The Shadow of Great Britain

As he spoke, Liszt took off his gloves and leaned forward respectfully to extend his hand to Arthur: "Mr. Hastings, actually we should have met in Paris. My residence in Paris was on Martyrs Street, not far from Mr. Heine's address; he lived at number 23, and I at number 43. We often dined together, and Mr. Heine frequently mentioned your name and joked with me that if I had said those words in London, I wouldn't have been put in prison by you, or rushed off to the United States."

Arthur joked: "Heinrich probably told you about Bernie Harrison's case, right? He's right; in London, Scotland Yard wouldn't dare mess with a member of parliament's affairs, let alone seal off his newspaper and throw him into prison. However, even as I humbly investigated the case, Mr. Bernie Harrison didn't plan to leave me alone and even sought a hitman in Liverpool to assassinate me. When that failed, he took his own life in a fit of guilt."

Liszt couldn't help but express his amazement upon hearing this: "That story is truly bizarre; if it weren't for the news reports backing it up, I would have thought Mr. Heine was making up stories to fool me. Oh, right, I almost forgot the main purpose of my visit. I came to Gottingen because Mr. Heine entrusted me to deliver a letter to you."

Saying this, Liszt drew out a warm letter he had kept for a long time.

Arthur did not shy away from the people present and casually tore open the envelope, pinched the corner of the bill with two fingers, and pulled it out.

"Ahem..." Arthur couldn't help but twitch at the corners of his mouth after just glancing at the beginning of the bill.

Yet despite this, the payment had to be made, for wasn't Heine the opinion leader of the students in Gottingen?

As long as Heine was willing to speak out for him, Gottingen wouldn't stir up any trouble for a while.

Moreover, the money given to Heine was sponsored by the Young Italy, 2,500 British Pounds, a total of 50,000 Francs, enough for Heine to start writing several autobiographies for Arthur.

Just as Arthur pocketed the letter, Liszt spoke again in front of him.

"Sir, actually my visit to Gottingen isn't just a simple delivery of a letter. I heard from Felix that you are not just a star detective and natural philosopher, but an unparalleled piano master? In terms of the passion of performance, you're arguably comparable to Franz Liszt in Paris?"

Arthur laughed and denied: "That's indeed too flattering; whether it's Felix or Liszt, both of their performance levels are far above mine. As for passion, the 'Clock' is indeed a passionate piece. But that owes more to the 'Devil of the Apennines' Mr. Paganini, since the 'Clock' was adapted from Mr. Paganini's piece."

"It really is you!" Liszt couldn't help but exclaim with joy: "The 'Clock' indeed is your piece!"

Arthur was puzzled by the comment.

He did not understand why in his life he had only composed this one piece, yet it made so many people flock to him.

He asked, "What's wrong?"

Liszt handed him a glass of beer with a smile: "To be honest, my daughter Emily is a singer. She has been receiving instruction in Leipzig alongside Mr. Robert Schumann's daughter Eliza Schumann for years. Both young ladies are your ardent admirers. They plan to make their debut performance with an orchestra in Leipzig some time later. For this performance, the person they most hope to become the pianist has two candidates: the King of Piano in Paris, Franz Liszt, and the other is London's King of Electronic Music, Arthur Hastings."

Putting aside the fact that they treated him as a backup option, even the nickname "King of Electronic Music" gave Arthur the feeling of "If you can't come up with a nickname, don't force it."

Although he did know a bit about electromagnetism, could play piano pieces, and had the title of the King of Scotland Yard, that didn't mean people could randomly throw these things together.

Yorkshire pig farmer sounded more fashionable than the King of Electronic Music!

However, Arthur knew the other person had no ill will, so he could only smile helplessly and then turn to Krupp: "Alfred, you wouldn't mind leaving official business to the second round, would you?"

Krupp understood with a smile: "Of course not, it's rare to have so many friends gathered; talking business would ruin the mood."

Arthur nodded slightly, then walked over to him, placing a hand on Krupp's shoulder, and whispered into his ear: "The contract matters, let's see if you can bring a few gentlemen to cheerfulness today."