Chapter 287: I Have Few Friends (K)
Chapter 286: I Have Few Friends (5K)
Arthur orders a beer mixed in a penny house leaning against the wall quietly listening to the impromptu ditty of a wandering singer, in the dim lights and noisy environment, cloaked in a trench coat Arthur seems to blend into the place.
It was in that dark corner that no one cared what kind of a man the big gentleman was, or what purpose he had in coming here.
Even Fiona’s little sisters only paid attention to him at the beginning, and then they stopped caring about him.
As for those who came in after the East End punks, the older ones wanted to come up to talk to Arthur for a few moments, but after being politely rejected, they also had the good sense to find a free seat and watch the show by themselves.
And those younger punks are still curious about the identity of this young big man, until they learned from the old punks mysterious tone of voice that this is Mr. Arthur Hastings, they began to feel an indescribable fear.
The name of Arthur Hastings seemed to most of the fellows who mingled with the East End as if it were something strange that was at once distant and yet within reach.
You always felt that he was a great stone weighing on your heart when you had not met him, and old fellows often brought up the name as a kind of intimidation and education when they were lecturing young fellows who were new to the business.
But when he really came to you, it seems to be not so godly, it is not some imaginary black cloak, sophisticated, with a few sharp fangs in the corner of the mouth of the evil police star, he seems to have no face to the moonlight sitting in the window with a silver cup of thirst for blood habit.
At least, judging by the look on his face today, Mr. Hastings was enjoying his penny ale.
The only thing of note, I suppose, was the dish he was carrying, which was neither ham nor smoked fish, nor the bacon, fried egg, and toast with butter and jam that middle-class gentlemen ate, but a plate of salted and roasted peanuts.
The East End ruffians who frequented the tavern knew that there was nothing like this on the menu at Martin’s Tavern, and that the greedy and bad-tempered Mr. Martin would never accept an extra order from a customer, and that he could get Martin to obediently serve him a plate of peanuts and rice, which really showed that the big, silent man was indeed the Mr. Hastings who had made his big sister’s head rush to flatter him.
The young punks watched Arthur’s side of the action, consciously or unconsciously, and they saw him take the peanuts into his mouth one by one, occasionally humming along with the words of a mariachi singer.
Suddenly Mr. Martin lifted the curtain of the penny-house and came in, nodding his head and saying a few words as he walked up to Arthur’s side, who was closely followed by a medium-sized young man with riding boots, a wooden suitcase, a seal moustache, and a sharp look in his eyes.
The gangsters who have been in the army only use one look to know that the young man following Martin must have been in the army, and should be an officer level, because he walks with too hard a step, swinging his arm with a large swing of one hand, but the other hand does not shake much, at a glance, you can see that it is a commanding officer’s sword grip used to it.
Arthur ate as he listened to Martin’s account, then he nodded gently and stood up to hand Martin the empty plate he had cupped in his hand.
For the first time, the punks heard the magnetic, raspy voice of the big man from Scotland Yard, “Peanuts and rice today ……”
The gangsters held their breath, one by one, their hearts in their throats as they saw Arthur lift the edge of his trench coat to reveal the Hastings M1831.
They secretly wondered: this couldn’t be that he was tired of hard boiled peanuts and was planning to shoot Mr. Martin, could it?
They saw Arthur’s hand slowly drop, then slam into his pants pocket and pull out a handkerchief to wipe his mouth.
Arthur wiped his mouth with one hand, one hand also pointed to his throat and said, “Today’s peanut rice, the salt put is really too much, all to me snooze, you listen to my voice.”
Martin smiled and apologized: “This is really my fault, I baked peanuts and rice in my mind has been thinking about you once upon a time and I said that you do not cut corners in business, I think too much, which put the amount of salt on the portion did not control. You see, why don’t I get you a lighter plate, or give you some gin to gargle?”
