In winter, the branches of the tree take on a dry grey colour, and the branches look denser than the most fashionable combs in the fashionables of the Beggley Street fashion stores, and the coarse marks and scars grow denser and denser along the thicker and thicker branches, reaching the trunk part.

Under the trees, ladies in woolen dresses and fur shawls with handbags fur wrinkled their carefully drawn brows as they stepped on the dirt scattered beside the flower beds, and they let out a soft breath, and the white mist was frozen in the cold air as it spit out from between their beautiful lips.

While they and their companions were complaining about the weather, a gust of wind swept by the newsboy on his bicycle from the side of the street, and the corners of their clothes danced, and they looked back with wide eyes, only to see the slightly evil smiling face of the newsboy.

"Jingle bells—" The bicycle bell rang softly, "snapped", a little worn boot stepped on the snow, and a thickly gloved hand reached into the arms of his coat, took out a newspaper, and threw it into the mailbox.

The newsboy grabbed the end of his glove and tugged at it, pulled his sleeve forward again, shrugged his shoulders, as if feeling a little cold, but still reached out and tapped the bell on the mailbox vigorously.

Just as he sighed, held on to the handlebars of his bicycle, and his foot had already stepped on the pedal, suddenly, he looked up at the door number of this house and stopped his movements.

After a while, a man dressed as a butler came out of the gate of the manor, holding an old-fashioned newspaper folder and a small brown paper bag.

The newsboy saw him, straddled the bicycle, put his foot on the ground, rubbed his hands, and let out a mouthful of white mist.

The butler stepped forward, took out the newspaper that the newsboy had just delivered, clamped it in the newsclip, and then handed the brown paper bag in his hand to the newsboy.

The newsboy took off a glove and separated the mouth of the brown paper bag with his fingers, and as soon as he opened it, a thick heat came out of it, and when he looked closely, it was an apple pie, and the soft part was still making a puff of air, which looked like it had just been heated in the fireplace.

The newsboy quickly folded the brown paper bag, and despite the fact that the apple pie was hot, he stuffed it directly into his coat, and then said to the butler with a smile: "Thank you, Professor Rodriguez, for he is such a good man!" ”

The butler smiled too, looked at the little newsboy in front of him, who was only in his early tens, waved at him, and then watched as he pedaled the car and disappeared to the end of the street.

He turned, pushed open the door of the manor, walked through the front garden and the antechamber, went all the way inside, then ascended the stairs, crossed the covered bridge on the second floor, and came to the study at the rear, where he knocked on the door, and a calm and powerful voice came from inside: "Please come in." ”

He pushed open the door and saw that the afternoon sun was shining on the floor of the study, leaving the shape of the window lattice, and also illuminating the fibers of the carpet.

As he walked in, he heard the "rustle" of the radio, and then there came the most common broadcast tone in the city:

“…… Shockingly, Gorbachev formally signed the order for major disarmament yesterday, and it is not difficult to see from this move that the giant bear in the distance has gradually weakened and cannot stand ...... alone."

"In this winter, the people there are living exceptionally cold, they are about to lose all initiative, and even the army they were once most proud of cannot hold ......"

"What is the future of Mikhail Gorbachev, an heir who has been crowned to the altar but has not shown any talent worthy of his fame? We'll just have to wait and see......"

A hand reached to the button of the radio, and with a "click", the news broadcast inside stopped, Schiller took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, leaned back in his chair and said: "Thank you, Merkel, did you hear the news just now?" ”

"Yes, sir." The butler, known as Merkel, was turning to take out the iron for ironing newspapers from the small storage room next to the study, and he replied with his back to Schiller.

"How do you think things will turn out? Will it be what he says? ”

Merkel paused as he unfolded the newspaper, he glanced up at Schiller, and found that Schiller had taken out a medical record again, and Merkel lowered his head, ironing the newspaper and said, "To be honest, I don't know, I don't have a big opinion on this, sir." ”

Schiller put his glasses back on, and as he examined the words he had written, he said, "To be honest, when I asked Alfred to introduce me to a butler, I didn't expect that the man he was looking for would be so young. ”

"I thought that housekeepers were born like Alfred, with gray hair and an elegant temperament." Schiller smiled, and Merkel also smiled, and he said: "Sir, the housekeepers of the housekeeper school tend to find customers who are close to their age, and the customers also like to find housekeepers who are close to their own age." ”

"If the housekeeper is too young, not only will he not be able to become a helper, but he may also be a burden, but if the housekeeper is too old, some parents will worry about them controlling their children."

"But ......," Merkel said, shaking her head, "hereditary stewards are different, they are trusted by the family, often to assist the grandfather and then the father, then the son, and if there is an opportunity, to assist the grandson......"

"What butler school did you graduate from?"

Merkel shook her head again, smiled and said: "Butler school is different from university, there is no graduation difference, when I was in my second year of university in London, I was favored by an old butler from a hereditary butler family and became his apprentice. ”

"There's a manor house in the south of England that's dedicated to teaching us new butlers, about six or seven like me, and we call it the Butler's School."

"So, you're still an apprenticeship?" Schiller asked.

