Still holding her hand we ran quickly through the gardens and across the lawns stopping only when we were a few yards from the river. Hardly audible and with a naughty smile on her face she whispered, more to herself than to me, ‘A boathouse.’
Unlike the last time when the ketch was inside and on staging for the winter, it was now in the water, moored and ready to use. We stepped on board and I tried the cabin door but it was locked.
‘Wait here a moment,’ I said as I ran inside the boathouse to where I had seen Eleanor hide the key.
I opened the door to the cabin, took her through the stateroom to a bed chamber and pulled the drapes shut.
Anne started to remove her dress. ‘One hour should give us plenty of time don’t you think Toby.’
‘Yes my love, but I don’t think we have the time to strip off completely.’
‘No matter,’ she said as she lay on the bed, hitching up her dress.
‘Now that we are officially engaged, I suppose you could plant your seed in me if you wanted to.’
‘I have restrained myself for ten years so I can wait a few more months.’
I missed the touch of her body next to mine, but the sex as usual was spectacular and beautiful, and afterwards we lay on our backs holding hands and talking.
‘Do you think they will know what we have been up to?’
‘I’m certain of it. Your cheeks are rosy, your hair is all out of place and your dress is crumpled.’
‘Well I don’t care if they do know. Not anymore.’
‘What made your father change his mind about me?’ I asked.
‘I should have been happy knowing that you had found your family. I was happy… happy for you, but I was sad that I was not a part of it. My father loves me and it broke his heart seeing me so miserable. One night he heard me crying in my sleep and came to my room, it was then that he said I could marry you. He’s a good man really you know.’
‘I know he is, but he may not be if I miss my grandfather’s meeting. Come, let’s get back to the house.’
We walked slowly through the lawns to the gardens which were now alive with summer flowers which seemed to nod to us as we passed, and the white flowers of the lily-of-the-valley peeped at us from under the hedgerow. There was a slight chill in the air but we could not feel the cold. Our two mothers were sat together on a bench facing the sun, which was now dropping down on the western horizon. They were deep in conversation but stopped talking as we arrived.
‘They are waiting for you in the library Toby,’ said my mother, ‘you stay here with us Anne, we have been talking about your wedding.’
I knocked and walked into my grandfather’s library, which also doubled as his office. He was sat behind his large oak desk, my father by his side and Mr Huxley facing him. A vacant chair next to my future father-in-law waiting for me.
‘William. You specialise in the import of fine wines,’ said Pop. ‘Also brandy from the continent, rum from the Caribbean and vodka from Russia.’
‘You are well informed sir. That is all true,’ said Huxley.
‘Our core business is in mining, mostly in England, but also in Africa. You and I have met many times at the Exchange and I know that you have also expanded your portfolio into other areas of business… as have I.’
‘Also true Sir John.’
‘Tell me William, would you say that the single most expensive item on your balance sheet is transport?’
‘Without a doubt Sir John… do you have a solution?’
The old man smiled. ‘Yes indeed. I believe I do William.’
‘There is a business about to come to the market which could benefit us both financially. A business that I have been given first option to buy. A business that if I – if we were to pay in cash, could be acquired at a considerably reduced price. That business is CH Shipping. A company which was founded eighty years ago in 1584 by Sir Christopher Hatton.’
‘Was he not a courtier of Queen Elizabeth?’
‘Indeed he was, and there are those who say he was more than just a courtier, but that’s just gossip. It is also believed that it was the queen herself who financed CH Shipping.
‘Sir Christopher Hatton died in 1591 without a male heir. The Shipping Company then passed through a series of family members, ending up in the hands of a distant relative of the founder, also as it happened called Christopher… Sir Christopher Hatton, Baron of Kirby. He was a prominent Royalist during the reign of King Charles I, but a man who is now approaching sixty and wanting to retire to his estate in Holenby, Northamptonshire.
‘Some assets have already been sold off but what still remains are three ships and two warehouses, one in Poole and the other here in London. Toby is already well acquainted with the one here in London.’
‘Will I ever forget?’ I said.
‘The ships are all moored in Poole Harbour, but I think potentially the most important asset is a document of registration with the East India Company in Calcutta. I have already been promised that our new company… if and when we begin trading, will retain the registration under the new company name. Do you want me to continue? Or do you think I am completely mad?’
‘Certainly not Sir John. The whole idea excites me. Carry on,’ said Huxley.
My grandfather rang a bell on his desk, and his maid who must have been waiting to be called immediately entered the room.
‘Could you bring some tea my dear?’
‘Yes sir,’ she said as she scurried out of the room, shutting the door behind her.
‘I will continue, but stop me if at any time you have any questions.
‘I believe that two of the ships are three-masted East Indiamen built with oak in 1629, and were, up until the end of last year, trading in the New World across the Atlantic.’
My grandfather had said we could interrupt, and so I did. ‘Was their cargo slaves? Because if it was I want no part of it.’
