[Comprehensive Classics] Detective Mary

It was not so unexpected for Mary to meet Dr. John H. Watson for the second time.

Milton is a small town dominated by industry, and Mr. Thornton's Marlborough factory is located at the main road of the town.It is not surprising that they meet again in the bustling area of ​​​​the small place.

When Mary was at home, if Lydia and the others wanted to "encounter" some officer or gentleman, they would definitely go to Meryton on a nice morning.

"Doctor," Mary greeted politely, "are you also here to see Mr. Thornton?"

"Yes."

Watson nodded. "Dr. Breson suggested that I pay a visit to Mr. John Thornton, so as to break into the local social circle."

It seems that he is planning to live in Milton for a long time?

Mary didn't know the purpose of John Watson's visit, but she knew that Watson in the original book didn't have the experience of living in a small northern town for a long time.so……

She has to hurry and lure him back to London!Neither the detective nor the doctor would be complete without the friendship of Mr. Holmes.

Of course, Mary would no longer show her thoughts clearly on her face.

"That's great," she laughed instead, "I have a single lady by my side, this is Margaret Hale, she has been here for more than half a year, and she brought me to Mr Thornton today. Margaret, this is Dr John Watson whom I met yesterday outside the railway station."

When she heard that he was the doctor who rescued the unloader, Margaret immediately felt respect.

The kind-hearted lady looked at the doctor with admiration: "You are such a kind-hearted gentleman."

Watson was a little embarrassed by her praise, and the doctor moved his hat: "Thank you, miss, I just did what any gentleman would do."

Margaret: "Your accent is not local, doctor, are you moving to Milton?"

Watson shook his head: "I don't have any ideas for the time being. It's just that I am still recovering from my injuries. I heard that my mentor came to Milton after retirement, so I just came to have a look."

Margaret looked surprised: "Are you hurt, doctor?"

Watson: "I have just returned from Afghanistan."

it is as expected.

Looking at Watson's slightly lame legs when he walked over just now, Mary guessed that he should have just returned from Afghanistan not long ago, his injuries have not yet recovered, and he is in the period of squandering his pension.

I don’t remember if it was mentioned in the original book which school Dr. Watson studied medicine from, but according to what he said, the doctor in Milton turned out to be his mentor, which is really a coincidence.

"Afghanistan!"

Margaret was very surprised: "You are a military doctor, sir."

As she spoke, she lowered her eyes, showing a somewhat sad expression.

—Margaret Hale had an older brother who was also a soldier and was in the Navy.As mentioned in the original book of "South and North", the eldest son of the Hale family rebelled in anger because he was dissatisfied with his superiors who mistreated the crew.

This made Margaret's brother a "traitor", who is currently living in Spain and has not returned for a long time.

Seeing that she touched on a sad matter, Mary immediately changed the topic: "Let me guess, which one is Mr. Thornton's factory, is it that one?"

Mary pointed randomly, and a burly man just walked out of the door she pointed to.

"It must be this one," she said with a smile, "with a key on her waist, as if she could lift a thin adult man. Mr. Thornton's factory is amazing, and the overseers all look like Russians-this Does Mr. Overseer drink vodka as water like the Cossacks living in the Siberian plains?"

Miss Margaret had never heard of her nonsense. The beautiful southern girl blinked: "The supervisor of the Marlborough factory is a native of Milton."

Mary: "Wow, the same food can produce such different people."

Margaret chuckled.

Knowing that she was trying to amuse herself, Margaret managed to divert her attention.She scolded: "Don't let the overseer hear this, he will be angry. Let's go in, Dr. Watson can also come with us."

Watson was worried that no one would recommend him, so there was no reason to refuse: "Thank you, miss."

Apparently Mr. Overseer got the news in advance and came to welcome Margaret.He looked fierce and unsmiling, but he spoke politely. He even said hello to Margaret and let them in.

The factory that was on strike was even more desolate than Mary had imagined.

There was no one in the huge factory building, and all the machines stopped working. Only a few unloaders dutifully unloaded the cotton from Liverpool, and then they took their wages and left directly.

