Shadow of great britain

"Mr. Hastings, His Excellency the Duke is resting inside."

Under the leadership of the butler, Arthur walked through the front hall and gallery to the study on the second floor.

As soon as he opened the door, Arthur saw the old Duke lying on a hammock hanging between two pillars, with a hat covering his face to block the sun.

Seeing this, Arthur pouted in the direction of the Duke and asked the housekeeper in a low voice: "Is Your Excellency the Duke asleep?"

"Uh..." the butler whispered: "Please forgive me. If you are not busy, why don't you go to the front hall and sit and have a cup of tea first? His Excellency the Duke's sleep quality is not very good recently, and his sleep is intermittent. He should I’ll wake up after a while.”

As soon as the butler finished speaking, he heard the Duke's rather tired voice coming from the cot: "Sean, pour me some wine, my throat is a little dry."

When the butler heard this, he put his hand on his chest and bowed slightly: "Yes, Your Excellency. Mr. Hastings is here to visit you. Do you want to meet him?"

"Oh? Is that young man here?"

Wellington took off the hat covering his face, lay in the hammock and turned around to see Arthur's polite smile.

Arthur asked: "Sir, you look very tired. Why don't you rest first? I can come back another day."

Wellington did not respond to Arthur's request, but raised two fingers at the butler: "Two glasses of wine. One glass of Martell brandy and one glass of Guinness dry stout. Well... young man, I remember you like Are you a beer drinker?"

Arthur was stunned when he heard this. He didn't know where Wellington analyzed this answer.

He never revealed his taste for alcohol to Wellington, and the only time he was invited to a party at Wellington House he drank whatever was available.

Besides, he doesn't like drinking beer either.

Only when he was in college and went to the theater with Elder, would he have a few large drinks in the tavern of the small theater.

After all, the plays Elder took to watch would inevitably leave his mouth dry.

When the Duke of Wellington saw a puzzled look on Arthur's face, he smiled and said: "It seems that after The Times, Liverpool newspapers can no longer be trusted. They said before that you came from London." Royal beer barrel, I still believe it."

When Arthur heard this, he also smiled and replied: "It's really a joy to see you in such a good mood and even joking with such humor. However, are you sure you don't have to go back to the bedroom to rest? Lie down in the bedroom. The camp bed is not as comfortable as the big bed in the bedroom.”

The Duke of Wellington turned over and said: "For an old soldier like me, the camp bed is much more comfortable than the big bed in the bedroom. Every time I can't sleep, I will come here to lie down and read the Army's military report for a while. , it won’t take long to fall asleep, just like I did in Iberia.”

"In that case, maybe I should buy a bed like this and try it out."

Arthur walked into the study and said, "My sleep quality has not been very good recently."

Speaking of this, Arthur suddenly noticed that Duke Wellington's arm was wrapped with a black gauze. He paused, pointed to his arm and asked, "This is..."

"Ah..." The old Duke's eyelids raised slightly: "My wife, dear Catherine, she passed away not long ago."

When Arthur heard this, the face of the friendly old lady immediately appeared in his mind.

He still remembered that whenever the couple attended social occasions together, the old lady who always had a smile on her lips and the Duke were almost inseparable.

Whenever she chatted with her, she always brought the topic to her husband. She loved to brag to everyone about what an outstanding person the Duke of Wellington was.

She kept her husband's honors in mind, perhaps more clearly than the Duke himself.

This is a strange feeling, so that in Arthur's opinion, she is not only the Duke's wife, but also a fanatical admirer of His Excellency the Duke.

But unlike other admirers, she was full of doubts about the Duke. She did not have countless lovers like other noble ladies, but she put almost all her extra energy into guarding her husband. superior.

She hates others getting their hands on her spoils, and even plans several large-scale defensive battles to do so. From this perspective, her and her husband's fighting styles are quite consistent.

Unfortunately, the Duke of Wellington had the entire military power of Britain at his disposal.

For Catherine, all the ladies in London were her potential rivals.

But anyway, Arthur had a good impression of the old lady, because as long as he sat there obediently and listened to her talk about the glorious history of the old Duke, he could win her favor. Compared to other difficult ladies, the old lady's favor came very easily.

Arthur lowered his head slightly and comforted softly: "My condolences. Can I take the liberty of asking when she died?"

"That's when you go to Liverpool."

The Duke of Wellington shook his head slightly: "She has not been in good health since the beginning of last year. I thought that if I stayed with her more, she would slowly get better, but she left in the end. She was lying on the bed, she didn't even have the strength to speak, but she still used her last bit of strength to put a finger into my sleeve."

"Into your sleeve?"

Duke Wellington nodded and said helplessly: "She wanted to see if I was still wearing the armband she gave me."

