Chapter 117: The Proud Gallic Rooster
Chapter 117 – The Proud Gallic Rooster
In the Greenwich Police Station, a place normally shunned by the citizens of London, has become a mecca for journalists.
There was naturally a reason why it could make them so crazy.
That’s because they’ve heard that the Frenchman, rescued from the high seas by the Royal Navy, is now being protected here.
Nearly a hundred reporters from all kinds of small and large newspapers blocked this place, their high interview enthusiasm even made Arthur had to order to cancel some of the patrols of the police, and temporarily transfer them back to maintain the order of the scene.
And in his office, Arthur also had to carry out a certain degree of temporary training on that fat Frenchman before putting him out for an interview.
He looked at Dumas, who was dressed in loose civilian clothes with a broken felt hat on his head, and couldn’t help but shake his head, “Mr. Dumas, what’s that on your head? Can that even be considered a hat?”
Dumas sniffed and immediately sneered back, “Wow! Mr. Hastings, what is that under your hat? Is that a brain?”
Dumas said this, immediately attracted the red devil watching the side of the laughter.
Arthur, on the other hand, helplessly shrugged his shoulders as he seriously said, “Mr. Dumas, I’m not here to fight with you today. I’m just stating a fact that you can’t wear a hat like that out for an interview. Otherwise, if those reporters see you, they might have to add more fuel to the fire and make up stories about us mistreating you.”
Dumas reached out and knocked on the table as this fat man asked, “Did you not mistreat me?”
Arthur cupped his chin and thought back to the collection of French jokes that had been told over the days, and couldn’t help but smile awkwardly, “Those were all mental, at the very least we didn’t abuse you physically.”
But Dumas wasn’t going to be conciliatory when he heard this, and he sternly demanded, “You must apologize to me on behalf of the Greater London Constabulary and the Royal Navy for your previous actions!”
Arthur sniffed, his face a little tangled: “With all due respect, Mr. Dumas, it is true that Scotland Yard and the Royal Navy have no precedent for surrendering to France. However, if you are truly in dire need of an apology, I would suggest that you go to our Prime Minister, the Duke of Wellington. It has been rather a long time ago, but after all, the Army did once surrender to the French. You will recall, Yorktown, Virginia, in the eastern United States, in the last century, 1781.”
Dumas took a deep breath at that, and as he surveyed the young man, who was a few years younger than he was, he suddenly had the feeling of a chess match.
This was the first fellow he had ever met in his life who could bargain with him at the mouth.
He took off his broken felt hat and opened his mouth, ”Alright, then I’ll listen to you. It’s actually fine for me not to wear a hat, only you Brits like to wear hats, after all, as long as most Brits take off their hats, that glittering head can simply pierce other people’s eyes.”
Arthur nodded deeply at his words, “You are worthy of being a great playwright, the words you say are always so literate.”
Dumas sniffed, “How did you know I was a playwright?”
Arthur pretended to be embarrassed and spoke, “Mr. Dumas, I forgot to tell you that I actually admire your talent very much. I happened to have seen your amazing play, Henry III and His Court. The play was not only a hit in Paris, but it has also reached London in the last couple of years, and I have seen it many times in the Old Vic, but each time it has stayed with me.”
Arthur so bragged about Dumas, this time it was Dumas who was embarrassed, he coughed twice, proudly raised his head and said, “It’s not really much, it’s just a mediocre play. But I’m also very grateful for your support for me, gaining a fan on the island on the other side of the strait does make me feel very happy.”
Hearing this, Arthur couldn’t help but turn the conversation around, “But, well, I actually have a favorite French playwright.”
“Who?” Dumas raised an eyebrow, “Voltaire? Diderot? Or maybe Rousseau?”
Arthur shook his head slightly, “No, no, no, they are all too old for me. I’m talking about a writer about your age, Victor Hugo.”
“You like Victor?” Dumas nodded thoughtfully, “But it makes sense. After all, he wrote that Cromwell, and I’ve long heard that he’s quite popular in England.”
It was Arthur’s turn to be surprised, “You know him?”
“Of course!” Dumas said, “I’ve even had dinner with him, we’re sort of ordinary friends, but not particularly well acquainted.”
Arthur sniffed, and without moving, picked up his handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his head.