It was clearly daytime, but it was as quiet as the night when Mary sneaked into the factory in London—the only difference was that in the factory during the day, you could clearly see the cotton wadding all over the floor.

The thick cotton batting is spread on the ground, like a thin layer of white snow.Mary stared at the ground for a while, then suddenly bent down, grabbed a handful of cotton wool, and hid it.

Her movements were so fast that Margaret, who was walking in front, did not notice, but Dr. Watson did.

Fortunately, Dr. Watson didn't say much, he just looked at Mary in surprise, as if wondering why she picked up these scraps on the ground.

Mary just smiled back and didn't say anything to explain.

The overseer took them to Mr. Thornton's office.

Before entering the door, Mary heard a fierce quarrel inside the door.Among them, Mr. Thornton's snarl was clear through the door panel: "This is not negotiable, Hamp!"

Margaret: "..."

Originally, Margaret had a very bad impression of Mr. Thornton, and when she heard him arguing with her partner, she felt a little embarrassed.

The overseer knocked on the door, and the quarrel inside the door disappeared.

After a while Mr Thornton opened the door.He saw that it was Margaret who came, and his handsome and solemn expression stiffened a bit: "Why?"

Margaret lowered her head: "Miss Mary Bennet and John Watson would like to see you, sir."

Thornton frowned: "Mary Bennet?"

Only then did he notice that there was a petite strange girl between Margaret and Watson.Mr. Thornton looked up, he stared at Mary: "You are not the one from London..."

"Miss Mary!"

Hearing Mary's name, Mr. Thornton hadn't matched Mary with the "little slum maid" he had seen before, and Mr. Hamp came over as if seeing a savior.

"Quickly, John," he greeted Thornton, "quickly invite some guests in, Miss Mary, you've counted!"

"..."

Thornton gave Mary a deep look.

After entering the door, he finally remembered where he had seen Mary—it was the little maid who stood by and spoke boldly when he went to talk to the Irish workers in the slums of London.

Thornton apologized to Mary with some embarrassment: "I'm sorry, Miss, when we met in London a few months ago, I thought you were a friend of those Irish workers."

"I'm indeed their friend," Mary admitted generously. "I didn't expect that you and I would have a chance to meet again, so I didn't introduce myself. I was rude first, sir."

"Then you..."

Mr. Thornton glanced at Margaret and Watson, wondering if he should speak.

Seeing that he was hesitating to speak, Mary was clearly afraid that telling the truth would damage her reputation, so she curled her lips indifferently.

She appreciates this kindness, but Margaret and Dr. Watson are trustworthy people, so Mary does not intend to hide what she did in London: "I changed into a maid's clothes to hide people's eyes, Otherwise it would be too conspicuous for a single lady to come and go in and out of the slums."

Mr. Thornton thought for a while, and it was indeed the truth: "Thank you for taking so much trouble for the case, Miss Mary."

Dr. Watson showed a surprised expression when he heard the words: "The case?"

Thornton: "You are Dr. John Watson mentioned in Dr. Brayton's letter. Forgive me for being busy today, sir. I should have visited Dr. Brayton in person."

Watson shook his head: "It's okay, please go ahead and deal with the urgent matter, sir, in fact, I'm also very curious about the 'case' you're talking about."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Hamp enthusiastically acted as an introducer.

He briefly introduced to Dr. Watson what happened in the factories from London to Milton—of course, the shrewd businessman omitted the link in which he acted as a pig teammate, and also concealed the existence of Moriarty.

After finishing speaking, he looked at Mary with a sad face: "Now the price of overseas cotton raw materials has fallen sharply, and the price of cotton raw materials in Liverpool has risen due to the shortage of supply. If we don't solve the problem, we really can't do it anymore, Miss, you You must help us!"

With this posture, I can't wait to regard Mary as the savior.

To be honest, Mary didn't have any bad feelings for Mr. Hamp, and even felt pity for him.

After all, according to what Mr. Hamp himself said, all he wanted was to keep the factory open, and the treatment he opened in the factory in London was considered good, so Mary could understand him to some extent.

But Mary felt a little delicate when she thought that when Mr. Holmes dutifully helped him track down the case, Mr. Hamp still kept concealing it.

