London, Westminster, 4 Whitehall Street, Greater London Metropolitan Police.

Today's Scotland Yard is particularly lively, in addition to the police officers who are still busy, there are also many clergy dressed in the black robes of seminarians.

They were priests who had been invited by Scotland Yard to volunteer to give moral persuasion to the delinquent ladies.

They included Anglican priests appointed by the venerable Archbishop of Canterbury and York, as well as members of other Protestant denominations such as the Scottish Presbyterian, Baptist and Quaker denominations.

Although Catholicism in the oath of allegiance to the Pope has always been frowned upon in high English circles, perhaps out of respect for Superintendent Hastings, who calls himself a Catholic, or perhaps because of the diversity of the ladies' faiths, several Catholic priests are invited to Scotland Yard today to pardon their sins.

Arthur stood in front of the windowsill of his office and looked out, he took a sip of the steaming teacup, he sighed softly and said, "Obviously you don't have to give me face like this, invite a few Catholic priests to come, what if they are in the mood to come and have to discuss a few passages of scripture with me?" ”

The Red Devil sneered and laughed, "Oh, my dear Arthur, you are now shooting yourself in the foot." Who left you with nothing to do to call yourself a Catholic? Just to be able to go to the state church to pray, save half an hour to sleep, you see this thing is making a fuss. ”

Arthur stared at the priests and priests who got off the bus in groups on the street downstairs, and just shook his head: "That's it, it seems that I should not show up at will today." ”

The Red Devil teased, "Didn't you take advantage of the presence of so many priests to take the opportunity to change your sect or something?" With all due respect, Arthur, if you want to mix in British politics, it's important to have an Anglican faith. Your kings and the great men of the upper echelons will not be reassured of a Catholic who has sworn allegiance to the Pope. If you want to go one step further, you'll have to do this sooner or later. ”

Arthur didn't say yes or no, he just said, "Agareth, I appreciate your advice, but the time has not yet come. ”

"Huh? What do you mean? ”

Arthur took a sip of tea, the warm tea slid down his throat a little, and Arthur smiled, "I mean, I'll have to see who will bid on my faith in the end." Although everyone says that faith is priceless, I am different from them, and faith is clearly marked with a price in my place. By the way, Agares, you currently have the highest bid. ”

Agareth grinned, "Oh, is it? My dear Arthur, it is a great honor for me to hear this from you. ”

Arthur looked at the costumes of the priests, and then looked at the superintendents and Director Rowan who were in charge of greeting them downstairs like a great enemy, and couldn't help but shake his head: "There are actually two bishops here, it seems that Director Rowan is busy today." ”

As soon as he had finished saying this, he saw two neatly dressed young men step out of the carriage, one of whom he knew very well, and it was of course his old friend, Mr. Benjamin Disraeli.

As for the other stout young man in a neat tuxedo, it can be guessed from Disraeli's disgusted expression that it is Mr. William Gladstone, a rising Tory star who is a thorn in his side.

As soon as Disraeli got out of the car, he did not choose to go straight to Scotland Yard, but looked around and found a familiar priest to join the conversation, and under the guidance of the priest, the Jewish young man who believed in the state religion soon became acquainted with the rest of the clergy.

Judging by the smiles on their faces, it seemed that the clergy liked this lively young man with a pretty voice.

And Gladstone, although not as eloquent as Disraeli, is obviously an acquaintance. A distinguished graduate of Oxford University and a staunch Anglican believer, Gladstone soon discovered several clergy from the diocese of Oxford.

And coincidentally, Arthur was also somewhat familiar with these Oxford priests.

One was his old friend, the strange Oxford priest Mr. John Newman. As for the others, although they didn't know Arthur, Arthur knew their information inside out.

There is no other reason for this, because last year Sir Peel, as a member of parliament for the constituency of Oxford, did not fulfill his promise to Oxford University to block the Catholic Emancipation Act for them in the House of Commons. Not only that, but when Oxford University criticized the policy of the Cabinet, Sir Peel, the former pride of Oxford, in order to share the firepower for the Duke of Wellington, actually turned his gun and attacked Oxford, saying that they should keep up with the changes of the times and not be slaves to their own vanity.

Because of this, Sir Peel was directly removed from the alumni roll by the University of Oxford. Not only that, but the clergy of Oxford also launched an anti-Robert Peel campaign for this purpose. If there is nothing to do, he will give a few speeches, hold a few demonstrations and protests, and from time to time he will pull Sir Peel out for criticism.

At that time, Arthur was commissioned by the Home Office and Scotland Yard to take people to Oxford University to investigate and monitor the movement to a certain extent. After observing for a while, Arthur finally submitted an investigation report to the Home Office, believing that the Oxford priests were just trying to vent their temper tantrums with nowhere to go, and that there was no need to worry too much.

Arthur's belief was confirmed by the fact that after the fall of the Tories, the anti-Robert Peel campaign soon died down and they began to turn their attention to other things.

