Chapter 125: The Butterfly Named Arthur Ripples
Chapter 125 The Butterfly Named Arthur Creates Ripples
Lionel stood in the trading hall, holding a cup of coffee as he watched Arthur and his group leave.
Only after making sure that Arthur had gone far away did he then wave at the gray-haired old servant standing behind him and asked, ”Why would the Duke of Wellington suddenly commandeer the rooms in the Regency Crescent Building? This is not like his personality, hasn’t he always wished to keep a certain distance from us?”
The old servant read softly, “From what your father said, this time it was an unexpected situation. There is an exceptionally distinguished guest who came all the way across the channel to this place, and the Duke of Wellington was unable to find a suitable house for a while, which is why he asked the errand boy to come and ask us for a favor.”
“Far across the Channel?” Lionel sipped his coffee, he thought for a moment and opened his mouth to ask, “The guest is from France?”
The old servant nodded slightly, “More than that, and that guest has also just been inferior, so with a belly full of fire, it really doesn’t make sense not to arrange a good room for him.”
“Ah ……” Lionel’s mind slowly cleared, “It seems the guest this time is that obnoxious Charlie? Doesn’t he often throw Uncle James a curve in Paris? And at the end of the day, he has the nerve to seek the services of our house agent?”
The old servant shook his head and said, “Young master, it would be best for you not to address a former king in such a manner. Although he has lost his power, no one can guarantee if he will rise again.”
“Rise again?” Lionel disdainfully said, “He is not the only Frenchman who seeks to rise again in the Regency Crescent, right, what number of rooms in the Crescent does that Joseph live in?”
The old servant opened the document held in his hand, he flipped through it for a moment, then his face quickly became strange.
He held his forehead with a headache and spoke, “Joseph Bonaparte lives next door to him.”
Lionel laughed out loud at his words, and his laughter startled the guests in the trading hall who all looked at the place with astonished faces.
Lionel took out a handkerchief and wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes that came out of laughter as he opened his mouth.
“Alas …… this time can have fun to see, one is Napoleon’s brother, one is the French Bourbon dynasty’s abolitionist king Charles. This must be God’s arrangement, everything is predestined. Where do you need to go to Paris to see the French Civil War, there’s this great drama in the Regency Crescent every day.
I really can’t wait to see the expressions on their faces when the two of them meet, the best playwrights probably couldn’t have created such a divine plot. Arthur probably doesn’t know yet what a surprise he’s given the world by humbling Regency Crescent House.”
The old servant sniffed, “In fact, even if Mr. Hastings didn’t humble himself, it is estimated that the subsequent episodes would still be wonderful. Have you forgotten that? That Mr. Dumas beside him, his father is the Black Devil who had followed Napoleon, General Thomas Alexander Dumas. If he meets Joseph Napoleon, I’m sure it will be a rendition of a real-life magic story as well.”
Hearing this, Lionel suddenly raised his hand and snapped his fingers, “I’d almost forgotten if you hadn’t mentioned that one. By the way, you help me to write a letter to Uncle James, you tell him for me that the business of helping the French government to contact another suitable candidate to kidnap Mr. Dumas back to his country is not something we intend to continue. What Fred didn’t do is what he didn’t do, and that’s the end of the matter.”
The old servant nodded slightly and said, “This is indeed a wise choice, to win the trust of King Louis-Philippe of France, there should be a lot of ways on the Paris side, no need to take the risk of doing this kind of thing.”
Lionel smiled and shook his head, “You are right, but this is not the only reason. The most important thing is that Inspector Hastings, no, maybe it’s better to call Superintendent Hastings. Well …… or not, I should say that since my friend Arthur has openly accepted my friendship, I can’t make things difficult for him, don’t you think so?”
The old servant listened with some hesitation, “But if you do this, will it conflict with the Rothschild family’s usual line to the top. The rank of the Superintendent of Scotland Yard is certainly not low, but you can’t afford to spend so much energy on him, can you?”
When Lionel heard this, a smiling face couldn’t help but slowly chill, “Do you know about my father’s visit to the Duke of Wellington a while ago?”
“Know.” The old servant nodded slightly, “His Lordship originally went to 10 Downing Street in high spirits, but after he came back, he became depressed, and I noticed that during meals, His Lordship’s hands kept shaking, and he couldn’t even hold a dinner fork. I have never seen Mr. Nathan in this condition since I followed the Rothschilds to London.”
Lionel took a deep breath and spoke, “And do you know why he is like this?”
The old servant shook his head, “No.”
Lionel’s face had more than a touch of huff, “We’ve been trying to maintain good relations with the royal family and Tory dignitaries all these years, and we’ve given them all the support they need in terms of finances, but now, even the political restrictions on the Catholics and the dissidents of the State Church have been lifted, but the rights and interests related to the Jews are still stuck in the same place.
Therefore, a while ago, my father, for the sake of this matter, brought a petition for Jewish emancipation signed by tens of thousands of Jews to pay a special visit to the Duke of Wellington to talk to him about this aspect of the problem. But what happened? Guess what the Duke of Wellington said to my father?
He said: ‘I will not commit the Government to anything on the question of Jewish Emancipation, and solemnly recommend that the presentation of the Jewish Emancipation Petition to Parliament be postponed.’ If you persist in not doing so, the associated risks and consequences will be borne by the groups involved, and I will not make any promises of protection to you’.”
Lionel couldn’t help but pause as he said this, he took a deep breath and looked at his servant and asked, “So, do you see now why I’m betting on my new friend? Rothschild’s twenty to thirty years of upper class operation in Britain has been rewarded with this. It shows that just going the upper class route, at least in Britain, doesn’t work.
