The image began to distort, to blur, and to fade away.
Klein broke free from that dreamlike experience, and his vision gradually adapted to the darkness of the bedroom.
He knew that his brother Benson, earning 1 pound and 10 shillings a week, which was 30 shillings at normal civilian rates, was working extremely hard to support both himself and Melissa.
He thought that the average worker's weekly salary could reach 20 shillings.
He had heard Melissa mention that in the lower street of Iron Cross Street, some families had as many as five, seven, or even ten people living in the same room.
He learned from Benson that in the previous few months, due to the situation on the South Continent, the kingdom had experienced economic downturn.
He had learned that board-and-board female servants could earn 3 shillings and 6 pence to 6 shillings per week.
Klein reached out, pinched his brow, and remained silent for a long time, until Sir Devereux, lying on the bed, spoke:
"Officer, don't you say anything? The psychologist I hired would chat with me in this kind of environment at this time and raise questions."
"However, I truly felt a sense of peace. I was almost falling asleep just now, but I didn't hear any moans or crying."
"How did you do it?"
Klein leaned against the back of the rocking chair, not answering but asking instead, his voice calm:
"Sir, do you know about lead poisoning? Do you know the dangers of lead?" "..." Lieing on the bed, Deville was silent for a few seconds before saying, "I didn't know before, but now I do. What you mean is that my psychological problems, or my mental illness, is because of the sense of guilt, the guilt towards those lead workers and glaze workers?"
Before Klein could reply, he said to himself as if he always seized the initiative in negotiations:
"Yes, I did feel guilty before, but I have already compensated them. In my lead white factory and porcelain factory, each worker can receive a salary much higher than in similar places. In Beckland, the weekly salary of lead workers and glaze workers is no more than 8 sols, while I pay them 10 sols or more."
"Huh, many people accused me of making them lose their morality and difficulty in recruiting workers. But if the Corn Law had been abolished, many farmers would have gone bankrupt and entered the city, and they would have followed me to increase their salaries."
"And I also told the factory managers that workers who felt headache and had blurred vision should leave the places where they could come into contact with lead. If they were seriously ill, they could apply for assistance from my charity fund."
"I think I have done enough."
Klein's tone remained completely unchanged as he spoke:
"Sir, sometimes you can never imagine how important a salary is to a poor person. Even if they lose their job for just one or two weeks, their families will suffer irreversible and extremely tragic damage."
He paused and then asked:
"I'm curious, why did such a caring person like you not install equipment to prevent dust and lead poisoning in the factory?"
Deville looked at the ceiling and gave a bitter smile:
"That would make my costs unacceptably high, completely unable to compete with other lead factories and porcelain factories. I no longer care about the profits in this regard, even willing to subsidize some money, but what's the point? It can only help a very small number of workers and cannot become an industry standard to drive them to change."
"This will turn into me spending money purely to keep people alive. I heard that some factories, in order to save costs, are still secretly using slaves."
Klein crossed his hands and remained silent for a while before saying:
"Sir, your psychological problems stem from the accumulation of these feelings of guilt. Although you think they have faded and disappeared, they actually haven't. This wouldn't have had any obvious impact, but something triggered you, igniting all these problems at once, all of them at once."
"Something triggered me? I have no idea about such things." Deville said doubtfully and affirmatively.
Klein let his body sway gently with the rocking chair and explained calmly:
"You actually fell asleep for a few minutes and told me something."
"Hypnotic therapy?" Deville habitually made a guess and preconceived the conclusion.
Klein didn't give a direct reply but said:
"You saw a female worker die on the way to work in a carriage. She died of lead poisoning and was glazing your porcelain before that."
"..." Deville rubbed his temples on both sides and murmured uncertainly, "There seems to be such a thing... But I don't remember it very clearly..."
The long-term insomnia had left him in a poor mental state. Vaguely, it seemed that he really had seen a similar scene.
He thought for a moment and stopped trying to overwork his pitiful brain. Instead, he asked:
"What's the name of that female worker?"
"Well, I mean, what should I do to treat my psychological problems?"
Klein replied in a low and concise voice:
"Two things."
"First, the female worker who died on the roadside was named Haley Walker. This is what you told me. She was the most direct stimulus. So, you need to find her parents and offer them more compensation."
"Second, widely publicize the dangers of lead in newspapers and magazines. Let your charity fund help more of the injured workers. If you can become a member of the House of Lords, then push for legislation in this area."
Deville slowly sat up and smiled self-deprecatingly:
"Other things, I will do them, but legislation, oh, I think there's no way it can happen. Because there are foreign competitors. Legislation will only cause these industries in the kingdom to fall into an overall crisis, one after another going bankrupt, and a large number of workers will lose their jobs. The poor relief organization can't save so many people."
