Chapter 173: Ten Thousand Attention (K6)

Chapter 172 Ten Thousand Attention (4K6)

“As the ship owner turned around, he saw Tangelaar standing behind him. Tangelaar outwardly appeared to be waiting for his command, but in fact was, like him, sending the young sailor away with his gaze. Though these two men were both watching Edmund Dantes, the look and meaning in the two gazes were very different ……”

The phonograph played to this point, and the reading suddenly stopped.

The ladies and gentlemen in the audience, who had been listening with great interest, could not help but speak up at Arthur, “Mr. Hastings, which novel is this? It sounds quite interesting.”

Colonel Fitzroy, who served in the Royal Navy, also followed up with interest, “I just love these novels where the main character is a sailor, but there aren’t too many of those written on the market at the moment, and most of the ones sitting in bookstores these days are fashion novels. The main characters are all soft and noble daughters, or other styles of flirtatious characters. Maybe other people like to read that kind, but for us people who make a living at sea, that kind of book is really no fun at all to read.”

Elder couldn’t help criticizing as well, “That’s right, like that Pelham; or, Adventures of a Gentleman book by Litton Bulwer, what’s it all about, I don’t understand at all how it sells so well. And that book of Mrs. Gore’s, ‘Such are the Women; or, Etiquette of the Present Day,’ I really wasted the money I paid for it.”

This remark of Elder’s drew an immediate retort from a number of ladies and ladies.

“It is very rude of you to say so. Both Mr. Bulwer and Mrs. Gore are very talented writers in Britain.”

“That’s right, especially Mrs. Gore’s book, ‘Such are the Women; or, the Manners of the Present Day’, that’s something that even the late King George IV said after reading it, ‘It’s the best-written and the most entertaining novel that has ever been published’.”

“True enough! His late Majesty, though he committed many faults during his lifetime, was universally recognized as good in literature. He was the one who purchased all Mr. Bulwer’s published books, and collected them in every one of his residences. And when that book of Mr. Bulwer’s, “The Disconnected Man,” was not published, His Majesty sent to his mansion twice to fetch the manuscript, and that merely in order to be able to read the latest chapter of it.”

With just one sentence, Elder was instantly in the position of being swarmed by the ladies.

Mrs. Cowper, seeing this, could only laugh and relieve the young man who had once urinated in her arms.

Changing the subject, she rushed over to Arthur and asked, “Mr. Hastings, may I ask if there are any more chapters to come? I’m curious to hear what happens in the following story.”

The drunken General Smith also spoke up dizzily, “That’s right Mr. Hastings, please hurry up and bring it out if you have it, I’m anxious to hear it.”

Arthur, seeing that the atmosphere was pretty much fired up, smiled and pulled out a few chapters of a manuscript he had prepared long ago from the bag he carried.

He opened his mouth and inquired, “Will you all circulate them yourselves or shall I read them to you?”

The naval captains cried out, “It is better for you to read it, and we will all sit and listen together. On board ship, we often get one of us to read a novel to the lads when we have nothing else to do.”

The ladies also chimed in, “It is the same rule in the saloon of the Blue Stocking Society, where the scientists publish the results of their scientific researches, and the men of letters read their latest masterpieces.”

Upon hearing this, Mrs. Codrington, who was an avid Paganini fan and a new Hastings fan, hastened to add, “Mr. Hastings is also a musician, so it looks like we’ll have to have a little private meeting after today’s salon to work the musician’s own playing of his latest repertoire into the new constitution.”

The Ladies of the Blue Stocking Society sniffed in unison and said, “Agreed!”

“Lovely ladies, this manuscript is not my work. Who its true author is is better introduced to you slowly after I read these new chapters.”

At the end of his speech, Arthur was no longer polite, and he smiled as he moved a round stool to sit in the center stage position.

Not only the guests looked at him with an expectant face, even Mr. Moscheles and the musicians put down their instruments.

For the musicians of the symphony orchestra, today’s work can be too comfortable, not only the working hours are shortened, but also have attractive stories to listen to.

Arthur was seen seated on a stool, reading word for word from the manuscript in his hand.

In one breath he read from Chapter 2, Father and Son, Chapter 3, The Village of the Catalans, and Chapter 4, The Conspiracy.

And by the time he had reached the wedding feast in chapter five, he had turned the manuscript in his hands to the end.

The guests were up to their ears, and when they saw Arthur stop reading, they thought he was tired of reading, and General Smith, who was addicted to listening, hastened to pour a glass of wine for Arthur himself and hand it to him.

The drunken general paced wobbly and opened his mouth, “Mr. Hastings, have a drink to wet your throat and hurry up and explain the back story to the big guys. Damn it, why was Mr. Dantes arrested at the wedding site and why was he involved with Napoleon?

