Madame Abel's apartment was very warmly furnished. The pale yellow wallpaper was printed with roses, the sky-blue flannel curtains covered the entire wall of the living room, and the fireplace was filled with small handicrafts from León. It can be seen that the apartment is well furnished by the hostess.

Although it has nothing to do with luxury, the whole apartment is full of the warm atmosphere of life, and it can be seen that Mrs. Abel is a little woman who is full of enthusiasm for life, and her life is a little bourgeois.

Mrs. Abel politely beckoned Wickham and Prince Frederick to sit down, and then said with a smile: "I bought some Brazilian coffee beans a few days ago, and I just happened to invite Mr. Wickham and His Royal Highness the Prince to taste them. ”

Prince Frederick found the wine on the cabinet at the door, poured himself a glass, and then said to Mrs. Abel, who was busy grinding coffee beans: "My dear, I haven't slept well these two days, so you don't need to prepare it for me, just drink some red wine." ”

Mrs. Abel, who was busy grinding the coffee, did not turn around, but only said that she knew. This scene is almost like a young couple living their lives, which makes Wickham boo.

After a while, Mrs. Abel came with two steaming cups of coffee, and then placed one of them in front of Wickham, and said with a smile: "Mr. Wickham, this coffee is a little bitter, and if you are not used to it, I can ask the servant to bring me some cane sugar." ”

Contrary to the British who like to drink tea, the French prefer to drink coffee. In France, no matter how small the town is, there will be a café, so Madame Abel's method is very sophisticated, from the grinding and brewing of coffee beans are impeccable, the coffee in the cup exudes a rich aroma, and the instant coffee with a black conscience in later generations is really many times better.

Wickham stirred the coffee in his cup with a small silver spoon and said, "Lady Abel, you are so polite, so it will be good." "In his previous life, when Wickham stayed up late in the library to write papers, he didn't drink bitter black coffee to refresh himself, so he was used to drinking it.

Mrs. Abel looked at Prince Frederick with a pair of beautiful eyes, and asked softly: "Honey, can we start dinner, today I have personally baked a meat floss cake for you, you must eat more, you have been busy with military affairs recently, and your whole person has lost weight." ”

Frederick drank the red wine in his glass and shook Mrs. Abel's hand: "Elena, wait a while, I still have an important friend who hasn't come yet." ”

Wickham was a little curious about who Frederick had invited, but out of politeness he didn't ask. While the three of them were chatting, the housekeeper of the apartment took an old gentleman into the living room, and then saluted Prince Frederick: "Your Highness, Mr. John Walter has arrived. ”

"John Walter?" Wickham was surprised that the man who had helped him publish a book of poetry two years earlier was Mr. John Walter of The Times, who had been invited by Prince Frederick.

Old John handed his cane and top hat to the maid beside him, and said to Frederick: "Your Highness, there is something going on in the newspaper office today that I need to deal with, and I hope I am not late." ”

When he saw Wickham sipping coffee on the side, Old John showed a surprised look: "Mr. Wickham, it's a pleasure to see you again, I didn't expect you to have returned from the far east." ”

He had a very good impression of the old gentleman Wickham, and Mr. John Sr. did not unscrupulously lower his remuneration because he was unknown in the literary world, but gave him the remuneration that only a famous poet can enjoy.

Although Mr. John Sr. may have given Wickham preferential treatment because he cherished his talents, and he didn't care about that little money, he had to admit it.

Wickham said to the old gentleman with some gratitude: "Mr. Walter, thank you very much for your help to me back then, and your generous remuneration back then really helped me a lot. If I had the latest work, I would definitely choose to continue working with The Times. ”

The remuneration did Wickham a great favor at the beginning, and if it weren't for that money, he wouldn't have been able to send Alice to St. Margaret's Girls' School, which had expensive tuition. In addition, the English version of the Analects and the Outer History of Confucianism, which Wickham had translated on his voyage back to England, would need Mr. Walter's help if they were to be published.

John Sr. felt a little ashamed of Wickham's sincere gratitude, after all, the publishing house under the Times also gained great prestige from it, which can be described as fame and fortune. "Mr. Wickham doesn't have to be like that, you are a young man of great talent, and your poems will be published without my help."

Listening to old John's words, Wickham admired the old gentleman whom he had only met a few times, for he was a gentleman of true noble character.