However, although the movement ended, the leaders who started the movement at that time have not been forgotten by Arthur. In addition to Mr. Newman, an old acquaintance of Arthur, a fellow of Olier College, Oxford, and an Anglican priest, John Kieble, Distinguished Professor of Poetics at Olier College, Oxford University, and Anglican priest, who is also visiting Scotland Yard today, and Mr. Edward Piertz, Anglican priest and professor of Hebrew and canon law at Olier College, Oxford, who is also a heavyweight.

Arthur felt a big head at the sight of the old guys, and though he didn't mind chatting with Mr. Newman for a while, if he piggybacked on the others, it would be a big deal.

Perhaps Director Rowan took into account the sensitivity of Arthur's faith, so he did not arrange for Arthur to receive these priests today, but allowed him to stay in the office and make some gadgets that he cared about.

Arthur casually copied from the pile of letterhead that lay beside his desk, which was a number of official correspondence letters from the Foreign Office to Scotland Yard this morning.

However, although it is said to be official business, what is written in it is all private matters. Or, to put it more bluntly, there are biographies of some Polish women.

Viscount Palmerston is not a trustworthy friend, but you have to admit that he is very effective when it comes to getting things done.

Since Arthur advised him last week, he has recommended dozens of suitable candidates to the British's editorial office and Arthur's mansion.

As soon as Arthur opened the letterhead, he saw a familiar name in the head-up position.

"Defina?"

Arthur leaned back in his chair and pondered, remembering that the lady who had been sent to lure Bernie Harrison into the bait seemed to be the name.

Arthur had thought that Defina's Polish experience was a fabrication, after all, he had been dealing with Miss Fiona for so long, and knew that in most cases, it would be difficult for you to get half the truth out of the mouths of these ladies.

However, there are occasionally people like Defina who come out to do business after a little polishing of real experiences.

Just as Arthur was thinking about whether to circle a name first, suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in."

As soon as he finished speaking, Arthur saw Tom lead the two men into the office.

Tom stepped forward and gave Arthur a hard look while the two were not paying attention, and said, "Sir, these two are ......."

Arthur just smiled and put down the letter: "Mr. Newman and I are old acquaintances, and as for the gentleman next to him, I guess it must be Mr. William Gladstone, right?" ”

Gladstone was a little surprised that Arthur recognized his behavior at a glance: "How do you know who I am?" ”

Arthur smiled and motioned for him to sit down first, and then said, "It's very simple, most of the people who visited Scotland Yard today are clergy. If you don't have a monk's robe, you are not a priest, and there are only two visitors today. One is Mr. Disraeli and the other is you. Mr. Disraeli did not go to university, and you are an excellent graduate of the University of Oxford. If you can appear with Mr. Newman, Oxford Reverend, then I can only guess that you are Gladstone. ”

After listening to Arthur's analysis, Gladstone couldn't help but nod and said, "I have to say, your reasoning ability is really as amazing as the newspaper says." ”

Newman also smiled lightly: "William, I told you. Mr. Hastings is not like the average police officer, he is very capable, and this is reflected not only in solving crimes, but also in his speeches. What's more, he also has a fair and kind heart. ”

Arthur heard Newman compliment him vigorously, but said modestly: "Mr. Newman, you still won the award, I am just doing my part." If the police can't even do these most basic things, are neither kind and fair, nor capable of solving cases and reasoning, then what is the use of setting up this department? ”

Speaking of this, Arthur got up and poured them a pot of tea: "But then again, you and Mr. Gladstone came here today specifically to catch up with me, or is there something else?" ”

As soon as Arthur finished speaking, Newman took a newspaper from his bosom and laid it flat on the table.

Arthur glanced at it, and sure enough, it was the report on the number of prostitutes and a series of exaggerated descriptions by the Bishop of Exeter.

Newman asked with a serious face, "Arthur, I know you won't lie to me. For God's sake and for your religious sake, can you tell me how far the situation has come in London? ”

Gladstone also reminded: "You may not know, Mr. Hastings, that I have been doing similar persuasion work on the streets of London for the past few months since I graduated from Oxford. So...... I hope you will be impartial in this regard, and I think the current situation may be far worse than the official figures for Scotland Yard. ”

Hearing this, Arthur simply pulled out a document from the filing cabinet behind him and handed it over, and he spoke: "Mr. Gladstone, there is no need for Scotland Yard to lie about this. I also know that the situation may be worse than we say. But we can only speak on the part that has been confirmed so far, and at the request of the Bishops' Conference of the House of Lords, we have recently carried out a detailed survey of the wandering warblers in the city of London, and there are 1,895 people in brothels, 2,612 street prostitutes, and of course, the most important one is the secret prostitute, of which we can identify 3,864 people. ”

"Secret prostitute?" Gladstone was stunned by the new term: "What is a secret prostitute?" ”

(End of chapter)