[Comprehensive Classics] Detective Mary

If a well-prepared and armed enemy might scare Mary, a furious worker would not scare her.

If nothing else, Mary has a gun.

However, the arrival of Mr. Holmes and Etienne prevented her from drawing a gun.Etienne rushed forward and pushed Chaval, and Sherlock Holmes, who appeared in the small town of Marchenne as an unloader, stood in front of the two ladies.

"Shaval, what do you want to do?!"

Etienne couldn't believe it: "Did you drink too much, and you are causing trouble on the street at this moment?"

Shawar sneered a few times: "What do I want to do? Let me ask you guys what you want to do. What do I have to do with you when I discipline my woman?"

After finishing speaking, he looked at Holmes: "I haven't settled with you yet, outsider. You are whimsical, and you want to pursue the rich lady without looking at your status, and you want my woman to help you? What is Katrin going to do? listen to me!"

Mary: "..."

Next, some obscenities came out of Chaval's mouth. Fortunately, Marie's French was far from being able to understand the curse.But looking at Mr. Holmes's deeply furrowed brows, one could tell that he or himself must be involved.

Catherine, who was hiding behind Mary, was about to cry. The thin girl wiped her eyes and begged, "Chaval, hurry up! Miss Mary is under the care of Mr. Enebo, if the trouble continues, the police will definitely come !"

"Stinky bitch!"

When Shaval heard this, he became furious: "You have no shame, and you want to help Etienne even if you are on good terms with him? As long as you are sensible, Catherine, you come with me!"

"Shaval, are you crazy?!"

Etienne suppressed his anger and threatened: "If you want to do something, you'd better think about the consequences before doing it. There are two of us!"

"What about two people, come on!"

Seeing that a fight was inevitable, fortunately Chaval had been quarreling for a long time before.Mr. Enebo had anticipated Mary Bennet's offer to buy the apartment long before she had spoken to the police.When they heard that Miss Mary's maid was harassed by workers, they went to the police faster than usual.

The police system at the end of the nineteenth century was not as perfect as it would be in the future, and the police stationed in the town were seconded temporarily to prevent strikes and troubles.As soon as they saw that the workers planned to attack the well-dressed and clean rich lady, they would not give Shawar any chance to struggle, and took them away directly.

The matter was settled easily, but Mary felt that Catherine was not in any happy mood.

Even when the two men escorted them back to the apartment, Katrin finally couldn't help crying when she saw Mary's concerned expression.

Mary handed the handkerchief to Katrin: "He didn't hurt you, did he?"

Katrin shook her head.

The young girl took Mary's veil and choked up, "I'm sorry, Miss Mary, I caused you trouble. I can no longer be your maid, and Chaval will come to make trouble."

"He won't."

Mary sat beside Katrin: "Don't worry, I have plenty of ways to deal with a vexatious person."

"No, Miss Mary, you are an outsider, and you don't know what happened between us," Catherine said more and more sadly, and almost broke down in tears at the end, "Shaval is not making trouble for no reason, he is right, I am his man , I don't understand."

"..."

Katrin's words fell to the ground, and Mary was so shocked that she could hardly speak.

"What is not innocent," she said, "He forced you..."

"What? No."

Katrin hurriedly clarified: "He didn't, I...I am indeed with him."

After all, it was her daughter's home, and Katrin was only 15 years old. When discussing this topic with a decent lady, it was inevitable that she would stumble.At the end of the hearing, Mary felt relieved: it wasn't Shawar who she imagined forcibly possessing Catherine.It's just that Catherine is so young, and Shaval likes her, so she complied ignorantly and half-pushed.

This is true of the love of men and women of the poor.Katrin also revealed the sexual confusion among the workers during her speech. She took it for granted that halfway through, when she saw Mary's frown slightly, she realized that she was talking to a rich single girl, and her face burned immediately. flushed.

"I'm not qualified to be your maid at all," Catherine whimpered, "you'll be ashamed if you say it, Miss Mary."