Arthur hesitated for a moment. He wanted to know the answer, but he was afraid that the result would disappoint him.

He was silent for a long time, and finally couldn't help but ask: "Then has she been found?"

"Of course she found it." Duke Wellington's smile looked a little complicated: "Just like any time in the past twenty years, if she was willing to search, I have always been there. How strange! People can work together We live half a lifetime, but only in the end can we understand each other.”

When Arthur heard this, he suddenly remembered the gossip he had heard from various dinner parties in the past.

He remembered that Catherine, the Duke of Wellington's wife, was the daughter of the old Earl of Longford. As early as 1793, the young Duke of Wellington fell in love with this cheerful and charming girl and took the initiative to propose to her. Proposed.

However, his proposal was rejected by Catherine's eldest brother, Thomas Pakenham, now Earl of Longford.

Because he believed that the Duke of Wellington was too young and heavily in debt at that time, and he was still a young son without inheritance rights, and his future did not seem to have much future.

This rejection of marriage directly caused the angry Duke of Wellington to burn his favorite violin and determined to go to the army to do something great.

And when the Duke of Wellington made great achievements in India in 1806 and led the British army to win the Maratha War, the Earl of Longford and his family shamelessly came to ask him if he still wanted to marry his daughter.

Although the Duke of Wellington agreed to the engagement, when he saw Catherine again, he couldn't help but bury his head and mutter in a low voice: "She has become ugly."

Everyone said privately that this was why Catherine had never been so confident in the presence of the Duke of Wellington.

If she could have married the then penniless Duke of Wellington 13 years ago, perhaps her marriage would have been happier.

But this cannot be entirely her fault, more responsibility must be placed on her family. The Earl of Longford really wanted to sell his beautiful daughter at a high price, so he waited for the price and ended up getting married at the age of 30.

Fortunately, they were lucky enough to meet the Duke of Wellington.

Thomas Pakenham, who had rejected the marriage proposal, also received great care from his brother-in-law after he became the uncle of the Duke of Wellington. He was recruited during the Peninsular War and was ordered to command the Third Division and participated in the Welling War. The Duke of Tongue's favorite work - the Battle of Salamanca.

If Arthur might not have been able to understand Duke Wellington's words in the past, he now understands it to some extent.

He couldn't help but sigh: "Yes! Human beings are really a strange species. They get along with each other day and night, but if you want to understand someone, you have to wait until the end of life."

The Duke of Wellington stood up from the hammock and put on his coat: "Young man, have you encountered anything troublesome? At your age, you shouldn't have such emotions. You haven't been married, maybe you haven't. Woman, then, what is it that makes you so troubled?"

Arthur smiled: "It's nothing. Seeing you so calm, I think my troubles are nothing."

"Um……"

The Duke of Wellington poured a cup of tea: "Are you talking about the Whigs? Are they making things difficult for you? In my opinion, at least Brougham still respects you. After all, you are his student, and I remember Bentham also praised you in the newspapers before, right? In a sense, although it was Earl Gray who sat in the position of prime minister, Bentham was the spiritual leader of the Whigs who supported the reform."

Arthur didn't hide it, he said: "I am a policeman, so I have no position on the matters in Parliament. I just think that if things continue to be like this, it will not be good for everyone in Britain."

The Duke of Wellington took a sip from the tea cup: "Are you sent by Brougham to act as a lobbyist?"

"Sir, why do you think so?"

Arthur smiled and replied: "I just happened to pass by your door and arrested a few thugs who smashed your window glass."

"Huh?" The Duke of Wellington turned to look at the smashed iron windows of the study, and suddenly realized, "So that's what you're here to do."

Arthur joked: "Your Excellency, I don't want to persuade you to back down from your position. But since you are not the leader of the opposition party now, why don't you go back to the countryside to hunt. London has been uneasy recently. If you really think that parliamentary reform No, then I think at this moment, it is definitely better for you to be the leader of the opposition than Sir Peel, after all, you are very prestigious in this country."

When the Duke of Wellington heard this, his face suddenly darkened: "Opposition leader? I know those people want to put me in this position. But, I want to tell them that I have served my country for 40 years. I spent 20 years in command of its army and 10 years in the cabinet. I have the most unswerving loyalty to this country. Whether I like it or not, I will never go against His Majesty's government, let alone He will not allow himself to be the leader of an opposition party, which sounds like a revolutionary."

Arthur was stunned when he heard Duke Wellington's words.

It took a while for Arthur to understand why the Duke of Wellington was so resistant to the title of Leader of the Opposition.

In the final analysis, he and the Duke of Wellington had different understandings of this position.

In the era when the Duke of Wellington was growing up, the title Leader of the Opposition was not a good term. It was almost synonymous with troublemaker. For a pure royalist like His Excellency the Duke, it is his natural duty to support the king and support him.

