A World of Expectations_Book 2_The Confrontation

by Gayle Lynn Messick

  “When did my father do this?”

  “Yes ago, Blake. You were a toddler. He had to be taught that tradesmen were not to be trusted.”

  “I see it all now. No wonder he hates tradesmen. He never found out who stole his fortune, did he?”

  “We have kept it safe for you. Join us and we will restore everything. Your father always had a tendency to gamble and when he is caught up in his latest wager he talks. He cannot maintain secrecy. In fact, if he knew he would sell the information to the highest bidder just to place another bet. Blake, we will return his losses to you if you join us. You will be free to do as you please without regard to your father’s wishes. Do not turn your back on this opportunity.”

  “And Lord Harrowby? He is not here.”

  Attwood shrugged. “Your other uncle is too idealistic for our coalition, and is only worried about politics. When he was the Vice-President of the Board of Trade for the government, he was foolish; he would not assist any of us. If you shun our offer to stand with the tradesmen, you will be relegated to your little estate. Not even Harrowby can offer you as much riches as we do. The right people will not accept you. We will see to that.” Lord Attwood glanced towards Kent and Bingley. “They will only bring you misfortune.”

  Lord Cheswick approached his nephew. “That is true for you too, Darcy. I stand with Attwood here, and of course, with Uncle Winthrop. You will lose all connections with those of great status and rank if you do not also disassociate yourself. There will not be a seat at my table at any Cheswick house. Come, join your cousin and myself, and become the leader of the next generation of Peregrines.”

  Winthrop cleared his voice. “You must make a decision now.”

  “Wait! First hear me out before you choose.” Bingley’s Uncle Watt approached Darcy, Rawlings, and Blake. “The men of knowledge, the inventors, and other members of the Lunar Society will support your new alliance. I have their assurances.” Watt smiled at Darcy. “You opened the door for two tradesmen’s sons, and we shall stand with you.” Watt turned to speak to the other men. “We will bring all our new inventions and those of our acquaintances only to this young fledgling group.”

  Kent’s Uncle Daniel announced his backing in the import and export business. Then, in a possible lapse of judgment, he glared at Winthrop, and cried out, “One day you will ask to merge with us.”

  Winthrop rose to his full height. “I would rather rot in debtors’ prison than unite with the likes of you. You will be the one shackled, not me.”

  “I stand with the young men.” A booming voice filled the room.

  Everyone turned to see two men in the doorway.

  “Astor!” Rawlings cried out as he swiftly moved to shake his hand. “Mr. Gardiner, please join us.” He glanced at Darcy. “Astor came over on the ship with me. He was worried for his friend, Mr. Gardiner.” Rawlings tipped his head towards the well-dressed gentleman standing beside Astor.

  Astor acknowledged the handshake, prompting murmurs in the room. “The time has arrived for tearing down aristocratic barriers. I do not mind the separation of wealth from the poor, but this arbitrary partitioning of men based on birth must end. While still prevalent in New York, I assure you it is swiftly dying, and reform must take hold here as well if you wish not to lose every good man to America.”

  Mr. Gardiner nodded agreement with Astor.

  Winthrop remained rigid with his arms crossed. “Astor, we control your permission to trade with China. We will retract your license if you support these men.”

  “Ah. I am far too wealthy, and have great status in my home country. I am an American now, and plan to help her rise above England and France and the rest of the European continent. No one tells me where to stand. Trade with China is not my first priority,” Astor said.

  Winthrop scoffed. “Bah! You were a poor man worth a mere four thousand but with our help, your wealth increased to five hundred thousand pounds. Was it not us, this group you face today, who secured your wealth? Did you not use our ships at little cost, or rather Mr. Kent’s uncle’s ships? Was it not all due to trade with China?”

  “My Uncle Milton works for you?” When Winthrop nodded, Kent scowled. “I will speak to him later.”

  Winthrop glowered at Astor. “Do you not owe us allegiance? Did we not assist you in obtaining licenses with the East India Company?” Winthrop glanced towards Darcy, although he continued to question Astor. “Did you not obtain wealth through the sale of opium?”

  “Not true. I used a Chinaman named Wingchong to build my fortune. During the embargo, I obtained permission from President Jefferson to return him to China. He took along forty thousand dollars worth of my merchandise while he sailed by the port authority in my ship, the Beaver. It was the only ship in America sailing to China. I netted over two hundred thousand in profit. I am too rich to owe anyone now.”

  “Humph. That was only a few years ago, but before that time your early wealth came from smuggling drugs to China.” Winthrop glowered. “Admit the truth to Darcy.”

  “You admit to him how your fortune comes from opium. Did I not do your bidding, and were you not handsomely paid? And have you explained to these young men how your profits also came from the slave trade; be it guns or human beings?”

