The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 1827 - 113: Victor Is Sir Arthur’s Brother-in-Arms and Trusted Friend_2

However, before Empire Publishing Company launched a full-fledged promotional campaign, most people didn’t even know that the Parisian Sleuth’s real name was Francois Vidocq.

The Londoners always loved to follow trends and watch the excitement, especially the excitement coming from France and Paris.

Therefore, this "Victor’s Memoirs" quickly became a fashionable topic of discussion in the city, just like many other things that had become popular in London.

The middle-class gentlemen enjoyed reading it at clubs for show, while the workers gathered around storytellers in taverns using it as curious entertainment, and the parliament wives discussed its Parisian plots at ladies’ reading salons. Even Arthur heard the maids at Kensington Palace critique it a few days ago.

Thus, Mr. Francois Vidocq, the former French Republic criminal, the chief of security during the Napoleonic Era, Bourbon Restoration, and July Monarchy, and now the owner of the Breaux Detective Agency, took the stage in London with great flair.

Needless to say, Vidocq himself was overjoyed by this.

Although his memoir was selling just as well in Paris, even better than in London, it was partly because he forced his clients, who were in debt to him, to each buy five copies, or he wouldn’t take their cases. However, in London, these sales were genuine and without any padding.

For this reason, he specifically opened a signing reception room on the first floor of the agency, with a portrait above the fireplace showing him in a top hat, wielding a cane against the backdrop of Paris streets. The room’s walls were pinned with many clippings. Every recent English article praising, discussing, or mocking him was mounted on the walls as trophies and meticulously categorized into areas: positive reviews, misunderstandings, prejudices, and even a small corner labeled as the envy area.

One must admit, this was indeed very much in the French style of acting.

And, the Great Dumas, who once narrowly escaped capture by Vidocq back to Paris, especially came to London to support his new book launch. Even Mr. Eld Carter, the Navy Department’s third-class clerk, reconciled with him over a private dinner hosted by Vidocq. In addition to this, prominent figures like Dickens, Tennyson, Darwin, and Disraeli, gathered from the British authors’ epicenter.

Of course, the person Vidocq should most thank is undoubtedly the chairman of the board of Empire Publishing Company, Sir Arthur Hastings. Without his networking, Vidocq likely couldn’t have smoothly infiltrated the London literary circle.

And Sir Arthur Hastings, while helping him, only made a minor request, which was nothing more than solving a few trivial small cases for him and sharing the archives and files accumulated by the Breaux Detective Agency in London during the investigation with Empire Publishing Company.

Moreover, as a return favor, Sir Arthur Hastings not only greatly assisted Vidocq in promoting his new book but also helped him establish connections with Scotland Yard. Vidocq understood well that without a local patron like Arthur, starting detective business in London would have been nearly impossible.

With this legendary figure from Scotland Yard mediating in the middle, Vidocq could not only operate openly in London but even receive investigation commissions from Scotland Yard under the table. These hidden benefits were beyond Vidocq’s imagination while he was in Paris.

However, in the process of cooperating with Arthur, Vidocq wasn’t entirely without his own reservations.

Arthur initially proposed to back up part of the Breaux Detective Agency’s Paris files for storage in London. But Vidocq, facing such a request, naturally refused outright.

He was well aware of Arthur’s intentions. The 6,000-plus files stored in Paris contained not only many personal privacy-related matters but also involved many government departments in Paris directly. If Arthur submitted these files, he might have a bright future ahead, but Vidocq would no longer be able to operate in Paris or even within France.

Vidocq acknowledged that he had done many despicable things in the past, but he believed that committing such deeds didn’t mean he wasn’t a patriot of France. Making money in London was acceptable, but he couldn’t bring himself to sell French confidential intelligence to the British government. Sorry, he just couldn’t do it.

Fortunately, Arthur only casually mentioned it at the time, and after Vidocq refused, Arthur merely expressed slight regret and didn’t press the issue further.

Actually, Arthur hadn’t planned on handing those pieces of information to the British government either, as he knew full well that information only held value when clutched in his own hands. If he bundled it up for sale, turning it into "open secrets" in the eyes of the government would significantly devalue it.

Moreover, Vidocq did have a somewhat stubborn streak.

If it were that old fox Talleyrand in his place, while Talleyrand wouldn’t hand over everything, it wasn’t because of a strong moral compass. Rather, he’d carefully select some files that might pique Arthur’s interest, then sell them at a price, piece by piece.

Nonetheless, after chatting with Vidocq about this matter, Arthur did have some takeaways.

At least he confirmed that Vidocq’s detective agency in Paris indeed housed a vast quantity of classified files, which was equally a piece of valuable intelligence.

Heh...

It’s worth noting that the diplomatic attaché briefcase Arthur once purchased still had the contact details of Adolphe Thiers, the French Home Secretary, stashed at the bottom.

Furthermore, Arthur was willing to bet that Mr. Adolphe Thiers would be immensely interested in this piece of news, and undoubtedly eager to secure those 6,000-plus files for himself.

However, Arthur, in light of his good relationship with Vidocq, certainly wouldn’t betray Vidocq to Thiers.

At least, not now.

After all, Arthur was currently commissioning Vidocq to investigate Sir John Conroy’s financial situation.

And speaking of why Arthur suddenly developed an interest in Conroy’s finances, it couldn’t go without mentioning Princess Sophia and her illegitimate child.

As a sister to King William IV, Princess Sophia would receive an annual pension of sixteen thousand pounds from Parliament. Besides, over the years, she had received numerous intermittent rewards from her father George III, her brother George IV, and William IV, including real estate as well as various jewels and jewelry.

However, despite being a rather wealthy woman within British society, perhaps due to her long abode in the royal court, her spending was not as much as her class would typically demand, even quite frugal.

Yet, when Princess Sophia intended to extend her thanks to Arthur some time ago, Arthur discovered that Princess Sophia seemed to be not as affluent as he had imagined.

According to Princess Sophia, she only had a bank account at the Rothschild Bank, where she supposedly kept all her money, and this account had always been managed by Conroy on her behalf.

Arthur privately hinted to Lionel Rothschild, indicating his interest in knowing exactly how much was in Princess Sophia’s account.

But Lionel, adhering to the principles of a banker, didn’t disclose anything directly. However, he hinted at Arthur that Rothschild Bank did maintain a special list for clients with deposits exceeding ten thousand pounds, and Princess Sophia’s name was not on that list.

Lionel didn’t exhibit any particular concern towards this revelation either, assuming Princess Sophia likely had other accounts at other banks. After all, whoever had some financial acumen in this era would not put all eggs into one basket.

Nonetheless, one couldn’t really blame Lionel, for who would’ve thought that a royal princess with an annual income nearing twenty thousand pounds would have total deposits below ten thousand pounds in hand?