Halfway through the third course, she remembered Clive Brunnel and nearly choked on the piece of braised beef she was chewing. While coughing, having both gentlemen stand, letting Maggie pat her on the back, and then taking a drink of wine to wash it down—Ada felt her panic rise.
She had financially ruined the man she loved. How would he ever forgive her?
Chapter Twenty-Six
First thing the next day, feeling in a panic, Ada directed her driver to the London Stock Exchange at Capel Court. What could she do if the trade had already been done as she feared it had? Nothing. She knew how the exchange worked, and one didn’t simply ask for one’s shares back or un-purchase what one had bought.
Tallow! His entire account emptied to purchase tallow shares. Dear God!
She’d barely been able to finish eating the night before, taking only a few bites of whatever else was put before her in order not to insult her best friend.
Repeatedly, she had to reassure Michael all between them was well. But her heart ached with the damage she had caused. And she was relieved they had separate carriages when the evening was over. Ada could not imagine sitting in the close confines of his brougham and not confessing her deviousness.
Instead, she’d collected Harry and Nanny Finn for the trip home, hugged Maggie, nodded to John, and let Michael walk them to their carriage.
After ruffling Harry’s hair and lifting him in, Michael had assisted Nanny Finn, and then turned to Ada. He’d cocked his head, clearly about to ask her again what was the matter?
“I’m awfully glad you convinced John to ask Maggie to bring me here,” she’d admitted.
“Yet something is amiss,” he’d guessed.
Her heart sank. He would never look at her the same way after he learned she’d ruined him and his family. Poor Camille!
Unable to smile, she’d merely shook her head.
“I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” she had offered. For by then, she would know the extent of the damage.
With that, she let him help her into the carriage, his expression wary.
Now, traversing Fleet Street and passing by St. Paul’s, so close to Queen’s Head Passage and Dolly’s Chop House, she recalled with growing misery their wonderful meal weeks earlier. When he trusted her. The very night he’d asked her to marry him.
Descending from her carriage, she ran to the entrance on Bartholomew Lane, up the five steps, and inside where she froze.
In the entrance, there were only a few men, but they instantly stopped and stared at her in shocked silence.
The first gentleman to approach her wore a stern expression upon his face.
“Are you lost? You mustn’t come in here, you know?”
“No, sir, I’m not lost.” Ada hated to utter the next words, as they would make her seem like a child, but she had no choice. “I’m looking for my father, Baron Ellis. He’s a member, sir. It’s rather urgent.”
His countenance relaxed, finding out she was not a renegade female breaching the sanctity of the all-male trading hall. Just a helpless woman in need of her patriarch.
“I’ll consult the ledger and see if he logged in. He’s a broker, yes, not a jobber?”
“Yes, a broker.”
And he spun on his heel and disappeared through a doorway.
She ventured in farther, past the lobby, to the double doors, open wide, through which she could see activity rivaling an ant nest or a beehive. The place fairly hummed. Drinking in the sights, sounds, and smells—all exactly as her father had described, she recited the line from Cibber’s play The Refusal: “Every shilling, sir; all out of stocks, puts, bulls, shams, bears, and bubbles.”
And every shilling could be lost, too.
“There you are,” said the man who’d gone to look up her father’s name in his admittance book.
Turning to him, hearing the prices of stocks shouted out, followed by names, and “buy, buy, buy,” as well as “sell, sell, sell,” any pleasure she might have had at being at the exchange was utterly wrecked by the knowledge of the terrible thing she had done.
“Baron Ellis is here,” the man told her, “in the west quadrant. You see, miss, the room is divided up—”
“Yes, I know. Shall I go find him, or will you?”
“You? Go find him?” He laughed. “Not unless you want to create a riot! Your ears would bleed with the language on the floor, miss, and your head would spin with numbers and information the likes of which you could never understand. Go on the floor? You?” And he laughed heartily again.
What an ass! “Will you go find him then, sir? At once?”
