The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 1655: Chapter 44: Why Did His Majesty Rebel? (3)

Arthur was just about to promise to find the best doctor in London for him, but he sensed something was off before he could speak.

”Election? The 1832 election just passed a few years ago, why another election now?”

Disraeli gave him a side-eye and replied angrily, ”No worries, by tomorrow morning you’ll know what’s going on. You’re so informed, you don’t need to get information from me.”

Arthur was so intrigued by Disraeli’s words that he was itching to find out: ”Benjamin, one wrong step leads to many. The sooner we know, the sooner we can help you raise the campaign funds!”

Little did he know, Disraeli’s spirit sank even more hearing this: ”Raising campaign funds, just to go public. Right now, the authors of ’British’ have pockets one cleaner than the other. If Mrs. Sikes can help me think of something, that would be great, but to rely on you guys...”

Arthur heard this and turned to look at the sign saying ”Odds 1 to 100” and finally understood what was going on. ”You’re cockfighting for this?”

Disraeli’s cheeks reddened. ”What do you know? It’s an art to win big with little.”

Arthur pondered for a moment and then spoke, ”I’ll think of a way for your campaign funds. If things go well here, I could probably come up with a thousand Pounds. Even if it’s tight, I could scrape together five hundred Pounds.”

Disraeli was taken aback, thinking Arthur was joking, ”You finally couldn’t resist robbing a bank?”

”Robbing a bank is too much,” Arthur said, looking at Disraeli’s skeptical expression with a slight smile. ”But I foolishly got involved with a gold mine.”

”Oh?” Disraeli squinted at him, rubbing his swollen eyelid. ”I’d love to hear who’s daring enough to trick you.”

Arthur pretended to sigh, ”It’s a long story. This afternoon, I had a chat with the Duchess of Kent.”

”Which...which Duchess of Kent?” Disraeli’s ears perked up immediately.

”Which other? The one who’s crazy about becoming Regent King.”

Disraeli’s eyes widened, ”You went to the palace?”

”To be precise, I was asked to stay,” Arthur paused in tone, ”And the treatment was not bad.”

”How good?”

”Eight hundred Pounds per year, and since I can teach several subjects, there’s extra pay depending on the hours. Conroy was worried I might quit suddenly, so he specially promised to pay half a year’s salary in advance.”

Disraeli took a sharp intake of breath, ”Are you teaching or getting married?”

”Com’on, don’t say that,” Arthur patted his shoulder, ”Besides, you forgot, I am still the Dean of Academic Affairs at the University of London—this is a stable salary and a well-paid position. I can discuss with the committee about advancing a quarter’s salary and trying to apply for some research grants...”

”Research grants? What title will you apply under?”

”Just say it’s funding a political communication experiment.”

Disraeli finally showed a somewhat human expression hearing this, ”At crucial moments, you’re reliable, my dear Arthur!”

”If you put it that way, I won’t object.” Arthur took out a small notebook from his pocket and pulled out a pen to start writing letters: ”One to Conroy, one to the committee...the first payment could be transferred in about five days...”

Disraeli seeing this, couldn’t stay angry anymore, ”You were at Kensington Palace all afternoon, no wonder you didn’t know His Majesty the King dissolved Parliament.”

With a snap, the pen Arthur was holding broke in half.

”What did you say?!”