"The Widow" Bertha

Bertha did have a good night's sleep.

On the first night in Pall Mall, Bertha still fell asleep with the pillow on her head, and did not wake up until the next morning.This was the envy of the maid, Grace Poole.

"Madame slept well," she said. "I didn't close my eyes very much yesterday in the new surroundings."

"It's much more comfortable than being locked in the attic," Bertha laughed.

In fact, this is thanks to the reporter's career before time travel. Being an investigative reporter or a crime reporter, running around is almost Bertha's daily life.It's good to have a place to sleep, why choose a bed?The guest rooms on Pall Mall Street are quiet and the beds are soft, and they are ten thousand times more comfortable than the small hotel I stayed in during my unannounced visit.

After washing up, Bertha left the guest room.

Mycroft was the only one living in the huge mansion, and he didn't like to use the astonishingly large dining table. When Bertha came to the side hall, Mycroft was sitting at the small table where he had dinner last night, holding a teacup in one hand, Flipping through the newspaper with one hand, you want to live as much as you want.

Bertha even thought that perhaps it was because she didn't want people to see herself eating breakfast with a teacup, and then get in touch with the big devil who threatened at night, so Mycroft Holmes has been single until now.

"Good morning, Bertha," said Mycroft, without looking up, "how are you resting?"

"good."

Bertha took her seat generously, and when she lowered her head, she realized...

In front of her was a breakfast that was completely different from Mycroft's: French toast with butter, and a cup of coffee next to it. Those who didn't know thought she was in Paris now.

"Mike?" Bertha looked up.

"Ok?"

Mycroft looked up from the newspaper, and suddenly said: "Last afternoon tea time, I found that you don't like black tea very much."

Bertha: "...Thank you."

She really didn't like it, Bertha had always been a coffee party.As an out-and-out civil servant of the British government, Mr. Mycroft Holmes not only did not show contempt for Bertha's "betrayal" behavior, but also kindly ordered the kitchen to change the meals, which really made Bertha little The little one was moved.

This is an Englishman serving French food to his guests!Mycroft's care for Bertha can be said to be a feud across Britain and France, can it not be heart-warming.

"you are welcome."

Facing Bertha's rare and sincere smile, the elderly Holmes seemed in a good mood, and he closed the newspaper: "Next you want to go back to South Bank Street?"

Bertha was surprised: "Won't your people tell you?"

Mycroft: "..."

The man sighed dumbfoundedly: "What kind of image do I have in your mind?"

Probably the image of the "postman" of the White Horse Hotel being transferred to Nan'an Street after me.Although that Mr. "Postman" also played the role of a bodyguard, normal people would not arrange it like this, okay?Can Bertha be blamed for thinking too much?

But she was only teasing, for after all Charlie Bates was still working as a paper boy around Pall Mall, and Bertha herself was not much better.

"Yes," she answered Mycroft's question with a smile, "little Shelly has almost come out of the hospital laboratory, maybe he has new clues in his hands."

"See Shelly."

For some reason, Mycroft suddenly raised the corners of his mouth when he heard Bertha's words, revealing a somewhat nasty joke.

Bertha keenly grasped the imperceptible change in his expression: "What?"

Mycroft shook his head, "Nothing."

After speaking, he picked up the teacup again, restored his usual polite and easy-going expression, and said with a smile, "Be careful all the way, Bertha."

……

But soon Bertha knew why Mycroft Holmes had given that expression at the breakfast table.

After returning to his house on South Bank Street, Thomas was waiting in the living room early.Bertha had just sat down, and before she had time to say a few words to Thomas, Sherlock Holmes knocked on the door in a hurry.

Bertha had breakfast, but Thomas Thames had not.So when the big detective came in, what he saw was the harmonious and warm scene of Bertha feeding his "brother".

Holmes: "..."

It feels weird to think that I was threatened by this lady to throw myself into the river when we first met.

Bertha didn't know what Holmes was thinking, she raised her head slightly: "Morning, sir, have you had breakfast yet?"

Holmes: "Thank you, but no need. I have checked out the ingredients of Dr. Long's potion."

Bertha: "Is there a report?"

Holmes smiled, as if Bertha had asked some silly question.He took out a palm-sized notebook from the pocket of his coat, and walked forward with his long legs: "I have written down the relevant information—"

The following words came to an abrupt end when Sherlock Holmes walked up to Bertha.

The hand he handed over the notebook stopped in mid-air, and Bertha had to raise her eyes: "What?"

Holmes' expression suddenly became extremely complicated.

As if he didn't know Bertha Thames, he re-examined it up and down, and then the dignified detective's scrutiny was finally fixed in the shock mixed with horror.

"You," he frowned suddenly, "you spent the night in Pall Mall yesterday."

Fine.

Bertha felt that the great detective Sherlock Holmes, who would probably face his old enemy James Moriarty in the future, would not show such a gaffe.

How should I put it, Bertha was actually a little happy, seeing Sherlock Holmes' unexpected expressions one after another, she really made a profit.

Especially for a character like Sherlock Holmes, who has quick reactions and quick learning ability, such an "incomplete body" will be less after one day, so let's watch and cherish it.The almost omnipotent male god is certainly attractive, but the current green rookie status is also cute enough, isn't it.

"I won't ask you how you deduced it with the basic deductive method," Bertha said with a smile, "Why, did you find it surprising that a woman stayed overnight at your brother's house?"

Holmes: "..."

It wasn't until this moment that Sherlock Holmes realized that when he ran into Thomas Thames outside the Irish gathering place that day, the other party's sentence "Madame and your brother are very close" refers to this relationship!

This is not to blame for the omissions of the future detective's reasoning, but to respond to Bertha's ridicule-he really did not expect that there would be a woman spending the night in Mycroft Holmes' mansion.

