Bad days as neighbors with Sherlock Holmes

To be honest, Holmes was really taken aback by the earl's unconventional way of playing cards.

He was silent for a while.

Seeing that he didn't speak, the count frowned.

"Why, you still want me to quote?" He questioned.

After a pause, the count thought of Holmes' habits again.

...It seems that he will accept as much as the client gives him, and there is no asking price.

So, even the entrustment of becoming a daughter's lover, is he still waiting for himself to speak?

The Earl nodded, "Okay, I'll make an offer."

He knocked on the table, and the person next to him brought up a wad of money, "How about two thousand pounds per year?"

Seeing that Holmes didn't speak, but looked out of the window, thinking about something, the earl frowned.

"Three thousand pounds? Six thousand pounds?" He kept quoting a higher price, "Why, you don't want to?"

As soon as this sentence landed, someone stood up excitedly at the booth next to him.

"I will!" he cried loudly, "I would love to!"

The count looked the guy up and down.

"Forget it," he said earnestly, "Look at your appearance, I didn't say that..."

He pointed at Holmes, "Do you think my daughter can take a fancy to you?"

Before the earl could say more truths, Holmes stood up from the opposite side and pushed him down on the sofa.

What followed was the sound of glass breaking, and the faint smell of gunpowder permeated the small coffee shop.

The earl blinked dully, while Watson quickly ran over, stood beside Holmes who also raised his gun, and looked around vigilantly.

After a while, Holmes put down the gun in his hand.

"The man has gone," he said, and turned to the count again. "Your Excellency, go back first. The man is coming for me."

With the support of the butler, the count stood up slowly, his face still full of shock.

"Rush... towards you?" He was so frightened that he could hardly speak, "Why?"

He is so rich, shouldn't the attack be aimed at him?

what's up?

"I've been investigating a somewhat troublesome case recently," Holmes said succinctly. "It involves an arms dealer suspected of smuggling. I'm afraid these people can't bear it."

He looked at the earl, and repeated again with a serious expression, "Your Excellency, you can go first."

The count subconsciously nodded.

He shook his finger and pointed to the box in the corner, "Then about you and my daughter..."

When Holmes heard him mentioning Elena, he raised the corners of his mouth unconsciously.

"I'll talk to her about those things later," but he still said flatly, "I'm afraid I won't have time to entertain you now, Your Excellency the Earl..."

It's really not suitable to entertain him. If another person comes to do this kind of thing later, I'm afraid he won't be here today to buy a lover for his daughter with a lot of money.

The count nodded again, waved his hand, and summoned the servant who was huddled aside and barely recovered from his panic.

The butler beside him picked up the things, and they were ready to go back.

After getting into the carriage, the Earl was in the mood to consider whether today's trip was a success.

...It seems that Holmes is not particularly resistant?

But also did not accept.

After thinking about it, he decided to ask the butler sitting next to him.

"What do you think?" asked the Count, "I think he accepted as lover. Butler, do you think he is taking Joe, waiting for me to make another offer he can't refuse?"

He felt that it was very possible, after all, Holmes did not seem like a person who was willing to suffer and treat him poorly.

The butler sighed helplessly, and for a moment felt that the earl he had served for so long was incomprehensible.

No matter looking horizontally or vertically, Mr. Holmes, whom the lady likes, has no intention of accepting the money.

"My lord," the butler clarified the point, "The problem now is that Mr. Holmes is often in danger..."

He said tactfully, "Wouldn't it be inappropriate for Miss to be with him?"

The count came to himself suddenly.

According to today's situation, Holmes pushed him down on the sofa to avoid bullets, and he knew that it was definitely not the first time he had done so.

When he had experienced these things before, the people around him were equally dangerous.

It's him today, that's okay, if it's Elena...

That's right, what Elena is playing with him is not about love, but about playing with her life!

"No," the count ordered, "Go to the architectural office, I'm going to tell Elena!"

"Who is she raising? She must not be allowed to raise a lover!"

After perfunctory Mrs. Hudson, Elena hired a carriage and drove to the office.

