## Chapter 169: The Paganini of Scotland Yard
“Miss Byron?”
Arthur couldn’t think of any other Miss Byron who would be qualified to stand here at this kind of gathering, in this place, surrounded by people of such stature and rank, except for one from the Byron family.
Arthur considered it for a moment, intending to compliment Ada’s father’s work, but before he could open his mouth, he saw Ada raise her index finger to her lips.
She seemed to have encountered similar situations many times before, and she spoke like a prophet, “Shhh! Don’t mention my father’s work. My mother despises his poetry, even more so him, and she forbids me from reading other poets. If you don’t want to be thrown out, it’s best to talk about something else.”
Arthur was stunned for a moment, then he changed the subject with remarkable tact, “Why? Because Lord Byron… no, that man broke your mother’s heart?”
Ada nodded solemnly, “Yes, even before that man died, she wouldn’t tell me why they divorced. I only found out later that he didn’t love her at all. He wrote her all those flowery love letters just to use the marriage to suppress the publication of ‘Granadir Wan’. And he also…”
Arthur didn’t press for details, he just nodded sympathetically.
“He did go too far in this matter. Although he was a great poet, he was far inferior to our cobbler police officer from Scotland Yard in terms of attitude towards marriage and children, who can’t even recognize many words.”
“A cobbler police officer?” Ada looked surprised, “Are there police officers at Scotland Yard who used to be cobblers? I thought all the officers there were brilliant scientific researchers like you.”
Arthur chuckled, “Actually, the distance between a scientific researcher and a cobbler isn’t that far. Do you know Mr. Faraday?”
Ada nodded, “My mother had him teach me. He’s a very cultured gentleman, completely deserving of all the praise he receives.”
Arthur pursed his lips, “Actually, Mr. Faraday used to be a blacksmith. He told me his family was a family of blacksmiths. Although his father didn’t want him to continue blacksmithing, he still secretly learned how to make nails. He even joked with me that he could twist wires so fast and well because he inherited the excellent blacksmithing tradition of the Faraday family.”
Ada couldn’t help but laugh at this, but then she realized it wasn’t appropriate and quickly covered her mouth, shifting the topic softly, “You’re right, police officers have to fight criminals, scientists twist wires, it’s all physical work. If you choose a poet who only writes love letters, he wouldn’t be able to do it.
If my mother had realized this back then, she wouldn’t have been fooled. Don’t look at her, she says to keep me away from poets, but she herself hasn’t moved on from that circle.
She didn’t remarry after the divorce, she just held onto that big box of love letters he wrote her, and she’s been single until today. You may not know this, but the reason why she plays two hours less math than me every day is because she spends those two hours reminiscing about those love letters…”
Just as Ada spoke these words, she suddenly stopped. She straightened her back and flashed a bright smile at Arthur, “Mother, Mrs. Somerville.”
Mrs. Milbanch, with her wide skirt slightly lifted, walked towards Ada and Arthur with her friend, Mrs. Somerville.
She first nodded to Arthur in gratitude, “Mr. Hastings, thank you so much for taking care of my daughter.”
Arthur smiled, “Madam, it’s nothing. Taking care of your daughter is much easier than taking care of Mr. Eldon Carter. You can ask Mrs. Cowper if you don’t believe me.”
“Really?” Mrs. Milbanch turned her head to look at Eldon, who was chatting with several young ladies, and asked with a puzzled expression, “I think Mr. Carter is a very easygoing young man!”
Mrs. Somerville, upon hearing this, pulled Mrs. Milbanch, “Anne, just forget it. Your eyes for men have always been wrong.”
Then, Mrs. Somerville kindly asked Ada, “I gave you something last time, you should have learned it by now, right?”
Ada nodded obediently, “I’ve finished reading Lagrange’s ‘Theory of Analytical Functions’ and Laplace’s ‘Theory of Probability’.”
Mrs. Somerville asked, “Did you encounter any problems while reading?”
Ada nodded again, “Just one problem.”
“What problem?”
Ada hesitated, twisting her hands, as if she didn’t know whether to ask.
Mrs. Somerville quickly comforted her, “Don’t be afraid to ask, it’s normal to encounter problems in the process of learning mathematics.”
