Chapter 191: Any more surprises?

Chapter 190: And a windfall?

Viscount Melbourne walked into the cafe, he took off his hat to reveal his graying sideburns.

His eyes first looked around and it didn’t take him long to spot the lady sitting in the corner.

Viscount Melbourne’s eyes seemed to soften the moment his gaze touched the beige wide-brimmed hat and long white dress.

He revealed a hint of a smile and took three steps forward, “Caroline, so you’re here.”

When Mrs. Caroline Norton heard this call, her body trembled as if she had been electrocuted, and she snapped out of her painful memories and looked up at Viscount Melbourne, “William ……”

Viscount Melbourne looked at the makeup on her face that had faded a little from the tears, and couldn’t help but freeze, “What’s wrong with you ……?”

“I ……”

Caroline slightly lowered her head, she was first silent for a moment, then she took a deep breath and rushed to Melbourne with a smile as sunny as possible, “It’s nothing, I’m quite fine, after all, I don’t expect too much from him anymore. One year, two years, and now it’s the third year, and that’s it between him and I. It’s never going to get better. William, let’s talk about something else, just as before, literary poetry, something that interests us, and don’t talk about those demoralizing things.”

When Viscount Melbourne saw her like this, he just shook his head and smiled, “Caroline, it’s no big deal. Between husband and wife, personality incompatibility and so on, in fact, all can be rubbed together, you don’t give up so quickly. The original me and …… well …… you probably know that wife of mine, she did things that are probably much more serious than your current husband.

She and I similarly had personality disagreements and frequent fights, and now that I think about it, the issues we fought about were actually quite ridiculous; she insisted on breastfeeding the baby and I disagreed, and I wanted the baby to go to Harrow Public School and she disagreed. Add to that my mother’s interference, and our relationship wore down a little bit over these little insignificant things.

Then she fell in love with Byron, did a series of hysterical things, and ended up losing her name and her reputation for him. It was only at the end of her life that she finally came to her senses, and as she lay in her hospital bed she said to her servant: Please call William, he is the only one in the world who has never failed me.

But it was too late, everything was too late, after twenty years of being husband and wife, but have to wait until the end of life to understand each other. I just held her cold corpse’s hand, her hair was not black like when I first saw her at the ball at nineteen, but withered and yellowed. Under the sunlight, her skin seemed to be translucent.

And the lines of tears hanging on her face were exactly the same as the ones I saw hanging on yours today.”

When Viscount Melbourne said this, he seemed to be a little saddened, and as he grabbed the patchy white hair on his forehead, it seemed as if the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes had deepened a little.

“I’m sorry, Caroline, I shouldn’t be talking to you about this. I just don’t want to see you and your husband repeat the same mistakes, if you can understand each other, many things are actually no big deal.”

Just as Viscount Melbourne was talking to Mrs. Norton, Arthur and Elder, who were sitting just a short distance next door, were on the verge of putting their ears up as antennae.

Elder lowered his voice and sighed, “Viscount Melbourne is a real lover! The outside world thought that he didn’t care about the things that the Duchess of Ponsonby caused, but after half a day, it turned out that he was so broken-hearted that he was unable to respond at all.”

Arthur, on the other hand, similarly used a low voice to reply, “The matter of the Duchess of Ponsonby is over and done with, but Viscount Melbourne is now taking the initiative to talk about his love history in front of a married lady, I’m afraid it’s not a good thing.”

Elder said suspiciously, “What is it?”

Just after Elder’s words were asked, before Arthur could reply, the Red Devil had already jumped the gun and started mocking.

“Arthur, this kid is really more foolish than you in this regard. Can’t he feel that Viscount Melbourne’s body is now releasing a charm that is fatal to women? What’s worse, the object receiving this charm is also a lady with an unfortunate marriage, I don’t think it will be long before there’s a lot of big news between them.”

The voice of Mrs. Caroline Norton came again from the next table, her eyes glistening with tears.

“No, William, you don’t understand. It’s more than just a difference of character between him and me anymore, we fight about everything, education, politics, literature, just about any topic you can think of, we always fight, and …… and he’s always at it with me.”

At this, Mrs. Norton dipped her finger in a glass of water and applied it to her face, revealing the corners of her glazed eyes as the ghastly concealer makeup faded.

“This ……” Viscount Melbourne could not help but be shocked at the sight: “Would Mr. George Norton actually strike you? He’s a proper gentleman who has been rigorously trained by the Oxford and Lincoln’s Inn!”

Mrs. Norton cried as she wiped her tears, “He is not as gentle as you think, George is far more violent than he appears, good natured, rude and savage, ferocious and tyrannical, blind to his own interests, old-fashioned, foolish and slow.

I can’t imagine how a man like him could have graduated from Oxford and been admitted to the bar; the Norton upbringing has spoiled him, and he doesn’t seem at all like a civilized gentleman living in the 19th century, but rather like a violent military leader who could have existed only in the last century.

Originally we used to merely quarrel when he came home at night, but now I pass even the day in quarrels and fights.”

Viscount Melbourne asked, “Why is that?”

Mrs. Norton didn’t know whether she was angry or aggravated, she cried and laughed at the same time, “Of course it’s because of the general election, as you know, George is a Tory MP. But in this general election the Tory party lost and George lost his constituency.