He straightened up. “Yes, of course. Stay here,” and his tone had become deadly serious again.
Tapping her foot with impatience while at the same time unable to curtail all her interest in her surroundings, Ada listened to the continental news being read out in between stock prices. Fascinating!
“Ada Kate,” her father’s voice grabbed her attention, as he hurried over. “What are you doing here? Is everything all right with Harry?”
“Yes, Papa. I’m here on a trading matter. I can’t explain it all now, but would you please check on a stock purchase from Mr. Clive Brunnel to the jobber Andrew Barnes? I hope I’m not too late to stop it, but if it could be stopped, I would most appreciate it.”
Her father gaped a moment like a fish on land.
“How do you know Mr. Barnes?” Then his eyes widened. “Are you trading without me?”
To her father, that would be a sin of betrayal, worse than any other.
“No, of course not. If I needed to buy or sell, I would do so directly through you, Papa. I know Andrew Barnes because you’ve mentioned him as being an upstanding jobber.” She looked him squarely in the eyes. “Please, Papa, will you be able to determine if a purchase was made for Mr. Brunnel?”
With the massive sigh of a put-upon parent, James Ellis nodded and walked back into the fray of the trading floor.
She wondered how she could bear the suspense. Was Alder entirely destitute, his family ruined?
In a few minutes, her father returned.
“Barnes made the transaction two days ago, late, right before the markets closed.”
Dear God! “I am too late, then,” she muttered, feeling abject misery. “He is ruined.”
Feeling as if she could weep right there and then, Ada wanted to sink to the floor with the weight of guilt upon her shoulders. Revenge was not sweet at all.
“Brunnel, ruined?” her father exclaimed. “Don’t be absurd. Sharp as a needle apparently. I just saw his entire transaction history. Always comes in with the right choice. Reminds me of…,” he trailed off and narrowed his eyes at her. “You are the one who is sharp as a needle, aren’t you, dear daughter?”
She felt her cheeks grow warm.
“You’ve been giving him advice and tips, haven’t you?”
She nodded.
Shaking his head, he reminded her, “You know the exchange would frown upon it if they knew, and it would be even worse if you were using him as a proxy for yourself.”
Ada shrugged. “Then they should change their rules. Remember what happened with that man they called ‘The Lady Broker’?”
“Yes!” her father, said. “Exactly so. And stocks were bought and money lost because of that unconscionable woman, trading and not making good on her purchases.”
He was entirely missing the point.
“It was her husband who wouldn’t pay up on her bad decisions, and still the broker made her name public. If women were given equal access to the market, if it were all out in the open, that wouldn’t have happened. Women should be allowed to buy and trade openly, then they could be held responsible. Remember President Adams’ wife, Papa. You told me it was she who invested in government bonds when her husband wanted to invest in land. She made a fortune for them.”
She threw up her hands in dismay. “Only think how women are robbed by the huge commissions charged us. If you weren’t my beloved father, why, I coul
d hardly afford to be in the market at all.”
“Hmm, beloved, am I?” He smiled, having regained his good humor. “You are a rarity, but I suppose if other women had an interest in the market and read the reports as you do, they could do as well as some of the traders here.”
She reached up and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you, Papa.”
“Tell me why you were worried about Mr. Brunnel’s stocks.”
Oh dear. The terrible, ruinous stock purchase! How could she have become distracted with her righteousness for women when she had entirely ruined the Alders?
“He has been trading for a friend of mine.”
At his silence, she knew she would have to say more.
“Do you remember Lord Alder? You and Mummy met him at my house.”
Her father’s countenance became instantly dour.
“In fact, I do. Your mother was curious following our brief encounter with the man and asked about him afterward. She found out exactly who Alder is.”
He leaned close and whispered in her ear, “He is called Lord Vile by many, and for good reason.”
Then Baron Ellis straightened. “I don’t think you should continue a friendship with him.”
