## Chapter 230: Arthur, You Have to Survive to the End (4K4)
The entertainment room of Apsley House, London, saw two new players added to the card table.
Alexandre Dumas, glancing at his hand, felt his scalp tingling with a hand of low cards.
Yesterday, Benjamin Disraeli had just settled his manuscript fees, and in a short time, he had already lost a good chunk of it at the card table.
Compared to the agitated Dumas, Arthur, sitting opposite him calmly puffing on his pipe, seemed much calmer. Although his cards were not very good either, luckily he had a King in hand to hold him down. More importantly, he had a jester devil by his side. As long as he didn’t want to lose, nobody could win from him.
Sitting beside Arthur were Talleyrand, humming a tune, and the Duke of Wellington, arriving late. These two gentlemen, it could be said, were not playing cards, but rather engaging in a verbal duel.
The Duke of Wellington’s eyes were fixed on Talleyrand’s hand: “My old friend, you rarely come here, why don’t you take a look at my eight Marshal’s staffs? The British one was given to me by Joseph Bonaparte during the Peninsular War, and the rest were given to me by Napoleon at Waterloo.”
As soon as the Duke finished speaking, Talleyrand hadn’t reacted yet, but Dumas, who was holding his cards, turned red first.
He was about to speak, but saw Talleyrand smiling and raising his hand to pat him on the thigh, then threw out a Queen to cover the Duke’s Jack.
Talleyrand said: “Your Grace, I always believe that waging war is a serious matter, so it must be entrusted to a military man like you. However, although the defeat of the war makes me sad, luckily, after you, there will be no one in Britain who can seize eight Marshal’s staffs from France. If I had known that knocking you down was as easy as finding a lover in Paris, then there wouldn’t be any need for Napoleon. We should have just grabbed a random mobster from London and made him King.”
The Duke of Wellington raised an eyebrow: “Your tongue is still as sharp as ever. When you heard about the death of Paul I of Russia due to a stroke, you insisted on saying a witty remark in front of the Russian ambassador: ‘I think you should really come up with a new reason for the death of your monarchs. It’s too boring to always be a stroke.’ It’s because of this witty remark that the Russians have held a grudge against you for a long time, right?”
Talleyrand laughed loudly: “You’ve lived in Paris for a while, so you should understand that the French people are willing to sacrifice their lives for a witty remark. The reason why I can go from a cripple without inheritance to where I am today is because of my ability to tell witty remarks. If you don’t let me joke, it’s better to kill me.
As for the Russians, I just told them the truth in front of them. And look, when Alexander I died a couple of years ago, didn’t they change the reason for his death? A strong and healthy middle-aged Tsar, died in a sanatorium due to ineffective medical treatment. That sounds much more pleasant than a stroke. This shows that the Russians are quite good at accepting other people’s opinions.”
After Talleyrand finished speaking, not only the Duke of Wellington, but even the many gentlemen who were watching them play cards laughed loudly.
Talleyrand threw out a card and raised his head towards Arthur: “Young man, it’s your turn. Don’t get distracted when playing cards with me! Otherwise, you’ll lose all your salary this month to me.”
Arthur, upon hearing this, just smiled and laid down his poker cards one by one on the table: “Your Excellency, it seems like I won’t need to rely on my salary this month.”
“Huh?”
Talleyrand looked at the poker cards on the table, and only after counting them did he helplessly knock on the table, muttering to his attendant: “Bad luck today, forget it. Morley, pay up, ten pounds, oh, right, don’t forget to put this in the embassy’s account.”
The attendant, hearing this, leaned over and asked gently: “Understood, should it be recorded as travel expenses like before?”
Talleyrand took a sip of red wine: “My travel expenses this month are a bit too much, let’s change the name. Hmm… what about banquet expenses?”
The attendant, holding a ledger in one hand and a quill pen in the other, said: “Isn’t ten pounds for banquet expenses a bit too little?”
“You’re right.” Talleyrand swirled his red wine glass, pondering: “Just record it as one hundred and twenty pounds. Ten pounds for Mr. Hastings, one hundred pounds for us to play another round tonight, and the remaining ten pounds for your writing fee.”
Dumas, hearing this, couldn’t help but take a deep breath. The French fat man muttered: “You guys are really good at making money!”