Mary was no Sherlock Holmes, and she did not feel capable of seeing through Mr. Hamp's lies.

So it is unrealistic to ask Mr. Hamp himself directly.

"That's why I've come," said she. "What's going on now? What were you and Mr. Thornton arguing about?"

"This..." Mr. Hamp hesitated.

It was John Thornton who heard Mary's question and said bluntly: "I plan to hire some Irish workers to work in the factory to replace the local workers. Hamp is afraid that such a decision will cause trouble."

Mary: "..."

The workers' strike is nothing more than trying to force the factory owners to compromise on wage increases.This Mr. John Thornton, too, was a man of swift action, and would have preferred less paid Irish workmen to higher wages.

Although it is indeed a science to raise salary or not to raise salary, it is too ruthless.

Milton is not a big city like London, where did the Irish come from?Mr. Thornton is planning to send workers from Ireland to work in Milton as foreigners.

In that case, where should Milton's workers go to work?

This move will undoubtedly ensure the smooth start of the factory and the normal flow of funds, but the locals living in Milton and relying on work to survive will starve because of losing their jobs.

Even a factory owner as enlightened as Mr. Thornton could not avoid showing such a ruthless side.It's really hard for Mary to imagine what kind of hellish situation those black-hearted factories that don't treat workers as human beings will be like on earth.

Mary's mood suddenly became a little heavy.

"If you don't mind," she said, "can you make a decision in three days, sir? I'll go find information among the workers first."

"you?"

Mr. Thornton looked surprised.

He looked Mary up and down, and resolutely refused: "No, that's too dangerous, miss. Mr. Holmes is not in Milton, you are alone."

Mary: "I wasn't with Mr. Holmes when you and I met in London. He arrived in the slums with you, didn't he?"

This is true.

Since Holmes personally recommended her to track down the clues, Thornton pondered for a moment before deciding to trust her.

"This Miss Margaret has some working friends," said Mr. Thornton. "You may ask her to be your introducer."

"I will." Margaret said.

Mary noticed the tense look of the two of them who were distant and polite.

"Well," she said with a smile, "with Margaret here, I can rest assured."

Margaret was slightly relieved when she left the factory.

"I'm friends with Bessie, the eldest daughter of the Higgins family," she explained, "and I can introduce you to them."

"Do you know anyone from the union?" Mary asked.

"Higgins knows it," Margaret replied.

That's good, she urgently needs to contact someone from the trade union.

Whether to strike or not, and whether to raise wages is not something that Mary can control, but she must at least ensure that the union members know that the price increase of the factory's production materials is artificially manipulated.

"Also, Dr. Watson," Margaret looked at Watson, "Bessie's health is not very good recently. If you don't mind, can you take a look at her? I will pay for the consultation fee."

"Need not."

Without further ado, Dr. Watson waived the visit fee: "Since you are thinking of the workers, how can I collect money. I don't need to pay the visit fee. If you need medicine or surgery, it's not my turn to charge. Just go and get Dr. Brayton then."

Couldn't it be that Dr. Watson helped to track down the clues this time!

Mary suddenly regained her spirits, which meant that she had more chances of persuading him to return to London.

"That's great," Mary said sincerely. "It will be much easier for us to have a gentleman help us."

Margaret sighed: "If only Mr. Thornton could talk so well."

Mary: "..."

I knew she was still brooding.

Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy were more or less a misunderstanding. Margaret saw Mr. Thornton beating someone violently with her own eyes, and the bad impression cannot be reversed in a short while.

Mary also felt that it was wrong to hit someone, but she could understand Mr. Thornton's motives. As for how to make Margaret understand the same, it was also very easy.

She blinked and said suddenly, "Do you smoke, doctor?"

Watson: "Occasionally, why?"

Mary: "Then you must have a match, lend me some."

As she spoke, she conjured up a handful of cotton wool she had just picked up in the factory.

The author has something to say: Mary snapped her fingers: task 1, match Margaret and Thornton, task 2, trick Watson to London, task 3, help Watson get out of the order emmmmm... Go and pick up the little cross and bible that were dropped on the floor)