SGB Chapter 271

## Chapter 271: Help Wanted (4K)

**”After the Westminster Union revealed the brutal reprisals carried out by the Russians after the fall of Warsaw, Foreign Secretary Viscount Palmerston made another important statement to the House of Commons on the Polish issue.”**

Viscount Palmerston: “The current Emperor of Russia is a man of noble thoughts. If it is said that the Russian government has been excessively brutal towards the Poles on certain occasions, then we can consider this as evidence that the Emperor’s authority was disregarded. In such cases, the Emperor was influenced by some despots within the court, rather than driven by his spontaneous emotions. Furthermore, the Poles should have taken a more appropriate approach to resolving the issue before it escalated into military conflict, instead of choosing to overthrow the Emperor. I can even say that the Poles were the aggressors, as they instigated the struggle.”

**”Mr. Bernie Harrison, a member of the House of Commons, fiercely criticized the Foreign Office’s decision: Palmerston’s words bring shame to Britain! Our mission is to defend freedom!”**

**”To express his strong protest, Mr. Harrison visited the residence of a Polish woman after the close of Parliament, expressing sympathy and offering fervent condolences.”**

**”Reliable sources revealed that Mr. Harrison’s targeted financial assistance for Poland started in August.”**

**”According to the woman’s own account, Mr. Harrison’s assistance occurred nine times, each lasting five to ten minutes, with each contribution ranging from eight to twelve shillings.”**

**”Viscount Palmerston publicly mocked: Harrison is a true reflection of the Tories, boasting a lot, but when it comes to action, he can only last for five minutes.”**

**”According to an anonymous source, former Tory Lord Chancellor Earl Eldon was furious with the actions of his party members.”**

**”Former Navy Minister Croke stated: Harrison’s actions bring shame to the entire party, he must resign immediately.”**

**”Sir Peel convened an emergency meeting of the Tory group at the White Club, where they unanimously passed a resolution to immediately dismiss Harrison from all party positions.”**

**”Bernie Harrison formally issued a statement of resignation from the party and submitted his resignation to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Commons, announcing his resignation from his seat.”**

**”The Bishop of Exeter criticized the increasingly decadent social atmosphere: London is about to become a hell of sin!”**

Bishop of Exeter: “The story of Bernie Harrison is just the tip of the iceberg of this sinful society. As far as I know, there are as many as 80,000 women in London engaged in the business of selling their bodies! As for those drunken men who buy their services, there are even more! The decline of the church’s spirit has made the beautiful and serene old England a thing of the past. I urge the faithful to spend half an hour each day reading the Bible, only then can you suppress the evil lurking in your hearts.”

**”A reporter from the London City Mission magazine conducted an investigative interview with Scotland Yard regarding the alarming number of prostitutes.”**

Arthur Hastings, Chief Inspector of the Metropolitan Police, responded: “I believe the Bishop of Exeter’s appeal is well-intentioned in upholding public morality. However, His Grace’s views on the number of prostitutes differ significantly from Scotland Yard’s statistics. If the Bishop’s words are true, then one out of every five women aged 15 to 50 in London would be a prostitute, which is clearly an exaggeration. According to Scotland Yard’s statistics and preliminary estimates, we tend to believe that the current number of prostitutes in London should be around eight to ten thousand.”

**”The House of Lords’ Bishops continued to pressure the Home Office using the Harrison incident. Viscount Melbourne, the Home Secretary, demanded that Scotland Yard continue to conduct clean-up operations targeting this phenomenon.”**

Arthur sat in the corner of the cafe, watching Fiona lay out the newspapers from the past few days in front of him, one after another.

Fiona looked a bit angry, complaining: “Mr. Hastings, what is going on? Logically, after we finished the Bernie Harrison case, you should at least let us have two days of peace. Why is one wave after another, Scotland Yard finishes cleaning up the MPs, and now they are targeting us, these poor, helpless, delicate women?”

Arthur felt a bit sorry for Fiona, after all, he didn’t expect the Bishop of Exeter to pop up halfway through.