Talleyrand pulled out a handkerchief from his chest pocket and wiped his mouth. He shook his head: “Alexandre, don’t compare yourself to me. I can play like this because I’m Talleyrand. Everyone knows I love money and I love to make money myself. If I didn’t do this, they would start to suspect that I’m getting money from other countries. Compared to the over ten million francs that Metternich gave me, the one million pounds I got from Germany is still too cheap.”
The Duke of Wellington, hearing this, couldn’t help but tease: “But the military intelligence that Metternich bought from you for ten million francs back then, wasn’t half of it fake?”
Talleyrand shrugged: “I didn’t tell him it was genuine! I’m only responsible for providing him with intelligence. I’m not an expert when it comes to verification.”
The Duke of Wellington laughed out loud at this, and said to Arthur: “Don’t you think that our British government is actually quite clean?”
The Red Devil leaning against the card table, hearing this, couldn’t help but nudge Arthur with his arm, winking at him: “Did you hear that? The way to get rich is right in front of you.”
Arthur, upon hearing this, just smiled and said: “I think that Talleyrand’s trick wouldn’t work in Britain. The Royal Navy’s military intelligence is not worth much, because even if the enemy knew it, it wouldn’t be of any use. After all, they can’t beat us no matter what.”
This remark from Arthur immediately made everyone present burst into laughter.
The Duke of Wellington wiped away his tears from laughter: “It seems like the Whig Party’s decision to let you manage the Criminal Investigation Department was a wise choice. I initially thought that this kind of work, where you can’t talk about it if you do it well, and you’ll be criticized if you do it poorly, wouldn’t be something that a promising young man like you would want to do. I didn’t expect you to enjoy it so quickly.”
Arthur, hearing this, simply replied: “Actually, the work at Scotland Yard is similar, so for me, it’s just an increase in workload, it’s nothing big.”
Talleyrand stood up: “That’s right, your future work will be much easier than your current work. But your current experience is essential, because there are no unfortunate accidents in the world that intelligent people can’t learn from, and there are no reckless people who can turn it into a lucky accident that harms them.
And your current experience is just helping you to distinguish whether you are considered an intelligent person. If you are, you’ll soon be able to stop doing those difficult and tedious tasks and just talk casually like me. As for the hard work of carrying out the words, it’s up to those young people who want to prove their intelligence after you.”
After saying this, Talleyrand raised his head and invited the Duke: “I heard you have a newfangled thing here that plays symphonies by itself. Why don’t you take me to see it? If it’s interesting, maybe I should buy one and bring it back to Paris.”
The Duke of Wellington, hearing this, didn’t refuse. He had a close relationship with Talleyrand, and after getting the promise that France would give up Belgium, he was very accommodating to his old friend’s request: “If you can get Louis-Philippe to pay a little more, maybe I can send someone to give you a few gramophones for free.”
Talleyrand, hearing this, just raised an eyebrow and said with amusement: “A few gramophones to bribe me? Your Grace, you’re underestimating me.”
“This is different.”
The Duke of Wellington said: “You see, you don’t know, our Mr. Hastings is one of the contributors to the gramophone patent. By the way, he’s also a renowned piano player, and recently participated in the music concert that caused a sensation in London. If we ask him to do something, besides the gramophone, maybe we can also get a rare record of the Coburg concert. That thing is almost going crazy in the art market in London now.”
“Oh? Is that so?”
Talleyrand turned back and looked at Arthur: “He’s an interesting young man. Alright, for the sake of the record, I’ll consider it.”
Dumas, hearing this, couldn’t help but stand up from the card table and say: “Are you going to betray national interests for a useless record? I remember you just said in front of me that you love France more than Napoleon.”
Talleyrand just laughed loudly: “Come on, Alexandre, don’t change my original words. Also, don’t mention patriotism in front of me. I get a headache every time I hear it. Every time someone promotes patriotism, their purpose is either to make people pay money or donate their lives.
For the sake of your good friend Mr. Hastings, who is so good at telling jokes, your warrant is cancelled. Just live a good life in London, Alexandre, don’t do anything unnecessary. It won’t be good for anyone.”
After saying this, Talleyrand went out with the Duke of Wellington, leaving only Arthur and Dumas at the card table.