Arthur gently waved his hand, “Any more will be too much, I can’t get drunk in front of my guests, otherwise how can I talk business?”
“You’re right, it was my ill-consideration. Then do you think you should go up now, or ……” Martin glanced back at the place where the mongrels had gathered, then half bent over and smiled, “Mr. Hastings …… “
Arthur followed Martin’s gaze from earlier, his gaze dropping to a young man with brown hair and black eyes, duck-tongued hat, white shirt, an open dark gray long-sleeved jacket over it, and a pair of dirt-resistant dark black backpack pants, a classic East End dockside gangster outfit.
Arthur poured the last bit of beer from his glass into his mouth and opened his mouth to ask, “Is that who Annie’s got her eye on?”
Martin removed his hat to reveal the narrow black peninsula lying on his stubborn Mediterranean, “That’s right, how much do you think it would be appropriate for me to pay you?”
Arthur just couldn’t help shaking his head when he heard this, “Martin, Martin, what on earth have I done to make you disrespect me so? I told you a long time ago, if you come to me as a friend, then those guys who tried to hurt you and your family will get what they deserve.”
At the end of his sentence, Arthur did not say much, but asked at Louis Bonaparte, who was standing behind Martin, “When you were in military school in Switzerland, did the instructors teach you how to deal with soldier boys?”
Louis Bonaparte said with a cold face, “When I was in the Swiss military school, I had studied the Prussian military rules, would you like to hear them?”
Arthur thought about it and nodded slightly, “How did the Prussians deal with troublemakers?”
Louis Bonaparte declared aloud, “According to the Prussian military law, for those soldiers who disobeyed the orders of their officers, regardless of whether they contradicted or argued, they were punished with the punishment of pinch whipping. As for the number of lashes, it depends on the physical condition of the punished person, and can be carried out up to thirty times. Soldiers who threatened their officers with swords or other weapons were punished with death without pardon. Soldiers who steal from their officers and others are to be hanged, those who rob on the road are to be split in two, those who lie under false pretenses are to have their fingers cut off as punishment, those who cast spells are to be burned at the stake, and those who are drunk on duty are to be paraded in fetters and stripped of all their military honors.”
Arthur couldn’t stop shaking his head when he heard this, “So it sounds like the Prussian army is just too cruel.”
Saying this, Arthur looked up to where the punks were gathered, he opened his mouth and asked, “I know that some of you are retired from the army, how are soldiers punished in the Britannian army?”
A few of the older punks just pulled their mouths into a smile when they heard this, and they took off their hats and replied back, “Mr. Hastings, we don’t have such fine rules there, and for the most part it’s the nine-tailed lash. I’ve had fifty lashes, and they were no better than a burning at the stake.”
“You’re a hard man if you can carry fifty lashes; we had a man in our regiment who was beaten to death by a judge advocate after thirty lashes.”
“Then he must not have given money to the military judge, or he must have offended him in the past.”
“Not necessarily that, I heard that some regiments will soak the whip in urine before the execution, and when the body is cracked, the urine will melt into the wounds, and it’s not unusual for a person to die from thirty lashes.”
“That’s why I said, don’t do anything to become a soldier, especially the Army, living is simply worse than livestock.”
The old punks talked about their early experiences, while the young punks were so scared by all the army secrets that their faces turned white.
When Arthur heard this, he just re-buckled his hat and smiled at them, “In that case, I don’t suppose you’d want to go back to the Army for a return trip, would you?”
“Of course I don’t want to, I wouldn’t go back there again even if I had to go into the graveyard.”
“Mr. Hastings, you must not joke. I might not be able to sleep for three days if that fell on my ears.” Arthur nodded slightly, “Then please remember to stay away from Miss Anne, a man who can’t stand thirty clip whippings won’t be able to handle her. Incidentally, I’m not kidding about that.”
As soon as the punks heard this, they instantly understood what Arthur meant, and they also knew that one of their own little fellows appeared to have hooked up with Annie.