He said: “Sorry, Fiona, I didn’t intend to ruin your business. I assure you, this is really just a coincidence. But since the bishops have made the request, Scotland Yard has to act. For your safety, please ask your beautiful ladies to stay away from the Cremorne Gardens on the banks of the Thames, the North Woolwich Park in Greenwich, and the Highbury Barn Gardens for the time being. Also, I have to regretfully inform you that the Alhambra Concert Hall and the bars, concert halls, and clubs on Moorgate Street have all been placed under close observation.”

Fiona took a deep breath, her eyes, already not small, seemed to widen: “Mr. Hastings, is Scotland Yard locking down all the major moving money pits in the West End?”

Arthur smiled and nodded: “I remember you mentioned Eugenie in Chelsea before, if I recall correctly, many of her girls should be active in these areas, right? This is a reward for the Harrison case, Fiona. In this matter, not only me, but all the officers at Scotland Yard are very grateful to you.”

“Oh…”

Fiona was taken aback at first, then her whole body relaxed. Her watery eyes blinked, and a smile appeared on her lips: “Darling, it seems I misunderstood you earlier. I told you, with your taste, how could you like someone like Eugenie? There are so many beautiful ladies in London, you can have whatever you want, why bother with a French country woman?”

Arthur continued: “But… Eugenie will be severely damaged this time, you should not be too complacent. We will also conduct a thorough clean-up of the Hoxton Hall in Hackney and the Wilton Music Hall in the East End. From tomorrow, there will be one to two teams of officers on duty at these two places during business hours.”

“What?!”

Fiona heard this, the makeup on her face almost fell off: “Mr. Hastings, these two places are the easiest for the girls in the East End to make money. Those who can afford to watch Shakespeare plays and listen to concerts in the Grand Theatre, every single one is a high-end fat sheep. If we lose this source of income, the girls’ monthly income might be cut by half or more.”

Arthur savored the bitter coffee, looking at the fine raindrops outside the window and said: “Scotland Yard has been receiving reports for months that someone is engaging in forced buying and selling in the East End. If the customers watching the plays refuse to do business, they will be dragged into the alleys by the strong men accompanying the girls and beaten severely. Fiona, do you have any idea about this?”

Fiona just laughed softly: “Mr. Hastings, you see what you are saying. The reason we send people to follow the girls is to protect their safety. You used to patrol the streets in the East End, you should know how dangerous the environment is there. If the girls go out alone, they might run into a few bad guys. If our protectors have a conflict with others, it must be because they were rude and insulting to the girls.”

Arthur, of course, didn’t believe her words. He said: “I have already agreed with you before, violent crime is absolutely unacceptable. The only evidence the court considers during sentencing is the black eyes and broken ribs of those gentlemen who reported the crimes. This small-scale clean-up in the East End should be considered a warning to your recent activities. If you don’t want to attract a larger-scale investigation, you’d better respond to the Cabinet’s call and respect free trade when doing business.”

Fiona sighed: “Okay, Mr. Hastings, I’ll listen to you, you are the one who really has the power. Speaking of which, that guy is lucky, if you had said it even an hour later, he wouldn’t have escaped a good beating this afternoon.”

Arthur raised an eyebrow: “Guy? What guy?”

Fiona said with a frown: “A strange man, a man who likes to persuade women of the night to reform. He holds a Bible in his left hand and a cross in his right, and wears a plain black suit. When he sees our girls in the East End, the indecent men are infatuated, and the decent ones quickly pass by the street.

But this guy, he neither does business nor runs away, but instead talks to our girls endlessly, delivering his moral lectures of pity and compassion.

Heh, when I first heard about this, I just thought this guy was having a sudden inspiration, probably another fool who wanted to find moral achievement from us. I was about to send someone to teach him a lesson, but unexpectedly, one of my girls actually tipped him off, letting him escape.”

Arthur said: “Since he ran away, you don’t need to continue to seek trouble with him, right?”

Fiona said indignantly: “I thought the same as you. After all, we are just trying to make money, as long as he doesn’t interfere with our business, then this matter is considered over. But this guy, I don’t know what he’s thinking, he actually started messing with our business again the other day.

