A Respectable Trade. Philippa Gregory

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СКАЧАТЬ the paper over, dropped red wax on it, and pressed his seal on it.

      Thoughtfully he took up another page.

      Dear Tom,

      Oblige me by Keeping your house Off the market for a Week. I have a Buyer for mine and I do not want him Distracted.

      He scrawled his initial and sprinkled sand over the note, rang for a footman to deliver them both, and went through to the parlour.

      ‘I think you should call on Mrs Cole, my dear,’ he said to his wife. ‘Warehouse or no warehouse, I think she would reward an acquaintance. And certainly, I shall be happy to do business with her husband.’

       Chapter Seven

      ‘We have to rise,’ Josiah said to Sarah, Stephen Waring’s note in his hand. ‘We have to move in the circles where capital is available. The little men are growing wary of risk and the bigger men want only large investments. You are right, the Trade is in a temporary decline. It will boom again – we have seen it come and go – and we have to ride out these doldrums. There are great chances in this city if we can but grasp them. We have to move in the circles of those that know.’

      Sarah was pale with anxiety. ‘We had only three partners for Rose,’ she said. ‘And she will not be home until late next year. Daisy will not be in until this December. We cannot overextend ourselves, Josiah. Mr Waring’s price is far too high for that house. We are carrying too great a risk on the Rose, and too much of our capital is tied up in her. We cannot buy a new house as well.’

      ‘Then we must borrow,’ Josiah said determinedly. ‘Another house might not come vacant for months, even years. You know how sought-after that address is, Sarah. I have been waiting for a house for nearly a year. We have to buy it now, we dare not wait. We have to borrow.’

      Sarah shook her head. She feared debt more than anything in the world. ‘Is there nothing left from her dowry?’ She nodded to the room above the parlour where Frances was lying down, sick with a headache, her curtains drawn against the noise of the streets near her window and the smell from the middens in the backyards.

      ‘No, it was all invested in Daisy.’

      ‘Please God that she comes in safe with them and we see a profit.’

      Josiah bowed his head. ‘Please God,’ he said.

      

      The Vessle Daisy, at St Kitts.

       15th August 1788

      Dear Mr Cole,

      I send this Letter to you by the Bristol ship Adventure which is leaving Port tomorrow, to Announce that I have arrived Safely in St Kitts, Praise God.

      Tomorrow I shall arrange for the Sale of the majority of the Slaves who are generally Good in health and Well in appearance. Prices seem to be Lower than at my Last Visit but you can be Assured I shall do my Best.

      According to your Instruction I have reserved Twenty slaves for your use. Three men, Five women, Four infants, Four girls and Four boys. I will bring them Home as you Instructed and will indeed take Care that they have Blankets as they may be Weakened by Cold.

      I will Seek other Cargo tomorrow but I Fear we may be Disappointed this Late in the Season. Be Assured however That I will do my best as Per your Instructions.

      With God’s Will I shall Complete my business here within the Month and set sail for Bristol as Soon as may be Possible. I hope to convey my respects to you in person in the month of December 1788.

      Your obdt servant,

      Capt. William Lisle.

      Josiah placed the letter before Sarah. She threw her needlework to one side and snatched it up.

      ‘Where did you have this?’

      ‘From the master of the Adventurer. He had a good crossing. The letter is dated August, it has taken him only six weeks to get home. He does not speak well of the trade in St Kitts.’

      ‘What does it say about the slaves?’ Sarah scanned the letter quickly and then looked up. ‘Twenty,’ she said. ‘And as I ordered, children, and he has even brought infants.’

      ‘Infants?’ Frances was at the table, making entries into the household ledger. A pile of bills was under a paperweight, and she was ticking them off as she entered the petty sums.

      ‘If I could have bought babes in arms I would have done,’ Sarah declared. ‘They are bound to learn the quickest, and you have the more work from them.’

      ‘Oh,’ Frances said. ‘When will they arrive?’

      ‘January at the latest,’ Josiah replied. ‘It takes more than a month to load the ship in the West Indies, and then he will have to come home through the autumn storms. Please God they will make safe landfall by Christmas.’

      ‘We will be in the new house by then,’ Frances said. The end of the summer had brought an end to the dreadful smell of the dock and the continual fear of cholera and typhoid in the old town; but autumn wind and rain meant that Frances was confined even more to the little parlour. She suffered painful claustrophobia from the small rooms and low ceilings of the little house. It would never be anything more than a warehouse with rooms tacked on the side; the fireplaces were inadequate and the constant smoke made Frances cough and cough. The rainy weather made driving a rare pleasure, and she could not walk out among the dockside workers. She spent every day in the cramped parlour with Sarah, unless she chose to sit alone in her unheated bedroom. Nobody called at the little house on the quayside. No-one invited them to any parties. Nothing would breach the Coles’ loneliness and isolation until they moved into Queens Square. ‘Surely we should be in the new house by then!’

      Josiah glanced at her. ‘I am sorry for this delay,’ he said. ‘It is all the fault of Mr Waring. I have paid the deposit we agreed but his builder is taking longer than he promised and Mr Waring’s new house is not yet ready. He has been delayed by the weather. We are all waiting on each other.’

      ‘We would have been hard pressed to pay the whole in any case,’ Sarah pointed out. ‘If we do not move until after Daisy comes in, we will have her profits to go towards the final payment.’

      ‘Another two or three months!’ Frances exclaimed involuntarily.

      Sarah looked at her sharply. ‘This house was a palace to my mother. I have always been proud to live here.’

      Frances bit her lip. In the four months of her marriage she had learned that Sarah was defensive about their home. ‘I did not mean to be impolite,’ she said carefully. ‘But I should like to be able to walk out of doors, and the noise from the quay is very disturbing. We will have no society until we move.’ She glanced at Josiah. ‘It was part of the agreement,’ she reminded them. ‘When Josiah first wrote to me, he promised that we would live in Queens Square.’

      ‘She is right,’ Josiah said fairly. ‘And Queens Square is our side of the bargain. We will move as soon as we can and, if need be, I can find the money, with or СКАЧАТЬ