‘I think I can speak for us all,’ said Huxley, ‘in saying that we all totally agree with you on that Toby.’
‘The old company did trade in slavery,’ said my grandfather, ‘but the new one will most certainly not. We have plenty of other options that are not so cruel or barbaric… but we can discuss all that later. Now where was I? Oh yes, the third ship is a smaller coastal schooner. There is so much work around our own coast for that kind of vessel, I imagine that if the enterprise is a success, we may soon need to increase the fleet in that area… but I think I am getting a bit ahead of myself.’
There was a knock on the door and the maid came in with our tea.
‘I assume you do drink tea William?’
‘Queen Catherine drinks nothing else, and if it is good enough for a queen… it’s good enough for me.’
‘Do you take a sweetener with your tea sir?’ asked the maid.
‘Just a little, thank you.’
The break in proceedings was a welcome opportunity for me. I needed to think, to digest what a massive project this was, and to wonder just what part I might be expected to play in it.
‘How was your tea?’ asked my grandfather of Mr Huxley.
‘Slightly different to my usual brand, but just as refreshing.’
‘Would you agree with me that if tea were as cheap as coffee, everyone would be drinking it?’
‘Undoubtable. But the cost of transporting it over land from the Orient to Constantinople, and from there to here by sea restricts the price… it will never be as cheap as coffee.’
‘Gentlemen,’ announced my grandfather. ‘You have just drank the first ever tea grown in India. It is being grown as a trial experiment, 150 miles North West of Calcutta. So there you have it, Huxley, an alternative cargo to slavery.’
‘I am impressed,’ said Sir William, ‘we could be the first to export tea to the New World. So where do we go from here Sir John?’
My father who had been taking the minutes of the meeting said, ‘Toby must be one of the most qualified in the country to carry out that job.’
‘Then I propose we send him to Poole… perhaps with one of my sons,’ suggested Huxley, ‘and while they are there, we can get on with sorting out the financial side of the deal with the vendor.’
‘Your lawyers should be with you when you meet the vendor,’ said my father, ‘I will arrange it, just tell me where and when.’
‘I know this may sound a little selfish,’ I said, ‘but there is also the little matter of a wedding.’
They all looked at me and smiled.
‘It is my fault you were not married years ago,’ Huxley stated. ‘So I suggest we suspend this meeting for a while, and bring in the ladies. It is they that will decide the arrangements for the wedding. Not us.’
Our mothers both wanted a large wedding, Anne and I just wanted a quick one.
‘If you are sending Toby to Poole,’ said Anne, ‘I want to go with him, we could go straight after the wedding.’
‘Not so quick my dear,’ said her mother, ‘there’s a lot of arrangements to be made and we will need you here to help us. You both have birthdays in May, I suggest we try for that month.’
Turning to my grandfather she asked, ‘How would that fit into your plans Sir John?’
‘I think May would work perfectly well for us, don’t you agree William?’
‘As long as my daughter is happy. Then so am I.’
***
I couldn’t wait to tell the Duke of York that Anne’s father had finally agreed to let me marry his daughter, but as I hurried eagerly towards his rooms in St James’s Palace it was his wife Anne who was waiting for me… jumping up and down like an excited child she called, ‘Congratulations Toby, I bet you thought it would never happen, but now it has. You’re getting married.’ She then took me in her arms and kissed me on both cheeks.
‘How did you find out so quickly?’
‘Anne has asked me to be her maid-of-honour, I am also helping her to choose the wedding dress and the dresses for her bridesmaids.’
‘How many is she having?’
‘It’s not decided yet, but you may get a surprise.’
‘Well that doesn’t matter to me,’ I said. ‘Or even where the wedding takes place, I just wanted Thomas Hudson to be the one who marries us.’
‘That’s already arranged. The wedding is going to be at either St Mary Magdalene Church in Richmond, or the smaller Parish Church of St Peter’s, followed by a banquet in a marquee on the lawn at Brocklehurst House.’
‘Do you also know when?’ I asked.
‘The first week of May, and if you have come here to tell James he’s not here, but he already knows. I told him.’
***
I always imagined that when we were married, we would be living in my own house with Thomas in Barnes. But my parents had different ideas. They had recently taken a house in King Street near the palace of Westminster to be closer to our offices in Fleet Street, and they wanted me to move into Brocklehurst House permanently to be with my grandfather. Hannah had of course gone with them which meant that Anne would be the lady of the house.
I spent most of the next five weeks commuting between Richmond and London. Learning about the business and what role I might be expected to play in it. My father introduced me to important members of his workforce, but I learned more by reading through old account books than I did from them. He took me to the Exchange… a fascinating hive of activity that I had walked past a million times before, but never been inside. My father proudly introduced me to representatives of the East India Company, The Worshipful Companies of Goldsmiths, Stationers, Carpenters and Wool Merchants. I also made a mental note to myself of others that I would like to visit on my own: The Master Mariners, Shipwrights and Gun-makers… as well as Musicians, as I did not want to be the only member of my new extended family who did not play some sort of instrument.
