In the rickety carriage, Arthur carried a box containing a gramophone in his arms.

In his hand, he holds a freshly recorded circular record made of tin, wax and wood.

This record is nowhere near as expensive and delicate as the thousands of pieces of vinyl records of later generations, but its lifespan is surprisingly short.

According to Wheatstone's estimates, the sound quality of this improvised record may not be guaranteed after about 20 plays.

Although he was confident that he would make something better, it was certainly too late to take it out at Sunday's dinner.

But even such a shoddy rush was enough to surprise Arthur, who had thought that it would be nice to have Wheatstone get a gramophone out of shape in just one week.

But he clearly underestimated Charles Wheatstone's acoustics and the hands-on ability and creativity of the young British scientist from a family of musical instruments to combine new inventions with musical instruments.

Elder sitting across from him was still in a state of shock when the phonograph played a piano piece for the first time.

"This ...... It's a great invention! To be able to seal human voices, my God, I always thought that maybe only God could do this. ”

Elder muttered, "With this gramophone, I'm afraid the musicians will be unemployed from now on, right?" ”

Arthur replied, "Instead of worrying about the musicians, you should worry more about your next sea training." ”

Elder raised his eyebrows and said, "Arthur, then again, I know you understand art, but what I don't know is that the boy can actually fucking play the piano, when did you learn this thing?" ”

Arthur glanced at the Red Devil sitting by the car window.

Agareth had somehow exchanged for a decent black tuxedo, and the Red Devil was humming a tune, his eyes closed, and his arm waving like a whip, as if he were not sitting in the window of a car, but standing in Vienna's Golden Hall.

Arthur sighed: "If I say I just learned, would you believe me?" ”

Elder looked incredulous: "Come on, Arthur, if you can play to this level just after learning it, it only means that your musical talent is unattainable." Britain's "The Victory of Wellington", which commemorates the victory of the Battle of Victoria, should not have spent a lot of money to go to Vienna to find Beethoven to compose the music, but should have gone directly to the countryside of Yorkshire to find you. ”

When Arthur heard this, he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows and said, "That's not good." ”

"Why?"

Arthur spoke, "Because playing the piano is too deadly." Held, I remember the Battle of Victoria in 1813, when I was three years old, and a three-year-old child could not do such a big business. ”

Elder pouted, "Don't you have to put in some effort to do anything?" However, it doesn't seem like a big deal if you don't become a musician. You are a superintendent of Scotland Yard at a young age, and you live in a small detached house next to Hyde Park, with six bedrooms and two living rooms, and even General Codrington's banquet has to be invited to you. In this way, it seems that the average 20-year-old musician, compared to you, is generally not good. ”

Elder said this, picked up his pipe to himself, crossed Erlang's legs, and began to care about Arthur's emotional problems.

"At the age of 20, it may be a little early to get married, but you have to think about it. If you climb up to a young lady from a wealthy family, you can soar to the sky by taking advantage of the momentum of the other party's family. ”

When Arthur heard this, he couldn't help but quip, "Eld, this is not like you." Didn't you always say that you wanted to make a world on your own? It's only been a little over a year, and your life course has turned upside down. Forget about the awakening of the 'Royal Navy bloodline' in yourself, and now even when you choose a partner, do you plan to find someone who has both wealth and background? ”

Who knew that Elder didn't care about these things at all, he said: "Arthur, you don't understand, you have to seize the opportunity you should seize. You have handled so many big cases in Scotland Yard, and if the same merit had been put on a noble son, perhaps you would have been transferred to the Home Office as an errand by this time. But what does it mean that you are still in Scotland Yard? This shows that you still lack context.

Besides, even if you don't like it, you can still play on the spot. In London's social circles, there are many people who make a fortune by playing this set of promotions. ”

Seeing his 'young people don't be too young' expression, Arthur cooperated and asked, "Is this kind of thing played by the upper class social circles in London?" ”

Sure enough, when Elder heard this, it was like being beaten with chicken blood.

He whispered, "You're asking the right question." I ask you, do you know General Nelson's mistress, Mrs. Hamilton, Emma Hart?

Arthur felt a little familiar as soon as he heard the name, as if the Red Devil had mentioned it to him before: "I've only heard of it." ”

Elder saw that he didn't know, and immediately introduced with great interest.

"Mrs. Hamilton is one of London's high school legends. Mrs. Hamilton was originally an ordinary commoner, her father was a blacksmith, her mother was a maid, she herself was a boy and a nanny, and she was almost deceived by men into becoming a prostitute.

But her fate took a turn for the worse when she met Lord Charlie Grenwell, who took a fancy to her beauty, so he took her home and taught her all kinds of upper-class dress, behavior, and even specially invited someone to educate her in literature and art.

