Shadow of great britain

36 Lancaster Gate, Bayswater, London.

Night falls and the sky is filled with stars.

A gentle breeze blew over Hyde Park, causing the branches and leaves of the maple and birch trees to tremble.

In the restaurant on the first floor, the long ivory white dining table is filled with steaming dishes.

Dumas pointed to the plate in front of him covered with an iron lid, and proudly introduced today's dinner to everyone holding forks and knives.

"Gentlemen, and the ladies who exist in my fantasy, please allow me to solemnly introduce to you today's main course!"

Darwin urged impatiently. He had been completely impressed by Alexandre Dumas's superb cooking skills in the past few days.

"Alexander, stop being so pretentious. What are you going to eat tonight?"

Elder chuckled, raised his eyebrows and said, "What we have to eat tonight is good. After Fatty and I went to the West End to watch the play, we originally planned to go to the suburbs with shotguns to try our luck, but it didn't work out. It’s a good thing to be caught by both of us!”

Hearing this, Alexandre Dumas couldn't help but glared at Elder: "Originally, I should have scolded you severely, but seeing that you rushed into the river to catch prey without risking your own life today, this matter has been put aside. .”

Elder bit the spoon and said, "Come on, Fatty, hurry up. I've been looking forward to eating this meal since I got home. You hurry up and lift the lid, otherwise the meat will get cold."

When Alexandre Dumas heard this, he didn't hesitate any longer. He opened the lid and saw white steam rumbling up, and the soup basin with golden butter flowers floating in it suddenly appeared in front of everyone.

He cleared his throat and said, "Please allow me to introduce to you this grand meal - Uxelles sauce with black swan stewed white radish!"

When Arthur, who was reading the newspaper with a tea cup, heard this, he trembled with shock and almost spilled the black tea in his trouser pocket.

"Black swan stewed with white radish?" Arthur put down the newspaper and looked at the soup basin: "Where did you get the swan?"

Darwin was also startled by the name. He shuddered and his face changed color: "Elder! Alexander doesn't know the rules, don't you? Why don't you persuade him? Don't you? Did you know that all swans in Great Britain belong to the Crown?”

Alexandre Dumas was stunned when he heard this: "Why do you British guys always have such weird rules?"

Elder's expression also changed. He winked at Alexandre Dumas and said, "What black swan?! Alexander, can you stop talking nonsense! This is obviously a duck! Didn't we all agree before?" ?"

After saying this, he picked up the spoon and fished out a piece of meat from the soup basin, pointed at it and started talking about the river: "Besides, ask it, is it a swan? At first glance, it looks like a wild duck! Charles, you don't even know the duck You can't tell the difference between a swan and a swan, so you have the nerve to say that you are a naturalist? If ducks and swans are the same thing, then are you and the monkey also the same species?"

Darwin's face turned red when Elder said that. He grabbed the spoon, picked up the piece of meat and threw it into his mouth. After chewing only two mouthfuls, he opened his eyes and cursed angrily: "Elder , why do you think I have never eaten duck? Could this thing not be a goose? "

Seeing this, Elder pointed at Darwin and revealed to Arthur with an idea: "Now, Arthur, you saw it all. Charles ate His Majesty the King's swan."

Seeing this, Arthur had no choice but to put down the newspaper and said to Darwin in embarrassment: "Charles, I know this may be a bit difficult. But if you are unwilling to change your story, I can only work overtime and send you to Scotland. In the prison cell of the prison. But don’t worry, I’ve seen the prison meal menu this week. It’s all black bread with potatoes. Although it’s not as good as black swan stewed with white radish, it won’t make you starve.”

When Darwin heard this, he had to suppress his rising anger. He scratched his 'wisdom highland' with increasingly sparse vegetation, smacked his lips twice, and asked with a guilty conscience.

"Did I really eat duck?"

Arthur nodded sympathetically and said: "Charles, you are still young, and we allow you to make mistakes. Let alone mistaking the duck and the swan. Even if you say that Elder is a monkey, I am willing to give you full understanding."

When Darwin heard this, he had to raise his hands to cover his eyes. He said without conscience: "This is indeed a duck, not a swan."

Alexandre Dumas curled his lips uncomfortably: "You British guys are trouble. All swans in the country belong to the royal family. If you don't know this rule, you would think I'm in the Middle Ages. In France, we all treat these things like dogs." Raise, this is not a valuable thing."

Arthur relaxed his neck and said: "You are right, this is indeed a law passed down in the Middle Ages. It's just that Parliament has been too lazy to amend it, and no one wants to touch His Majesty the King. After all, the King of England is Now that he has almost become a mascot, it is really not a wise move for a mature politician to offend the royal family's sensitive nerves due to shrinking power for such a trivial matter."

Alexandre Dumas poured a bowl of soup for himself: "Why don't you re-revise the Civil Code like Napoleon? It's simple, clear, and easy to check. With all due respect, a modern country still uses Medieval law, this sounds like a joke.

Now I finally understand why your judge values ​​past precedents so much. Maybe he just doesn’t want to dig out centuries-old laws from a pile of junk. Maybe they could dig through it and find the shroud of Jesus inside. "

As he spoke, he picked up the spoon and took out the meat from the bowl. Suddenly, Dumas frowned: "Why does it feel like the portion is wrong? Arthur, is there a mouse in the house?"

Arthur glanced at the red devil who was leaning on the window sill and burping contentedly, as well as the book cover with a raven cover in his hand, and just shook his head slightly.

He lifted his fork and put his portion of swan meat into his mouth. While savoring its taste, he frowned and said, "Doesn't this taste just like an ordinary goose?"