He’s now out of a proper job and under a lot of pressure from within the Tory party. The Tories knew George might lose, but they didn’t expect him to lose so completely. Because of the loss of his constituency, several of the Tory bigwigs are now beginning to doubt whether George has enough ability to continue as the Tory’s parliamentary candidate.

He was angry within the party and had lost his job as an MP, so naturally he could only take out his anger and extra energy on me. With no job as a solicitor, not a penny of income and no job as a councillor, I really don’t know where on earth he gets off being angry with me.” Elder at the next table couldn’t help the change in his face when he heard this, “Senator Norton beating his wife, that’s a better story than your Scotland Yard infighting.”

Arthur took a sip of his coffee, “I would like to have a tough fight with Director Rowan, but nah, in this kind of matter, force can’t solve the problem.”

“Why don’t you go teach Mrs. Norton Fioreliu? I remember that day at General Codrington’s banquet, Mrs. Norton seemed to be present, right? At that time I saw her depressed and not talking much, so it turns out that there is a problem at home.”

“You just remembered she was present? I would have thought that a lady in her twenties with this kind of flamboyance would be something you would surely have fond memories of.”

“Arthur, that’s what you don’t know about me. I recognize ladies not visually by their faces, but by the scent they carry. Smell the ladies, do you understand?”

“Heh, no wonder you always think of swimming back from the Thames every time you bet, so it’s the scent of the Thames.”

“Arthur! This is none of your business!”

Arthur’s bickering with Elder obviously did not attract the attention of Viscount Melbourne, who was fully contemplating how to solve the problem on behalf of his sensible friend.

Viscount Melbourne was silent for a while and suddenly spoke, “Losing his parliamentary seat, his status within the party is definitely going to drop. It’s normal to have a fire in his belly, but it’s true that he shouldn’t have hit someone with his hands. But I still advise you not to be too impulsive, you two can ……”

Mrs. Norton wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief while speaking, “William, don’t try to persuade me anymore, I’ve already made up my mind that there’s really no way for me and him to be together. Even if we can’t get divorced for a while, I’m going to separate from him.”

“Separation won’t solve the problem ah ……”

Viscount Melbourne only felt that the problem was tricky, he pondered for a moment and suddenly sighed: “How about this, you should also know that the Whig Party’s rule is finalized. According to the party’s opinion, I will be in the cabinet as the Minister of the Interior.

If George is willing to give up his political views and quit the Tory party, although I can’t give him a position in the Ministry of the Interior as a caucus political officer like the Undersecretary of State, I can consider making him an officer’s post.

With something to do, he won’t have to focus all his energy on arguing with you, you’ll each be busy with your own careers, and the two of you can both calm down while you’re at it.”

“Affairs officer?” Elder’s face turned green when he heard that and he looked at Arthur, “Fuck! Arthur, Melbourne isn’t planning to even out your position with what’s-his-name, George Norton, is he?”

Arthur, on the other hand, looked calm, “Don’t worry, an erstwhile MP and also licensed to practise as a solicitor is never going to look at me as a £150 a year Scotland Yard Superintendent.”

As expected, as soon as Arthur’s words fell, Mrs. Norton’s words rang out over there.

“William, I am grateful to you. But you don’t know George, and there’s no problem getting him to quit the Tories. But unless you’re willing to appoint him directly as permanent undersecretary of the Home Office, he’s certainly not going to want to take up the post.

He doesn’t want to do all that grassroots work. All he has in mind every day is to be a big shot with power and wealth. And the one with the most power and wealth, apart from MPs, is a judge, which is why he became a lawyer. He studied at the Law Society in order to become a judge someday. When we were both still married, he bragged to me every day that he would definitely become the Chief Justice of Britain someday.

But I was so stupid, I actually believed him then, I was fooled by his sweet talk, and I brought it all on myself, William, I don’t deserve your sympathy.”

When Viscount Melbourne heard this, he just gritted his teeth and took Lady Norton’s hand in his.

After a moment of consternation, Mrs. Norton’s face was tinted with layers of red almost in an instant.

“William …… you ……”

Viscount Melbourne spoke decisively, “Caroline, believe me, since he wants a judge, I’ll find him a vacancy as a judge. But I also have an additional condition, if he wants the vacancy, in addition to quitting the Tory party, he must also promise me that from now on he can’t lay a hand on you.”

“William ……,” said Lady Norton, looking into Viscount Melbourne’s face, and another mist of water clouded her eyes, only this time the cause was elation, “I . . i really don’t know how to thank you.”

“No, you don’t need to thank me, I did all this for you willingly.” Viscount Melbourne smiled cheerfully, “Caroline, be well, you can’t be like that wife of mine, you have to live with joy and clarity.”

When Elder heard this, he could not help covering his face with both hands, “My God! Am I entitled to hear the following episodes if I don’t pay for them?”

And on the opposite side of him, Arthur, who had long ago drawn a pen and paper from the canvas bag he carried, and was writing furiously in front of his case, was on the verge of grinding the tip of his pen to smoke.

As he transcribed key information, he dismissed Elder’s question, “No, of course not. Elder, although from the love story between Duchess Ponsonby and Viscount Melbourne, it can be seen that Viscount Melbourne has a good character. However, from the perspective of the origin of species that Charles is studying, I think the probability is that what follows will be juvenile.”

(End of chapter)