Chapter 399 Gears and Crosses

On the street of Wimpole Street, Westminster, London.

The carriage was moving slowly. Inside the carriage, Arthur lit a cigar and quietly flipped through the manuscript that Mrs. Shelley had given him.

It was a translation of Homer's epic poem in the style of Pope, and it was also the debut work of the girl named Elizabeth.

Mrs. Shelley folded her hands on her knees. From her slightly wrinkled white gloves, it can be seen that she seemed a little nervous.

Although the manuscript was not her work, she still couldn't help worrying about Elizabeth.

Perhaps outsiders would think that the literary circle is always full of harmony and everyone always speaks politely.

But insiders like Mrs. Shelley deeply understand how many annoying people there are in this industry, and it is extremely difficult for a writer to appreciate another writer.

And for those newcomers in the literary world, what awaits them is usually countless attacks and sarcasms from old predecessors. And female writers are attacked far more than male writers in this regard.

Although many people in the middle class have accepted the existence of female writers after Jane Austen became famous.

But those old-fashioned gentlemen still don't think that writing is what women should do. Even if they want to write, they can only write romantic stories. If they touch works like "The Iliad", they will usually be scolded.

The three great poets of the Lake School, Coleridge, Wordsworth and Southey, are representatives who firmly oppose women's entry into the literary world, and their main position for exporting this view is the authoritative magazine "Blackwood" of British classical literature.

And the reason why Mrs. Shelley found Arthur was that she was attracted by the irreconcilable relationship between "The Limey" and "Blackwood".

These two literary magazines with comparable circulations perfectly represent the two opposing voices in the current British literary world.

"Blackwood" scolded "The Limey" for its low taste, vulgar words, materialism, and leading to bad social trends.

"The Limey" sprayed "Blackwood" for its old-fashioned ideas, stubbornness, sourness, and a combination of medieval zombies.

Although the mainstream public opinion currently supports Blackwood, as far as Mrs. Shelley knows, although gentlemen and ladies will use Blackwood to decorate their elegant taste in public, many people still read The Limey more in private.

As for the reason, it is also very simple, because the stories in The Limey are indeed more interesting to read than the gorgeous poems and literary reviews in Blackwood.

Moreover, some ladies who dare to express their own opinions are not afraid to express their love for The Limey in public. The ladies of the Blue Stocking Society are one of the famous representatives.

This group of rebellious female scholars likes the reasoning techniques and chemical knowledge used in Arthur's detective novels, and is also very interested in Darwin's monkey training diary in South America. As for the works of Dickens, Dumas, and Disraeli, they are suitable for all ages.

Moreover, The Limey is not, as Blackwood said, all novels with low literary literacy. Heine's poems directly raise their literary taste to a higher level. Moreover, the young poet named Tennyson can occasionally come up with very good poetry pieces.

Perhaps the depth of "Blackwood" in literature is beyond the reach of "The Brit", but at the same time, the breadth of "The Brit" in electromagnetism, chemistry, natural history, etc. is also what "Blackwood" must look up to.

Just like the magazine motto written on the cover of each issue of "The Brit" - "The Brit" welcomes everyone with a literary dream to join us, regardless of gender, age, and even cross-species people.

Although this sentence is quite joking, Mrs. Shelley has no doubt about the inclusive review attitude of "The Brit". These enthusiastic gentlemen lent a hand to her when she was in the most difficult time, and "Blackwood" did not have such kindness.

Arthur turned the manuscript to the last page, then leaned back, leaned back in the chair and let out a long breath.

Mrs. Shelley looked at the young man's face and smiled kindly: "What do you think?"

Arthur nodded slightly and said: "Better than I expected. Although it is not as majestic as Pope's translation, her writing is very delicate and contains a sacred and religious atmosphere."

Mrs. Shelley raised her hand to cover her mouth in surprise: "You can't hide anything from her. She is indeed very interested in religion, and she is also a nonconformist like you."

"Nonconformist? Do you mean that she is also a Catholic?"