When the earl rushed into the building office, Elena was talking with a plainly dressed elderly gentleman.

He should be a native of London, with a mild accent and a well-bred manner.

Although the gentleman's clothes are elegant, they are not the latest styles, but rather the styles made in the past few years, which is enough to show that his family's situation is going from bad to worse.

He looks like a vicissitudes of life, and there are obvious wrinkles at the corners of his eyes when he smiles, but he still has a gentle temperament.

The two were discussing something, and Elena's face showed obvious hesitation, as if she was a little unsure about paying attention.

Seeing the count barging in like this, she nodded towards the count, and then turned to the gentleman in front of her.

"Mr. Jones, it's not that I won't help you, it's really this matter..." Elena said slowly, "I'm alone, and I may be a little undecided. I may have to think about it again."

It was the first time the count saw that he acted neatly, and never left Elena so hesitant until the next day.

The gentleman sitting opposite her shook his head.

"I'm not urging you, Miss Molson," he said gently, "I understand that not everyone is as keen on charity as we are, and I understand your situation very well."

He raised his hand and looked at his watch, "Since you still have guests, come here first today, and I will take my leave first."

Before leaving, he thoughtfully closed the door.

Elena exhaled slowly, calming down her mood.

"Why are you here today, father?" She asked a little puzzled, "I thought you were dealing with business..."

The count felt guilty, indeed, he escaped from dealing with the affairs.

But of course that cannot be said on the surface.

"Why, I can't even enter this small office?" He said confidently, "Are you dissatisfied with my behavior?"

Elena shook her head.

"No, of course not," she said honestly, "I'm just curious if there will be any documents left after you come over..."

After all, according to the earl's working hours often disclosed by the housekeeper, there is a reverse relationship between the count's working hours and his time away from home.

"Probably not," the count twitched the corner of his mouth, "you just need to take care of your office."

Speaking of this, the count thought of his previous agreement with Elena.

He took the opportunity to say, "Why don't you just put down your shabby little office and come back to take over the family business? Let me see if your ability to handle affairs has declined."

The Earl added with disgust, "I don't think it's a good thing to waste your talent here."

"No need, father," Elena reminded, "We agreed at the time that I would leave after winning the award. What's more, this firm cannot do without me."

She also didn't want to go back to the environment of that firm so soon.

The count nodded casually.

"What's the matter with that person coming in just now?" He asked in a deep voice, completely forgetting what his original purpose was.

"He's the head of a model housing company," Elena replied.

She put away the materials spread out on the table one by one, and then asked, "Do you know the 'Model Housing Company'? I know that the labor movement has been raging recently..."

The labor movement mentioned in Elena's words actually took place in the East District not long ago, and it caused a lot of trouble, and it even appeared in the newspapers.

The vast majority of London workers live in the East End, and only a handful of skilled workers live in a slightly more comfortable place near the West End.

The East End of London has always been notoriously dirty, and under such circumstances, the accommodation allocated to poor working people would not be a good place.

Economist Clappan once described the life of London workers as "the worst living conditions that cannot be described with pen and ink."

Many scholars have been to the Eastern District for investigation, and when they came out, they all looked sad.

They called the East End a source of violence and chaos, where families had to live in cramped spaces, and where the air was "very unhealthy" and "full of disgusting, harmful filth, living in it It is harmful to health”, public facilities are a mess, there are no decent toilets, and there is no proper education.

In this era, it is not and absolutely impossible to restrict the birth of workers, so almost every worker's family has more than four children.In this way, the family huddled together in a small place and struggled to live.

The older children who are better can help to go to work and earn a meager salary to subsidize the family’s food. The poorer ones may not even be able to eat enough. They wish they could sleep in the factory, so how can they spend money on housing? Woolen cloth?

Think about it, the weekly salary of a sailor is about 10-11 shillings, but just renting a decent house costs 3-4 shillings a week, which is almost a third salary.

This is still the price of renting a house in the slums near St. George's district. If you want to get out of the slums, the price will increase by more than five times.

