Chapter 18: Churchill

The next day,

Friday.

The salon on Fleet Street indeed dominated the front pages of major newspapers.

Each newspaper had a different focus,

The Times gave a preview of "The Hound of the Baskervilles", heralding the return of Sherlock Holmes,

this major news and Doyle's interview almost occupied ninety percent of the article, while Lu, the mysterious author of "And Then There Were None", was squeezed into a very marginal corner;

In contrast, The Manchester Guardian praised Lu to the skies, almost as if he were unparalleled, while Doyle became more of a side note.

These two newspapers often clashed, but mostly in terms of political stance,

This time, however, it involved the literary field, which was quite rare and inevitably aroused the curiosity of Londoners,

Even those gentlemen from Westminster Palace and Whitehall would sometimes have their coachmen wait while they bought a newspaper with a political stance opposite to their party's, just for the fun of it.

Among these politicians, there was one person who was quite special, a Conservative Party MP who managed to cover The Times, The Daily Telegraph, and The Manchester Guardian, regardless of their leanings.

The paperboy knocked on the door of the office,

"Mr. Churchill, your newspapers are here."

Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill,

That was a very long name.

But his professional history and resume were even longer,

Politician, writer, historian, orator, journalist, and, the 61st and 63rd Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Of course, Churchill was still just a humble MP at the moment, although he had already secured a place in the Westminster Palace, he was still in the back row.

He opened a crack in the door for the paperboy,

"Hand them over."

His voice was lower than usual, as if hiding something.

The paperboy subconsciously glanced inside the room and indeed found another gentleman sitting there, so he quickly averted his gaze,

"Here are your newspapers, sir."

Three newspapers were passed through the crack in the door.

Churchill waved his hand,

"You may go."

The paperboy hurriedly left.

Churchill closed the door and returned to his desk, laying out the three newspapers in a row, multitasking, squinting as he read the front pages.

The man opposite him said, "Winston, every time I see you read the papers like this, I find it quite intriguing."

This man was John Wardhouse, the 1st Earl of Kimberley,

At the same time, he was also a bigwig in the Liberal Party.

Churchill didn't even lift his head,

"Respected Lord, are you still here? I thought you had left~ If you have nothing to do, you should leave quickly, I'm afraid my colleagues might misunderstand, and then I won't be able to explain myself~"

Misunderstand? Ha!

Churchill was already an anomaly in the Conservative Party.

Wardhouse sarcastically remarked, "You're quite good at making excuses. Look at your office now, so tiny, and you've been squeezed out, haven't you?"

As he spoke, he glanced around, making a "tsk tsk tsk" sound with his mouth.

Indeed, the office was very shabby, after placing a desk, the distance from the desk to the door was only a little over three meters, the only two decorations were a potted plant that looked like it was on the verge of withering and another potted plant that had already died.

Churchill didn't care,

"It doesn't matter, anyway, MPs here are like ants, how many of them don't even have their own territory?"

On the surface, he was talking about the office, because the vast majority of MPs in Westminster Palace didn't have a fixed office space,

But in reality, this was undoubtedly a double entendre.

Wardhouse smiled,

"Do you have ambitions to expand your territory?"

This was also a double entendre.

Churchill didn't want to answer that question directly, so he got up to make himself a cup of tea,

At this point, he didn't yet resemble the overweight figure in the photos from later years, because he had just returned from the Anglo-Boer War not long ago, he had a well-proportioned figure, a straight posture, and coupled with the confidence of youth, he looked quite handsome.

Wardhouse didn't expect Churchill to answer directly either,

he diverted the topic, "Have you finished reading? What do you think?"

As he spoke, he nodded towards the newspapers.

Churchill said, "Hmm, quite interesting, especially The Daily Telegraph's attitude, surprisingly impartial. No, that's not quite right, The Daily Telegraph has somewhat overestimated Dr. Doyle by comparing him with Lu."

Wardhouse couldn't help but be surprised,

"Overestimated Dr. Doyle? You mean the former?"

He even thought he had misheard.

Churchill explained, "Don't get me wrong, I'm talking about the current Dr. Doyle, he's unlikely to be innovative anymore. On the contrary, "And Then There Were None" is revolutionary."

Wardhouse nodded,

He also felt the same way about this.

He asked, "So you think, Sherlock Holmes's return this time will be met with resistance?"

Churchill laughed heartily,

"How could that be? It's Sherlock Holmes! Everyone in Britain loves Sherlock Holmes!"

Wardhouse was speechless for a moment.

Churchill took a sip of tea with a smile, saying, "Actually, what really interests me is a character in "And Then There Were None", Philip Lombard."

Wardhouse asked, "The soldier?"

Churchill nodded,

"Yes. I always feel that the description of him in the book is strange, not like someone who has fought in the Anglo-Boer War, but more like someone who has served in places like East Africa or India. If I'm right, Lu probably changed his background."

Wardhouse squinted his eyes,

Churchill was a hero returned from the Anglo-Boer War, so his judgment should be correct,

As for Lu changing the background of the characters in the book, just think about where "And Then There Were None" was serialized in the newspapers.

But the problem is...

Would there be a liberal among the Chinese, who still keep their pigtails and are still steeped in feudalism?

This conclusion was absurd no matter how he thought about it.

Churchill lightly touched his nose, saying, "I deliberately inquired about some specific plots in the salon, this Lu, may not be as simple as we imagine."

Wardhouse thought he was worrying needlessly.

Churchill didn't bother to argue, saying, "I'll keep my opinion. Actually, I'm quite interested in Lu himself. If I have the chance, perhaps I should meet him in person."