Chapter 170: Paganini of Scotland Yard
Chapter 169 – Paganini of Scotland Yard
Miss Byron?
This kind of banquet, this kind of location, coupled with the status and rank of the guests at the scene, Arthur couldn’t think of any other Byron family’s young lady who could be qualified to stand here besides that Byron family no matter how much he thought about it.
Arthur thought about it and was about to compliment Ada’s father’s work twice, but before he could open his mouth, he saw Ada put up her index finger to block between her lips.
She had perhaps had similar encounters too many times, so it was as if she had spoken beforehand, “Hush! Never read my father’s works. My mother hates his verses, and hates him even more in person, and won’t let me touch other poets because of it. If you do not wish to be driven away by her, you had better talk of something else.”
Arthur froze for a moment, then rather knowingly changed his tune, “Why? Is it because Lord Byron …… no, that man broke your mother’s heart?”
Ada nodded solemnly, “That’s right, and even before that man died, she wouldn’t tell me why the two of them divorced back then. It wasn’t until later that I realized that it was entirely because that man didn’t love her that much at all, and that the reason he wrote her so many flowery love letters was merely to take advantage of the marriage to suppress the furore over the publication of Glenarvan. Besides, he is still with that aunt of mine ……”
Arthur sniffed and didn’t ask for clarification, he just nodded sympathetically.
“In this case, he did go too far. Though he is a marvelous poet, in his attitude towards marriage and children he is nothing compared to our Scotland Yard tanner constable who can’t recognize many words.”
“Inspector Tanner?” Ada looked a little surprised, “So there are Scotland Yard officers who have been tanners? I thought all the officers there were distinguished scientific researchers like you.”
Arthur smiled at that, “Actually, scientific researchers and leatherworkers are not that far apart, do you know Mr. Faraday?”
Ada nodded, “My mother asked him to give me a lesson, he is a very cultured gentleman, and fully deserves all the praise everyone heaps on him.”
Arthur pursed his lips, “Actually, Mr. Faraday was originally a blacksmith, he mentioned to me that his family was considered a family of blacksmiths, and even though his father didn’t want him to continue with blacksmithing, he secretly learned how to build nails. He also joked with me that the reason why he was able to roll the wires fast and well was entirely because he had inherited the fine blacksmithing tradition of the Faraday family.”
Ada laughed heartily at this, but then realized in a flash that this wasn’t quite appropriate, and she could only raise her hand to cover her mouth to curb her smile and change the subject in a small voice.
“But it’s true, police officers have to fight criminals, and scientists rubbing wires is physical work, so if you pick a poet who can only write love letters to do it, you definitely won’t be able to do it.
If my mother had recognized this back then, she wouldn’t have fallen for it. You don’t see her saying that I should stay away from poets, but she never got out of that circle herself.
Divorced and not remarried, just holding that big box of love letters written to her back then, has been single until today, you may not know, the reason why she plays two hours less math than I do every day is because she spends those two hours in recalling those love letters ……”
Ada had just said this when her words suddenly trailed off, she suddenly straightened her back and rushed behind Arthur with an innocent, bright smile, “Mother, Mrs. Somerville.”
Mrs. Milbanky, slightly lifting the hem of her wide skirts, paced her small steps with her friend, Mrs. Somerville, as they walked over to Ada and Arthur.
She began by nodding her thanks to Arthur, “Mr. Hastings, what a pleasure, thank you for looking after my daughter.”
Arthur laughed, “Ma’am, it’s no big deal. Looking after your daughter is much easier than looking after Mr. Elder Carter. If you don’t believe me, you can ask Mrs. Cowper.”
“Yes?” Mrs. Milbanki twisted her head to look at Elder, who was talking highly with the several ladies, and could not help but wonder, “I think Mr. Carter is a nice young man who is quite easy to get along with!”
Mrs. Somerville sniffed and also pulled Mrs. Milbanci, “Anne, it’s better to forget about it, you’ve always been inaccurate in looking at men.”
At the end of the sentence, Mrs. Somerville also kindly rushed to Ada and asked: “I handed over to you last time, you should learn almost, right?”
Ada nodded obediently, “Lagrange’s Theory of Analytic Functions and Laplace’s Theory of Probabilistic Analysis I’ve finished reading.”
Mrs. Somerville asked, “Were there any problems during the reading?”
Ada nodded again, “Only one problem.”
“What problem?”
Ada sniffed and hesitantly grabbed her hand, as if she was unsure whether to ask a question or not.
