The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 949: Chapter 38 Napoleon’s Legacy_2

A shadow blocked the light outside the door. The visitor took off his hat, handed his coat to the attendant outside to hang on the coat rack, and lit his pipe, blowing out a stream of gray-white smoke slowly.

”Louis, it’s only been a few days since we last met, why do you look so haggard?”

Louis raised his hand, signaling for him to close the door. Although Arthur did not refuse, he couldn’t help joking after closing the door, ”You worked at Scotland Yard, so you should know that for those who really want to eavesdrop, closing the door doesn’t work.”

Perhaps because of the presence of another person, Louis felt that the atmosphere in the room had become much more relaxed.

He breathed a long sigh of relief, and a smile appeared on his lips: ”I believe the Great Paris Police Hall hasn’t yet introduced such advanced technology.”

”Even without advanced technology, some relatively primitive methods can achieve the same effect.”

Arthur casually took some wine and glasses from the wine cabinet: ”These past days you weren’t with me, so you don’t know how crazy my life has been. I can guarantee you, even if Mr. Hugo doesn’t create dramas, he’s definitely an ace at surveillance and tracking.”

Arthur shared his experiences in Paris from the past few days with Louis, and soon, the room was filled with laughter.

Arthur teased, ”Louis, if you want to spend a romantic night with a lovely lady, don’t go to that ’Little Castle’ hotel. Every blade of grass and tree there is under Mr. Hugo’s control. Of course, some people might have such a kink, but I believe you surely don’t like it that way.”

Louis relaxed and began to joke as well, ”Perhaps you should invite Hugo to the Nightingale Mansion in London. Just let him spend a bit there a few times, and the ’British’ agents of the English edition of ’Notre-Dame de Paris’ will surely negotiate smoothly. Maybe in his happiness, he’ll grant the adaptation rights too.”

Arthur poured him a glass of wine: ”That’s right, Louis, smile more. The you I know isn’t a young man with a chronic look of suffering and enmity. Happy boys never have bad luck, so why trouble yourself?”

”I...”

Hearing this, Louis pursed his lips slightly: ”I’m not really troubling myself; I’m just thinking about making my first appearance in France in such a manner after returning. I wonder what the Bonaparte Family’s supporters would think of me. My uncle faced the Anti-France Alliance numerous times, faced George III, Alexander I, Francis II, Frederick William III, and he never bowed to any ruler of a country. Yet I... I have to bow to Louis Philippe...”

”Bringing back Napoleon’s coffin means you bow to Louis Philippe?”

Arthur took a sip of the wine, holding the glass up to the dazzling glass chandelier, admiring the clear ruby liquid inside: ”Louis, I don’t want to criticize you, nor do I have the right to criticize you. However...”

If Louis hadn’t lived in Britain and worked at Scotland Yard, he probably wouldn’t understand this sentence.

’No intention to criticize, but...’, this is a very interesting phrase structure.

Back when at Scotland Yard, this opening style by Arthur only had one true meaning, which was ’if you don’t respect my opinion, then someone will be in big trouble.’

To put it bluntly, it’s ’I think your work is done worse than that of a donkey.’

And according to his incomplete statistics as a police secretary, Arthur found a donkey roughly once every two weeks. Fortunately, at least before leaving Scotland Yard, Louis had never received such a high-level reprimand.

”But?” Louis asked softly.

Arthur swallowed the wine in his mouth: ”But it seems you’ve taken this matter as a family business of Napoleon’s family. You’re thinking entirely about yourself; I didn’t expect that just over half a year after leaving Scotland Yard, you’ve forgotten our police instruction completely. Louis, what’s the first line of the police instruction?”

Louis blurted out, ”Respect ’the police are the public, and the public are the police’ tradition.”

”Do the French public oppose bringing back Napoleon’s coffin?”

”I... they probably don’t oppose it; there are many who like the Emperor.”

”Do the French public oppose Napoleon’s nephew bringing back his coffin?”

”I think... probably not, many of them don’t even know me.”

Arthur swirled the wine in his glass: ”Then what are you worried about?”

Louis stood up uneasily and said, ”I’m worried about those Bonaparte Party members, what they think of me, they’ll think I’m supporting the July Monarchy.”

”So, do you think with these Bonaparte Party members, you can overthrow the July Monarchy? Will they become your staunch supporters because you refuse to bring back the coffin?”

Arthur’s tone wasn’t heavy, but it was like a bell ringing someone out of a dream.

Louis’s burning head gradually cooled down as he recalled his experiences in Paris recently.

Yes, as Arthur said, except for a small number of fanatics, most political figures of the Bonaparte Party don’t want to change the current situation.

During the restoration of the monarchy, these people were deprived of their honors, offices, and wealth by the restored Bourbon Royal Family, their social status plummeting.

And after the rise of the July Monarchy, those things taken from them were returned to them as they were, and they became officers, members of parliament, and wealthy upper class again.