The Shadow of Great Britain

123: Chapter 83: The Million Pound Youth Edition 123: Chapter 83: The Million Pound Youth Edition Arthur glanced at Eld and then, pulling him and the Great Dumas out of the police station, they made their way into the café across the street.

Indeed, as soon as they entered the café, he spotted Darwin waiting in a corner seat.

Today, Darwin seemed to be in an equally good mood, sporting a new hat that looked quite valuable, as he fiddled with a set of brand-new specimen preparation tools at his table.

Arthur, with Eld and the others in tow, took their seats, and as soon as he had settled, he couldn’t resist pulling out the cheque from his pocket to glance at it.

The bright, dazzling mark on it immediately caught his eyes.

It was a deposit note for 1000 British Pounds from the Bank of England.

Arthur took a deep breath, this was already equal to ten years’ worth of a Police Superintendent’s salary at Scotland Yard.

With a smug puff on his pipe, Eld asked, “How about that?

I told you the reward for finishing this big deal wouldn’t be low, right?

Arthur, with this 1000 pounds, you can consider yourself quite accomplished among Londoners under thirty.”

Arthur glanced at him, first ordered a cup of tea, and then asked, “Exactly how much did the ‘Black Thorn’ sell for?

Surely, Colonel Fitzroy is being overly generous, isn’t he?”

With a smile, Eld started playing with a donut on his plate and replied, “The economy has been recovering nicely recently, so the Black Thorn fetched a pretty good price.

After accounting for depreciation and repair costs, there was still a surplus of close to 5000 pounds.”

Arthur placed a sugar cube in his tea and stirred it as he asked, “Even so, out of a surplus of 5000 pounds, Fitzroy would have only taken 1250 pounds; the rest would have to be divided among the crew members.

Although I helped him out a little during the battle, giving me so much money all at once, isn’t it a bit too polite?”

He tried to hand back the cheque, but Eld pushed his hand back down, “Arthur, just take it.

Fitzroy won’t feel at ease if you don’t.”

Hearing this, Darwin couldn’t help but chime in with a goofy smile, “That’s right, Arthur.

You may not know this, but aside from the indentured slaves, there were also quite a number of gold coins and smuggled items on board the ‘Black Thorn’.”

“Smuggled items?

What smuggled items?” Eld, as if amnesiac, blustered at Darwin with a red face and thick neck, “Charles, I warn you, don’t spout nonsense here!

Can’t bundles of banknotes shut your mouth?”

Arthur, hearing this, was no longer polite.

He directly asked, “How much did you and Charles take?”

At this question, Eld just laughed and held up two fingers, “We can’t compare to you, we are quite satisfied with this amount.

Thanks to you, both Charles and I were given a share of the spoils according to the officers’ standard rewards.”

The Great Dumas, overhearing this, also felt some envy, “Ah, why wasn’t I given a share.”

Eld looked at the stout man and critiqued without mercy, “Enough with that, you picked up a life already, aren’t you satisfied?

If it were up to Fred’s plan, you were supposed to be categorized as merchandise.

Sold to Santo Domingo in the West Indies as cheap labor for 20 pounds a head.”

Arthur thought Eld’s comment would ignite the Great Dumas’ temper, but instead the Frenchman sighed self-deprecatingly.

“Perhaps a trip to Santo Domingo wouldn’t be so bad.

After all, that’s where my ancestors made their fortune.”

At this, Eld frowned and asked, “Your ancestors were slave plantation owners in the West Indies?”

The Great Dumas poured himself a cup of tea, unfazed by the question, “No, my ancestors were the blacks who worked on the plantations.”

“Blacks?!”

Eld, shocked by this reveal, almost let his jaw drop.

He looked the Great Dumas up and down oddly and questioned, “Mate, are you joking with me?

You aren’t black!”

Meanwhile, Darwin had already begun pondering the Great Dumas’s appearance and physique thoughtfully.

As for Arthur, he was equally surprised but then, somehow understanding, he eyed the Great Dumas’s hairstyle, “No wonder your hair is so curly.

I thought even fashion-forward Frenchmen wouldn’t go to such lengths to curl their hair into such an inconvenient style.”

The Great Dumas took a sip of tea and said, “I thought you already knew my background.

After all, my surname says it all—Dumas isn’t exactly a common French name.”

Eld waved his hand and laughed loudly, “What’s so strange about that?

Last time I met a Frenchman, he even claimed his surname was ‘God’!”

The Great Dumas glared at Eld, slammed his hand down on the table, and stood up, “Sir, I am being serious with you!”

Eld, taking in the Great Dumas’s robust figure, smacked his lips and then picked up his tea cup obediently, “Please, continue.”

Great Dumas finally calmed down and settled back into his chair.

“My grandmother was a black slave sold to the plantations in the West Indies, her name was Mary Sésèt Dumas, and she was raped by my grandfather, the plantation owner, and gave birth to my father.

Speaking of which, my despicable grandfather had some fame.

Do you know of the Patri family from France?”

Arthur thought carefully and then nodded.

“It rings a bell; I seem to have come across that surname somewhere, apparently from Normandy.”

Great Dumas nodded in surprise.

“I underestimated you.

Yes, my grandfather was from Normandy, the Marquis of Patri from Normandy.

