Chapter 40: Two Royals
Chapter 40 Two Royals
Arthur gave his place to Tony and Tom, while he led Elder to a side table.
Elder heard Arthur Fang mention the subsidy, which reminded him of the business Arthur had approached him about earlier.
He asked, “Didn’t you say you were looking for me to draw a map before? What form of map are you going to ask for?”
Arthur said, “Actually, it’s not to draw a map. Didn’t you also say in the information you just provided me that very few people have seen Fred’s true colors?
And whenever there are few witnesses to a crime, it’s difficult for the police to draw an accurate portrait of the culprit based on the information provided by the victim.
Therefore, I intend to activate a brand new criminal investigation crime investigation technique.”
“A brand new technique?”
Elder pondered for half a day but still couldn’t figure out what Arthur was going to do, he asked, “Just tell me straight, what do you want me to draw?”
Arthur said, “I wish to divide a person’s face into nine regions, then I will find one hundred people with different features in their looks, and you will draw the portraits of each of these nine regions based on their looks, completing a total of nine hundred different paintings.
In this way, in the future, we can provide samples of the nine regions for the victim to pick from, and finally compose a portrait that is closest to the offender, i.e. the simulated portrait technique.”
Elder’s jaw dropped in shock when he heard this.
“Arthur!”
“What’s wrong?” Arthur sipped his tea.
He exclaimed, “This is a genius idea! You deserve to be born to be a cop!”
Arthur raised his eyebrows and asked, “So, you agree?”
“But I can’t draw!”
Elder said in embarrassment, “I learned to draw nautical charts, so you can make do with me drawing maps. But if it’s drawing portraits, I really don’t have the skill.”
Hearing this, Arthur was also in trouble, “That’s not good, besides you, I don’t know any other who can draw maps ……”
Seeing his good friend so worried, Elder turned to speak, “But even though I don’t know how, I know where to find those who do. And not only do those people know how to do it, they draw well, and the price should be cheaper.”
“There are such good places?”
Elder nodded, “Of course! Why don’t you just look in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts next to Trafalgar Square!”
“Are you kidding me? The Royal Academy of Fine Arts is full of famous painters, and one of their paintings can cover a year’s worth of office expenses for the Greenwich Police District.
Elder, you don’t have to be so vindictive, didn’t I just make a few jokes? If you screw up like that, I’ll really put you in the police station.”
“What ah!”
Elder said, “It’s not like I’m asking you to go to the professors there. Those professors are all well-fed, but the apprentices who follow them to learn painting are all hungry one by one.
I once visited with my uncle, and many of the apprentices there were children from poor families. If you give them ten days and half a month to do a simple portrait like the one you asked for, they’ll probably be able to do it in ten days and half a month.
If you offer them a similar price, there will definitely be a lot of people who will rush to do it.”
Arthur originally thought that Elder was just making it up as he went along, but after hearing him say it, it seemed to be somewhat feasible.
He asked, “I don’t think that place can be entered casually, right? How am I supposed to blend in?”
“No need to blend in.” Elder patted his chest and promised, “One day when you have nothing to do, go around Trafalgar Square in the evening, many of the poor painters selling paintings there are all students of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, so you can just pick one that looks good and ask.”
Elder’s words had just finished, next to Darwin who was lecturing to Tony and Tom also opened his mouth. “Arthur, speaking of which. I think what you want to master should be more than just medical knowledge, but more chemistry and pharmacology.
While I can teach you a little of these, I can’t figure out many of the new advances of recent years.
If you want more advanced knowledge, try going to Gresham College to hear the lectures given by the Royal Society.
The best scientists in all of Great Britain are gathered there, and the latest results are released almost every month, so it would definitely benefit you to go and listen.”
Arthur wondered, “Lectures at the Royal Society? Are their admission tickets there expensive?”
Darwin shook his head, “It can’t be more expensive than a ticket to the Royal Theater. And whether or not a ticket to a lecture is expensive also depends on how you look at it.
For the price of a shilling to listen to state-of-the-art science, that’s actually a pretty good deal in my opinion.”
Arthur thought at first that the charge for such a lecture was in pounds, but he didn’t realize that it would only cost a shilling.
Like Darwin said, the amount spent on a single visit to the Theater Royal would be enough to listen to dozens of lectures.
It was simply too cheap.
He hastily asked, “And when are such lectures usually given?”
Darwin returned, “That’s impossible to say, but on the whole they are held more frequently. This is because the Royal Society’s scientific funding comes mainly from the income from scientific lectures, in addition to receiving donations.
Like in the recent period, because the Royal Society’s hands are tight, so there are lectures every day there.
However, if you want to go there, you’d better book your tickets in advance, because the tickets for scientific lectures are very popular with middle-class and upper-class ladies.
In case you didn’t know, due to the frequent technological breakthroughs in recent years, the scientists of the Royal Society are often in the headlines, so they’ve slowly become as popular as artists.”
As soon as Darwin’s words were finished, Arthur thought of the memory of the day he and Elder had gone to the theater and ended up being crushed to the point of becoming a meatloaf by the crowds of Paganini chasers.
He was just about to back off when his good buddy Elder spoke up again.
“Arthur, I can get a couple tickets if you want to go.”
“You can get them?”
Arthur looked Elder up and down, “Aren’t you the self-proclaimed insulator of science? Since when are you keen on listening to science lectures too?”
Elder said, “I am not interested in science, but my cousin is different! Didn’t you hear what Charles said? It’s fashionable to go to science lectures nowadays.
My cousin loves to be in that fashion, whether it’s a complicated pleated skirt or a fine French perfume, even a scruffy scientist, as long as it’s tied to fashion, she loves it.
If you want to go, when I go to my uncle’s house for dinner later, I’ll quietly touch two tickets from my cousin to go. She still buys season tickets, if I remember right, and more than one, and sometimes she likes to take those girlfriends of hers with her.”
Arthur was surprised, “Is your cousin that rich?”
Elder proudly said, “That’s for sure! Have you forgotten what I told you before? There are Royal Navy captains who fought the Napoleonic Wars and made three or four hundred thousand pounds of property.
Although my uncle only became a fifth class captain in the late Napoleonic wars, but at least he captured two French navy warships, plus his share of the loot when he was the first mate, he can still afford to take out one hundred thousand pounds.
My uncle is always stationed with the Mediterranean fleet in the Ionian Islands and Malta, and usually can’t take care of my cousin, so it’s not like he can only let her do everything?”
(end of chapter)