What we need is not just the friendship of a great man like the Duke of Wellington, but also the friendship of a rising star like Arthur, who started out in the middle of nowhere. Maintaining the friendship of big men requires us to give tens and even hundreds of thousands of pounds a year.
But for a rising star like Arthur, it may be a loan of 350 pounds and a few small pieces of news, and, of course, it may require a little bit of me to give a little bit of my insignificant feelings.
I’ve had enough of my father’s groveling before the big shots, and I prefer to talk friendship and incidentally do business again with someone like Arthur who is willing to level with me, than to curry favor with those people without a bottom line.”
Lionel put on his hat and straightened his clothes, then spoke at the servant.
“Go this afternoon and get Arthur’s title papers in order, and send them to the Greenwich police station by evening. In a couple of days, you will deliver another letter to his mansion for me; I intend to invite him to join my hunting club. I’ve had enough of complimenting elderly hunters who are about to meet God, and I still prefer to spend time with my younger friends than with them.”
The old servant asked, “Is this also to win Mr. Hastings’ friendship?”
“No!” Lionel looked like he was a bit angry, “It’s just for fun, can you stop being like my father all the time and making my life always so utilitarian. This Arthur guy seems okay, it’s better to get him to play with me than to hang out with those condescending old men, I have to have some fun in my life!”
With those words, Lionel took an exasperated step out of the trading hall.
“Young master!” The old servant called out to him, but Lionel ignored him.
Seeing this situation, the old servant could only helplessly shake his head, “Still not mature enough, a man of the Rothschild family can’t be so childish.”
…… At dusk and sunset, on a public carriage, the roof was piled up with luggage, and the four big men in the carriage were crowded into a ball.
Elder whistled and grinned, “Arthur! I can’t believe your new home is in Lancaster Gate, it’s not far from my uncle’s.”
Arthur leaned against the window and had a laugh back, “Well, well, well, well, knowing you live in Meyer, you can see Buckingham Palace in two steps and St. James’s Park from the window sill.”
Elder sniffed and glared, “Arthur, I’m not trying to show off today!”
Arthur glanced at him, “Then it used to be minion?”
Elder playfully poked him in the chest, “Can you not be so petty, that’s my uncle’s property, not mine. By the way, let me discuss something with you, I’ll move in with you too, is that okay?”
“Yes!” Arthur agreed without even thinking.
Elder was pleasantly surprised, “Really?”
Arthur nodded, then flipped out the loan documents and glanced at them before reaching out to Elder, “Rent, three pounds eight shillings a month.”
“Are you kidding me?” Eldad glared, “I thought I was living in gold! Two shillings a week, I can’t give more than that.”
Arthur glared, “That’s fine, you live in the lavatory then.”
Elder curtly said, “Arthur, don’t be so desperate, for the sake of our friendship, three shillings a week.”
Arthur stared at him for half a day before nodding hopelessly, “It’s not easy to take advantage of you.”
“You promise?” Elder panicked and fished out two one pound notes from his pocket and shoved them into Arthur’s hand, “I’ll pay for the thirteen weeks first, and the extra shilling counts as a gift from me to you.”
Seeing this, Darwin scratched his head, which was already showing some signs of shagging, and similarly pulled out two tickets, “Is it so cheap? Then I’ll rent one too.”
Arthur cupped four one-pound tickets in his hand, and the rest of his eyes glanced at Dumas’, “Fatty, yours?”
Dumas sniffed, “Mine? It’s your honor that I’m living in your house, don’t be ungrateful, you Englishman.”
Arthur sighed at his words, he shook his head, “Do you know why the English hate France?”
“Why?”
Arthur tucked the ticket into his arms, “It’s because the French don’t know how to be humble.”
“Modesty?” Alexandre Dumas gave a disdainful pat on the back, “No one knows more humility than the French!”
Seeing this, Elder couldn’t help but laugh and point at him, “Yes, yes, yes, that’s what we’re talking about.”
The four of them talked and laughed all the way, suddenly, the carriage stopped violently, Dumas didn’t brake for a moment and directly pressed Elder under his body.
Elder couldn’t stand being pressed down and couldn’t help but growl, “Fatty! You get up quickly!”
Arthur, on the other hand, knocked on the window of the car in front and rushed to the driver and asked, “What’s going on, sir?”
Embarrassed, the coachman took off his hat and returned, “There’s a bit of a traffic jam up front, so we might have to wait a little while.”
“Where are we now?”
“Marble Arch, if you are in a hurry, you can also get off here. I see that all four gentlemen are in good shape, and with this luggage on board, you should have no problem carrying it to Lancaster Gate.”
Arthur stuck his head out to have a look and sure enough there was already a long line in front of him.
He sighed and spoke to his brothers, “Alright, let’s get off here. For the rest of the way, let’s walk over there and get some exercise.”
The four of them opened the car door and removed their luggage from the carriage.
They had just unloaded their stuff when an impassioned speech came out of Arthur’s ears.
He turned his head to see that across the street across the parapet in Hyde Park stood a young man in a black tuxedo, who was delivering an impassioned speech to the audience on the platform.
Unfortunately, his audience was small in comparison to his remarkable oratory talent.
“I don’t care about party or no party, I’m standing here independently without party reliance! But at the same time, I am also a Conservative Party, and I advocate the preservation of all that is good in our system. Moreover, I am equally the Radical Party, and I am radical in demanding the expunging of all that is bad in our system! Vote for me, ladies and gentlemen, a vote for me is a vote for the future of Great Britain!”
(End of chapter)