Always after business we called at the Great Coffee House around the corner. This was where traders relaxed after the hustle and bustle of a day on the floor of the Exchange.
While I was learning about the business in London, my grandfather and Huxley were thrashing out the deal with their lawyers at Brocklehurst House. They eventually shook hands and signed the legal document agreeing the transfer of CH Shipping to the new company (as yet unnamed) on condition that the three ships at Poole were seaworthy. I had no idea how much money (if any) had changed hands, but what I was told was that William Huxley, his son Robert and myself would be directors of the new company, and that my father would be the Managing Director.
***
Finally, the day Anne and I had been waiting ten years for had arrived. We could have been married in our own little chapel in Brocklehurst House, but that was out of the question due to its size… even for the smallest of ceremonies.
The local Parish Church of St Peter’s was quaint and friendly, but not large enough to accommodate the numbers invited, so we were married in the larger St Mary Magdalene. The date chosen by Anne’s mother was Saturday 3rd of May… two days after my 26th birthday and seven days before Anne’s.
A small number of well-wishers had gathered outside the church, waiting to see the bride, a few I recognised as being members of our workforce.
I couldn’t help feeling nervous as I waited in the St Magdalene Church with my closest friend Arthur Crossley by my side. His was an extremely happy marriage, his wife Matilda was a charming lady and their two young daughters were delightful, both dressed in identical pink dresses with matching bows in their hair.
I had not been allowed to see Anne’s gown, or the dresses of the bridesmaids. I didn’t even know how many bridesmaids there were, though I did know that my sisters were two of them.
When the church organ began to play the wedding march, I could not stop myself from glancing back.
Anne’s face was covered by a veil but I could see that her long white dress was silk… that it was cut low and square with broad shoulder straps and had a long waistband plaited in white satin that was fixed loose around her waist, the ends almost reaching the floor. To complete her ensemble she wore three strings of white pearls which were hanging loosely above her cleavage.
I counted four bridesmaids. They were all wearing identical long low-cut peach coloured dresses with hoods which were hanging loosely over their shoulders… the waistbands were the same as Anne’s but in gold with a hint of white filigree. They were all wearing identical chokers made up of a single string of peach coloured pearls.
There was also a tiny flower girl… one of the bridesmaids was holding her basket while she scattered rose-petals up the aisle.
I couldn’t help but wonder if when preparing his sermon, Thomas had King Charles in mind, because he began on the sanctity of marriage, and how marriage should be held in honour among all, that the marriage bed should not be blemished by adultery as God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
He then quoted passages from the scriptures on how spiritual forces of God will always overcome forces of evil through prayer.
We sang hymns and then we were married.
The whole tone of his sermon then changed to light-hearted innuendoes about our past, and there was nobody who knew more about me than Thomas.
He talked in detail of our first meeting on Ludgate Hill when I was just a boy of nine years old. Our remarkable escape from Cromwell’s Roundheads, and the numerous attempts on my life.
He then moved on to Anne, who he described as the epitome of loyalty and unending love against adversity, and how in the e
nd it was love that had triumphed. He ended his sermon by saying that in all his years, he had never met a couple more suited to each other than we were.
It was not until they came into the marquee after the service that I realised that one of the bridesmaids was Queen Catherine… her hooded dress clearly chosen to hide her face.
She smiled at me and moved her hood slightly to one side, just to make sure that I would know exactly who she was, then whispering quietly in my ear said: ‘You came to my wedding Toby so I was not going to miss yours.’ She then kissed me on both cheeks.
‘Does Charles know you are here?’ I asked.
‘Of course not. If he had known I was coming he would have insisted on an armed escort. I don’t really think he would have objected, but he may have wanted to come with me, and I certainly did not want that. You know what an exhibitionist he is.’
‘Will you be staying for the banquet?’
‘I think not. I think that I have already been recognised. But please do visit me Toby, you have no excuse not to. Not now that you are married. And bring along your beautiful bride.’
‘I will, I promise.’
I did not see her leave, and was sorry she couldn’t stay longer, but now that I had a wife I thought it would not seem too improper… as a couple, for us to make an occasional social call on the queen.
Anne and I opened the dancing. My mother danced with Mr Huxley and my father with Anne’s mother.
‘Where is Hannah’s fiancé?’ asked Anne.
‘They broke up. I don’t think he was even invited. What made you think of him?’
‘Because she seems to have taken a shine to my brother Robert… look, they are dancing together now, and I have never seen him dance before. Not ever.’
‘They do seem to be enjoying each other’s company don’t they? I forgot to ask you who our little flower girl was.’
‘Princess Mary, the daughter of your old boss James, Duke of York. She has been with her mother Anne all day, I am surprised you didn’t realise.’
‘So we can tell our grandchildren that at our wedding we had a queen, a princess and a duchess.’
Courtier in the Royal House of Stuart Page 40