The Shadow of Great Britain-Chapter 510 - 270: Research Frenzy (4K2)

Louis sized up the gentleman speaking—a man of average height wearing a dark brown bowler hat and a flapping trench coat that had been buffeted by the wild wind and a rain-soaked beard.

Although the beard aged him, if it had been some time ago, Louis would have guessed him to be a mature gentleman around forty. However, his time in the Police Intelligence Department had taught him some useful skills in discerning people’s age. After briefly observing the gentleman’s smooth, youthful-looking skin around his temples and the youthful sparkle in his eyes, Louis quickly concluded that this gentleman was most likely under thirty.

With his conclusion formed, Louis grew more confident in initiating conversation and asked with a smile, "Let me guess, you know Mr. Babbage, and Mr. Babbage was once the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University. So, are you his student, a distinguished graduate from Cambridge University?"

The gentleman across from him merely shook his head, holding onto his pipe, "I indeed wanted to study at Cambridge, and to be Mr. Babbage’s student would have been a great honor, especially since, as you mentioned, he once held Sir Isaac Newton’s former position. Unfortunately, the tuition fees at Cambridge were too expensive for me to afford."

Louis was naturally disappointed that his guess turned out wrong, but he wasn’t too disheartened. After all, guessing others’ backgrounds mostly resulted in errors, and he wasn’t the famously astute Detective Hasting from the novels.

Thinking of this, Louis suddenly felt playful and wanted to tease his detective friend a bit: "Arthur, what do you think?"

As soon as he spoke, Louis noticed that Arthur, sitting beside him, was scrutinizing a unique curved blade hanging at the gentleman’s waist.

It was indeed a fascinating weapon, curved inward along the blade, with a V-shaped notch where the blade met the handle, resembling a dog’s leg.

Arthur suddenly asked the unfamiliar gentleman, "Have you been to India?"

The gentleman seemed startled by the question and hesitantly nodded, "I served in Madras, India for five years and just retired earlier this year."

After thinking for a moment, Arthur inquired, "Were there Gurkhas stationed near your unit?"

"Gurkhas, you actually know about the Gurkhas."

The stranger expressed surprise, "There were no Gurkhas near my unit, but my unit itself consisted of Gurkhas, from the East India Company’s Gurkha battalion. All the soldiers there were brave little men with an olive complexion from the mountains of Nepal."

Louis responded with astonishment, "Sir, you are a Briton. Why would the East India Company assign you to serve in a Gurkha battalion?"

"No, no, you misunderstand. I am an officer, not a soldier," the stranger clarified, waving his hands, "Before I retired, I was a Lieutenant in the Army, in charge of a thirty-man infantry platoon in the Gurkha battalion."

Louis asked with a smile, "Well, that sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? Why didn’t you continue there? If you got lucky and fought a few impressive battles, with your advantageous age, who knows? You might have even become a general. Wasn’t the Duke of Wellington someone who made his name in India?"

The stranger took a deep draw on his pipe and shook his head with a sigh.

"Buddy, you think too simplistically about the military. I had the same idea as you back then, which is why I used the inheritance my father left me to buy myself a post as a lieutenant in India. I thought, although the conditions in India weren’t as good as in Britain, many great figures from Britain started their careers there; maybe I could follow in their footsteps.

I figured a bit of hardship in youth might lead to comfort in old age. But once I arrived in India, I realized just how naïve I had been. Everybody knows the Duke of Wellington made his name in India, but nobody told me that when His Grace came to India, his elder brother, Richard Wellesley, was serving as the Governor of India."

"If it weren’t for his brother’s influence, His Grace would never have been entrusted with commanding the army as a Colonel during the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War. Although he later proved himself to be one of the greatest military commanders in British history, during the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War, he was just a green youngster; he had fought in Europe only once and had lost. Although, he never lost again after that."

"I’m not saying this to attack His Grace, just to shed light on a fact. Without his brother’s connections, he would never have been so usefully employed in India after losing a battle, nor could he have risen to be a Colonel, but would have ended up like me, aimlessly spending five years as a Lieutenant, then ignominiously retiring."

The stranger’s somewhat bitter remarks piqued Louis’s interest.

He questioned further, "Although I know that purchasing commissions is a thing in the British military, didn’t you already pay when you went to India?"

The stranger sighed helplessly, "I paid only for the lieutenant’s commission. To rise higher, one must pay incrementally. Those years in India were relatively peaceful, and with few battles to fight, the chances for promotion through merit were almost nonexistent. So, if you wanted to climb the ladder, it boiled down to one thing—having enough British Pounds in place."