Then, Mrs. Somerville pointed to Arthur beside her, “Not everyone is as gifted as Mr. Hastings when it comes to exploring natural philosophy. I still don’t understand how Mr. Hastings could connect Davy’s lamp with Faraday’s cage, and then jump to Dalton’s atomic theory to analyze the conclusion that atoms are charged.”
Arthur heard Mrs. Somerville complimenting him and quickly humbled himself, “Madam, you flatter me. It was just luck. Even if I hadn’t discovered this conclusion, Mr. Faraday or other researchers would have eventually figured it out. I just accelerated the discovery by a few years.”
Arthur was telling the truth, but Mrs. Somerville and Mrs. Milbanch didn’t think so.
Mrs. Milbanch sighed, “No wonder you have a great friendship with Mr. Faraday, you two share a common ground in personal character.”
Mrs. Somerville also chimed in, “You have achieved so much at such a young age, but the most precious thing is that you remain humble. Mr. Hastings, I believe that the theory of charged atoms is definitely not the end of your scientific career, it’s perhaps just a small beginning. Your name will forever be engraved in British history, may you continue to make great contributions to the scientific community.”
“Thank you for your blessings, truly thank you.” Arthur couldn’t help but feel a little nervous.
He went to see Faraday every now and then and came up with all sorts of strange things for three main reasons.
One reason was that he was forced by Faraday, another was to improve his chemical knowledge in order to enhance his detective skills, and the last reason contained a small amount of selfish desire.
To put it bluntly, he also wanted to satisfy some simple personal desires.
For example, Arthur wondered if there was a possibility that he could give Faraday some insignificant hints based on his meager knowledge of physics, so that he could quickly create things like refrigerators.
Although there were shops selling all kinds of fruit-flavored carbonated drinks on the streets of London, Arthur preferred to have a mouthful of ice-cold drinks, whether it was winter or summer.
He couldn’t possibly tell them about this kind of reason, so he quickly brought the topic back to Ada.
“Since we have such an outstanding mathematician and astrophysicist like Mrs. Somerville here, Miss Byron, what exactly are you having trouble with? Tell us, I believe Mrs. Somerville will be able to answer your questions.”
Ada, upon hearing this, first glanced at Arthur slyly, then complained, “The only problem I have is that I have no problems.”
As soon as Ada spoke, both ladies present were stunned.
Then Mrs. Milbanch said angrily, “Ada! You’re being very rude and disrespectful.”
Mrs. Somerville, seeing this, quickly stepped in to mediate, “Anne, it’s okay, we were all young once. Don’t stifle her creativity, you’re too harsh on her education.”
Ada saw her mother angry and was a little scared. She quickly changed her words, “But… but although I don’t have any problems with mathematics, Mr. Hastings told me a lot of new things, and there are still a lot of things I don’t understand.”
As soon as she said this, Mrs. Somerville became interested. She had been wanting to ask Arthur in detail about the charged atoms, but she didn’t have the time to find Arthur because she had to deal with social gatherings at the party.
Now she had the opportunity, she could finally get to the bottom of the theory of charged atoms.
“Mr. Hastings, you were talking to Ada about…”
However, before Mrs. Somerville could finish her sentence, Arthur, who had just quelled the Hyde Park riot, took the initiative to speak. Knowing that this was not a place for a long battle, he knew that if he was caught between these two female scholars, he would be doomed.
As fast as lightning, Hastings’s eyes caught sight of the orchestra musicians who were about to enter the ballroom. He immediately decided to make a strategic withdrawal.
Arthur doffed his hat and said goodbye, “Regarding the questions I just discussed with Miss Byron, I will explain them to you all in my second scientific demonstration. So, in order not to delay your dancing time, I’ll go and prepare in the back.”
The Red Devil, standing by, couldn’t help but taunt, “Scotland Yard’s marching speed is indeed faster than the British lobster soldiers. Arthur, you are still somewhat close to Wellington, have you considered joining the War Office as a general?”
Arthur just glanced at the Red Devil, then went straight to the musicians who were already on stage testing the tuning of their instruments.
