The Shadow of Great Britain

56: Chapter 17 Orphan of the Fog City?

56: Chapter 17 Orphan of the Fog City?

Arthur and others, dressed in plain clothes, stood at the entrance to St Giles Church.

Closing their eyes, they could feel the worldly hustle and bustle of the place—the loud cries of vendors selling their wares and the conversations of people passing by—as if this place were no different from the other grand squares and streets of West London.

In reality, this place indeed had its own glorious past.

In the 16th century, St Giles Church was just a rural village outside the city of London, with only a few groups of villagers and a handful of families that had lived there for generations.

But a law enacted in 1541 changed the fate of this area due to the increasingly crowded living conditions within the city of London, and the Parliament planned to extend the city to the outskirts.

A major road from the Holborn bar to St Giles Church was laid out.

Because of the construction of this road, many upper-class residents from inside the city of London began to come here during their leisure time.

They enjoyed hunting hares and foxes in the nearby Marylebone Hesse forest by St Giles Church.

With the arrival of these upper-class residents, St Giles Church gradually became prosperous, and the population began to increase steadily.

During the reign of Charles II, an upper-class residential area called “Seven Dials” was gradually established in St Giles Church.

The number of houses in the area also rapidly approached the target of 2,000 from just a few dozen.

By 1720, in the map of London, it was hard to find any vacant land in St Giles Church.

However, such a luxurious upper-class neighborhood rapidly turned into a gathering place for the poor and a hideout for criminals as the 18th century began.

The most important reason was the massive development of the other parishes in West London.

During this wave of development, St Giles Church was left undeveloped due to the excessively chaotic land ownership rights here.

A large number of houses became dilapidated due to a lack of maintenance and care.

The rich fled the area, and the polarization of wealth gave some people stronger purchasing power.

They began to favor aristocratic estates built in the suburbs, abandoning the once-favored St Giles Church as if it were worthless.

After the rich fled, the poor and the impoverished discovered the value of St Giles Church.

Firstly, the transportation here was convenient, being close to Covent Garden Market, Soho commercial district, Westminster Monastery, and Thames River docks.

These places offered a lot of job opportunities, sufficient to support a large number of people employed in the service industry involving physical labor.

They began to occupy the empty houses left by the rich.

Their origins were diverse, including Irish, English, Scottish, and even French.

Despite cultural differences, these people had one thing in common.

They were all outsiders who could not survive in their homelands and had to come to London to make a living.

The landlords of St Giles Church also saw the unique value in these people.

Thus, since the influx of the poor began, the urban size of St Giles Church not only didn’t shrink but even expanded more rapidly than when the rich lived there.

The pace of house construction exceeded that of previous years, original spacious roads were increasingly occupied by extended shacks, and various unsuitable living spaces were expanded upon the bases of existing houses.

The reputation that St Giles Church had accumulated over two hundred years was completely ruined within a few decades.

According to statistics from the “Society for Suppression of Beggars,” nowadays more than one-quarter of London’s beggars come from this parish.

However, young Adam had spent all nine years of his life in such a place.

Arthur looked at young Adam, who was being held by Tom’s hand, and said, “Adam, I’m sorry for bringing you back here.”

The young Adam of today was no longer the same figure seen in the courtroom.

His originally eye-covering yellowish hair was cut very short, and he was wearing a deep blue jumpsuit adorned with a white pleated shawl on the shoulders.

Although from the texture of the clothes, it was not made of very expensive material, from the stitches on the shawl one could tell that Mrs.

Tom had done it with great care.

Adam looked up at Arthur, blinking.

“Mr.

Hastings, there’s no need for apologies.

Actually, I’ve been wanting to come back here as well.

I still have some things left here.

Maybe I don’t need them now, but I can give them to someone else.”

Upon hearing this, Tony couldn’t help but ask, “Adam, are you sure the stuff is still here?

Didn’t your damn mother take all the valuable things from the house…”

Before Tony could finish his sentence, Tom fiercely punched him in the stomach.

In pain, Tony cursed, “Fuck!

Tom, what are you doing?”

Tom ignored Tony and instead squatted down to speak to Adam, “Don’t listen to him talking nonsense.

Your mum just went to visit some relatives.

You can stay at my house for this period, and of course, you can stay even when your mum comes back, wherever you want to stay.”

Adam pressed his lips together on hearing this, said nothing, and just walked up to Tom.

Tom gently asked, “Adam, what’s wrong?”

Adam stared at his face for a long time, then suddenly extended his arms and hugged Tom.

“Dad.”

Tom was initially stunned, but in an instant, tears had wet his eyes.

He hugged Adam, and the father and son cried together.

“Adam!

My good son.”

Seeing this scene, Tony first smiled, then helplessly shrugged at Arthur.

Arthur glanced at the father and son, then pulled out a pipe from the iron box in his pocket and lit it in his mouth.

Since he wasn’t wearing his uniform today, he could smoke in public for a change.

Arthur took a puff of smoke and started, “Tom, the adoption papers for Adam haven’t been finalized yet, have they?

Maybe change his name, let the past be the past.

The past is not important, what matters is the present and the future.”

Tom wanted to reply, but he was crying so much that he couldn’t say a complete sentence; he just kept nodding his head.

Seeing him like this, Tony felt frustrated: “Can’t even speak a sentence!

Tom, can you wipe your tears?

We still have work to do!”

Seeing that Tom was no help, Arthur had to turn to his son.

“Adam, I remember you once told me during our chat that there’s an old man around here who takes in homeless kids?

You also told me that you learned your pickpocketing skills from him.

Can you take us to meet him?”

While being held by Tom, Adam wiped his reddened eyes, then began to stammer, “You mean Mr.

Fagin?

Are you, are you going to arrest him?”

“Fagin?”

Arthur frowned and thought for a bit, he had a feeling he’d heard the name before, as if he had seen it somewhere.

As he was pondering, he suddenly heard someone calling him from ahead, “Arthur!”

Arthur looked up and saw Dickens, who was wearing the hat he had given him and was carrying a small cloth bag across his shoulder.

Arthur’s pupils contracted, and he turned his head towards Tom.

“Have you thought about what name to give Adam?”

Tom sniffed, his eyes red, and said, “Just, just call him Oliver.”