The Shadow of Great Britain

87: Chapter 47: The Breath of Mammon (Subscribe!) 87: Chapter 47: The Breath of Mammon (Subscribe!) Outside Gresham College today, it was as busy as usual with carriages and horses clogging the streets and crowds of people everywhere.

The speaker of the day was George Airy, but to Arthur’s disappointment, he was neither a chemical expert nor a medical genius.

He was a professional in astronomy, physics, and mathematics.

As a man who obtained the position of a Mathematics Professor at Cambridge University at the age of 25 and became a Professor of Astronomy, as well as the director of the Cambridge observatory at 27, George Airy was certainly a rare genius.

The only problem was that the content of his lecture left Arthur somewhat perplexed—”The Trajectories of Planetary Motion With the Moon as an Example.”

Arthur was actually more interested in the personal animosity between George Airy and Mr.

Faraday than in a blackboard full of formulas.

It was said that Mr.

Airy had been firmly and powerfully attacking Faraday’s “lines of force” hypothesis, considering it absurd to deal with electric or magnetic field problems using a few imaginary lines.

Incidentally, he also criticized Arthur, who had used the concept of “lines of force” in the latest issue of the Royal Society journal—Arthur received even more criticism than Faraday did.

Since Faraday’s concept of “lines of force” was at least supported by the iron filings experiment, while Arthur’s Hasting Force was entirely a figment of the imagination.

Faced with George Airy’s attacks, Arthur chose to maintain the utmost silence, which was certainly not because he lacked temper.

But it was simply because Arthur felt he had no ground to retaliate against the scientist.

Typically, Arthur believed that the basis for communication and argument between two normal people rested on a shared level of knowledge.

However, just in terms of physics, he and George Airy were indeed on different levels, and importantly, what if their arguing spawned a slew of new concepts?

What then?

Since the debacle with Hasting Force, Arthur increasingly felt that he should be cautious in his speech within the realm of science.

Despite his own somewhat trivial vanity, as a great man from the East had said, if Arthur wanted to be vain, he should at least consider his personal effort and the course of history.

Arguing with a professional astronomer and physicist, after all, seemed a bit too exciting.

The Red Devil crouched on Arthur’s head, staring at George Airy, who was speaking passionately at the podium, suddenly spoke.

“Arthur, are you just going to let this little guy slander your scientific achievements?

From what I see, his level isn’t all that high.

How about this—I shed a little blood, and I’ll explain to you in detail the universe’s law of non-conservation of parity.

Professor Agares, I am the first scholar of astronomy in Hell.

Do you want to know why the stars in the universe are distributed so irregularly?”

Upon hearing this, Arthur slightly lowered his hat brim, covering his eyes.

“Agares, give it a rest already.

The non-conservation of parity?

Do you know that Neptune hasn’t even been discovered yet?”

The Red Devil was taken aback: “Neptune?

Which planet are you talking about?”

Arthur lowered his voice and said, “Of course, the eighth major planet of the Solar System, the one that always deviates from its orbit.”

Agares was so shocked his jaw dropped to the floor.

The Red Devil cursed, “Damn it!

How do you know about it?

I thought it was well hidden.

How did you discover it?

Arthur, damn it!

I keep telling you, don’t always look up at the stars when night falls!

What if you see something you shouldn’t?”

Arthur gently shook his head, “I don’t want to count stars either, but you know, Mr.

and Mrs.

Brown, who live next door, start their vigorous ‘Brownian Motion’ as soon as dusk falls.

That noise is just too inappropriate for children.”

“Then why don’t you change your room?”

The Red Devil rubbed his index finger and thumb together, making a counting money gesture, “Arthur, you are at least halfway into being a respectable gentleman of the middle class now.

Getting a house that matches your status shouldn’t be too difficult, right?

How much savings do you have in your pocket now?”

Arthur pulled out a small ledger from his coat pocket, checking and muttering as he went: “Including my previous savings and the salary for the past few months, I have a total income of 39 pounds, 15 shillings.

In terms of expenditures, I gave Tom and Tony 2 pounds, 11 shillings for education assistance.

I reimbursed Darwin for teaching day meals and carriage fares, 5 pounds, 8 shillings, and 8 pennies.

For rent, I spent 1 shilling, 10 pennies per week, totaling 1 pound, 11 shillings for 17 weeks.

I provided 10 pounds in consolatory fees for Robin’s parents.

For my personal daily meals, buying you liquor, and other miscellaneous expenses, a total of 5 pounds, 18 shillings, and 3 pennies.

So, my current balance is…”

Arthur held a pen and scribbled in his book, quickly coming up with the result.

“14 pounds, 6 shillings, and 1 penny.”

The Red Devil, upon hearing this, couldn’t help but hold his head and roar, “Arthur!

So, you say after 17 weeks working as a Police Superintendent, your savings have only increased by 4 pounds, 6 shillings?!”

Arthur waved his hand, sternly correcting, “It’s 4 pounds, 6 shillings, and 1 penny, Agares.

Don’t think about sneakily swallowing up my penny.”

The Red Devil angrily pulled a penny out of Arthur’s pocket and threw it hard on the ground, only to hear a ting, as the coin rolled down the steps under the skirt of a lady in the front row.