He scanned the musicians and quickly identified a pianist in a tailcoat, white shirt, and bow tie sitting at the piano with his eyes closed, adjusting his breath.
He walked to the piano and softly asked, “Sir, can I take over the first piece tonight?”
The gentleman, upon hearing this, was taken aback for a moment, then asked, “Are you also a musician invited by Mrs. Codrington?”
Arthur apologized, “I’m a scientific guest visiting tonight. I’m sorry to inform you that I need to borrow your piano for a scientific demonstration.”
The other party, upon hearing this, immediately understood, “Ah! You must be Mr. Arthur Hastings! Mrs. Codrington mentioned you to me before.”
Speaking of which, he was also very interested in asking, “I heard you are an electromagnetism expert, are you going to demonstrate to us how to release lightning from the piano keys today? If you’re going to do that, please be merciful and don’t break the piano, I still need to use it to play music later.”
Arthur smiled, “I am an electromagnetism researcher, it’s true, but my purpose in borrowing the piano today is simply to play music.”
The other party was even more interested when he heard this, “You also enjoy music? No problem, just tell me what piece you want to play. As long as your piece isn’t too obscure, our London Philharmonic Orchestra can accompany you. If it’s too obscure, you can leave us a score, we can practice it twice on the spot.”
Arthur heard this, just leaned down and whispered something in the other’s ear.
Arthur’s lips just moved, and the pianist’s smile froze.
His smile slowly faded, he stared at Arthur’s face seriously, and asked word by word, “Mr. Hastings, are you sure?”
Arthur nodded slightly, “Do I need to provide the score?”
“No, absolutely not.” The pianist suddenly stood up, his face serious as he looked at Arthur, “To tell you the truth, a large part of his concerts in London this year were accompanied by our London Philharmonic Orchestra. We’re so familiar with this piece, we can’t be more familiar.”
Arthur smiled, “Then that’s good, I’ll trouble you later.”
“No, no trouble.” The pianist seemed a little angry, “But I have to remind you, this piece is already very difficult to play on the violin. You may not know this, many people even speculate that Paganini must have made a deal with the devil to be able to play this piece. I can’t even imagine anyone daring to say they can play it on the piano, can I ask you a question? How many years of professional piano education have you received?”
Arthur, upon hearing this, just flicked the back of his tailcoat and slowly sat down on the long bench in front of the piano.
He smiled and replied, “Sorry, sir, I haven’t received any professional piano education.”
“Ha?!” The pianist was truly angry, “Are you kidding me? A beginner, dare to say he can play this piece.”
Arthur shook his head, “Don’t worry, sir. I haven’t received professional piano education, but please rest assured, I did make a deal with the devil. You may not know this, this piece is not cheap at the devil’s place.”
The pianist, upon hearing this, laughed out loud, “Is that so? Don’t blame me for not reminding you, you’re still young, if you make a fool of yourself at this kind of party, you might not be able to get around in social circles later.”
Arthur also smiled and replied, “Thank you for your kind reminder. So, sir… well, I haven’t asked your name yet.”
The pianist was so angry that he didn’t want to pay any attention to this young man who didn’t know the sky from the earth, but his profound cultivation finally forced him to reluctantly give his name.
He wanted to use his resounding name to make the young man back down, “Ignatz Moscheles, a member of the academic committee of the London Music Academy, the chief conductor and pianist of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.”
But Arthur, upon hearing the name, not only wasn’t afraid, but he even complimented him politely, “Ah! It’s you! I wanted to go to the Royal Theatre to listen to your performance, but I was too broke at the time, I could only stand outside and listen. Although the rain was heavy that day, I couldn’t hear clearly from outside, but I still think your ‘Fourth Piano Concerto’ is very beautiful and moving.”
Moscheles thought Arthur would either be intimidated or retort, but Arthur’s compliments instead made him embarrassed.
He pursed his lips and said, “Young man, listen to me, you can change the piece. That piece is too difficult, it’s not suitable for you.”
Arthur took a deep breath, put his hands on the piano keys, “Don’t worry, Mr. Moscheles, you may not know this, my nickname is ‘The Paganini of Scotland Yard’.”
(End of chapter)