## Chapter 175: A Busy Man
The headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, located at 4 Whitehall Street, Westminster, London.
Arthur sat in his office on the second floor, a thick stack of police reports piled on his desk. While every superintendent at Scotland Yard had to deal with a similar stack of weekly reports on Monday, Arthur’s was undoubtedly the thickest.
The reason was simple: his jurisdiction included the chaotic district of Tower Hamlets.
Apart from handling routine police work, he also had to submit a report to Scotland Yard and the Home Office regarding the Hyde Park riot last week.
Finally finishing the reports, Arthur leaned back in his chair, stretching. Through the sunlight streaming in through the window, he could see that his right hand, which had been holding the pen, was stained with ink.
He looked sideways at the documents on his desk and the massive collection of files in the office cabinet, frowning.
He could handle this workload when he was a Greenwich Inspector. But now, as a superintendent, he needed to consider finding some assistants to help him, both for efficiency and to lighten his own burden.
Tom and Tony were willing to help, but their education level and temperament made them unsuitable for clerical work.
Arthur pondered this, thinking that he might consider organizing an on-site recruitment at London University during the graduation season.
It would not only lighten his workload but also give back to his alma mater and address the university’s employment rate issue.
The only difficulty might be that Scotland Yard’s entry-level police assistant salaries were not particularly competitive in the market.
Although the salary for regular police officers at Scotland Yard had recently risen to fifteen shillings per week, and the high attrition rate had slowed down, some officers still chose to leave the police force for better-paying jobs in the past few months.
Perhaps because of the recent economic recovery and the unrest in London, the private security market in London was expanding rapidly.
“Private security” might sound grand, but in reality, it was similar to jobs like gatekeepers and bell ringers.
Of course, in the 21st century, these types of jobs were generally called security guards.
But could security guards protect anyone?
Arthur knew the answer.
Security guards couldn’t protect anyone.
But despite this, any officer with experience at Scotland Yard would be snatched up by the private security market after leaving the force. Most retired officers would get a new job with a significant salary increase.
Even the current Prime Minister of Britain, the Duke of Wellington, was considering hiring a private security team because the windows of his house were constantly being smashed.
Thinking of the Duke of Wellington, Arthur couldn’t help but feel a little worried.
According to his understanding, a new parliamentary session was to be held in two weeks. Based on information he gathered from Charles Dickens, a dedicated parliamentary reporter, the Whigs were likely to launch a full-scale attack on Wellington’s cabinet in two weeks.
From the current situation, even Wellington, who was the best at building defenses in all of Great Britain, would face a decisive blow to his fortifications this time.
But thinking about it was pointless. Even if the Duke of Wellington fell, he would just retire early and spend his days comfortably sleeping in the House of Lords.
After all, after defeating four French marshals in the Iberian Peninsula, he received numerous honors from the King and the government. He not only became a duke, was knighted with the Order of the Garter, but also received a reward of five hundred thousand pounds from the King and the government.
There was no need to worry about him.
The immediate concern was to figure out who could be a new patron after the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel, leading the Tories, stepped down.
Arthur pondered over it, but he couldn’t come up with any leads.
He rubbed his aching palms and took out a clean sheet of paper from his drawer. He planned to list all the things he intended to do or would do in the coming period.
– Visit the London Academy of Music near Baker Street to discuss the details of the concert part-time job with Mr. Moscheles.
– After setting the concert date, reserve some tickets for Mrs. Leven.
– Visit Mr. Charles Wheatstone in Greenwich to order a phonograph and records.
– Contact Fiona and ask her “Cambridge’s Little Brothers” to help Elder recover his damned wallet, including the Begel’s sea training supply requisition slip inside.
– Find a suitable newspaper on Fleet Street to serialize Alexander’s masterpiece, “The Count of Monte Cristo.”
– Organize a recruitment session at London University on Gower Street to find at least one clerical police assistant. If there are suitable candidates, consider transferring them to LPS for development training.
– Analyze and investigate the internal documents and files provided by Elder, to see if he could find a Whig patron he could connect with.
Agareus stood behind Arthur, his hands clasped behind his back. He pushed up his monocle.
The Red Devil nodded with satisfaction, “Arthur, that’s right. Keep running, and one day you’ll climb to the top.”
Arthur, upon hearing this, just raised an eyebrow, “You think I’m running to get ahead?”
The Red Devil smiled, “Not to get ahead?”
Arthur simply shook his head, “No, it’s not. Running is just to avoid staying in place. You don’t understand, Agareus, this is a big era. If you don’t keep up with the times, you’ll eventually be left behind. No one will wait for you.”
Agareus, hearing this, felt a sense of familiarity, “I think I heard you say this to someone else? Oh, right, that crazy priest from Oxford. Aren’t you going to check on him? I saw in the newspaper that the anti-Robert Peel movement at Oxford University is going full steam ahead, and the St. Mary’s Parish Priest John Newman, whom you know, is one of its leaders.”
Arthur shrugged, “If they want to stir things up, let them. After all, even the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of York are constantly attacking Sir Peel in Parliament over the Catholic Emancipation Act. A few more Oxford priests don’t really matter, after all, they wouldn’t go as far as smashing Sir Peel’s windows.”
The Red Devil smirked, “You’re trying to distance yourself from the Tories? Oh, my dear Arthur, you’re a real fickle little scoundrel. But this is indeed unexpected. I thought you’d have a guilty conscience doing this.”
Arthur rested his elbows on the table, his fingers interlocked. He smiled, “Agareus, I’ve told you before, as a Scotland Yard superintendent, I hold absolute political neutrality. I’m not interested in party struggles. Besides, haven’t you followed great figures like King Solomon?
If so, you should understand that if you’re not in the position today, you won’t be in the position tomorrow. Taking turns in power is like castration. Power lies in eternity. It seems that the Tories’ thirty-year rule is coming to an end. Although I believe they will eventually return, I need to find a reasonable path to help me through this turbulent period.”
The Red Devil just smiled, “So what are you going to do?”
Arthur just stroked his chin and looked at the two stacks of documents in front of him. One stack was Scotland Yard’s police reports, and the other was LPS’s file analysis.
He stood up, took a sip of tea, and walked to the window. Outside, the bright sunlight and bustling traffic filled the scene, with Downing Street not far from his sight.
Arthur took a sip of tea and said calmly, “I believe that no matter which party is in power, they always need someone to do things for them. Whether it’s official business or personal matters, I need to find an opportunity to solve something for them.”
The Red Devil nodded and walked to Arthur’s side, “What if there’s no opportunity?”
Arthur’s lips curled into a smile. His face was filled with cheerful laughter.
“Then I’ll find a way to create one.”
(End of Chapter)