At that moment, Arthur’s face turned dark, “Agares, what are you doing?

Are you mad?

Pick up that penny for me!

Do you know what a penny can buy?”

The Red Devil glared and said, “What can it buy?

A penny might just get you a portion of chips!

You frivolously spend ten pounds but guard a penny as if it were your life.

What?

Are you a seagull?

Is the meaning of your life just for that portion of chips?”

Arthur stared intently at the penny that had slipped under the skirt, hesitated for a long time, and finally sighed and decided to give up.

It wasn’t wise to provoke a noblewoman from unknown origins over such a trivial amount of money.

Arthur had always been rather vague about the concept of money, perhaps because he was used to simple and convenient conversion ratios in his previous life, so after switching to the British system of measurement, he still found it quite confusing.

However, overall, Arthur could vaguely sense that one pound was roughly equivalent to 1500 RMB, but as for the rest of the smaller denominations, he was still quite unsure.

Just as Arthur decided to leave his seat to change his mood, he suddenly heard a somewhat familiar voice coming from the row in front.

Turning his head, there was Eld, pretending to be genteel and cultivated.

Eld leaned down, pulled a coin out from under the lady’s skirt, and with a gentle and polite smile, addressed the lady in the front row, “Madam, is this your coin?”

Almost at the same moment Eld finished speaking, a sharp and loud slap resonated through the hall.

It was followed by an extremely angry shout, “How rude!”

A host of gentlemen eager to show off their manliness rushed forward, immediately piling on top of Eld like a stack of falling dominoes, pinning him at the very bottom.

Master Eld panicked and shouted, “Help!”

Arthur, frantic, rose to leave the hall, now immensely grateful for Sir Peel’s off-duty dress order issued just yesterday.

Fortunately, he wasn’t wearing his uniform today; otherwise, Eld might have recognized him and dragged him into an inescapable mess in the Thames River.

After all, his visit to the Royal Society today was not to attend the lecture, but to report to the Duke of Sussex on the St Giles Church investigation results and to further revise a new paper with Mr.

Faraday.

He kept his hat low and made his way along the aisle towards the upper-level lounge exclusively reserved for the Duke of Sussex.

Just as he reached the entrance, a servant came up with a smile, “Mr.

Hastings, we thought you had gone to Mr.

Faraday’s lab because we didn’t find you there.

It turns out you were actually in the lecture hall.”

Arthur smiled and said, “I planned to attend the full lecture before coming here, but today’s content seemed a bit dull.

By the way, is His Highness inside?”

The servant smiled and opened the door to the lounge, “His Highness is inside discussing art collections with friends.

He instructed that you should come in directly when you arrive.”

Arthur nodded slightly and walked into the lounge on the red carpet.

As he entered, he saw the Duke of Sussex sitting under a scenic oil painting, leaning on a leather sofa, sipping wine through the window glass during the lecture.

Today, he was dressed in a pale red, fitted tailcoat, and sitting next to him was a young man of about Arthur’s age, who wore a black suit and a white pleated shirt underneath.

The young man was pointing at a half-meter long turtle specimen on the table and smiling as he explained its origin.

“Your Highness, I guess only someone who understands both natural history and art collecting as you do would appreciate this.”

The Duke of Sussex leaned forward slightly, scrutinizing the specimen closely, “The shell is emerald green, the head has light red spots, and the belly has yellow-green stripes; it’s from South America, right?”

Upon hearing this, the young man immediately laughed and complimented, “I knew I was right to gift it to you, Your Highness.

You really know your stuff.”

At that moment, the servant gently knocked on the door and announced, “Your Highness, Mr.

Hastings has arrived.”

The Duke of Sussex looked up with a delighted expression and clapped his hands, “I’ve seen the newspapers these days, you’ve saved countless lives, I knew I could count on you for this kind of investigation!”

Arthur initially performed a humble bow of greeting, then said, “Your Highness, you flatter me.

Investigating cases is my duty, and there’s nothing particularly remarkable about it.”

Before the Duke of Sussex could respond, the young man next to him asked with a smile, “Your Highness, is this the most outstanding police officer in Great Britain, Police Superintendent Arthur Hastings?”

The Duke of Sussex winked at the young man, “Lionel, you are well-informed indeed.”

The young man, upon hearing this, laughed and nodded, “Your Highness, as you know, those of us in the financial business have to be well-informed, otherwise, we stand to lose a lot of money.”

With that, the young man stepped forward and offered his hand to Arthur, “Hello, Mr.

Hastings.

I’ve heard about you from His Highness for quite some time, and I was wondering if I might have the honor of getting to know you?”

Arthur, somewhat confused by the approach, asked, “May I know your name, please?”

Realizing his abruptness, the young man laughed heartily to break the awkwardness, “I almost forgot to introduce myself; my name is Lionel Rothschild.

I’m a banker by profession and hunting is my hobby.

If you ever need advice on stocks, loans, or perhaps a hunting companion, feel free to visit me anytime in the London Financial City.”

Just then, the shadow of the Red Devil suddenly appeared behind Arthur.

Agares flicked his long tongue, licking his shriveled lips, his saliva almost dripping onto Arthur’s shoulder.

“Arthur, guess what I smell?

It’s the rich, enticing scent of Mammon!”