  “Enough, Astor!” Winthrop shook his finger at the German-American. “You must decide whom you wish to deal with in the future. You cannot deal with both of us.”

  Astor moved to stand alongside Gardiner, Kent, Bingley, and the inventors—Watt, Murdoch and Samuel Gaston. “I have decided to maintain my partnership with this young men’s alliance. Mr. Gardiner will continue as my representative in London, since I understand he is to be a full partner. Mr. Kent seems capable to take the reins if Mr. Darcy accepts your offer.”

  The Falcon scoffed. “Humph! Astor! Choosing a tradesman over us? We do not need you.”

  Blake turned to Darcy, “Another tradesman? How many more will be included as partners? Should I hang a sign? Lord Blake, Marquess and tradesman?”

  Astor thundered in a voice heard in the farthest reaches of the room. “Let me make myself clear—only those whom I approve will be allowed to dock in my pacific trading post. No global strategy will work without Astoria.”

  “Now is the time, boy; decide you must” Lord Cheswick glanced at his nephew and when he spied Darcy glancing at Kent added, “That man does not care for you. He would tear you apart if given a chance and show no mercy when he did. In truth, do you even know what Kent thinks of you? Well, do you? Has he ever shared his opinion of men of our rank and status? He hates our kind and that includes you. Family is all you have in life and we are family. He is not.”

  “Yes.” Winthrop said with authority as he stood next to Lord Cheswick. “Do you want to unite with the man who concealed you as a partner in the contracts, or even with a man willing to deal in opium to bring him wealth in his new country? As leader,” Winthrop swept the room with a wave of his hand and then continued, “You will have a say in how we conduct business in the future. Consider all that is offered to you.”

  Winthrop stepped towards Darcy, fidgeting with his ring. “As leader, you dictate what is traded. Consider all that has been offered to you. Take the ring of the Peregrine.” The Falcon removed the gold signet ring from his finger. “Be the Falcon, Darcy. Be the leader.” He held it towards his nephew.

  Lords Wolverly and Attwood joined Winthrop and Cheswick to form a single line across from the three young men. “You must now decide your future.”

  Rawlings, Blake, and Darcy glanced back and forth between the two groups; family on one side and friends on the other; aristocracy to the left and tradesmen and inventors to the right.

  With his sense of foreboding returning, Kent stood anxiously while he wondered if all five partners would ever again raise their glasses in their alliance toast. This time there was more than an Andalusian stallion at stake.

  A silence fell over the room while the three men decided.

  Chapter
Twenty-one

  Lord Winthrop’s ballroom had grown so silent that everyone could hear three young men’s heavy breathing.

  “Well, I for one know I am not abandoning the alliance, Kent,” Rawlings said, the first man to make up his mind. “I established trade partners for the East Indies and China locations through my Bostonian connections.” He moved alongside Kent and then glared at Blake and Darcy. “Are you planning to walk out on us?” Rawlings cast his gaze upon the older men. “I will never join them.”

  His father approached him, this time Lord Wolverly had replaced his pleading expression with one of anger. “Gerald, what are you doing? You belong here. I demand you cease this foolishness.” Lord Wolverly took his son’s arm. “Do not fall into their clutches. Join us. Make me proud. It is your duty. You have obligations to the house of Wolverly.”

  Rawlings jerked his arm away from his father’s clutch. “Sorry, Father, but I made my decision the night of my Celebration Ball. I detest everything about your life. I have seen a new world, one that cares not one speck about the order of one’s birth. Merit is all that is required.” He remained alongside Kent. “I shall remain with this alliance.” He shook his head, and in a half-whisper, said, “Damn. My own arrogance may have cost the alliance a great deal. I am sorry, Kent. I wish I could retract the words I spoke to Darcy today.”

  “My comments were no easier for him,” Kent said. And Darcy’s cousin unleashed his anger this morning!

  “All of us? Oh my God. What have we done? Well, I am sorry, but it does not change my decision. I am with you, regardless of what Darcy decides.”

  Kent grabbed Rawlings’ shoulder as Darcy cleared his throat to speak. The room stilled.

  Darcy glanced at his friends for a split second before facing Lord Winthrop. “I also have no problem making my decision. It is an easy one for me. I stand with Kent, Bingley, and Rawlings. They are my partners and… I gave my word. I want no part of your group, sir. In fact, the more of the truth I hear, the more disgusted I become.” He was quick to stand next to Kent, who clasped his shoulder.

  While Rawlings uttered a sigh of relief, Kent laughed. “No need to mull this decision over and over? Seriously, my friend, I respect you more today than any other time in my life. The Kent family will support us in every way. I promise you their backing. But you are going against your family, Darcy. Are your positive this is the right choice?”

  “Without any doubt.”

