The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 1723: Chapter 70: The Great Adventurers of [Britain]

As a political failure, Louis is ashamed to speak of his experiences over the past two years.

However, the excitement of reuniting with old friends made him willing to settle down and listen to the progress his friends have made over these years.

Since the Great Dumas spent most of the year in France, Louis was fairly familiar with his situation.

Now the Great Dumas has not only shed his identity as a political prisoner, but his theater business in Paris is also flourishing. Every weekend, friends from the Parisian arts scene gather at his home for various salons. During the workweek, the Great Dumas remains as busy as ever, preparing new scripts by day and casting, well... casting the female lead, by night.

The only thing that troubles the Great Dumas is probably his illegitimate son, Young Dumas.

At the strong request of Arthur and other friends, this chubby man finally acknowledged the identity of Young Dumas legally a couple of years ago and has since been covering all his living expenses. However, the Great Dumas still refuses to marry the mother of Young Dumas, and poor Madame Catherine Laube continues her job as a seamstress.

Madame Laube fights for custody of the child, hiding Young Dumas or encouraging him to escape through the window whenever the Great Dumas visits.

Alas, since the Great Dumas hired one of the top lawyers in Paris at a high price, the court ruled that Young Dumas should be raised by him.

This black fatty had just obtained custody of the child and promptly sent Young Dumas to St. Victor Boarding School in Paris the next day.

Although this school is a renowned institution praised by everyone in Paris, according to the letters Young Dumas sent to Arthur, it seems that the boy is not happy with his life there.

He wrote to Arthur saying that the students from high society looked down on him. These little monkeys somehow discovered the relationship between Young Dumas and the Great Dumas, and they not only mocked Young Dumas and his mother for it but even gave him a nickname—the bastard. To protect his mother’s reputation, the usually non-confrontational Young Dumas got into several fights with his classmates at school.

Of course, since he neither mastered any fighting skills nor had any tricks like Adam and Pinkerton, he always ended up getting beaten black and blue.

But the painful life at school is not what Young Dumas cannot stand the most; what he hates the most is his father’s behavior.

Every time the school has a holiday, Young Dumas is taken by his father to his grand mansion for fun.

The Great Dumas seems to have discovered the child’s talent, often introducing him to Parisian celebrities at social salons.

But deep down, Young Dumas doesn’t like dealing with these boozy men and posturing women; he especially doesn’t want to see the Great Dumas cuddling and embracing other women.

And Arthur can do nothing about it, because aside from regularly sending his ”nephew” some pocket money, there is hardly anything he can do.

The busy work confines his freedom, and every time he writes to the Great Dumas, hoping he would seriously consider marrying Catherine Laube, the Great Dumas always responds vaguely or even swears in anger that he will never marry that seamstress in his lifetime.

Apart from the discord in their past relationship, what angers the Great Dumas the most is that every time Young Dumas visits his mother, he becomes somewhat distant from him afterward. The fatty is convinced that Madame Laube must have spoken ill of him to Young Dumas.

Moreover, even if she said nothing, the Great Dumas is currently hot and heavy with Miss Ida Ferrier, one of the four major actresses in Paris. Not only is he living with Ida Ferrier, but he also plans to make this lady Young Dumas’s stepmother.

Fortunately, besides the occasional solace he gets from Arthur’s letters, Young Dumas is also cared for by other friends of the Great Dumas in Paris, such as Chopin, Liszt, and Musset.

After returning to London, Arthur immediately wrote to Young Dumas, inviting him to visit Britain during the Christmas holiday, saying that Adam and Pinkerton missed him very much, and Arthur also enclosed travel expenses for him and his mother.

The troubles of the Great Dumas are about this much; however, the estrangement between father and son is largely self-inflicted, so there’s little sympathy for this fatty.

On the other hand, Dickens’s bumpy romantic journey cannot be blamed on himself.

Arthur and other old friends all know that Dickens has long been infatuated with Miss Maria Bidnell. This lady comes from a banking family; her father, although not as illustrious as Rothschild in the Financial City, in comparison to Dickens, who has just made a name for himself, the Bidnell family could be considered bona fide Old Money.

Therefore, despite Dickens’s passionate pursuit and the numerous love letters he wrote, he was thwarted by Maria’s mother.

She believes that this young man, Dickens, has neither wealth nor prospects.

Dickens was heartbroken over this for a long time, and when he finally rose to fame in the literary world and had some savings, making it seem like he had a future, Miss Maria Bidnell had already moved abroad and cut off correspondence with Dickens.

Though Dickens did not know exactly why Maria went abroad, it doesn’t take much to guess that she most likely got married.