## Chapter 95: The Round Table’s Assistance
**Chapter 95: The Round Table’s Assistance**
The coffee shop across from the Greenwich Police Station was abuzz with the latest news, as Eldred and Darwin engaged in a lively discussion.
“Charles, did you see the news? Louis-Philippe, the Duke of Orleans, has inherited the French throne! Those Frenchmen are absolutely crazy! They get rid of one king just to get a new one. What was the point of all that commotion?” Eldred exclaimed, his voice laced with amusement.
Darwin, engrossed in a book, replied absentmindedly, “I remember there were a lot of Republicans in France. Do you think they’d be happy with a new king?”
“Of course, they wouldn’t be happy!” Eldred declared. “The newspapers reported that a group of radical Republicans were planning to cause trouble in Paris, but they were discovered before they could launch their uprising. The members of that group are either in prison or in exile. You know, I bet there are a few French Republican exiles right here in this coffee shop.”
With a narrowed gaze, Eldred began to scrutinize the patrons in the coffee shop.
Just then, the bell above the coffee shop door jingled as Arthur entered, pushing the door open and slapping Eldred on the back of the head.
“What are you staring at, you little rascal?” Arthur asked with a grin.
“I was just trying to figure out if there are any Frenchmen in the coffee shop,” Eldred replied, feigning innocence.
Arthur took a seat next to him and poured himself a cup of tea. “Frenchmen? Even if there are, there’s probably only one.”
“Why?” Eldred asked, puzzled.
Arthur took a sip of his tea and said, “If there’s one Frenchman here, he’s just a regular lecher. If there are two Frenchmen, they’ll draw their pistols and duel. And if there are three Frenchmen, this coffee shop would already be in the midst of a revolution. If there was a revolution, do you think you could sit here calmly and drink your tea?”
Eldred burst into laughter. “That’s true. But I think we’re not much better here, are we? We don’t have revolutions, but we have plenty of protests and marches. And speaking of duels, I remember last month, didn’t the Duke of Wellington publish a challenge to the Earl of Winchelsea in the newspaper? What got into him? He’s a man in his sixties, and he’s still got such a bad temper.”
Arthur scoffed. “It’s all because of the Catholic Emancipation Act. The Earl of Winchelsea publicly refuted the Duke of Wellington’s arguments in the House of Lords, accusing him of ‘yielding to the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope. The Wellington who was so brave at Waterloo is dead. The Wellington standing in Parliament now is a coward.’ The Duke of Wellington was so furious about this that he challenged the Earl of Winchelsea to a duel.”
Darwin, putting down his book, asked curiously, “I heard that the Duke of Wellington is a terrible shot, but the Earl of Winchelsea is a master duelist. Isn’t he asking for trouble by challenging him?”
Arthur raised an eyebrow. “Scotland Yard initially thought so too, so they sent a few policemen and doctors to the duel, ready to rush in and save the Duke as soon as the duel was over. But it turns out that the Duke was much more clever than we thought. During the duel, the Duke shot the Earl of Winchelsea’s coat, while the Earl shot into the air. Later, we learned that before the duel, the Duke suddenly got inspired by Shakespeare and wrote a dozen letters to the Earl of Winchelsea to distract him. After the duel, the two gentlemen exchanged apologies, and the doctors and police officers were relieved. The only ones who weren’t happy were the British reporters who had traveled a long distance just to get a big story.”
Darwin shook his head in disbelief. “He’s a veteran of Waterloo. It seems like the Duke of Wellington has seen it all.”
Eldred couldn’t help but ask, “Speaking of Waterloo, Arthur, do you think we might fight the French again?”
Arthur sighed and looked up at the ceiling. “That’s why I called you here today. I’ve already gotten into a fight with the French.”
Eldred frowned. “How did you get mixed up with the French?”
Arthur recounted the case of the contract slave and the missing Frenchmen to Eldred in detail.
After listening to Arthur’s story, Eldred exclaimed in surprise, “Fred dared to do that? Kidnap someone and take them to North America? He’s got some guts!”
Arthur nodded. “I don’t think he has the guts either, which is why I wanted to ask you, this has nothing to do with the Royal Navy, right?”
Eldred chuckled. “Arthur, what are you thinking? The Royal Navy would never do something like that.”
Darwin nodded slightly. “That’s right. I think they still have some basic sense of morality.”
But Eldred shook his head. “The Royal Navy doesn’t do this business because of morality, but because we don’t have enough people ourselves. The Royal Navy never traffics people. We only kidnap them to be sailors! And even if we kidnap people to be sailors, we wouldn’t kidnap a French sailor.”
As Arthur listened, the threads in his mind began to connect.
Just as he was trying to figure out what was going on, Eldred suddenly exclaimed, “Arthur! Fred went to all this trouble to kidnap a Frenchman. Could that person be a wanted French Republican? If you think about it, the timing seems to fit.”
“A Republican?” Arthur thought for a moment, and it suddenly dawned on him.
He immediately realized the seriousness of the situation. If the person was an ordinary Frenchman, it wouldn’t be a big deal even if he fell into Fred’s hands. But if he was a French Republican, once he was transported back to France, it would be a serious diplomatic incident.
The Duke of Wellington’s cabinet was already on shaky ground. If news broke that the French government was arresting people in Britain, the cabinet would likely collapse within two days. And if the cabinet collapsed, the anatomical reform promised by Lord Peel would be impossible, and the Greenwich Police District, where the incident occurred, would also be held accountable.
He quickly stood up, putting on his top hat and saying to Eldred, “Look into cargo ships going to France and North America for me. I need to go to the Home Office.”
But just as he was about to leave, the bell above the coffee shop door jingled again.
A familiar face stood there, filled with guilt, Officer Dennis Lloyd. He had been avoiding Arthur ever since he betrayed him to Willox.
Dennis looked at Arthur, clenched his fists, and hesitated for a long time before finally making up his mind.
“Arthur, I know I wronged you before. But this time is different. You have to believe me. I have to report to you what Officer Jones has been doing lately. Something about him seems off. Some of his actions don’t seem right. This involves Willox, that old bastard, and the previous body-selling case. And you’ve been investigating Fred all this time, haven’t you? I… I followed Officer Jones secretly for a while. He went to the Black Pool Detective Agency in Whitechapel today…”
(End of Chapter)