At this point, Arthur couldn't help but ask again: "Alexander, by the way, have you finished writing your manuscript?"

Alexandre Dumas replied calmly: "Didn't I go out to play with Elder today?"

"What about yesterday?"

"Yesterday? Yesterday was more interesting."

Alexandre Dumas said cheerfully: "After lunch yesterday, I went to Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park to eat and look for inspiration. As a result, I met a very interesting guy there. His speech was live A huge audience gathered. Even many street vendors couldn't help but put down their work and stand outside the wall to listen to his speech. The expressions on their faces showed that they were not paid to do so."

When Arthur heard this, he immediately felt something was wrong.

He picked up the tablecloth and wiped his mouth: "Really? What was he talking about?"

"Actually, it's not a big deal. It's nothing more than encouraging workers to take the initiative to fight for their rights and persuading factory owners to reduce working hours. By the way, he also advocates the establishment of preschool education so that school-age children can go to school to learn and so on."

Arthur took a sip of tea and said, "I probably know who you are talking about. That speaker is Mr. Robert Owen, right? He has been traveling around to engage in various political affairs since he returned to England last year. activities and leadership of the labor movement.”

Dumas was stunned: "You know him? Oh, but yes, I almost forgot, you are a Scotland Yard policeman. It would be surprising if you didn't know him. If it were in France, Mr. Owen would have been arrested long ago. Please go talk to the Paris Police. Damn it! Maybe I shouldn’t have told you this. Now that you know he is giving a speech in Hyde Park, you are probably going to drive him away tomorrow, right?”

"Kick him away? That's not the case." Arthur held the tea cup and said: "Although I have always thought that Britain is a cesspool, the advantage of the cesspit is that anything can be thrown into it. If not, you are a republican. How can you live in the UK, a constitutional monarchy?

Perhaps Mr. Owen's ideas are a bit unconventional for the authorities, but as long as they do not pose enough danger, he can stay here.

As I said before, the king has almost become a mascot, so the old thing of arresting people based on their personal likes and dislikes is not feasible now.

Not to mention that there are also a small number of MPs in the Parliament who support some of Mr. Owen's views. In addition to disapproving of public ownership of property, MPs also have some supporters in terms of reducing working hours and establishing minor education. "

Hearing this, Elder also felt disgusted and said: "Why should property be publicly owned? My money floats out every day on the ship! I don't want to share the fruits of my labor with those idle Irish drunkards."

Arthur asked again: "What if you and your uncle's property is made public?"

"With my uncle?" Elder's eyes lit up, and he slapped the table: "Why didn't I think of that! Is it possible to choose if the property is publicly owned?"

Darwin heard this and shrugged helplessly: "Elder, you don't call it public ownership of property, you call it robbery. And you don't want to use a knife, but you also want to steal your uncle's money."

"Ha!" Elder rolled his eyes: "After working for a long time, this Robert Owen still wants to use my hard-earned money to feed those rude Irish people."

When Alexandre Dumas heard this, he couldn't help but asked Arthur with interest: "I thought you were not interested in this issue, but I didn't expect you to understand it so well."

Arthur leaned back in his chair and stretched: "It's just what the job requires. After all, if you don't even understand your potential job target, then why are you a police superintendent? You can just find someone to arrest people in handcuffs. You can do it.”

Seeing him start to quarrel again, Alexandre Dumas pressed him further without giving him any room to do anything, "Then what do you think about the public ownership of property?"

Arthur just smiled and said: "I'm a Scotland Yard policeman. I have no personal political opinions."

"Really?" Alexandre Dumas was quite disappointed: "I thought you were different from other policemen. But again, how could I have the illusion that there are good people in the police?"

Arthur heard this and took a sip of tea: "However, I can quote some other people's opinions, such as John Locke's famous sayings."

"Oh? What did he say?"

Arthur smiled and put down the teacup: "Property cannot be publicly owned, and power cannot be privately owned. Although I think Mr. Locke may be a little too absolute in saying this, but if you say it the other way around, if property is publicly owned, power will be privately owned, which is another way of saying it. A novel understanding.

Mr. Irving's ideals are certainly beautiful, but everyone has seen what he eventually turned into when he established public farms in the Americas for several years. Maybe the brave new world he talks about will come true one day, but I pessimistically think that I will never see that day.

So rather than his grand slogans, I would rather see some of the bills he actually proposed, such as reducing working hours and establishing youth skills schools. If these are implemented, I think at least the problem of juvenile crime rates in London will be greatly alleviated. "

When the red devil on the side heard this, he couldn't help but smiled and rubbed his hands and came forward: "Oh! My dear Arthur, how could you not see that day? As long as you think about it, heaven will appear in front of your eyes."

When Arthur heard this, he just took a sip of tea: "Anyone who promises heaven to humans will often bring hell to the world. I don't have any illusions about heaven, because I know what kind of world I live in."

Alexandre Dumas was thoughtful after hearing this, and he asked: "Are you interested in going with me to listen to Mr. Irving's speech tomorrow?"

Arthur smiled and pulled out a Ministry of Internal Affairs document from the bag hanging behind him.

"Actually, I will go even if you don't invite me. This will be the focus of my work in the future."

Alexandre Dumas' brows twitched as he vaguely saw the word 'top secret' on the document.

"You want to spy on Mr. Owen? Don't you British guys like to talk about freedom the most? Is this the freedom of Britain?"

Arthur first wrote a few lines on the document, then glanced at him.

He smiled and put his hands on the dining table, interlocking his fingers and dragging his chin: "What do you think? Alexander? Freedom is not about doing whatever you want, but not doing anything you want. Besides, I will monitor Irving. Sir, it’s better than leaving it to the military police of the Army Department, isn’t it?”