"No, she believes in Protestant Methodist. As far as I know, as long as her body allows, she will insist on attending the Methodist church near her home every week. You should also know the doctrines of the Methodist Church. They advocate serious study of the Bible, strict religious life, and adherence to moral norms.

The girl not only reads the New Testament, but also the Old Testament. In order to understand the Old Testament, she even taught herself Hebrew. Moreover, she is not satisfied with these. She will read Milton's Paradise Lost, Dante's Divine Comedy, and all books related to religion, and she must read them in the original version.

To this end, she learned Latin and Greek. In the process, she became fascinated by the books of ancient Greek writers such as Homer, Pindarus, and Aristophanes. Among other things, she loved the writings of Voltaire, Rousseau, and Wollstonecraft. "

Arthur took a puff of the cigarette, and the injection of nicotine made his brain start to work rapidly.

"This lady has a wide range of interests and hobbies. She is a religious fanatic, but she also likes Voltaire... Hmm... let me guess, is she also a deist? She believes that God created the world and humans, but also thinks that God did not continue to intervene after that, but let the world run according to its own laws?”

Mrs. Shelley smiled and replied: "You are indeed an outstanding detective. Guess which of your works is her favorite?"

"Which work?" Arthur frowned and asked: "Madam, I only have one work, that is "The Detectives of Hastings"."

"That's not true." Mrs. Shelley replied with a smile: "There is also a "St. George's Flag Rises"."

Arthur waved his hands after hearing this: "No, madam, you may have misunderstood, that is the work of Mr. Dickens."

Mrs. Shelley smiled slyly: "But Mr. Dickens said that the idea and plot of this work were all drawn up by you. Elizabeth wrote a letter to the editorial office, and Mr. Dickens personally told her the ins and outs of creating this story. He You are the one who wrote it, and the context and key plots of this book were all written by you yourself.”

"This kid Charles always does superfluous things..."

Arthur smoothed his hair: "Okay, so Elizabeth likes dolphins...er, no, sharks?"

Mrs. Shelley covered her mouth and said with a smile: "This is not about sharks. Your article made her cry. She felt that her heart was touched by Elder Carter's spirit of working hard and not surrendering to fate. Inspired. Seeing Carter’s struggle, she seemed to see herself fighting against fate.”

When Arthur heard this, he was stunned for a long time without saying anything. It was not until the end of the cigar burned his hand that he shivered from the burn and completely came back to his senses.

Looking at Mrs. Shelley's sincere and warm smile, Arthur felt so complicated that no matter what he said at this moment, it seemed like blasphemy.

The Red Devil put his hand on Arthur's shoulder and consoled him with a playful smile: "Look on the bright side, it's a good thing after all. Elder can use his own painful experience to inspire a paralyzed girl in pain. He can be considered a good person." It’s a good thing, even if he didn’t do it intentionally.”

Arthur's thinking direction was obviously different from that of the Red Devil. He suddenly felt that he had made a mistake in choosing to go to the fan's home with Mrs. Shelley today.

If Miss Elizabeth suddenly asked about the origin of the story, how should Arthur explain such a thing to her?

"St. George's Flag Rises" is a lie I can't tell?

Is this actually a cross-species love?

Just when Arthur was about to find an excuse to rush out of the door, the wheels of the carriage stopped leisurely.

Mrs. Shelley glanced at the white-painted apartment outside the window, nodded slightly to Arthur and said, "Mr. Hastings, we are here."

The groom opened the car door, Arthur's riding boots stepped on the watery brick road, and he felt like he was being forced to go uphill.

However, before he could express his refusal, a familiar, pleasant and crisp voice with a hint of surprise sounded in his ears.

"Mr. Hastings?"

Arthur turned around and saw that it was a noble lady traveling accompanied by a male servant.

She gently lifted her beige wide-brimmed hat, and her naughty smiling face could be seen through the lace brim.

"Miss Byron?"

Ada Byron was about to step forward to talk to Arthur, but as soon as she took a step, she saw Mrs. Shelley getting out of the car following Arthur.

This frightened her so much that she quickly took back the grimace she had just made. She bowed her head obediently and said, "Mrs. Shelley."