Mary sighed heavily.

In the nineteenth century, it was indeed a disgraceful thing for a servant of a respectable family to make an ugly mess.But Mary came here through time travel. In the 21st century, sexual liberation has been going on for many years. It’s good that Katrin was not forced by Shawar. As for her worries, in Mary’s opinion, it’s not worth mentioning.

The so-called "decency" of civilized people needs to be based on enough food and clothing. Workers can't get the wages they should get, and they can't even eat enough to eat. They don't care about education, especially sex education.

Although in Mary's view, chastity and innocence are all moral shackles used by patriarchal society to oppress women, women in the 21st century can sneer at this, but women in the [-]th century can't, because they have no weapons and power, so cleanliness is almost a matter of maintenance. The only way to a woman's dignity.

Looking at Katrin in this way, she cares about innocence and what Mary thinks of her, which proves that she doesn't want to be a girl who is only lusting after eating and sleeping, sinking into a beast-like life.

If she really liked Shaval, Mary would never say anything, but...

"Catrine," Mary said in a slow tone, "tell me the truth. I saw that you and Etienne have known each other for a long time, and you are very familiar with each other, but you dare not look at each other. Do you like him or that Chaval? ?”

"This……"

Catherine never thought that Marie would mention Etienne at this juncture, she blushed and dared not speak for a long time.

Not daring to speak proves that Etienne is more important than Chaval in Catherine's heart.

"Innocence or something," said Marie, "it depends on whether the person you like cares. I don't think Étienne is one who cares, don't you?"

On the contrary, Mary's safety made Catherine even more sad: "Miss Mary, you are so kind, and I can't even bother you."

"If you want to leave, I will definitely not stop you." Mary did not force her to make a decision. "Whether you make it clear to Shawar or continue to return to him is up to you. But I hope you can think about it before leaving." Make a decision, before you make up your mind, how about you think about it with me? You don’t get paid when you go home, but you can still get paid with me.”

After finishing speaking, Mary added: "It's not enough to get involved or not. I dare to stand in front of you and Shaval to prove that I am not afraid of him, and you don't have to be afraid. Katrin, with me here, I can assure you He can't move a hair of your hair."

Calming Katrin, Mary walked out of the room.

Mr. Holmes and Étienne were waiting in the living room. Seeing Mary coming out, Étienne asked extremely disturbedly, "How is Catherine, Miss Mary? Chaval didn't hit her, did he?"

Mary smiled: "She's fine, but if you're worried, why don't you go and see her yourself?"

Étienne: "I..."

Now Mary has figured out Katrin's triangle relationship.It was obvious that Shaval preemptively announced the "ownership" by relying on his long-standing acquaintance with Katrin.But Catherine made it clear that she didn't like Chaval that much, she liked Etienne more, but in Catherine's understanding, she had a relationship with Chaval and would be rejected by other men, so she didn't dare to leave him.

"Shaval and Catherine are not married," Mary said. "There is no legal constraint, let alone children. I don't understand. Where did that guy get the confidence to keep saying that Catherine is his woman?"

When "law" was mentioned, Etienne was startled, and then suddenly realized.

The miners struggling to survive lived like primitive people, with their own set of social norms among them.But this does not mean that the national laws cannot restrain the workers. Etienne can read and write. He has learned the ideas and theories that are popular in various countries, and he has a high status among the workers.This also means that Etienne knows what "law" is better than Chaval.

The law is that Chaval and Catherine are not yet married, they are lovers at most, all the restraints Chaval imposed on Catherine have no legal effect, Etienne still has a chance!

After realizing this, Etienne's eyes suddenly brightened.

He couldn't even wait to say something to Mary, so he took a step forward, pushed the door open and walked into the room.

Now, only Mary and Holmes were left in the living room. It wasn't until this time that the detective turned his attention to Mary. His sharp eyes stayed on her for a moment, and after confirming that Mary was not injured from the conflict just now, he said: "You Keep a gun in your back."

Sure enough, I can still see it.