Seeing this, Mrs. Somerville quickly reassured, “Don’t be afraid to ask, it’s normal to encounter problems in the process of learning mathematics.”
At the end of the sentence, Mrs. Somerville also pointed to the side of Arthur said: “Not everyone in the process of studying natural philosophy, are like Mr. Hastings so talented, I still do not understand until now, why Mr. Hastings can David lamp and Faraday cage associated together, and also jumped combined with Mr. Dalton’s theory of atoms analyzed the atomic electrically charged conclusions .”
Hearing Mrs. Somerville complimenting himself, Arthur hurriedly said modestly, “Madam, you flatter me, that was all just luck. Even if I didn’t discover this conclusion, Mr. Faraday or other researchers would have seen the light sooner or later. At most, I only advanced the time of this conclusion by a few years.”
Arthur meant what he said, but nay Mrs. Somerville and Mrs. Milbanki thought otherwise.
Mrs. Milbancic exclaimed, “It is no wonder that you have developed a great friendship with Mr. Faraday; there is indeed something in common between the two of you in terms of personal character.”
Mrs. Somerville chimed in, “To be so accomplished at such a young age, but to still be able to remain humble is most rare. Mr. Hastings, I am sure that the theory of atomic charge will not be the end of your scientific career, but perhaps just a modest beginning. Your name will be forever etched in the history of Britain, and may you continue to make great contributions to the scientific community.”
“Thank you both for your blessings, they are really very much appreciated.” Arthur couldn’t help but pinch himself in his heart as he sniffed.
There were three main reasons why he ran to Faraday every now and then and came up with those strange things.
One reason was being forced by Faraday, another reason was to improve his chemistry knowledge in order to enhance his ability to solve crimes, and as for the last reason, it contained a little bit of insignificant selfishness.
To put it bluntly, he also wanted to fulfill some simple personal desires.
For example, Arthur thought that there was a possibility that through his lack of knowledge of physics, he could give Faraday some trivial tips, in order to let him get a refrigerator and other things as soon as possible.
Although the streets of London were lined with stores selling all kinds of fruit-flavored carbonated water, for Arthur it was better to have a cold one, whether it was winter or summer.
For a reason like this, it must have been difficult for Arthur to talk about, and he hurriedly redirected the conversation to Ada.
“It just so happens that such an outstanding mathematician and astrophysicist as Mrs. Somerville is standing right here, Miss Byron, which one of these problems have you encountered, speak up and I’m sure that Mrs. Somerville will be able to answer it for you.” When Ada heard this, she first looked wryly at Arthur, then commiserated, “The only problem I’ve encountered is that I don’t have one.”
As soon as Ada said this, both of the ladies present froze.
Mrs. Milbanki then said angrily, “Ada! That’s really rude and immodest of you.”
Seeing this, Mrs. Somerville also rushed up to round up the situation, “Anne, it’s nothing, we’ve been young too, you don’t want to stifle her creativity, you’ve been too harsh on her education.”
Ada saw that her mother was angry, and for a moment she was also a bit scared, she panicked and changed her words, “But …… but although I have no problem in math, but just now Mr. Hastings and I said a lot of new things, I can’t figure out things are actually still quite a lot. ”
As soon as she said this, Mrs. Somerville also came to be interested, she had been wanting to ask Arthur in detail about atomic charge before, only that she couldn’t find the time to come to Arthur for a while because she had to deal with the socializing of the banquet first.
At this time let her seize the opportunity, she just could rake over the atomic banding theory.
“Mr. Hastings, is what you were just saying to Ada about ……”
However, not waiting for Mrs. Somerville to finish her words, Arthur, who had picked up the landmine, snatched his mouth, and Superintendent Hastings, who had just suppressed the Hyde Park riot, knew that it was not advisable to fight for a long time here, or else, once he was caught by these female academics on both sides, he would die without a burial place.
As soon as he could, Superintendent Hastings caught a glimpse of the orchestra musicians entering the ballroom and decided to make a strategic move.
Arthur took off his hat and excused himself, “On the subject I have just discussed with Miss Byron, I shall elucidate it for you in the second scientific demonstration program. So, in order not to delay your dancing, I will go to the back and get ready.”
Hearing this, the Red Devil on the sidelines couldn’t help but taunt, “Scotland Yard does march faster than the lobster soldiers of Britain, Arthur, you’re barely close to Wellington, have you considered defecting to the War Department as a general?”