Luckily, her glove covered her engagement ring. What type of person was she, manipulating a man’s trading to ruin him and hiding her intent to marry from her loving parents? She didn’t even recognize herself. All in the name of revenge toward a man who’d given her a wonderful son and to whom she’d now fallen utterly in love.
Sighing, Ada knew she must placate her father if she were going to ask for his help.
“I understand your concern, Papa, and I’ll be happy to speak with you and Mummy about all that later. However, right now, I must ask you to sell Mr. Brunnel’s last purchase immediately. You can do it. You’re more advanced than a jobber.”
He shook his head. “Even if I were to take the customer away from Mr. Barnes, which would be highly irregular, I can only sell shares at Brunnel’s request. You know that.”
She did know that, but in her hurry, she’d pushed it aside, hoping only to stop the trade. She should have written something up and forged Brunnel’s signature. After all, she’d gone this far into depravity, she might as well be a counterfeiter as well.
“Ada, why did you want to stop Brunnel’s stock purchase?”
She began to pace in front of him. Even at that moment, the money was draining from Michael’s account.
“It wasn’t a sound investment. He will lose everything he’s gained and more.”
“Absurd!” her father declared.
Sighing, she wondered how her father could be so wrongheaded.
“Papa, tallow is not going up at present. Only think of the new technology and gas lamps. In fact, I read a week ago, there was a glut, and the price of stock is plummeting as we speak. We mustn’t wait a second longer.”
“Dear daughter, Brunnel’s last purchase request was for cocoa bean stocks, and I, for one, think it a good one.”
She frowned. “Cocoa beans? Are you certain it wasn’t for tallow?”
Her father drew himself up. “I assure you it was cocoa beans.”
She’d discussed cocoa beans with Michael before they’d quarreled.
He’d listened to her about cocoa beans? Michael had told Brunnel to buy cocoa bean shares, not tallow. The heaviness of heart she’d felt since the night before lifted. She hadn’t ruined the Alder earldom. Thank God!
Basking in a bubble of relief, she kissed her father’s cheek again.
“You had best be off before a riot ensues,” he said and winked at her.
He’d said it as a jest, but they both knew it wasn’t far from the truth. At that moment, however, feeling light as a feather, she didn’t care.
“Wonderful! I shall see you and Mummy soon.”
He nodded. “And we’ll talk about this inappropriate friendship…”
Before he could say more, she was hurrying to the exit, giving him a wave before disappearing outside. When he found out the friendship was an engagement, she would have some explaining to do, and Michael would have to win her family over as he had the Cambreys.
As soon as she arrived home, she wrote to Mr. Brunnel of her wish to terminate their arrangement immediately.
The next morning, a note arrived requesting a meeting.
“We shall meet as usual,” Mr. Brunnel wrote. “Or there will be consequences.”
She read and reread his missive. What on earth could he mean?
Sitting opposite him in her library the next day, eleven o’clock sharp, she soon found out.
“I was surprised by your request to end our association,” he began.
“Not a request,” Ada insisted. “I have decided to cease our arrangement.”
“I offer my sincere apologies regarding the last transaction, but Lord Alder insisted on cocoa bean stocks. If I’d not gone along with it, then he could have pointed his finger at me if he lost money. I can only buy or sell that which he has agreed to, or I would be held culpable, if you see.”
“I do see, but it is neither here nor there. I am no longer interested in giving tips to Lord Alder.”
Brunnel continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “The good news is Lord Alder did well, and cocoa beans are a sound market.” Then he looked at her sharply. “Moreover, you might wish to rethink tallow, Mrs. St. Ange, as our jobber definitely did not recommend it, and said he didn’t know anyone who did. Apart from that one mistaken choice, however, your analysis of the market has been spot on. Therefore, I have no wish to terminate our arrangement.”
Perhaps he didn’t understand her determination. “I am not interested in what you wish. I shall no longer meet with you. I am discharging you from your services.”
