his head while holding Thackeray's letter and said: "William, it's not just you who want to give up, even I want to give up on the path of writing poetry."

The door to the room was suddenly pushed open gently, and a blond lady wearing a black apron came in carrying a tray with a teapot, and asked in half-baked English: "Mr. Tennyson, would you like some hot water?"

Hearing this, Tennyson smiled shyly and nodded: "Excuse me, Miss Paulina."

While adding water to Tennyson's teapot, Polina said uneasily: "Sir, do you know about the recent shooting in Liverpool? It was the one that assassinated Mr. Hastings."

Tennyson put down the letter in his hand, raised his head and asked, "Of course I know. As soon as I found out what happened, I wrote a letter to Arthur. Fortunately, he only suffered minor injuries. This year, God It's cruel enough for me, my father passed away in the middle of the year, and if I lose a friend who helped me a lot at the end of the year, I really don't know how I will spend this time."

When Paulina heard Tennyson's words, the stone in her heart was finally relieved. She held the tray in one hand and covered her chest with the other, with a relieved smile on her face.

"It's great that Mr. Hastings is okay! You simply don't know how we Poles lived during this time. At night, there were drunks throwing stones at our windows and shouting Something to tell us to go back to Poland.

The children said that the windows were leaking and they were shivering from the cold, but there was nothing we could do. Not only are we afraid to let those thugs leave. Even when I got home at night, I didn't even dare to turn on the kerosene lamp, and I definitely didn't dare to say a word. We were afraid that if the gang outside knew we were home, they would break in and take away the few valuables we had left.

Mr. Tennyson, if Mr. Hastings comes back, do you want to blame us? Could you please give us a few words? Although his assassins may have been Poles, not all Poles were that bad. It’s not that we want to stay in London and not go back, it’s that we can’t go back to Warsaw. Please help us tell Mr. Hastings not to fire us, we really need this job to support our family. "

Tennyson saw Polina shedding tears as she spoke, and couldn't bear to comfort her: "Don't worry. If Arthur had opinions about the Poles, then he would never hire you from the beginning. Since he If you decide to do this, you won't change your mind at the last minute. You have only been here for a short time, so you don't know his personality. He is not the aloof character you think, and as far as his opinions revealed in his letter are concerned, he It seems that this matter is not necessarily done by your government-in-exile."

When Polina heard this, she couldn't help wiping her tears and said with determination: "How could it be possible that we did it? In London, there are not many people who are willing to speak for us. Dear gentlemen of "The British" It happens to be one of them.”

Speaking of this, Polina couldn't help but recite the Book of Jude and the Book of Revelation: "Those angels who did not keep their positions and left their dwellings, the Lord locked them in chains forever in darkness, waiting for the judgment of the great day. .The devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

While she was reciting this passage, half of the red devil's head suddenly appeared on the door panel.

When Agares heard this passage, he couldn't help but curled his lips and spat hot spit mixed with blood on the ground: "It's true that you believe what He said. The devil may not be thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, but you guys Those who are deceived will definitely be in darkness forever, and will be tortured day and night."

Following Agares through the door were Arthur, Alexandre Dumas and others wearing big-brimmed hats.

"Alfred, I haven't seen you for more than a week. Have you missed me?"

As soon as Alexandre Dumas finished speaking, he saw the sobbing Paulina and the overwhelmed Tennyson.

He thought he had crashed into something good, and his open arms suddenly drooped.

"this……"

Alexandre Dumas scratched his shaggy head: "Alfred, how could you make a lady so sad?"

When Paulina heard this, she just wiped away her tears, forced a smile and clarified: "No, this has nothing to do with Mr. Tennyson, it's just that I got a little excited. Mr. Dumas, please sit down first. I’ll make you tea.”

After saying this, Polina quickly walked out of the room holding the tea tray.

Dumas stared at Paulina's leaving back for a long time, and then returned the focus of his eyes to Tennyson.

The fat French man held his chin, raised his eyebrows and said, "Alfred, why didn't I realize that you and Miss Paulina actually..."

Hearing this, Tennyson quickly interrupted: "Alexander, don't talk nonsense. Miss Polina just asked me to do something."

"whats the matter?"

Tennyson was about to answer, but suddenly he saw Arthur who had found a comfortable place to sit down by himself, and swallowed the words that came to his lips.

"It's nothing, it's just that she hasn't been having a good time lately, so she came to chat with me to ease her mood."

Arthur casually started the manuscript for the next issue: "Is it because of the Liverpool case? I stopped by the Philharmonic Society before coming to the editorial office, and Frederick told me everything."

Tennyson was surprised: "Even Mr. Chopin was affected?"

"It's not a shock at all. His outstanding talent makes his situation obviously much better than that of ordinary Poles. However, at present, His Majesty the King's plan to appoint him as a royal pianist should be completely untrue."

"Ah...this..."

When Tennyson heard this, he couldn't help but ask: "What is Mr. Chopin going to do next?"

Arthur flipped through the manuscript and said: "Looking at him, he seemed a little discouraged. He told me that when the cholera situation eases a little, he will go to Paris. Moreover, I also think that he is in Paris." It's better to live in Paris than in London.

First, his father is French, so there is no language communication barrier.

Secondly, the music atmosphere in Paris is obviously better than that in London. Although it is not as good as Vienna, it can be regarded as the second center of the music industry.

As for the third thing, for now, on the Polish issue, the French government and the people are firmly opposed to the Tsar's destruction of Poland's independence. Therefore, when he goes to Paris, his personal safety is guaranteed, at least there will be no mob attacks on his residence. "

Alexandre Dumas also said with regret: "If I hadn't been a political prisoner in France, I would have escorted him all the way back. Alas... It's a pity that this job can only be left to Heinrich now. "

When Tennyson heard this, he immediately thought of Heine's broken mouth. He couldn't help but ask: "Wouldn't there be a problem in handing Mr. Chopin over to Mr. Heine?"

Hearing this, Arthur picked up the tea cup and said: "At least it is better than leaving it to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The political atmosphere in London is not quite right recently. Cholera, Poland, parliamentary reform, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' European rebalancing strategy are all disturbed. Together. Even during recess, a divorce lawsuit and Mr. Harrison's adult education have to be interjected. Putting a talented pianist like Frederick in this puddle of unclear water, I really It’s because I can’t bear it.”