"Ada?" Mrs. Shelley was also surprised by the girl's appearance: "Didn't your mother travel with you today?"

Ada shook her head and said: "I am already an adult and can go to social dances. So naturally, my mother does not need to keep an eye on me every day."

Mrs. Shelley seemed a little dissatisfied when she heard this.

In terms of the control of her children, perhaps because they were both saddened by poets, she has similar views to Ada's mother, Mrs. Milbank.

Just as Byron and Shelley were close friends who talked about everything, so the wives of the two poets had become very close in recent years.

For the little girl Ada, Mrs. Shelley almost regarded her as her own daughter.

Mrs. Shelley said: "You should listen to your mother's opinion more. There are many terrible guys in this society. Silly girls like you can easily be deceived by them if you are not careful."

When Ada heard this, she immediately got into a mischievous mood. She pretended to be innocent and asked: "This... you are right, there are indeed many bad guys in this society. For example, the person next to you, I read in the newspapers these days Everyone seems to be attacking him, both the Times and the Guardian say he is a heinous villain. Come to me quickly, I'm afraid he will attack you later."

Mrs. Shelley's face darkened instantly when she heard this: "Ada, you can't just believe what is in the newspaper. You have to feel the quality of a person for yourself, and sometimes you can't trust it just by feeling. , It still takes time to see people's hearts. All in all, a person's goodness or badness cannot be judged from other people's opinions. Mr. Hastings is a very good police officer and an upright gentleman. You must be honest. Apologize to him for what you just said."

"All right……"

Ada lowered her head, still watching Arthur's reaction secretly from the corners of her drooped eyes.

Naturally, such a small move could not escape Arthur's eyes, but he had no intention of interceding on behalf of the other party. Instead, he looked at the young lady's chest with great interest.

Ada noticed Arthur's hot gaze, her face suddenly turned red, and she quickly took a step back: "Mr. Hastings, what are you looking at?"

"That..." Arthur pointed to the book she was holding on her chest and asked, "What is that?"

"Which one?"

Ada looked down and felt her face was burning, as if there was a flame burning: "This is the data that Mr. De Morgan gave me. I want to take it back for statistics."

"Mr. De Morgan? Data?"

Arthur suddenly slapped his head, and he remembered something: "I almost forgot, Mr. De Morgan was your tutor before. So, the document in your arms should be the cholera report assigned to the University of London by the Central Health Commission. Case statistics file, right? Are you assisting the government?”

"Well... it's just a little hobby. I can put the mathematical knowledge I have learned into practical use, which makes me happy."

Ada said with wandering eyes: "Of course, Mr. De Morgan allowed me to attend his class at the University of London for an important reason. So, when he said that the Central Health Commission and Mr. Arthur Hastings of Scotland Yard commissioned When the University of London compiled daily statistics on cholera cases, I agreed without even thinking about it.”

When Mrs. Shelley heard this, she couldn't help but glance at Arthur beside her, and then glared at Ada with an angry look, and then said: "Ada, you are such a naughty girl."

Ada's face flushed with shame: "You were too eager to teach me a lesson."

Arthur took off his hat and bowed slightly: "Miss Byron, thank you very much for your help in government work. Cholera statistics work is a complicated matter, and your joining will definitely make the work a lot easier."

Ada blinked and asked doubtfully: "Is that all?"

Arthur thought for a moment and then added with a smile: "I'm also very grateful that you don't hate me. There are enough people in London who hate me now. I'm very happy that I didn't lose another beautiful and moving supporter. If next This is my first opportunity to invite you to dance, I hope you won’t refuse me.”

After hearing this, Ada nodded with satisfaction: "I have no reason to refuse a gentleman."

Seeing this, Mrs. Shelley turned her head and said to Arthur with a smile: "The misunderstanding has been resolved. Now it's time for us to meet your other supporter."

She was about to knock on the doorbell, but Ada suddenly followed her. She looked at the suspicious apartment in front of her, then at Mrs. Shelley and Arthur, and asked suspiciously: "Can I take the liberty of asking? By the way, do you and Mr. Hastings have any special arrangements today?"