At night, the sky is full of stars.

At General Codrington's mansion, it was time for the banquet to end.

Mrs. Cooper, wearing a wide-brimmed lace hat diagonally, coped with the compliments of the other ladies as she walked out of the black iron courtyard with the help of her servants.

She was about to board the carriage that had been waiting for her for a long time, but before she could reach her position, she saw a middle-aged butler with a mustache, white gloves, and short blond hair walking up to her.

The butler put one hand on his chest, bowed slightly, and said, "Mrs. Cooper, our wife has been waiting for you for a long time. It's still early, if you're not busy, why don't you go and have a drink with her? ”

When Mrs. Cowper heard this, she couldn't help but look in the direction where the butler had come, the luxurious carriage parked across the road had lifted the curtains, the breeze blew across the street, and the black hair of the lady behind the curtains was raised, and the hazy night and the dim street lamp reflected more and more the smiling face of the beautiful woman who had intoxicated countless people who stirred up the European continent.

"Dorothea?"

Mrs. Cooper was slightly surprised, but she didn't say much, but smiled and nodded at the butler, and followed him into the carriage.

As she boarded the carriage, the butler quickly closed the door of the two-headed eagle crest, which was decorated with a symbol of the Russian royal family, for the two ladies from outside.

The groom, who was sitting at the front of the carriage with his waist straightened, shook the reins, and the low-key and luxurious black carriage soon drove slowly.

Mrs. Cooper sat in a crimson velvet chair and looked at the leaf-shaped necklace of turquoise topaz and emerald malachite that sat opposite Mrs. Levine on her white chest.

"What beautiful jewelry! Which master is this? ”

Madame Levine just smiled faintly: "It is not clear which master it is now, but His Majesty the Tsar said when he gave me this thing last month that it was one of the ornaments collected by Catherine the Great back then, so this is probably from the hands of a royal craftsman at that time, right?" ”

"Catherine the Great?"

When Madame Cowper heard this, she could not help but gently hold up the pendant that hung on Madame Levine's chest and looked at it a few more times: "On closer inspection, the style of this piece is really similar to the one handed down by Madame Castlereagh, and perhaps it is really the work of the same royal craftsman." ”

Lady Levine listened, smiled and blinked: "I do remember when you say this, Lady Castlereay's father, John Hobart, Earl of Buckinghamshire, seems to have served as British ambassador to Russia, right?" ”

Mrs. Cowper smiled and nodded: "That's right, the old Count of Buckinghamshire stayed in St. Petersburg from 1762 to 1765, and he happened to attend the enthronement ceremony of Catherine II, and it was at that time that the Hobart family's emerald necklace was given by Catherine II."

When I used to visit her house, I had the pleasure of seeing that necklace once. If I'm not mistaken, the set consisted of an octagonal-cut emerald centered on a pear-shaped emerald, alternately surrounding 14 cushion-shaped diamonds and 13 rectangular emeralds. In addition to this, there is also a pair of emerald drop-shaped drop earrings.

The old Earl of Buckinghamshire left the jewel to Lady Castlereagh when she was married. But perhaps because it was so expensive, Mrs. Castlereagh wore it only on very important occasions. I have to say that that necklace and earrings are a must-have with a low-necked evening dress! ”

As soon as Mrs. Cowper talked about jewelry, it was as if she had opened up a conversation, and even her tone was much livelier than it had been at this dinner.

The two ladies talked about outfits from jewelry, and from outfits to recent trends.

With that, Mrs. Levine took out the red wine that was in the wine cabinet in the car, and added a little to the goblet in front of her.

"But it's really strange that there was a dinner hosted by Henry at the club today, but not only did you not show up, but you went to General Codrington's house to attend the Blue Sox meeting. Is it because there's something interesting here today that catches your attention? ”

Mrs. Cooper smiled helplessly, "Mrs. Codrington has invited me many times before, and it would be rude for me to always excuse myself. And because of the complicated relationship between my troublesome sister-in-law who participated in the Blue Sox Club and Lord Byron, I had some unpleasant trouble with the ladies of the Blue Sox Club.

This time, I came here to ease up with them. After all, everyone lives in London, and they don't see each other when they look up, and those two people have also passed away, so let it pass. ”

"I see...... "Mrs. Levine covered her mouth slightly, "but you didn't come this time, and Henry was a little unhappy." Without you, he'd be like he had lost his soul, and he wouldn't be distracted by anything. He lost a lot of money when he played tonight. ”

Mrs. Cooper's cheeks flushed when she heard this, and she pretended to be angry, "Henry is always like this, a forty-six-year-old man, and he always plays these tempers when he has nothing to do. Besides, I'm not here, aren't you and Lady Jersey there with him? ”

Madame Levine took a sip of red wine, her red lips brightened by the liquor in the gloomy carriage.

"Emily, the big guys know that he's yours. He and I have only been playing on the spot, and as for Lady Jersey, with all due respect, where is she worthy of your charm? Don't let Henry down. ”

Mrs. Cowper thought that Mrs. Levine was joking with her, but when she heard this, she immediately realized the seriousness of the problem.