“That won’t work for me,” Mr. Brunnel said, his tone neutral and smooth, belying his contrary words. “After your successful first tip to Lord Alder, I began investing for myself, too. You’ve been making me a wealthy man, and I don’t intend for it to stop.”
“Then all my tips to you shall be like the tallow—a mistaken choice, as you put it.”
He gave her a hard stare.
“That will also ruin Lord Alder,” he pointed out.
She returned his gaze while considering his words. Clive Brunnel didn’t know her original intention had been to do exactly that. So, what were her options? She could continue to make Alder—and Brunnel—wealthy men. However, she didn’t like being forced to do it, not one bit.
“Or perhaps I will ruin Alder anyway,” Brunnel threatened, “unless you continue with our arrangement.”
She took a quick breath, then she smiled. “How do you know I don’t want him ruined? Perhaps that was my plan all along.”
His eyes widened, then he frowned in disbelief.
“What?” she asked. “You don’t think a woman capable of hatching a plan so devious?”
“Your stock choices have all been perfect up until now,” he mused.
“Exactly. Do you still think the tallow was a mistake?”
He looked thoughtful. “I see.”
“If I wish to stop, Mr. Brunnel, there is really nothing you can do about it. You will never know which stock is destined to rise or fall. You will be at my mercy.”
He appeared to be thinking of it from all sides. Then he said, “I might report you to the exchange. I don’t believe they look kindly on someone using the market in such a manner. What’s more, I know Baron Ellis is your father and a broker.”
Though her heartbeat sped up, she shrugged nonchalantly. Mr. Brunnel couldn’t really hurt her, but he could do severe damage to her father’s impeccable reputation as a broker. Certainly, everyone would believe Baron Ellis was behind any stock trading doings, nefarious or otherwise, related to his daughter. No one would believe she was the source of good trade advice.
He could have his membership terminated and be thrown out of the exchange.
“Very well,” she told him. “We’ll leave every
thing as it is, for now.”
“Yes, we will,” Mr. Brunnel shot back.
Folding her hands, she added, “Except since you’re making money in the market, I’ll no longer pay you a penny for your unwanted services.”
He stared at her a moment, then nodded and rose to his feet.
“Good day, missus.”
She stayed where she was, already planning how to remove herself from this unholy arrangement.
“Good day, indeed,” she murmured, as he left.
Still reeling from the near disaster of the tallow, she expected the two notes that arrived. She welcomed the one from Michael, who was still concerned about her mood at the Cambreys’ dinner and asking to see her.
The other, a brief note from her father, she dreaded. Her parents would be over to speak with her the following day.
Apparently, even a pretend widow with independence and a home of her own had to answer to her parents once in a while.
Her mother’s opinion was known immediately, as she grabbed Ada’s hands, looked at her with loving eyes, and proclaimed, “Do not be seen with that vile man!”
“It is not as simple as that,” Ada began.
Her father grimaced. “Yes, daughter, it is. Do not go riding with Alder, nor out to the theatre, and, most assuredly, do not have him here at your home.”
Taking a deep breath, she held out her left hand, upon which Michael had replaced the ring when she’d seen him again the evening before. Everything had been back to normal, and she was once again happy. Not blissfully so, for there were secrets between them, but happy nonetheless.
Her parents were rendered momentarily silent, staring at the amethyst and diamond creation.
“I don’t understand,” her father began.
“You are engaged?” Her mother’s voice was cautious and questioning. “But surely not to Lord Vile!”
“Actually, yes,” Ada confirmed.
With a long, dramatic groan, her father sat down heavily on the sofa and put his head in his hands.
Her mother blanched, then rallied. “You are no fool, Ada Kate, so I know you wouldn’t do anything to put yourself or Harry at risk.”
“Of course not, Mummy.” Though hadn’t Ada suspected she’d done exactly that when she’d seen Michael on the terrace? How could she expect her parents not to be wary when she’d immediately doubted her fiancé’s faithfulness at the first opportunity?
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