Merkel nodded and said: "Anyone who wants to join this industry knows that the hereditary housekeeper family has all the connections, and if you want to become a qualified housekeeper, you can only learn from them." ”

"So, you're the first generation of a hereditary butler family?"

Merkel smiled and said, "Thank you." ”

At that moment, the doorbell rang again with a crisp sound, and it was already a little dull as it passed through the empty halls and dimly lit corridors of the manor, and when it reached the study.

Merkel hung up the iron, laid out the newspaper, and then turned away to receive the incoming guests.

When he pushed open the gate of the manor, he saw a rather low-key black classic car parked outside, the door opened, and Alfred walked out with Aisha in his arms, he put Aisha down first, and then went to open the door for Dick, who was still in the car.

The two children, one older and one younger, were dressed in thick winter coats, and Dick struggled to pull away the scarf that covered half of his face, and then said, "Is this the teacher's house?" It's too luxurious, isn't it? ”

Merkel hurried to catch up, he helped Charfred pick up Aisha, Alfred turned around and wrapped Dick's scarf, and the two walked together towards the manor.

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When the children were allowed to take off their scarves, hats and gloves, and Merkel hung the clothes on the hanger in the same way, Alfred looked at the manor and said to Merkel: "You've been working for a week, how do you feel?" ”

"Very good." Merkel nodded, and he said: "Mr. Rodriguez is much easier to get along with than I thought." ”

"Again, Merkel, don't feel free to express your opinion about the people you serve." Alfred lifted his eyelids, rolled his eyes up, and looked at Merkel.

The butler was indeed very young, although he looked like he was in his thirties from the outside, but in fact he was dressed as an old man, in fact he was only 28 years old this year, and he had only been trained for a short time.

However, he was relatively honest in appearance and had a calm temperament, and at a glance, he felt that this person could be trusted, so Alfred walked over and patted him on the shoulder and said, "You are naturally suitable for this job." ”

"Thanks, Mr. Pennyworth, I thought I would have to wait a long way until my first job, ......after all," Merkel said, shaking her head, "a lot of people don't trust young butlers much these days." ”

They led the two children up the stairs, and as they went, Alfred said, "I heard Bruce say that this professor is a very kind man, and that's why I recommend you to him, a patron who is older than you can tolerate small shortcomings." ”

"Seriously, I did mess up some things this week." Merkel sighed and said a little embarrassed: "Mr. Rodriguez is used to going to bed late, and I can't go to bed too early, but it will make me a little distracted when I work during the day, and I almost broke a globe on my desk last time......"

"Moreover, he told me that whenever the newsboy came to deliver the newspaper, he would bring them something to eat, but I forgot it once in the middle of the ......"

"It's okay, Merkel, it's all very normal, it's just a little mistake, you can't imagine how much trouble I made when I first came into contact with the job of housekeeper."

As he spoke, Alfred recounted some interesting things that had happened when he first met Thomas Wayne, and they both laughed.

Dick took Aisha's hand from behind and looked at it, and said, "The English accent is really hard to understand, isn't it?" ”

"Wow wow! Wow! ”

"What? Do you want to learn? This can't be done, so I won't understand what you say from now on? ”

Soon, Merkel walked to the door of Schiller's study, knocked on the door, and after Schiller answered, he opened the door and walked in.

Alfred stepped forward first, opened his suitcase, and took out a delicately wrapped but not ostentatious gift box from inside, and said:

"I have long admired the great name, Professor Rodriguez, I just heard from the radio this morning that your new work has won another award......

"I thought that such good news was very good to celebrate, so I brought a little gift."

"Let's take it as a memorial to that little bit of academic dream that I didn't take away from the rainy days in London."

As he spoke, the old man tilted the corners of his mouth down to reveal a somewhat funny sad expression that caused several people to laugh, and Schiller took the gift box and handed it to Merkel.

Merkel opened the gift box, revealing several hardcover copies of Sherlock Holmes, and Alfred gently stroked his palm and said, "Originally, I proposed to Lord Bruce to give Shakespeare, but he said, maybe you will like this more." ”

Schiller took the books from Merkel's hand, he stroked the gilded text on the cover, and said with a smile: "I didn't know that Bruce knew me so well, and that he usually had a better relationship with Professor Victor, which made me a little jealous." ”

Alfred laughed too, and he turned and pulled Dick and Aisa over, and Dick stared at Joy a little timidly, as if he was a little afraid of such a teacher-like figure.

"Actually, I also know that Bruce must have caused a lot of trouble, his mind has always been a little too active, but I think Dick would be a good student, although he entered the school late, but he did well in all subjects......"

Schiller crouched down, looked Dick level, looked him in the eye, and said, "I can see that this is an obedient child." ”

Then he touched Dick's head, stood up again, looked at Alfred, and said, "As I wrote in my previous letter to you, he and his sister can come here for three hours of class every week." ”

"I'll teach Dick grammar and some of the more elementary psychology and sociology."

"As for Aisha, as we said before, I will give her some basic sensory integration training to promote the development of her language system as much as possible......

"Then I'll trouble you, Professor Rodriguez."