The old punks showed their teeth and laughed, “Don’t worry, Mr. Hastings, we all look at Annie as our own sister, whoever dares to hit on her, more or less has to ask our fists first.”
“If you want to put on Annie, we don’t need him to suffer thirty clip whippings, as long as he can survive fifty lashes, then I’ll consider him a man.”
“That’s right, and it’ll have to be the piss-soaked kind of whipping.”
The young brown-haired punk heard these words and his lips turned slightly blue with fear, his teeth chattered as he barely managed to squeeze out a smile as he concurred, “That’s right, Annie’s not something any asshole can touch.”
Seeing this look on his face, Arthur just shook his head gently and read in a low voice, “Looks like Annie’s vision is still really bad.”
With that, he led Louis Bonaparte out of the penny house.
Martin hurriedly followed suit, and he wanted to open his mouth to say something to Arthur: “Mr. Hastings ……”
But without waiting for him to finish, Arthur put up a finger between his lips, and he pointed to the empty plate in Martin’s hand that was still slightly salted and spoke, “Martin, you’re an honest man, so remember, you owe me more than just a proper plate of peanuts right now, you also owe me a friendship. I may or may not need your help someday, but until that day comes, please accept it as a congratulatory gift for blessing your store after it is renovated.”
Martin sniffed gratefully, “Of course, of course, Mr. Hastings, I’ll keep that in mind.”
Arthur smiled and nodded, then without looking back, he led Louis Bonaparte up the steps leading to the second floor private rooms.
He pushed open the door to the private room, and in front of the room’s window, a burly man with a stocky build and muscle mass holding his white shirt up was standing straight in front of the window, where he appeared to be admiring the light drizzle that drifted outside.
Arthur saw this scene, but did not go in directly, but took out a business card from his pocket and glanced at it, and then immediately compared it with the burly man in front of him, and only then smiled and read out the honored name on the card, “Sword Saint of France, Sword of the Fleur-de-lis Napoleon, Guardian of the Sword of the Ranch from Paris, Mr. Francois-Joseph Bertrand?”
When the other party heard Arthur call out his list of titles, he just gave a soft hum, and then recited the same, “Then you must be: the Swift Wellington of Scotland Yard, the second Captain Kidd of the Channel Rampage, the one who is fearless of the red-bearded Barbarossa and specializes in beating up his protégés of the Barbary pirates, the one whom the Saint of the Sword, Fiore, is hard to defeat in another life, and the one who called out that there are no heroes when it comes to making George Silver famous, Arthur Heth. The one who made George Silver famous, Mr. Arthur Hastings, right?”
Arthur stared at that, and he muttered at Louis Bonaparte beside him, “What’s going on here?”
Louis Bonaparte coughed softly as he lowered his voice, “Mr. Rothschild’s idea, Mr. Disraeli’s writing, Mr. Dumas’ honorific name, the Times’ publicity yesterday, the front page of the current news. Have you not read the paper to-day? I’ll just put it on the second pile of your desk, the one pressed under the police conference papers that is.”
Arthur then realized what was going on, and he couldn’t stop shaking his head, “I was so busy dealing with the clergyman and Gladstone today that I didn’t read the newspaper for a day, and then I ended up with a big news story. These three assholes are pretty down for earning money!”
Louis Bonaparte just whispered, “Actually, this is quite good, I heard that the ticket price for this sword duel has been speculated higher and higher. If not, how could we ……”
As he said this, he just glanced at the suitcase he was carrying as he spoke, “Sir, let’s not talk about all that, let’s get to the point.”
But this time, without waiting for Arthur to speak, Bertrand had already taken the lead and turned around, “Mr. Hastings, why are you standing at the door? Come in and sit down, but I have neither sword nor gun with me today.”
Hearing this, Arthur smiled brightly, “Of course, what happens on stage is on stage, and we are perfectly capable of being friends off stage. Work and life are something I’ve always kept separate, and I’m sure you do as well.”