Prince Frederick looked at the two of them with a smile and finished greetings, and then put down the red wine glass in his hand: "I didn't expect John and George that you are old acquaintances, so I don't need to introduce them in a wordy way, maybe I should ask Madame Abel if dinner is ready, I believe you will be full of praise for the French cuisine here today." ”

When the housekeeper whispered a few words in front of Madame Abel, the beautiful Frenchwoman curtsy to the three men with her skirt in her hand: "Your Highness, and two gentlemen, my chef has prepared a delicious foie gras tonight, please move to the restaurant." ”

The crystal chandelier in the dining room is lit with white smokeless candles, which makes the whole restaurant look brilliantly lit, and the table is covered with snow-white tablecloths, which complement the silver tableware, but this porcelain is relatively ordinary, not the popular Chinese porcelain, but the porcelain produced in the United Kingdom, which looks a little rough. British porcelain has to wait for the invention and perfection of bone china to compete with Chinese porcelain.

Contrary to the Chinese tradition of "eating without saying anything", the European table is also generally part of socializing, where everyone at the table can enjoy the food while talking to other people.

After the appetizers were served, Prince Frederick said to Walter: "John, what I told you last time, is it okay?" John Walter glanced in the direction of Wickham, a little unsure whether to take Prince Frederick's words, after all, what they were about to talk about was not for a third person to know.

Prince Frederick naturally knew Walter's concerns, so he said: "John, George is my friend, you can trust him completely. ”

After Frederick's assurance, Walter said, "I'm sorry, Your Highness, but this matter is quite sensitive, so I have to be cautious. Your Highness, I have to think carefully about what you said. Now that the kingdom has just declared war on France, it is at a time when it is necessary to maintain cabinet stability, and if we propose parliamentary and government reform at this critical time, we may cause a new round of political turmoil. ”

There is now a growing number of radicals within the Whig Party, who are demanding a redistricting and distribution of seats in order to change the current situation of fraud in parliamentary elections and aristocratic control of most of the seats in the House of Commons.

A large part of the reason why the Whig bigwigs let these radical reformers go was that they wanted to change the balance of power between the two parties in the House of Commons through the redistricting of the constituencies, and force the Tory leader, Pitt Jr., to dissolve the current cabinet.

For a different purpose, the chaotic Whigs were unanimous in their unprecedented, and that was to push for parliamentary reform and the passage of government reform bills. The first thing the Whigs had to do before they could attack parliament was to gain favourable public opinion, so the Whigs approached John Walter, the leader of the newspaper industry, in the hope that he would first blow the wind of reform in his newspaper, The Times.

Prince Frederick hesitated for a moment before he said, "Of course I know the consequences of this, and for the time being the kingdom should focus on how to defeat the French thugs to stabilize the European order, not on infighting." But my brother, the Prince of Wales, had already decided to support the Whig Party's actions in Parliament. He knows about my relationship with you, so he asked me to be a lobbyist, and I'm forced to do it now. ”

Frederick still didn't say that his brother, the Prince of Wales, was bent on making trouble for his father, George III, how could he let go of such a good opportunity? The old king wanted his king to marry Caroline, the princess of Braunschweig, but the princess was fat and ugly, how could the Prince of Wales, a veteran of the game flowers, agree? In order to force the king to abandon this marriage, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has already let go.

In fact, Frederick was also very depressed, he was sandwiched between his brother and father, like a mouse in the middle of the bellows, and neither side could please him. Considering that the old king's mental illness was getting worse and worse, and he couldn't sit on the throne for a few years, Prince Frederick had to grit his teeth and agree to his brother's request, after all, he would have to beg for a living under his eldest brother, the future king, in the future, right?

Hearing these messy royal secrets, Wickham secretly complained in his heart, sometimes it is not a good thing to know too much, and now that he has no roots in London, it is really not a wise thing to be rashly involved in cruel political struggles.

Wickham, who had no choice, had to eat the lamb chops on the plate with his head down, reducing his presence as much as possible.

Having been in the newspaper industry for most of his life, the elder Walter is also very well-informed, and has heard of the bullshit in the royal family, to be honest, he is not used to what the Prince of Wales does, no matter how he looks at it, he looks like a child in a temper.

From the standpoint of the royal family, the Whigs' radical reform proposals were very dangerous, and if those reforms were to be realized, the full power of the nobles in parliament would be greatly weakened, and the power of the king, as the largest nobleman, would also be weakened.

Only the unreliable Prince of Wales would confront his father in a way that harms the interests of the royal family.