Dumas stood there in silence, his emotions complex. He suddenly turned around and found Arthur collecting the copper coins from the card table one by one.
He slumped into the chair, stretching his arms towards the ceiling, as if venting his dissatisfaction: “Alright, Arthur, laugh at me, laugh at France. I won’t refute anything you say anymore. Look, it’s people like this who can dominate the French political arena for decades! Yet, in France, there are still many people who regard him as a role model and an example in the workplace. This beautiful and wealthy land of France, it’s truly rotten to the core.”
Usually, in this situation, Arthur would step on Dumas’ feet, but today he was uncharacteristically not sarcastic.
“Don’t be so pessimistic. A person like Mr. Talleyrand can get along anywhere. You wouldn’t believe it, but I think if he had been born in Britain, he might have become Prime Minister. If the Duke of Wellington had his friend’s cunning and smoothness, he wouldn’t have stepped down now.”
Dumas, hearing this, couldn’t help but frown: “Arthur, what do you mean? Why do I feel like you admire him? Why do you have a good impression of a corrupt criminal, a shameless traitor?”
“Why?”
Arthur stuffed the last coin into his jacket pocket: “Because I think that a capable person who can satisfy his own desires while taking care of some collective interests is rare in this world. You think it’s unfortunate that France has Talleyrand, but I think it’s France’s luck. Because in the long run, France may never have such an outstanding diplomat again.
Of course, you can also say that I’m flattering him, that I’m saying insincere words. Because, as Mr. Vidocq said before, whether it’s Louis XVI, Robespierre, or Napoleon, they’re all dead, but Mr. Talleyrand is still alive. I can curse Napoleon, and he can’t climb out of his coffin to do anything to me, but if I curse Talleyrand, it’s very likely that Mr. Vidocq will come to me with his coconut tree gang tomorrow night.
But most importantly, he cancelled the warrant for my fat friend, and he also lost ten pounds to me in gambling. I’m very grateful to him for both of these things.”
Dumas, hearing this, took a deep breath. He wanted to say something, but didn’t know what to say. In the end, he could only sigh helplessly: “Sigh…”
Arthur, seeing his low spirits, just patted him on the back and said with a smile: “Alexandre, don’t dwell on this. Even if you really want to do something, you have to start from the basics, such as picking up your pen.
Before a truly historically significant moment, a moment when the stars of humanity shine brightly, there will inevitably be long years of pointless passage of time. In this critical moment, all the things that happen slowly and in parallel during normal times are compressed and manifested in this short, decisive moment. This moment makes irreversible decisions for generations to come, deciding the life and death of a person, the survival of a nation, and even the fate of all humankind.
But you also have to understand that in every revolution, it’s not the first person who wins, not the one who charges ahead at that moment, but always the last person, the one who stays behind, the one who seizes the revolution as spoils. This kind of strange person will suddenly emerge in any major world transformation. As Mr. Talleyrand said, the chameleon is the emblem of politics, and I think surviving to the end is the ultimate meaning of politics.”
Dumas, hearing this, the fat man looked out at the night rain falling outside the window and the dim lights in the darkness, just remaining silent.
Agareus, seeing him like this, just leaned against Arthur’s shoulder and sneered: “What a stubborn fat man. An idealist? The meaning of idealism is not knowing the weight of the world and not knowing how much you weigh.”
Arthur, seeing this, could only shake his head. He took a step towards the door of the entertainment room, paused, thought for a moment, and decided to close the door for Dumas.
However, before the door could close, Arthur’s ears were suddenly filled with the French fat man’s voice.
“Arthur.”
“What’s wrong?”
Dumas reached into his pocket, grabbed a coin, and flicked it towards him. It was the money he had lost to Arthur today.
Dumas took a deep breath and said: “You have to survive to the end!”
From the crack in the door, only a black eye with a red glow could be seen. The black pupils gradually narrowed, as if smiling, as if doubting.
After a long silence, Arthur’s usual gentle and polite voice responded to Dumas.
“Thank you for your blessing, Mr. Dumas.”
Dumas raised an eyebrow: “So?”
Arthur put one hand on his chest and bowed slightly: “I’ll try my best.”
(End of Chapter)