The two of them came to the table and sat down, Bertrand looked up and looked at the decorations and the murals on the wall used to support the scene, and couldn’t help but sigh, “Although the decorations here can’t be compared to the luxury restaurants in London at all, but this is the East End of London after all. It’s amazing that the East End actually has a restaurant box like this.”
Arthur took a sip of tea, the tea was bitter and he frowned a little, “The dirty and narrow streets of the East End often give people a false impression, in fact, there are some unknown treasures here, just like this box. Mr. Bertrand, it’s not worth making a fuss over.”
Bertrand laughed, “Of course, but what surprised me even more was that you would ask me to meet you at a restaurant in the East End. At first, when I received the invitation, I thought someone was joking with me. Until now, I still hold this suspicion, are you really Mr. Arthur Hastings?”
Arthur clipped a piece of sugar and put it into his cup of black tea, “It doesn’t matter if I am Arthur Hastings or not, what matters is that I am here to make friends with you. Like I said earlier, the sword tournament is not important at all, it’s a job, and I value you as a person more than simply winning or losing. Even though we’ve only known each other for a short while, these three or two words made me realize that you’re very cheerful.”
When Bertrand heard this, he simply leaned back in his chair as he wrapped his arms around himself and said, “Just say what you have to say, Mr. Hastings. I don’t like to beat about the bush, nor do I like the sun hidden behind dark clouds in London. You know the ways of the French, and we are not like the Britons.”
Louis Bonaparte could not help frowning at these words.
His hand dropped slightly, ready to plunge into his coat pocket, but before he could do so, it was gently pressed by Arthur.
Arthur smiled and said, “Wow, very good. Mr. Bertrand, truth be told, I’m actually a straightforward character. This character of mine is kinda hard to find in Britain, and if it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t have been able to make friends with the French. You may not know that I have a French tenant. In fact, I have no other intention to ask you to come here today, I just want to reconcile the account with you. I want to know, how much appearance fee did you take from the hands of the organizer?”
“You went through all this trouble just to ask this?” Feeling somewhat speechless, Bertrand spoke, “Fifty pounds.”
Arthur sniffed and counted on his fingers, “As far as I know, over ten thousand tickets have been prepared for this match, of which four thousand standing tickets are priced at sixpence, four thousand seated tickets are priced at one shilling, fifteen hundred tickets for the front rows and the second floor are priced at three shillings, and the other five hundred are box tickets priced at half a pound. And that was only the official price; if the tickets had been obtained from a middleman, the price would have been even higher. And that’s not even counting the catering revenue from the theater bar during the show. In other words, for this match, even according to the lowest revenue calculation, you can collect 775 pounds from the tickets alone. And you’re going to play with me on the dueling stage after only taking fifty pounds, would you not think that this is too low a value for money?”
Hearing this, Bertrand frowned and asked, “Mr. Hastings, what do you mean?”
“No, I don’t mean anything.” Arthur rested his arm on the table as he crossed his fingers to rest his chin and smiled, “I just want to make friends with you.”
Bertrand squared his shoulders, “Mr. Hastings, regardless of the fact that honor is at stake in this match, and we don’t seem to be friends.”
Arthur laughed softly, “That’s okay, we will be in a moment.”
With that, he opened his mouth to read, “Louis.”
Louis Bonaparte sniffed and placed the suitcase he was carrying on the table with a thud, he unlocked it and pulled the lid open violently, a brand new pound instantly surfaced in front of Bertrand’s eyes.
Bertrand was first stunned, then rose up in shock and said, “What …… are you doing?!”
Arthur raised his hand to gesture for him to sit down, and then raised his hand to point at the box of pounds and smiled back, “We didn’t want to do anything, Mr. Bertrand. As you may not know, I have very few friends, but I have a lot of pounds. So, as you can see, I just intend to make friends with you.”
(End of chapter)