Facing the astonished Holmes, Bertha didn't seem to think it was enough, and added another sentence as if nothing had happened: "Oh, by the way, Mrs. Holmes also knows about this, and she also invited me to visit Holmes Manor next time." Woolen cloth."

Holmes: "..."

Mom knows about it too!

It was as if a thunderbolt had fallen from the sky, and it struck Sherlock Holmes on the head with uncommon precision. The knowledge of the mother of the two brothers proved that almost all the Holmes society had heard about Mycroft's lover, and he It was the last one to know.

Recalling Mycroft's malicious look when he talked about the Whitechapel trial, Sherlock finally understood what his brother meant - he was just waiting for himself to find out about it.

Wait, no.

Shock was shock, the big detective's brain didn't stop spinning.While surprised, he discovered the problem.The young man stopped thinking immediately: "You said you didn't work for Mycroft, he never revealed his cards to you."

Bertha looked at Sherlock with interest: "So?"

Holmes doubted: "So you really... have a close relationship?"

On the contrary, Thomas on the side was surprised by these words: "Otherwise, what else can we do?" Everyone has already spent the night, how can they not be intimate!The world of your rich is too complicated, right? !

How should I put it, she is indeed Sherlock Holmes, Bertha sighed in her heart.

Bertha could probably understand Sherlock's train of thought.If she had been living in Pall Mall all the time, and had really reached the point of seeing her parents as she said, how could she know nothing about the Truth Society.

Either she had been lying before, or her relationship with Mycroft was not as close as it appeared.

"Let's not talk about that," but Bertha didn't want to make any clarifications. Let Holmes worry about it. "Your record?"

Holmes frowned slightly again, but he was never one to be entangled in other things.

Bertha returned to the topic, and the detective didn't talk nonsense, and directly handed over the diary.

Sherlock Holmes's handwriting was just like his own, arrogant and fierce, and Bertha had a hard time deciphering it.Fortunately, when she was a reporter, Bertha also had some knowledge of chemistry, so she couldn't understand the process and the result.

"This--"

Bertha's gaze was fixed on the final conclusion of the notebook: "What exactly does Dr. Lang want to do?"

If Bertha is not mistaken about Holmes' notes, it clearly states: The main ingredients of the drugs distributed to the Whitechapel district by Dr. Refreshing formula.

If such a large dose of "strong medicine" goes on, won't it cause heart problems? It can be said that all those who did not survive after taking the medicine all died of sudden drug overdose.

only……

"What drug is Lang En's laboratory researching?" Bertha couldn't help being confused. "Strong stimulant? The living can eat it to death. I really can't think of any disease that it can treat."

"Perhaps Dr. Lane's purpose is not to cure the disease at all." Holmes replied.

Yeah, maybe to make Victorian super soldiers, Bertha sneered.The medical conditions in the nineteenth century were limited, and it was very common for drug research to end up with no results.

"Got to find out," Bertha said. "Once this report is published, Dr. Long's laboratory will be over if it can prove that the drug is harmful to people. But before that, we have to understand that he studies drugs." for what purpose."

"Maybe we can go to the lab and check it out for ourselves?"

Hearing this, Thomas suggested: "Jack has been watching the lab for a long time. He said that the lab will be closed every Thursday afternoon, and no one will be there except the porter."

"it is good."

Bertha has never minded doing small illegal acts in order to track down clues. After all, which journalist has not been scolded by the police uncle, she looked at Sherlock: "If I appoint Thomas to sneak into the laboratory with you, will it be in the way?" ?”

Holmes: "No, he is quick enough."

Thomas: "..."

? ? ?What is he getting in the way!He didn't seem to have messed up anything, Thomas suddenly felt unbalanced: "Ma'am!"

Seeing his aggrieved appearance, Bertha couldn't help laughing: "Just kidding, both of you are very smart. How and when to investigate, you two can discuss it yourself."

Hearing this, Thomas was relieved.

He couldn't help but said again: "Ma'am, what about the Irish?"

Bertha: "I trust you."

A simple sentence made Thomas Thames shiver slightly-for a former gang member, Thomas knew very well what it meant.

This means that Bertha has completely entrusted him with the matter of contacting the Irish, whether it is to recognize him, or to reach a deal by solving the troubles of the Irish, Mrs. Thames will not bother at all, she only needs the result, As for the process of achieving the goal?She trusts him, so she doesn't ask any more.

Thomas Thames worked so hard for Jesse's life for so many years in Jesse's gang, and he never got such a reuse.

Even if he knew very well that Bertha did this to win him over, not everyone would dare to give such trust in order to win someone over.

"……I see."

He said with emotion: "I will handle it myself, how about you, madam?"

Bertha didn't know that Thomas was full of emotions at this time. She thought for a while: "I'm going to see the wife of the Secretary of the Interior."

Dr. Long's research funds are fully provided by the Secretary of the Interior. At present, there is only one clue directly related to the Truth Society, and there may be more to inquire about.

As for the stepping stone...

Mrs. Ward had made it clear that she had always been interested in Mrs. Fisher's salons and women's magazines.

The author has something to say: #今日老福 knows that he has a sister-in-law from the sky, I know! #

Old Fu was shocked, surprised, and horrified all over: Did you spend the night with my brother? !

Bertha: What's wrong, is it your brother who can't have sex or me who can't have sex :)?

Old Fu: Wait, I think you two haven't slept yet.

Bertha: What's the difference?

Old Fu: ...Damn it, it seems that I really can't think of any difference.

Bertha: I also met Mrs. Holmes.

Old Fu: ………

Bertha: You were the last to know.

Old Fu: ……………

From this point of view, Bertha is really a Lu person standing at the top of the food chain【x