There was absolutely no need for him, as a promising young man, a ship’s first mate and acting captain, to do such a self-destructive thing.

I guess it must have been someone who set him up! It must be the work of that ship’s accountant, Tanglas, who is trying to replace Mr. Dantes as the new captain, don’t you think I’m right?”

General Cochran nodded his head in sympathy, “That’s right, doesn’t it all sound right? This is the setup that people made for him, just like that time when I was there!
Back then, I had smooth sailing and a promising future, but one day, a son of a bitch of a stockbroker found me and told me that there were a few good stocks worth buying, and that they would definitely appreciate in value in the future. I was just too fucking young to believe his bullshit!

Less than a month later I was being sued in court, they were accusing me of manipulating the stock market to the tune of £139,000, and I was fucking convicted!

Then I was discharged from the Admiralty by those cunts, and my ranks, posts, medals and honors, and parliamentary seat, were all jacked from top to bottom. That’s how I was forced by them to run off to South America to make a living!
They’re a bunch of backstabbing motherfuckers. They’re all fucking the same! Come on, let’s go to war with them! I’ll take a bomb ship and blow it the fuck up!”

General Codrington heard hurriedly consoled: “Okay, Thomas, you are because of this violent temper is being organized. Back then, if you didn’t gather your subordinates and run to Mr. Burdette’s mansion to support him, and also injured several officers sent by the War Department to capture him, how could those people miss you?”

Cochran glared, “Burdette is my brother, if I don’t back him up, who will? Besides, that case of his is also very unclear, who can say what’s going on inside? After all, these days there are a lot of assholes who engage in frame-ups and conspiracies!”

Cochran’s emotions were agitated, while the focus of the ladies and gentlemen over there was different from his.

Mrs. Milbancic said with a sense of dismay, “It’s so unfortunate that the hero, Mr. Dantes, who was clearly in love with Miss Tess of the Drabble, was taken on such a joyous day as the wedding ceremony. Miss Mercer Tess’s cousin Fernand is also too bad, he is secretly in love with Miss Mercer Tess, so he is not willing to make them complete, which is why he and the ship’s accountant are complicit in framing Mr. Tontes.”

Mrs. Cowper blinked her moving eyes as well, and her fluttering eyelashes spoke volumes about her mood, “Well, well, Mr. Hastings, don’t hold back, ladies and gentlemen can’t help it, so just read on.”

When Arthur heard this, he just shrugged his shoulders helplessly as he laughed, “Sorry, guys. It’s not that I don’t want to read down, but I don’t know the next plot either, because my friend Alexander Dumas only wrote up to here. If you want to know the details of the aftermath, you can only listen to his next explanation.”

“Huh? How can you get stuck here?”

“Whoa! My goodness! Mr. Hastings, will you be able to sleep tonight? I can’t sleep anyway.” “If you really can’t, you can just go on and make up a paragraph later.”

“Wait, is this an unfinished novel? Alexander Dumas, I think I’ve heard that name somewhere.”

“Ah! That’s the Frenchman who was rescued from the sea by the Royal Navy and Scotland Yard, isn’t it?”

“No wonder the story is set in France and the plot is related to Napoleon, now I can understand.”

Colonel Fitzroy gradually came back to his senses when he heard this, “Mr. Hastings, I seem to remember that Mr. Dumas is living in your house right now, isn’t he?”

Arthur smiled and nodded, “That’s right, Alexander is staying at my house.”

Hearing this, Miss Ida Byron, who had been burying her head in the question earlier, also dissatisfiedly gripped her pencil and said, “Then please also bother to rush him more, so that he can quickly write out the latter part of the plot. The story being stuck here can be even more unbearable than not being able to solve a math problem.”

Hearing this, Arthur just raised his eyebrows and laughed, “Don’t worry, when I go back, I’ll put Alexander in a Faraday cage and electrify him with high voltage outside. I won’t let him out until he finishes the manuscript.”

Elder couldn’t help but shiver as he thought about that scene, and he muttered, “Or it would still be you.”

Mrs. Somerville sighed as well, “That’s true, but not being able to hear the back story just makes me itchy and I’m not in the mood to dance.”

“Mr. Hastings, I …… am certainly not so important a personage as His Majesty the King, and I could not possibly force myself on Mr. Dumas; but, if it is possible, will you let me have a copy of the back manuscript when it comes out?”

“Mr. Hastings, I want a copy too!”

“That’s right, price is no object; all I ask is that you will make Mr. Dumas write fast. He’s got my purse open now, and it’s only a matter of moving his pen before he’s pulling the bills out of my pocket.”