He had served as a Colonel of Artillery and General Quartermaster in France.

However, later due to his profligacy, he went bankrupt in France, so he could only manage a plantation in Santo Domingo.”

It was there that he bought my grandmother and raped her, and she gave birth to my father—Thomas-Alexandre Dumas.”

Later, when one of my grandfather’s relatives in France died, to scrape together money for his journey home, he sold both my grandmother and father again.

However, fortunately, maybe he still had a bit of conscience, or perhaps because he was too old to have children, so after he inherited the relative’s property, it didn’t take two years before he redeemed my father again.

After that, he raised my father as his heir, but you understand, having suffered such trauma in childhood, my father could never forgive that old scoundrel.

Therefore, as my father became an adult, the conflict with my grandfather intensified, especially due to his new stepmother.”

My father resolutely prepared to join the military; he changed his surname from Patri to his grandmother’s, Dumas, and then joined Napoleon’s army.”

With his brave and resilient spirit and unwavering courage, he rose to the position of Corps Commander of the French Alps.

He made the Austrians cry for their fathers; they called him ‘Black Devil’, and my father also followed Napoleon to conquer Cairo, earning many merits and honors.

But later on…”

Here, Great Dumas seemed somewhat resentful.

“To this day, I still don’t understand why Napoleon distanced himself from my father.

Perhaps it was because my father disagreed with Napoleon, or maybe it was my father’s unique surname?”

“I don’t understand it, but I think, with my father’s bravery in battle, he shouldn’t have been imprisoned.

I also don’t understand why Napoleon refused to pay my father his pension, not even allowing him to see him.”

“With my father’s contributions to France, he should have had a decent life, or at least a dignified funeral.”

“Not to die in poverty on the small plank bed at home, his only burial goods a cane he often used, even asking for the gold handle to be removed and left to his family because he felt he had left them too little.”

Eld couldn’t help cursing when he heard this: “Napoleon truly was no good!

I knew it, what good could come from a French dwarf?”

Upon hearing this, Great Dumas gestured dismissively: “Napoleon is Napoleon, France is France.

He was a good man but not fit to be the Emperor of France.

No one is worthy of the throne of France.

It is from Napoleon that I came to realize, no matter how good a person is, once in that position, they will always become dictatorial and heartless.

It is for this reason that I am a staunch republican.”

“If a person like Napoleon started to become autocratic after becoming Emperor, what sort of person is Louis Philippe, and does he deserve to sit on the throne of France?

It’s this I can’t stand, and that’s why I was persecuted by him and had to flee from France.”

Upon hearing this, Darwin pondered and asked, “So, having escaped this calamity, you probably can’t be at ease for the time being.

From your description, the French government might still attempt to harm you.”

“Assassination?” Eld’s eyes lit up when he heard this.

“Does this mean there might be another opportunity for action?

Then I must hurry Colonel Fitzroy to find someone to fix the Beagle up as soon as possible.”

Arthur glanced at Eld, taking a sip of his tea.

“Even if the French are fools, they wouldn’t repeat the same old trick.

If Louis Philippe really has such a deep grudge against Mr.

Dumas, I reckon he’ll just send an assassin next time to take care of him.

Since he intended to capture Mr.

Dumas alive this time, it’s clearly to make an example of him to the extreme Republican factions within the country.

If he insists on a second attempt after failing the first time, it would be more than a mere diplomatic provocation.

“Moreover, Sir Peel has informed me that the Foreign Office has already ordered the ambassador in France to lodge a formal representation and protest with the French government.

As for how the new French government will respond, that’s beyond what we can consider.”

Hearing this, Eld seemed somewhat deflated, and he flung his hand dismissively, “Damn General Cordington!

It’s fine to have a problem with the Ottomans, but why take issue with money too?

If he had left that pirate ship to us, I reckon we could have been rewarded with an extra seventy to eighty British Pounds worth of spoils.”

Having said this, Eld suddenly changed the topic.

“Right!

Arthur, now that you have so much money on you, have you thought about investing it in some business?”

Arthur, holding his teacup, saw Eld’s grinning face and subconsciously covered his own pocket with his other hand.

“What, are you going to lead me to fortune?”

Eld replied nonchalantly, “What ability do I have to do that?

I’m saying, why not consider buying a house?

You could buy one in London or in your hometown of Yorkshire.

“The advantage of buying a house in London is that besides living in it, you can easily rent out the vacant rooms.

“In your hometown, you should consider buying a bigger place, or maybe some farmland directly.

That way, during election times, people will come to your door asking to buy your votes, which is another significant income.”

Hearing this, Arthur considered for a moment, feeling like Eld might indeed have a point.

Leaving aside renting out houses, the current task given to him by the Home Office is to provide 24-hour surveillance and protection for Great Dumas, but how easy is that to achieve?

During the day, he could have some police officers accompany Great Dumas around, but at night, when everyone goes to sleep, it’s not feasible to have a few people guarding Dumas’s room, is it?

Even if Great Dumas agreed to it, the landlord and the other tenants might not.

He pulled out the one-thousand-pound cheque from the Bank of England and looked at it, then took out the five-hundred-pound draft from Rothschild’s Bank that he’d been warming in his pocket for several days.

He looked up at Eld and asked, “What kind of house do you think I could buy with one thousand five hundred pounds?”