Mary reached behind her thick overcoat and pulled out a gun from her waist.

"Men are used to wearing guns around their waists," Mary said. "It just so happens that the weather is right now, so I can do the same as long as I wear a coat or coat. It's much more convenient than hiding it under the hem of a skirt."

Holmes seemed very satisfied with Mary's choice, he nodded slightly, and then said: "You are right, your tough attitude will let the workers know that you are not easy to mess with, so that if something unexpected happens, they will feel more or less worried about it. fear."

"……I know."

This is why Mary resolutely chose to protect Katrin.To tell the truth, she didn't like being so wary of the poor like thieves, and it made Mary very uncomfortable.However, the reality does not allow Mary to take it for granted to be nice to anyone. First of all, she has to ensure her own safety in order to ensure the smooth progress of the case investigation.

Thinking of this, she accepted Holmes' suggestion: "The policemen take good care of me, and I will ask for their protection when necessary."

Holmes: "That's right, Chaval is very dangerous. The situation is tense now, and the workers who have stopped working are getting more and more exhausted and have no money. They are almost at the end of the road. Adding up with Etienne's public and personal grievances, it is easy to make Chaval It became the spark that ignited the conflict."

Mary shivered.

"May I have a word with Mr. Enebo," she asked. "Having the police detain Chaval will not only keep Katrin safe, but also protect Chaval himself."

Holmes laughed a little.

There was a bit of sarcasm on the detective's stern face, but Mary knew that the sarcasm was not directed at her: "If there is no Chaval, there will be a Shavak, Oval, what's the difference? Only a conflict will break out." , the contradiction between workers and capitalists can be completely resolved, and such consumption is of no benefit to anyone.”

"..."

Indeed it is.

Strikes are nothing more than a way to express demands, but they cannot resolve the ever-existing labor-capital conflicts.Workers must escalate their behavior if they want to resolve conflicts, while capitalists...

"Several coal mine owners are planning to hire cheaper workers from Belgium," Mary said worryingly. "Mr. Thornton thought about doing it in Milton. I can persuade John Thornton to think about it, but Meng Investors in Su Coal Mine will not listen to me."

In "South and North", Mr. Thornton, who invited Irish workers, faced protests and even small-scale riots from the workers.Tentatively, this is the result of Mrs. Gaskell idealizing everything from a female perspective, weakening the criticality of her work, and confining it to the category of romance novels.

But the current situation is far worse than Milton and Mr. Thornton's factory. Even Holmes couldn't help but frown after hearing the clues brought by Mary.

"As soon as possible," he said. "Once the mine is back up and running in the hands of Belgian miners, I'm afraid there will be blood."

Mary took a deep breath.

After two cases and even surviving from Blackwood's underground prison, Mary is no longer terrified when it comes to the topic of death, but that doesn't mean she accepts it calmly.

"Mr. Grégoire and Mr. Denelin talked about a lot of useful information at the dinner table," Mary said, "They even talked about Professor Moriarty at the dinner table."

Mary relays to Holmes what happened at the dinner table, especially the part about what Professor Moriarty did.After hearing all the information, Sherlock Holmes' reaction was exactly the same as Mary's at the time.

"Students gain wisdom," Holmes judged unceremoniously. "After the failure of the operation two years ago, Professor Moriarty not only did not stop, but even realized that he had something to catch, so there was a flaw. .Now he's doing business in full compliance with the law, and he can't be arrested even if he knows he did it."

Commercial behavior is legal, but other behaviors are not necessarily legal.

Marie hadn't forgotten how Pollini, the manager of the Paris Opera, had died—technically, that was "legal" too, since James Moriarty hadn't done it at all.But if it weren't for the professor's threats, how could Mr. Pollini atone for his sin with death?

This is enough to prove that the professor himself is still doing something that can threaten other people's lives.

On the investment side, she couldn't catch the flaw, so Mary felt that... there might not be a flaw in the other clue.