She asked softly, "Did Henry really lose his temper?" ”

Mrs. Levine nodded slightly: "It's his birthday in two days, do you want to give him some ingenious little gifts to let him dissipate his anger?" I don't have anything to do tomorrow, so why don't I accompany you out on the street to pick something? ”

When Mrs. Cowper heard this, she only muttered, "Dorothea, what do you think I should give him a gramophone?" And a record of Paganini's etudes based on La Campanella? ”

"Gramophone? Record? Mrs. Levine wondered, "What is that?" ”

Seeing that she did not understand, Mrs. Cowper smiled and explained to Mrs. Levine what she had seen at the banquet to-day.

When Mrs. Levine heard this, she suddenly seemed to remember something, and she could not help but speak: "Ah! I seem to have seen the Mr. Hastings you mentioned. ”

"Have you seen him?"

"Well, he's going to come out before you." Mrs. Levine winked at her friend and playfully teased, "He is very tall, the muscles in his chest look very strong, his whole face is angular, he looks polite, and he is a young man in his twenties......"

Mrs. Cowper teased, "Dorothe, you don't have a crush on him, do you?" I think you don't like it. ”

"Hmmm......"

Mrs. Levine brushed the broken hair behind her ear: "Oh, Emily, I always look at people after contact, and whether they are tender or not is not the most important factor for me to consider. And, why do you think Mr. Hastings is tender? Emily, young does not mean young, although the young gentleman seemed to be polite, and a brilliant scientist, and he looked like a standard English gentleman in every gesture, but ......"

"But what?"

Mrs. Levine lowered her voice, clutched her chest, leaned forward, and mysteriously whispered in her friend's ear, "I assure you, Mr. Hastings must have killed people, and definitely more than one. If you are deceived by his good appearance, you will definitely suffer a big loss in the future. ”

"Killed?" Mrs. Cooper was surprised, "How do you see that?" ”

"It's simple." Mrs. Levine pursed his lips and smiled, "Because he has a temperament close to that of my father, no matter where he stands, he will involuntarily stand like a straight sword, and his sharp movements between walks are like waving blades."

Although he has tried his best to soften his temperament, if he casually glances at him, he can still detect the danger hidden in his eyes. If you hadn't told me he was a scientist, I would have thought he had rolled out of the blood of the Napoleonic Wars. ”

When Mrs. Cowper heard this, she couldn't help but cover her mouth: "Dorothea, you see people so accurately! Mr. Hastings is a Superintendent of Police at Scotland Yard and a very capable young superintendent who, as you may not know, is only 20 years old this year and has climbed to this position on his own. Not so long ago, he was involved in the rescue of the Frenchman at sea.

I heard Colonel Fitzroy, captain of the USS Beagle, say to-day that he had seen Mr. Hastings kill seventeen pirates at sea alone. He also said that if Mr. Hastings was willing to go to the Royal Navy, he would be able to join the Admiral position sooner or later. ”

"Ah...... Was he also a police officer at Scotland Yard? Mrs. Levine was slightly surprised.

Mrs. Cooper wondered, "What do you mean by that?" ”

Mrs. Levine said, "It's nothing, in fact, at the club dinner today, Henry also brought two officers from Scotland Yard as companions, one is the Metropolitan Police of Greater London, Army Colonel Charles Rowan, and the other is the Deputy Commissioner Sir Richard Mayne. ”

When Mrs. Cooper heard this, she couldn't help but laugh and said, "What's going on? Did the senior officers at Scotland Yard take advantage of Sunday's rest to relax? ”

Mrs. Levine didn't answer positively when she heard this, but said with a smile: "Who knows? But I think they have to relax, especially Mr. Hastings. As I just remembered, it seems that several of the big cases in Scotland Yard this year have been supervised by Mr. Hastings. I am so busy with work on weekdays, I have to participate in Mr. Faraday's scientific research, and even help my friends sell new works.

By the way, is the "Count of Monte Cristo" you just said really that good? And the gramophone thing, I was a little curious to hear it. Why don't we go to Mr. Wheatstone's musical instrument store another day and buy two? ”

When Mrs. Cooper heard this, she suddenly remembered, "Dorothea, you didn't mention it, I forgot about it!" Almost all of the guests at the banquet tonight wanted to get a gramophone to go back, and if we wanted to buy something before Henry's birthday, I am afraid it would not work to go over and order it directly. ”

Hearing this, Mrs. Levine also understood that the question was a little tricky: "Did you leave Mr. Hastings's business card?" Why don't you send someone to beg him, isn't Mr. Wheatstone his friend? Let's ask him to come forward and help with the booking, so Mr. Wheatstone can get the next gramophone ready for us. ”

Mrs. Cowper thought for a moment, and then suddenly said, "This matter is not too late, and it just so happens that my carriage is now empty, and I will at once have them take the money and go to Mr. Hastings to make a reservation." My God! Hopefully the young lad at Scotland Yard doesn't have a regular routine, and he'd better not go to bed now. ”

When Mrs. Levine heard this, she couldn't help but purse her lips and smile: "It's okay to sleep, what we're afraid of now is that he didn't sleep in his own house tonight." ”

Mrs. Cowper couldn't help but laugh when she heard this, "Dorothea, ...... you"

(End of chapter)