Under the cultivation of Lord Grenwell, Emma Hart was an instant hit when she first appeared at a social banquet, and it was not long before she became recognized as the 'first beauty in England' in the circle.

Just when everyone thought that Emma Hart would be with Lord Grenwell, Mr. Lord actually transferred her to his uncle Sir William Hamilton in order to pay off his high debts, and Emma naturally became Mrs. Hamilton. ”

When Arthur heard this, he couldn't help frowning: "But how did she get involved with General Nelson?" ”

Elder replied: "That's because Sir Hamilton was the British Minister to Naples at the time, so naturally Emma went with him." She made good use of the social skills she had learned in London, and soon became the darling of the Neapolitan high society at the time.

At this time, Admiral Nelson had just defeated the French Navy at the mouth of the Nile in Egypt and was promoted to commander of the Mediterranean Fleet. Sir Hamilton not only did not rebuke them, but was very generous to return to London with them. ”

When Arthur heard this, his eyelids couldn't help jumping: "Are you sure?" I know it's not uncommon to have a mistress or something these days, but if this kind of behavior is made public, I'm afraid few British people can accept it, right?

After all, our recently deceased old King George IV was attacked by public opinion every day when he wanted to divorce, and even the parliamentarians were upset about Queen Caroline.

Even if Sir Hamilton didn't care about the matter of Nelson and Emma, didn't the big newspapers and tabloids in London attack them? ”

Elder said disdainfully, "If someone else did that, they would have to be trampled into the mud." But that's Horatio Nelson, the soul of the Royal Navy! If General Nelson is still alive, I'm afraid that even the Duke of Wellington will not be able to hold him down, what will our former King compare with him? ”

Arthur asked, "What about after the Battle of Trafalgar?" Without Nelson, Mrs. Hamilton probably wouldn't have ended well. ”

Elder nodded, "That's a guess for you." Before the Battle of Trafalgar, General Nelson was a man, but after his death at Trafalgar, he had become a heroic symbol of Britain. This kind of hero obviously cannot be stained in any way, so for the sake of Nelson's reputation, Mrs. Hamilton was soon abandoned by the social circles of London, everyone regarded her as air, and her name and experience became a taboo that could not be said. ”

Arthur asked, "Isn't that a failure?" What did you mention her to me? ”

"It's a success!"

Elder began: "The most typical female success story is Harriet Wilson, who has made a lot of money in high society by virtue of her lover relationships with a bunch of people. Even after she retired, she continued to serialize her past love history in the newspaper.

As long as those old lovers don't give money, she will expose their names and quirks in the love history. And if the money is in place, she will even sing a few praises for them.

The most successful male case in recent years is none other than Henry Temple, Viscount of Palmerston. Although there is no conclusive evidence, many of my people say that Viscount Palmerston had an affair with at least three of the seven main patrons of the Olmark club.

If it weren't for the help of these ladies, Viscount Palmerston would not have been so comfortable in social and political circles, and he would not have been accepted by the Whigs immediately after leaving the Tories. ”

Arthur had heard of the name of the 'Olmark Club' for a long time, and as for the honorific title of 'Viscount Palmerston', it was written in textbooks, and he couldn't learn it if he didn't want to.

He suddenly became interested and asked, "Can you tell me the story in detail?" For example, the seven female patrons of the Olmark club, or Palmerston. ”

When Elder heard this, he thought Arthur had figured it out, and he patted Arthur on the shoulder with relief: "Arthur, you finally understand, if you want to be a big person, you can't rely on yourself." ”

"Of course." Arthur smiled and patted the box in his arms: "I definitely can't rely on myself, I still have to rely on recording." ”

Elder was stunned by what he said: "Recording? What do you want? ”

"Nothing."

Arthur laughed and replied, "Elder, you don't think that the gramophone was invented just for a dinner party, or to listen to a piece of music, do you?" If possible, I hope it can be a powerful tool in the fight against organised crime for us at Scotland Yard or for LPS. ”

Elder was taken aback by Arthur's thoughts: "Arthur, are you going to treat the Whig and Tory MPs as organized crime?" ”

When Arthur heard this, he didn't respond positively, he just shrugged his shoulders slightly and replied with a smile: "Elder, our duty also includes fighting organized crime. ”

As Arthur and Elder drifted away from each other, Charles Wheatstone stood in front of the store and lingered for a long time.

Seeing the sun shining on Wheatstone's face, he covered his sweat-stained forehead with a look of disbelief: "Oh my God! What the hell was that Mr. Hastings playing just now? ”

(End of chapter)