Perhaps sometimes the king's performance is out of tune, as was the case with George IV, who was nicknamed by the British nobles as "the best comedian in Europe".

But when the king made mistakes, the Duke of Wellington would never criticize his policies and performance in public. Instead, he would point it out to his face during private meetings, and at most he would just make a joke at a banquet.

For such an old man, who has already formed a fixed mindset, to accept the title of Leader of the Opposition is like deliberately tarnishing his book of honour.

After understanding this, Arthur finally understood the Duke's recent coy behavior.

No wonder he never criticized the government in newspapers like the Whigs did. Since he resigned as Prime Minister, the news about him has been almost all side reports.

The Duke of Wellington said: "My seat in Parliament allows me to express my approval when I support it and my opposition when I disagree. But I will never agree to be the leader of an opposition party.

And I voted against it not because I was hindering so-called progress, but because I suspected that there was a terrible conspiracy behind it, just like what happened in Britain during the French Revolution.

I think the conspiracies in this country are all British, but their roots are in Paris. There was a revolution in France, a revolution in Belgium, the Carbonari uprising in Italy and the Warsaw uprising in Poland, and now Portugal is also in trouble.

The gold of the French made the advocates come and go. I blame myself now. If I had not lifted the ban on publications and allowed the chaos of the news media to represent all parties, maybe things would not be as bad as they are now. "

He looked a little discouraged: "Did you see what they said in the newspapers? I guarantee you that these gentlemen now in power are privately connected with the revolution, and they welcome everything in Paris and Brussels. I once said to His Majesty the King said that if he could carry out punishment on horseback, there would be no revolution. But it is clear that despite his efforts, he still cannot master such superb riding skills."

Arthur asked softly: "Do you suspect that there is something wrong with our Prime Minister, Earl Gray?"

"No, I don't doubt Gray. I've known him since a long time ago, and he's been like this since more than twenty years ago."

Wellington said self-deprecatingly: "And I found that in this cabinet, the Prime Minister's authority over his followers is significantly lower than the authority of the field commander over the army. And this trend has also spread from the Whig Party to the Tory, everyone is doing what he likes except myself.

There is no commander in the party, or everyone is a commander, but there are no troops. No one obeyed me except myself, and no one even bothered to listen to anyone else's opinion. But if things don't go smoothly, I'm responsible. "

Arthur asked: "Didn't Sir Peel support you?"

"Pierre..."

The Duke of Wellington paused: "He is a very capable man and a man of noble sentiments, but there are flaws in his character. Because he has not experienced the military, he cannot be as resolute as me." . We work well together most of the time, but now his attitude is a little erratic. Being able to listen to other people's opinions is his strength and his weakness."

When Arthur heard this, he couldn't help but think of his conversation with Disraeli.

He remembered that Disraeli seemed to have made a similar judgment about Peel, and more importantly, the boy who liked to wear fashionable clothes made a bold prediction: "I suspect that Peel's people may betray us when the next parliamentary reform vote is held." , his recent stance has been so ambiguous that the party is now torn apart."

Arthur did not care which side Sir Peel would take on parliamentary reform, but he was concerned about the consequences if the next parliamentary vote passed the House of Commons.

Arthur considered it for a moment and boldly asked: "Sir, I don't care about politics, but as I stated before, I am very worried about the recent turbulent public security situation. Some of it is caused by cholera, and some of it is caused by cholera." Because of parliamentary reform. Therefore, I would like to seek some advice from you. A knowledgeable old gentleman like you can always give valuable advice to young people."

"suggestion?"

The Duke of Wellington looked at Arthur's sincere face. He was not sure why the young man suddenly raised such a question.

More importantly, it was not two years ago. This Arthur Hastings was not the Scotland Yard police officer he had been when he first met him. Instead, he was the number three figure in the Metropolitan Police Department who held considerable power.

The Duke of Wellington thought for a moment and finally spoke slowly: "If you must seek advice from me, then, young man, I will impart to you the creed of my life. No matter what happens, do what you should do, You have to be worthy of the honor bestowed upon you by this country and repay your loyalty with all your heart. I have never been a police officer, but I think the most severe test for a great police commander is to maintain order."

Arthur nodded slightly when he heard this. He blinked and asked with a smile: "So, what is the most severe test for a great general?"

The Duke of Wellington almost blurted out, because Lord Stanhope had asked him this question in person some time ago when he was writing documents on the Peninsular War.

"For a general, the most severe test is to know when to retreat and to have the courage to retreat."

As soon as Duke Wellington said this, he felt something was wrong.

He stared at Arthur for a while, then raised his tea cup and touched it with him: "You kid. I'm not a news media, so I won't tamper with what I have said. But it would be too much for me to retreat now." early."