Arthur just glanced at the Red Devil and then hoofed it over to the musicians who had already stepped onto the stage to begin testing the pitch of their instruments.
He scanned the musicians and quickly recognized a pianist in a tuxedo and white shirt with a bowtie sitting at the piano adjusting his breath with his eyes closed.
He came over to the piano and softly inquired, “Sir, may I have the first song tonight?”
When that gentleman heard this, he was first stunned and then asked, “Are you also a musician hired by Mrs. Codrington?”
Arthur apologized, “I am the scientific guest visiting tonight, and I am sorry to inform you that I need to borrow your piano for a scientific demonstration.”
The other man’s realization dawned on him, “Ah! You are Mr. Arthur Hastings, aren’t you? Mrs. Codrington mentioned you to me earlier.”
Speaking of this, the other party also pursued with great interest, “I’ve heard that you are an electromagnetist, could it be that you intend to show us how to release lightning from the keys of a piano today? If you really want to do so, please be merciful and don’t break the piano, I still need to play tunes with it afterward.”
Arthur laughed, “It’s not true that I’m a researcher in electromagnetism, but I borrowed the piano today for the sole purpose of playing.”
The other party was even more interested after hearing this, “You turned out to be a hobbyist of music as well? No problem, just tell me what tunes you want to play. As long as your piece is not too out of the ordinary, the musicians of the London Philharmonic Society will be able to accompany you. If it’s too off the beaten path, you can leave us a copy of the score and we can practice it twice on the spot.”
When Arthur heard this, he simply leaned down and whispered in the other’s ear.
Only seeing Arthur’s lips move, the smile on the pianist’s face instantly became stiff.
His smile slowly tightened, and he stared at Arthur’s face in a serious manner, asking word for word, “Mr. Hastings, are you, indeed, sure?”
Arthur nodded slightly, “Do you need me to provide the sheet music?”
“No, not at all.” The pianist suddenly stood up and looked at Arthur gravely, “To tell you the truth, a significant portion of his recitals in London this year were accompanied by us, the London Philharmonic Society. This is a piece that we are simply too familiar with.”
Arthur smiled, “That’s good, after a while, please.”
“No, no trouble.” The pianist looked as if he was a little irritated, “But I must remind you that this piece is difficult enough to play on the violin. You may not know that because of this piece, many people even speculated that Paganini was afraid that he had made a deal with the devil and thus acquired the hands to be able to play this piece. Now I can’t imagine that anyone would dare to say that they can present it on the piano, can I take the liberty of asking how many years of professional piano education you have received?”
Arthur sniffed and simply shrugged off the back hem of his tuxedo as he slowly sat down on the bench that was set up in front of the piano.
He smiled and responded, “I’m sorry, sir, I have no professional piano education.”
“Huh?!” Now the pianist was truly annoyed, “Are you joking with me? A beginner who actually says he can play this piece.”
Arthur shook his head, “Don’t be hasty yet, sir. Although I have not received professional piano education, please rest assured that I did make a deal with the devil. In case you don’t know, this piece of music is still not cheap with the devil.”
The pianist smiled in exasperation at his words, “Is that so? Don’t blame me for not having warned you, you are still young now, if you make a fool of yourself at this kind of banquet, you might have a hard time in the social circle in the future.”
Arthur also smiled and responded, “Thank you for your kind reminder. Then, this gentleman …… Well, I haven’t asked for your honorable name yet.”
The pianist was simply furious and didn’t want to pay any attention to this unknowing young man, but his deep sense of propriety eventually forced him to reluctantly give his name.
He wanted to use his loud name to make this young man know what to do: “Member of the Academic Board of the London College of Music, Principal Conductor and Pianist of the London Philharmonic Society Orchestra, Ignaz Moscheles.”
Who knew that when Arthur heard this name, not only did he not wince, but instead he complimented him quite politely, “Ah! So it is you! I once wanted to go to the Royal Theater to listen to your performance, but I was so shy that I could only stand outside to listen to it, and although it was raining heavily that day, and I couldn’t hear it very clearly standing outside, I still thought that your Piano Concerto No. 4 was very beautiful and moving.”
Moscheles had expected Arthur to either wince or sneer back, but instead Arthur embarrassed him with this compliment.
He pursed his lips and spoke, “Young man, listen to me, it’s fine for you to change the song. That one is too difficult for you.”
Arthur took a deep breath and placed both hands on the keys, “Don’t worry, Mr. Moscheles, you probably don’t know that my nickname is the ‘Paganini of Scotland Yard’.”
(End of chapter)