He turned over slowly in bed, straightened his collar, and looked at Klein:
"Haley Walker, right? I'll immediately have Karen go to the porcelain factory to get her documents, find her parents, officer, please wait with me and assess my mental state at all times."
"OK." Klein slowly stood up and patted the black-and-white checkered police uniform. ......
At 11 a.m., in the living room on the first floor of the Deville family's house.
Klein, who had remained silent until then, sat on a single sofa, watching the man and woman being led in by the housekeeper, Karen.
These two guests had rough skin and were already showing wrinkles on their faces. The man's back was slightly hunched, and the woman had a black mole on her eyelid.
They were basically in line with what Klein had seen through Haley Rae, but they were older and more haggard. They were so thin that one could almost see their bones, and they were dressed in old and tattered clothes. It was said that they couldn't even stay in the Lower Street of Iron Cross Lane anymore.
Ugh...
In Klein's imagination, the cold wind began to swirl.
He pinched the bridge of his nose and turned his gaze towards Sir Deville, seeing a pale, transparent, and distorted figure floating behind him at some point.
"Good morning, good morning, respected, respected sir," Haley Rae's parents said with extreme formality as they bowed.
Sir Deville rubbed his forehead and asked,
"Are you the parents of Haley Rae? She doesn't have a brother and a two-year-old sister, does she?"
Haley Rae's mother replied fearfully, "She... Her brother broke his leg at the dock a while ago. He broke his leg. We sent him to take care of his sister at home."
Sir Deville was silent for a few seconds and sighed,
"Regarding Haley Rae's misfortune, I express my deep sympathy."
Upon hearing this, Haley Rae's father and mother immediately had red eyes, each speaking in a jumbled and disjointed manner:
"Thank you, thank you for your kindness."
"The police told us, told us that Haley Rae died from lead poisoning. It must be this word, oh, my poor child. She was only seventeen years old. She was always quiet and stubborn."
"You sent someone to visit her and covered the cost of her burial. She was buried in Raphael Cemetery."
Sir Deville glanced at Klein, changed his sitting position, leaned forward, and spoke with a heavy tone:
"This was actually our negligence. I need to apologize."
"I've considered it. I must compensate you and Haley Rae. Her weekly salary was 10 solles, right? That's 520 solles a year, um, 26 pounds. Let's assume she can still work for at least 10 years."
"Karen, give 300 pounds to Haley Rae's parents."
"3,300 pounds?" Haley Rae's father and mother were stunned.
Even at their most prosperous time, their savings didn't exceed 1 pound!
Not only them, but the bodyguards and servants in the living room were all in a state of shock and envy. Even the police chief, Gate, couldn't help but let his breathing become heavier - his weekly salary was only two pounds, and his subordinate, who was only a "V" rank, was only 1 pound.
In an indescribable silence, Karen, the housekeeper, came out of the study, holding a bulging bag.
He opened the bag, revealing a stack of bills inside, 1 pound each, 5 pounds each, but more were 1 solle and 5 solles.
It was obvious that Sir Deville had asked someone to exchange "change" from the bank in advance.
"This is the gentleman's wish," with the master's approval, Karen handed the bag to Haley Rae's parents.
Haley Rae's father and mother took it, rubbed their eyes, and looked at it again and again.
"No, this, this is too generous. We shouldn't accept it." They tightly held the bag.
Sir Deville said solemnly,
"This is what Haley Rae should receive."
"You, you are truly a noble and kind gentleman!" Haley Rae's parents bowed repeatedly with excitement.
Their faces showed a smile, an uncontrollable smile.
They praised Sir Deville over and over again, repeating the few adjectives they had, and repeatedly expressed that Haley Rae would surely be grateful to you in heaven.
"Karen, send them back, um, to the bank first," Sir Deville sighed and ordered the housekeeper.
Haley's father and mother tightly held the bag and without hesitation, they hurriedly walked towards the door.
Klein saw that the pale, transparent figure behind Sir Deville was trying to reach out to them and follow them away, but they smiled so brightly that they didn't turn back.
That figure became increasingly faint and soon disappeared completely.
In Klein's perception, the coldness of the living room returned to normal.
He watched from beginning to end in silence and didn't express any opinion.
"Officer, I feel much better now. Can you tell me now why my butler, servants and bodyguards can also hear crying and moaning? This shouldn't just be a psychological problem exclusive to me, right?" Sir Deville asked curiously.
The inspector, Tolle, who knew the situation, became nervous for a moment.
Klein replied calmly without any expression:
"In psychology, we call this phenomenon group hysteria."