Dumas chatted about literature and his aggressiveness dropped significantly as he asked with interest, “What’s your favorite work by Victor?” Dumas this time can be regarded as Arthur asked, he has not read Dumas mouth Hugo masterpiece “Cromwell”, but is not sure at this time “Notre Dame de Paris” and other masterpieces into the book.
So he could only reply ambiguously, “Rather than say which of Mr. Hugo’s works I like, I like some of the golden sayings in his books. I have always thought that Mr. Hugo has a gift for comedy that is beyond the reach of ordinary people.”
Dumas sniffed and immediately furrowed his eyebrows, “You’re not making this up, are you? Victor wrote all historical positive dramas, when did he ever write a comedy?”
Arthur shook his head, “You don’t understand, different words look different to different people. You should know that Shakespeare once said that there are a thousand Hamlets in the eyes of a thousand people. In the eyes of the French, Mr. Hugo writes positive plays and tragedies. But in the eyes of the English, Mr. Hugo writes comedies.”
“Like what?” Dumas nodded slightly as he seemed to think of some writing technique.
Arthur spoke up, “Like the line – all of Europe is attacking France while the French are attacking Paris. What could be more tragic than that? It’s epic tragedy!
The French think it’s tragic, and the English all have laughed their asses off.”
Dumas couldn’t help but clutch his sore, aching head when he heard this, and he hissed and sucked in his breath, wanting to retort, but feeling that any retort would pale in the face of the truth.
He sighed, ”Forget it, I won’t bother with you. Which book is this quote from Victor just now? I’ll have to find it later and take a good look.”
Arthur didn’t answer, but just spoke, “You’d better go out and finish the interview first. If you don’t go out, I’m worried that this group of reporters might be preparing to trash the police station.”
Dumas was like a frosted eggplant, and even his pompadour, which used to be raised proudly, drooped.
He asked, “Is there anything I should be aware of during the interview?”
Arthur couldn’t help but sniff, “Why are you suddenly so cooperative?”
Dumas glared without any good humor, “What else? Wouldn’t I have to be sent back to France if I say the wrong thing?”
Arthur snickered, “Are you afraid that the current king, Louis-Philippe, will remove your head?”
Dumas looked at the light rain outside the window with a complicated mood, and he held his tongue for half a day before he spat out the truth in his heart.
“Hmph! I’m not afraid of him, he’s just a usurper. I’m merely afraid that when I go back, I’ll start to resist inciting the great French people to attack Paris again!”
Arthur also laughed and sighed, “That’s just it, I’ll simply accompany you to attend the interview. I’m also worried that with your fiery temper, in case you get angry under the press’s questioning and say something you shouldn’t have said in passing, that would be a big problem.
By the way, I have to inform you separately that according to the orders issued by the Ministry of the Interior and Scotland Yard Headquarters, you cannot stay away from the sight of the Greenwich Police District for the time being after the interview, at least not from my sight.”
“Why is that?” Dumas scanned Arthur up and down, “You English police play that French thing too? Heh, but it’s understandable, after all, we learned all this stuff from us.”
Arthur said, “It’s not so much about learning or not learning, I have to be honest with you, the reason we went to such lengths to save your life is not because of how determined the Home Office and Scotland Yard are about fighting crime.
Rather, it was that the bigwigs thought that you couldn’t die at the hands of the French even if you had to, and if all that had captured you this time was a common slave trader, we don’t suppose we would have chased you out onto the high seas, let alone deployed the Royal Navy.
Therefore, although I will still monitor and protect you, the content of the monitoring is limited to preventing you from falling into the hands of your compatriots. If you happen to commit any other crimes, we can still grant you maximum freedom of choice.”
Saying this, Arthur paused for a moment, and then asked with a smile, “If you look at it this way, does our Scotland Yard police still look like the French military police?”
Dumas’s eyes twitched, “To be honest, in some ways, perhaps you are not as good as the French military police. Either you don’t care or you’re all in charge, what kind of devil’s work is this half-and-half approach to policing?”
Arthur rose from his chair as he patted Dumas on the shoulder, “Come on, Mr. Dumas. This is the characteristic national nature of Great Britain, which you will become familiar with later, and herein lies the difference between the English and the French. Come on, let’s go to the interview.”
(End of chapter)