Arthur saw this and knew that he had achieved his publicity.

He smiled and bowed slightly with one hand across his chest and said, “Thank you all for your support, I’m sure my friend Alexander will be very pleased when he finds out. But ladies and gentlemen there is no need to be in such a hurry, because in a couple of weeks Alexander will officially open his own story column in the newspaper. If you don’t mind, you can leave me your business cards, and I’ll send someone over to notify you one by one once I’ve determined which newspaper it will be serialized in.”

Arthur said here, looked up again at the sky outside the house, and opened his mouth to say goodbye, “It’s getting late, and after the science demonstration, it’s time for me to go home. A word of apology to you all here, you all should know that I am a Scotland Yard policeman, and I still have to be at the Greater London Constabulary for work by eight o’clock tomorrow morning.”

Mrs. Codrington then remembered this little request that Arthur had mentioned to her, and she hurriedly nodded, “That’s all right, Mr. Hastings, we can understand. It can’t be helped by the demands of the job.”

When Arthur heard this, he smiled and nodded his head as he excused himself.

But before he could walk out of the ballroom, he saw Miss Ada Byron wink at him.

She slipped the draft paper in her hand, and then spoke at him, “The tune played on the phonograph is very nice, but I think it’s better if you play it yourself.”

Arthur nodded with deep amusement, “You know a lot about art, Ms. Byron, because I think so too.”

With that, he paced off, but before he could go out the door, a man called him back, it was Mr. Moscheles.

Mr. Moscheles went out after him in a fiery rage, exclaiming, “Mr. Hastings! Would you like to think no more about the London Philharmonic Society? You will only have to attend two recitals a month when you come to us. You may not know that since Mr. Paganini brought up that concert mania, the income level of musicians has now risen.

I can assure you, with your talent, you’ll earn no less than you would at the Greater London Police. Tell you what, why don’t I go back and discuss this with a few members of the association, and as soon as you’re in place, we’ll pay you appearance fees at the rate of a skilled pianist.

For one recital, your income should be around ten to fifteen pounds, and based on twenty-four performances a year, your income should be around three hundred pounds. And this level of income will continue to rise later on, if you are a little more diligent, in the future it will definitely not be a problem for your annual income to exceed one thousand pounds, I really implore you to seriously consider my proposal.”

Arthur originally wanted to rebuff Moscheles’ proposal, but he heard that the musician’s income was actually so high now, and could even reach several times as much as a dry police superintendent, so he hesitated a little again when he reached the words on his lips.

“This ……”

Seeing his hesitation, Moscheles instantly understood that this matter had a chance, and he hastened to add: “Or, even if you are not willing to work full-time, it’s okay to occasionally come to guest appearances and engage in part-time performances, and we definitely won’t treat you poorly in terms of treatment.”

The Red Devil, who had been dabbling in the ballroom, sniffed, drew out the handkerchief pinned to his chest and wiped his grease-stained mouth, and spoke, “Arthur, what are you still hesitating for? A recital on the side can rake in ten pounds, which is almost as much as you earn in a month of work at Scotland Yard. It’s no big deal to take advantage of your time off and start a side hustle, it’s not like you’re starting a company or a business, and it doesn’t violate your Scotland Yard’s house rules.”

Hearing this, Arthur pondered over it for a while before finally shaking Moscheles’ hand, “Mr. Moscheles, you may not know that music has always been my dream, and I thank you for giving me the opportunity to touch my dream. I think that when people are young, they should still work harder, being too realistic sometimes doesn’t work either.”

When Moscheles heard this, a hanging heart was finally released, and he shook Arthur’s hand heavily with a smile on his face.

“You are right, Mr. Hastings. Then it is settled, and some day when you are free, just come directly to me at the London Academy of Music, which you should have passed by on your way here, and which is not too far away from General Codrington’s mansion, just off Baker Street.”

“Okay, see you later then, Mr. Moscheles.”

Arthur let out a long breath, and just when he felt that he was finally going to end this tiring journey today, he suddenly glanced out of the corner of his eye at a carriage parked in front of the mansion that revealed a hint of luxury in its understatement.

The corners of his eyes flashed with a slightly reddish light, and he always felt as if someone was watching him through the curtains of the carriage window.

But before he could think clearly, he heard the hired coachman of the London Premium Carriage Hire Company, who had been waiting impatiently for him for a long time, speak, “Mr. Hastings, may we go back now, please?”

Arthur hesitated for a moment, but in the end, he did not walk across the road to the luxurious carriage.

He got into his own carriage and straightened his collar in the cold wind of the autumn night, “Come on, let’s go back.”

(End of chapter)