The Shadow of Great Britain

192: Chapter 133: Paganini of Scotland Yard 192: Chapter 133: Paganini of Scotland Yard Lady Byron?

At such a banquet, in such a location, and considering the identities and ranks of the attendees, Arthur couldn’t imagine any Miss Byron other than the one from the Byron Family who would qualify to stand here.

Arthur thought for a moment, intending to compliment Ada’s father’s work, but before he could even speak, he saw Ada hold up her index finger to her lips.

Perhaps having had too many similar encounters, she pre-emptively said, “Shh!

Please don’t recite my father’s work.

My mother dislikes his poetry, hates the man himself even more, and wouldn’t let me associate with other poets for that reason.

If you don’t want to be sent away by her, it’s best to talk about something else.”

Arthur was taken aback for a moment, then, recognizing the situation, he asked, “Why?

Is it because the honorific Lord Byron…

no, that man broke your mother’s heart?”

Ada nodded solemnly, “Yes, and even before that man died, she wouldn’t tell me why they divorced.

It was only later that I learnt it was completely because that man didn’t love her as he claimed.

He wrote so many flowery love letters simply to use the marriage to subdue the ‘Granarvan’ publishing scandal.

Moreover, he had an affair with my aunt…”

Upon hearing this, Arthur didn’t press for details, but nodded in sympathy.

“What he did was indeed too much.

Even though he was a great poet, he is no match for the leatherworking officer from Scotland Yard who hardly knows a few words when it comes to his attitude towards marriage and children.”

“A leatherworking officer?” Ada looked surprised, “I didn’t know that Scotland Yard had officers who were leatherworkers.

I thought all the officers there were outstanding researchers like you.”

Arthur chuckled, “The distance between researchers and leatherworkers might not be as far as you think.

Do you know Mr.

Faraday?”

Ada nodded, “My mother had him teach me, he’s a very refined gentleman and truly deserves all the praise he receives.”

Arthur said, pursing his lips, “Mr.

Faraday was originally a blacksmith.

He told me that his family comes from a lineage of blacksmiths, though his father didn’t want him to continue in the trade.

He secretly learned how to forge nails.

He once joked with me that the reason he could twist wires so quickly and well is entirely because he inherited the Faraday Family’s excellent blacksmithing traditions.”

Upon hearing this, Ada couldn’t help but laugh heartily, but she quickly realized it wasn’t quite appropriate and covered her mouth with her hand, muffling her giggles, and she quietly changed the subject.

“But it makes sense, officers have to fight with criminals, and scientists twisting wires is also manual labor.

If you chose a poet who can only write love letters to do it, they’d definitely be unable to manage.

If my mother had realized this back then, she wouldn’t have been deceived.

Despite telling me to stay away from poets, she has never moved on from that circle herself.

Even after the divorce, she didn’t remarry and clung to that box full of love letters he wrote her, remaining single to this day.

You might not know, but the reason she spends two hours less on mathematics every day is that she’s reliving the memories of those love letters…”

Just as Ada said this, her tone suddenly changed.

She straightened her posture and showed an innocent, radiant smile towards someone behind Arthur, “Mother, Lady Somerville.”

Lady Milbanke lifted her voluminous skirts slightly, strolling with her friend Lady Somerville to where Ada and Arthur were.

She first nodded and thanked Arthur, “Mr.

Hasting, I’m troubling you, and thank you for looking after my daughter.”

Arthur responded with a smile, “My lady, it’s not a big deal at all.

Looking after your daughter is far easier than supervising Mr.

Eld Carter.

Don’t take my word for it, ask Mrs.

Copper if you like.”

“Is that so?” Lady Milbanke turned and glanced at Eld, who was talking animatedly among a group of young ladies, and she said doubtfully, “I find Mr.

Carter quite an agreeable young man!”

Hearing this, Lady Somerville also took Lady Milbanke’s arm and said, “Annie, let’s not go there, your judgment of men is always off.”

Then, Lady Somerville kindly asked Ada, “You must have nearly finished learning what I taught you last time, right?”

Ada nodded obediently, “I’ve finished both Lagrange’s ‘Theory of Analytic Functions’ and Laplace’s ‘Theory of Probability Analysis’.”

Lady Somerville inquired, “Did you have any questions during the process?”

Ada nodded again, “Just one question.”

“What is it?”

Ada hesitated, twisting her hands as if unsure whether to ask her question.

Seeing this, Lady Somerville quickly comforted her, “Don’t be afraid to ask, it’s normal to encounter questions while learning mathematics.”

After saying this, Lady Somerville gestured towards Arthur and said, “Not everyone has the natural talent in studying Natural Philosophy like Mr.

Hasting.

To this day, I still don’t understand how Mr.

Hasting could associate Davy’s lamp with Faraday’s cage and further combine Dalton’s atomic theory to deduce the conclusion about electrically charged atoms.”

Hearing Lady Somerville’s compliment, Arthur humbly replied, “Lady, you flatter me.

It was all just luck.

Even if I didn’t arrive at the conclusion, Mr.

Faraday or another researcher would have found it sooner or later.

At most, I just expedited the discovery by a few years.”