"I will continue to keep in touch with the Gregoire family," Mary said, "just to ask for information."

"Keep quiet that the bourgeois may employ foreign workers."

"I know."

Wouldn't spreading the news now disturb the morale of the army in advance and cause violence? Mary wouldn't do it.

After receiving Mary's promise, Holmes continued: "Etienne and Souvarin have a good relationship, and took the opportunity to find evidence that Souvarin had secretly communicated with other people. It's just that the correspondence is in Russian, which he can't read."

"So?"

"Yesterday, I took an opportunity to find the letter in Souvarin's room. Someone will come to meet him tomorrow night. Me, Etienne and reporter Harvey plan to find out."

It's really Sherlock Holmes style of acting.

Mary couldn't laugh or cry. In order to investigate the case, Holmes did a lot of breaking into dead houses alone and stealing evidence. As for tracking suspects, that was the daily operation of detectives.

"Is there anything I could be useful for?" Mary asked.

"You don't want to go this time," replied Holmes. "I fear the danger."

She was afraid that she would be in danger, as would Holmes, Etienne, and the Harvey reporter.

Mary's heart suddenly lifted.

After the two checked out the clues they got, Etienne also comforted Catherine. When the two men were about to leave, Mary was still a little worried.

"Sherlock... sir!"

She called to Holmes who was about to leave.

The detective dressed as a cargo unloader paused and turned around.

Mary hurried forward, took off the gun, and handed it to Holmes.

"If it's dangerous," she said, "you'd better hold it."

The detective looked down at the heavy metal, then moved his gaze to Mary's eyes.

Looking at each other, Holmes didn't speak, he just curled up his hands.Thin fingers wrapped around Mary's hand and her gun at the same time, and with a little force on the detective's wrist, the two hands switched positions.

Across the guns, they almost intertwined their fingers, and the warm breath spread from the cold metal. Just as Holmes was about to say something, Mary reacted quickly and took the first step: "Don't."

Her other hand rested just in front of Holmes' lips.

"I borrowed it from you, and you have to pay it back," said Mary. "You don't want me in an accident, and neither do I, Sherlock. The pistol is just a last resort, and you need it more when you're out at night than I am sitting in the flat." Even if it's just to reassure me, you still take it."

"..."

Holmes is not a person who can be easily persuaded, but Mary's words are sincere, her expression is sincere, and she always looks into the detective's eyes when she says these words.

An unembarrassed silence spread between the two, and finally Holmes took Mary's gun.

"Well."

He nodded: "Thank you for your concern, Mary."

Mary breathed a sigh of relief.

The reason why she insisted on Holmes holding a gun was not that Mary intended him to hurt others, but that she had been feeling faintly uneasy since she stepped into the town of Marchenne.The unease had only grown since it was established that Moriarty had done everything legally in relation to his investments.

It was as if the shadow had been following her everywhere, and that inexplicable sense of threat lingered behind Mary and refused to dissipate.She is not superstitious, and Mary firmly believes that such uneasiness comes from the grim situation and tense atmosphere in the Mengsou coal mine.

And her uneasiness has finally come true.

The next night, Mary changed into her nightgown with the help of Katrin and was about to fall asleep when a loud knock on the door pulled her out of bed.

"Who?"

Katrin walked to the door and spoke through the door: "I've already fallen asleep, if you want to visit, please come tomorrow."

"Open the door, Katrin," cried a voice from outside. "It's me, Franz Harvey! Something has happened!"

"what?"

Mary walked out of the room with her coat on: "Let him in, Katrin."

However, reporter Franz Harvey was not the only one who walked into the room. Several workers followed Etienne and walked in. The young man who stood up without hesitation to protect the girl he admired yesterday had a pale face. With a painful expression, a coarse cloth with mottled blood——

Etienne was shot!

Catherine screamed and rushed forward, and Mary immediately asked, "What's going on?"

"We were ambushed."

Reporter Harvey said hastily: "The police are waiting for us, saying that the workers are going to gather illegally. This is a trap!"