The model housing company she mentioned is a new type of social welfare organization related to workers.

Due to the particularity of the land in London, it is unrealistic to rely on commercial adjustments. They will only make housing prices higher and higher because of their profit-seeking nature. Workers cannot afford such high rents.And the government's intervention has had little effect because of the upsurge of liberalism. In this way, the Model Housing Company, as a third party besides the two, has effectively alleviated this embarrassing situation.

Their main sources of income are social donations and royal funding. They build and operate the so-called "model housing", that is, low-cost workers rent houses as another relief for the bottom workers. The income is not allowed to exceed 5.00%. In most cases, the income from these rented houses is mainly used to invest in the company's operations.

The count nodded.

"I've heard a little," he said briefly, "how did Paragon Housing come to you?"

"Didn't I accept a design commission from a factory before, and the drawings have already been released. Mr. Jones, the person in charge of this company, saw my drawings from the client, and hoped to entrust me and the firm to design some for them." Model housing'," Elena smiled helplessly, "I'm considering whether to accept it or not."

The renovation of the factory she took over has not yet been completed, and the construction period is probably from next year to the next year. At that time, the design did take into account the particularity of many workers' work and improved some places, but I didn't expect that Mr. Jones would be keen. found this out.

It should be this point, let him come to test and ask about the situation instead of looking for other designers.

"The price they offered is a price that I can understand," Elena continued, "after all, most of the funds will be invested in building a few more buildings, and they will not spend the money to hire a famous, Expensive designers add to the cost, but this is definitely not enough to support the operation of the office in the past few months."

She is also very clear that even if her design fee is deducted, the money is still not enough to support the operating costs of the firm during the period of accepting the commission.

This made Elena hesitate a bit.

It's not that she doesn't want to do it, but she is thinking carefully about the stakes and interests of the two, and if she accepts such an entrustment, the consequences and effects it will have...

"Do you want to do it?" asked the count.

He saw Elena's wavering, and felt that there was really nothing to be entangled in this matter.

"Thinking about it, but I think it's too difficult," Elena replied, "I'm not sure..."

I'm not quite sure whether to decide on the direction of my firm's work in the next few months because of my inner impulse.

The count completely forgot that he was here to discuss Elena's relationship this time, and he completely forgot what he said before.

He said bluntly, "Just do what you want. The family does not lack the money, and it is more than enough to support a few people."

Then the count had an idea, and placed the box carried by the butler on the table.

"Are these enough for your office expenses for the past few months?"

The author has something to say: Elena: Thank you Dad, Dad is so kind! !

Clever Earl: Cat Pride.jpg

It’s been a bit of a calvin recently, because it’s starting to finish qaq

The "model housing movement" and "labor movement" mentioned in this chapter are all real in history. They are not my inventions. The London slums are actually the obvious ills brought about by the rapid expansion of the city. With the population brought about by industrialization and urbanization The housing conditions of workers have not improved significantly in many aspects, so most workers can only live in the cheapest places. Those places have poor and crowded conditions, and all three elements are dirty and messy. Britain has no family planning. Free market, the government does not interfere much, the scope of slums is getting bigger and bigger, and the separation from the place where the rich live is becoming more and more obvious, and finally it becomes very extreme, that is, Bishop Wittmann of Westminster publicly accusations of "ignorance, wickedness, corruption, disease, and a hotbed of crime"

The model housing movement was born at this time. Although most of the "model" housing conditions are average, at least the infrastructure and sanitation are much better than the slums...

References for this chapter include "1840-1914 London Slum Problem and Analysis of Workers' Housing Construction", "East End of London as a Landscape: Slum Tourism in England at the End of the 19th Century", "The Housing Situation of Workers in London from the Mid-19th Century to the Eve of World War I", interested little angels can go double

感谢在2020-10-3001:31:52~2020-10-3100:39:27期间为我投出霸王票或灌溉营养液的小天使哦~

Thanks to the little angels of the irrigation nutrient solution: 7 bottles of Rocky's wife; 4 bottles of Qianluo; thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!