The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 1241: Chapter 149: The Original Instigator Was Actually the Nightingale_3

Arthur did some quick math in his head and came to an obvious conclusion—he must get the Duke of Sussex to join in.

Just in case, Arthur felt it necessary to meet Lionel when he returned to his hometown Frankfurt for the Rothschild Family’s annual meeting.

Once the Duke joins, the probability of the railway line being approved will soar.

With Rothschild’s maneuvering, Liszt’s railway company could almost be equated with winning the bid.

Arthur was pondering this matter when he suddenly heard poetry reciting drifting from the window of the hotel across the street on the second floor.

”The original instigator was the nightingale, it kept singing: Cheep! Cheep! It sang life into everything, the violets and apples bloomed, the grass turned green.

The nightingale pecked open its own chest, red blood flowed out, and from the blood grew a beautiful rose tree, to which it confessed its passionate love.

What moved all of us birds was the fresh blood flowing from its wound. Once this rose song disappeared, the entire forest would be destroyed.”

Arthur squinted upwards and saw that the poet was none other than his dear friend Heinrich Heine.

He was familiar with this poem, which was the mourning poem ”The Original Instigator was the Nightingale” created by Heine last year.

Although the poem was of high caliber, clearly Heine was not reciting it to mourn Arthur.

”Alas...” Arthur sighed, then quickly replaced it with a smile and waved his hat at Heine: ”Heinrich, are you interested in the railway too?”

”Railway? No, I just think you owe me an apology.” Heine rubbed his itchy earlobe: ”Arthur, I wouldn’t go telling a girl she looks like a Dragon Cavalry in front of her. You made me lose face in front of Miss Fiona.”

”Ah...” Hearing Heine bring it up, Arthur immediately guessed that Fiona had probably gone to fuss about German heritage in front of Heine.

He replied with a smile: ”But wasn’t the Dragon Cavalry joke something you told me?”

”Oh, that wasn’t me.”

Heine solemnly said: ”I think you need to help me clear my reputation. I’ve always believed that German girls are the best in the world. Back when I was studying in Gottingen, I often heard citizens criticizing Gottingen girls for having feet that were too large. To help them recover their honor, I have long been researching how to sternly refute this fallacy.

Therefore, I attended lectures on comparative anatomy at the school, copied the most obscure works in the library, and spent several hours on Weinde Street observing passing women’s feet, eventually summarizing the results of this research in a comprehensive academic paper. It wasn’t until I unearthed that paper from the library’s dusty archives that Miss Fiona believed it wasn’t me who was disparaging German girls.”

”Really?” Arthur asked with a laugh: ”What did you write in the paper?”

Heine began counting on his fingers, listing proudly: ”I talked about: one, the general theory of feet. Two, the feet of the elderly. Three, elephant feet. Four, the feet of Gottingen women. Five, a summary of my opinions on these feet in Ulrich Garden. Six, I connected these feet for observation, taking the opportunity to expand to calves, knees, and so on. Seven, if I could find large enough paper, I would have included several copperplate engravings of Gottingen women’s foot styles.”

Upon hearing this, even Schneider, who was beside Arthur, couldn’t help but burst into laughter. The diplomat laughed heartily: ”How did you use such a paper to convince Miss Fiona that you’re not a slanderer of German girls?”

”Quite regrettably.” Heine sighed and shrugged: ”Miss Fiona only looked at the title of my paper. It shows that indeed, she has some German heritage in her; she is clever but not wise, likes to seek the truth but doesn’t understand that what appears to be the truth is actually hypocrisy.”

After speaking, Heine gave Arthur a thumbs-up and said: ”But I still have to congratulate you, Arthur. At least Miss Fiona’s physique doesn’t quite align with the Dragon Cavalry, and her feet aren’t typical cases compared to Gottingen girls.”

Hearing this guy indulge in his jesting again, Arthur could only helplessly shrug: ”Heinrich, I think instead of worrying about Austrian police and Prussian soldiers, you might as well worry more about German girls.”

”What?!” Heine exclaimed: ”There’s no way my crimes deserve to alarm the Dragon Cavalry!”

Finally, he added: ”But you’re right, compared to being trampled to death by an elephant, it’s more humane to be arrested by the police or soldiers.”