A few of my kind-hearted girls were afraid that I would send someone to beat him up, so they actually wanted to do business with him for free, just let him have fun and then leave. But that bastard not only refused, he also persuaded those girls to quickly leave my ‘den of iniquity’. Doesn’t he consider our problem of not doing this and having nothing to eat?

Take Bernie Harrison for example, Defina makes eight to ten shillings every time she does business with him, just this one deal is enough to cover a female worker’s weekly income in a textile factory. If Defina hadn’t met me, she would probably have died of lung disease in some factory!”

Arthur suddenly remembered something: “Is the guy you’re talking about called Gladstone?”

Fiona frowned: “You… You sent someone to follow me? Or did someone else report to you? How do you know his name?”

Arthur just smiled: “Fiona, don’t forget, I’m a detective. It’s normal for me to know more things. But if you’re worried about Mr. Gladstone, leave him to me.”

“How are you going to deal with him?”

Arthur leaned back in his chair and said: “Have you forgotten that Scotland Yard is currently conducting a clean-up operation? Since Mr. Gladstone’s enthusiasm is so high, I think Scotland Yard wouldn’t mind temporarily hiring him to provide psychological counseling to the lost lambs who are about to arrive.”

“Psychological counseling?” Fiona scoffed: “Why do you men always like to do these boring things? If you really want to rescue them from their misery, why don’t you marry them?”

Arthur picked up his hat from the table, put it on his head, and tucked his tailscoat, saying: “I don’t know, so I never do such things. Maybe you should ask Mr. Gladstone about this.”

Fiona raised an eyebrow: “What if I insist on asking you?”

Arthur raised his hat and said goodbye softly: “Because love is not a charity, so it can’t be given away indiscriminately. So goodbye, Fiona, while the girls are not busy these days, you may start preparing for the off-track betting for the fencing competition.”

Speaking of which, Arthur took out a bill from his pocket and placed it on the table: “Scotland Yard has a celebratory dinner tonight. If I’m late, the officers will be unhappy. Order whatever you want, if it exceeds this amount, charge it to my account.”

With that, Arthur pushed open the door and walked out of the cafe.

Soon, Fiona saw Arthur through the window, with a pipe in his mouth, holding a black cloth umbrella, bathed in the London midday rain.

She shook her head and sighed, twirling her carefully braided ponytail. She stood up and tapped on the cafe window.

Arthur noticed the movement, turned around, and raised an eyebrow at her.

Fiona just pursed her lips and shook her head, mouthing: “This umbrella is too ugly, you look like a black mushroom when you hold it.”

Arthur just tapped the umbrella handle, exhaled smoke, and replied: “You know nothing, Fox brand umbrella, this is very expensive.”

Even though she was scolded, Fiona felt happy instead. She said goodbye: “Scotland Yard’s taste is always so unique. Well, enjoy your meal, Mr. Hastings.”

Arthur didn’t bother with her, he just hailed a carriage.

A cloud of water mist was rolled up by the rolling wheels, and the carriage drove away, disappearing on the corner of Trafalgar Square.

Fiona kept staring at the direction where Arthur left, until she was sure she couldn’t see him anymore, then she confidently pulled out the one at the bottom of the pile of newspapers on the table.

It was a copy of The Times, but Fiona was never interested in current affairs commentary. She was paying attention to the advertisement column in the corner of the newspaper.

As usual, the beginning of the advertisement column was the same old stuff: Twinings tea bags, Wheatstone phonographs, and the suspicious marriage notices that had suddenly appeared recently.

But at the very end, there was a help wanted notice.

——Urgently hiring one to two housemaids, excellent working conditions, weekly salary of 12 shillings, food and lodging provided.

——Job requirements: Sewing and mending daily clothes twice a week, cleaning a three-story residence on a regular schedule, and completing other household chores.

——Work location: 36 Lancaster Gate.

——Contact: Mr. Arthur Hastings

Fiona held her coffee cup and gently blew away the rising steam, saying with a mix of annoyance and regret: “Mr. Hastings, why didn’t you come to me to find a housemaid? I have many girls here who want to reform, a weekly salary of 12 shillings and food and lodging provided, I think this condition is good enough.”

(End of Chapter)