  Winthrop did not seem upset. “So, Darcy, you chose to lead a small band of nobodies instead of taking charge and leading the real power of England. I tried to interest you in this many times. You never listened to me; you treated me as a dithering old fool. Well, you are no longer a member of the Winthrop family. So it shall be. Now I will not just destroy your alliance, I shall decimate it.”

  “We do not fear you,” Darcy called out as the other men alongside him mumbled in agreement.

  The room suddenly stilled again as all heads turned to the last man to decide. Blake studied both groups: the larger, more successful, and powerful one, filled with men of his own ilk, and the smaller group made up of four men that he had come to know and admire, but supported only by men of lower standing. He had lived with his friends during Cambridge, and stayed at Netherfield when no one of any significant standing in the Ton had sought him out. Suddenly at the remembrance of words spoken earlier, a painful stab gripped his heart. He gasped for air before glowering at Lord Winthrop.

  “You stole from the most wonderful woman of my acquaintance. She did not deserve such treatment. She is an innocent, and now her future has been damaged, and I will never forgive this group for that. And for that reason alone, I will never join you.”

  Darcy moved to stand beside his friend to give him encouragement when Blake blocked his approach.

  “No, Darcy. You are not without blood on your hands either.”

  Darcy stopped.

  Blake scoffed. “You have repeatedly questioned my honor. I am an honorable man, but you never truly accepted that about me. You believed I was capable of toying with a lady, in fact, ladies. You believed the worst possible things about me; things which had no basis in truth. You never gave me the benefit of the doubt, even after I revealed my family history. You are guilty of that same willful misunderstanding that you accused another of owning. You chose to think ill of me based only on rumor and gossip.”

  Darcy took a step closer, but Blake stopped him with a raised open hand while he took several deep breaths. “I know I gave you no easy path to the partnership, with my feelings towards trade, but my arguments were heartfelt and fair.” He pointed to Bingley and Kent with the tilt of his head. “They are inferior in rank and status to me: a marquess and heir to a dukedom. It is not that I think a connection with Kent and Bingley would be a degradation, but they are not my peers. I was born to privilege, and I have an obligation to that privilege. Did you expect me to rejoice in the inferiority of these connections?”

  Blake began to draw closer to Darcy. He stood toe to toe with his him. “My confession to you of my concerns which prevented my forming any serious connection with the tradesmen was honest and candid. I am not ashamed how seriously I considered the association before deciding to connect myself with such men. Obtaining the additional share helped me accept my partnership, without it I would have been lowered in status.”

  “Blake—”

  “Say no more. This afternoon at Darcy House, you said quite enough, and you showed how insufficient our friendship was to keep you from pursuing someone that I admitted to loving. I will never forgive you for that.”

  Blake studied Darcy and the other members of his alliance before turning and fixing his glare upon Lord Winthrop and his assembly of gentlemen. With a scowl on his face, he announced, “A plague on both your houses.” He left without looking back.

  ***

  “Good gracious!” Charlotte’s sister uttered, after a few minutes silence as she and Elizabeth sat in the carriage leading them towards London. After a six-week visit, their time at Hunsford had ended. The final week had been the most difficult for Elizabeth. Every word spoken and written down in his letter given to her swirled around in her head. She found no escape from him. She could see him waiting by the tree when she walked or standing by the pianoforte when they attended to Lady Catherine. In every vision, he held a letter towards her. Why did I take it? Why did I read it? My would still possess my old beliefs.

  Maria Lucas prattled on about the visit, this being her first journey away from Meryton. “It seems but a day or two since we first came!—and yet how many things have happened!”

  “A great many indeed.” Elizabeth turned her head to gaze out the window.

  “We have dined nine times at Rosings, besides drinking tea there twice!—How much I shall have to tell!”

  Elizabeth whispered so low no one would hear. “And how much I shall have to conceal.”

  The next four hours afforded Elizabeth the opportunity to consider all that passed. Inside the book she held closed in her lap lay the most astonishing letter she had ever received. Her fingers twitched. She wanted to read the words again, even though she spent the nights memorizing every word written and then comparing his words to every meeting between them.

  He is in London. Elizabeth shook her head demanding that she not care where he is. Settling back into the seat, she opened the book without thinking. His letter fell to the floor, and swiftly she leaned down to retrieve it before Charlotte’s sister noticed the bold penmanship he used to write her name.

  Clutching the letter safely in her chest, she leaned back, and then as inconspicuously as she could, returned the letter to the book.

  His words rang in her ears—I ardently admire and love you. “Phew!”

  “Lizzy?”

  I beg your pardon, Maria. I… I… was remembering Lady Catherine’s remark about the Bennet girls being out at the same time. Perhaps I should return to my book.” When Lizzy opened the book, the verse Blake h
ad recited at dinner flashed on the page.