The Shadow of Great Britain

”You really should go meet him once.” Victor put down his wine glass, ”After all, Your Excellency, the Prince also mentioned that this might be the last time you’ll meet.”

”But what about anything else?” Arthur half-jokingly asked, ”Did he mention repaying the money? He still owes me seventy pounds from card games.”

Victor replied with a laugh, ”The debts between you two are beyond my jurisdiction; after all, to His Excellency, the Prince, I’m just an insignificant figure. However, my dear friend, for your sake, and mine, before you go see His Excellency, the Prince, please be honest with me, you don’t have any connections with the Republican or Bonaparte Party, right?”

”You might as well suspect me of being linked to the Orthodox Party.” Arthur shrugged his shoulders, ”Mr. Victor, surely you wouldn’t think that just because I have a decent relationship with Louis Bonaparte, I’d want to incite a Bonaparte Party uprising in France?”

”The Bonaparte Party is insignificant, after all, that’s not what the intelligence sources say...”

Arthur knew Victor was intentionally speaking this fragment to him, considering this world-renowned detective wouldn’t leak information so amateurishly; he was merely trying to use the information leak to observe if Arthur’s facial expressions would change.

When Victor didn’t succeed, he switched his tone, trying to elicit more information, ”But even though you don’t, does the British Foreign Office over there have any...?”

”Mr. Victor.” Arthur seemed quite displeased, ”You probably forgot where I was kicked out from. If you don’t know my relationship with our Foreign Secretary, Viscount Palmerston, you can ask Mr. Talleyrand.”

Victor was momentarily taken aback by Arthur’s words, chuckling as if he’d been hit on the nose with his true thoughts, ”Alright, alright, blame me for being too talkative, my friend. Don’t misunderstand, I’m not interrogating you on behalf of the Paris Police, you know my old colleagues can’t wait for me to get to the grave sooner. It’s just that nowadays, you know the situation in Paris better than anyone—the Republicans are making noise in the streets, the Bonaparte Party planning in dark alleys, while in cafes, the ruling Orleans Party is chattering away. Some honest words, brother, I can only chat with you about them in this private room. Once out on the streets, anyone daring to express themselves might as well serve their head on a platter.”

He raised his glass and gulped down the Bordeaux, wiping his mouth, his demeanor suddenly becoming a bit more restrained.

Seemingly trying to recover his image in Arthur’s eyes, especially since he also has business in London now, Victor lowered his voice and added, ”His Excellency, the Prince, invites you not just for Careem’s foie gras and truffles... He wants to see you because last year, our King has faced too many assassination attempts these recent years, the most recent one was orchestrated by a secret revolutionary organization called Clan Society...”

Victor spoke the word ”Clan Society” so lightly it was nearly drowned out by the music from the choir below, ”These people claim to inherit the flame of the Jacobins but are, at the core, mixed with many violent elements from the Great Revolution, acting extremely, often not even managing to shout a political slogan with a single knife stroke. Although their last attempt was thwarted and they were caught by the police before they could act, as the investigation unraveled, the police uncovered that they’re not just a small group of three or five; saying there’s no one backing them would be simply unconvincing...”