‘As successful as Edwards Brothers will be?’
‘Not that successful,’ Glyn joked. ‘But we were talking about Richard. You trained him, Edward, you know what he’s capable of.’
‘I always knew he had promise. Given the right education he could have made a great engineer.’
‘He is a great engineer,’ Glyn stated emphatically.
‘So who owns Edwards Brothers Collieries now?’
‘At the moment, Sarah and I do, but when I received your letter telling me that you were on your way here, I raised the possibly of quartering the company shares with Sarah. As she and Peter put all their savings into the venture I suggested she take one quarter, me another, and you the third on condition you work off the amount it would have cost you to buy the shares. When we discussed it again before dinner, she was in full agreement.’
‘I know what Peter invested and I can afford to pay the same upfront from my savings.’
‘That’s good to know. We could do with another two steam engines for the pits.’
‘That’s three-quarters of the shares accounted for. What about the last quarter?’ Edward questioned.
‘Give ten per cent to Richard and five to Alf, as I suggested earlier, and leave the final ten per cent in our hands for the present, but eventually distribute it among the senior managers. We’ll need at least one for each colliery. Pay them well, give them bonuses, and they’ll do all they can for the company.’
‘And the Russian, Alexei?’
‘As he and Richard are setting up their own coal mining venture I can’t see him working for us in the future. We did discuss the possibility of merging the colliery companies a few months back but it’s early days and we have to look to the quality and availability of trained men. I believe it won’t be long before we’re fighting over them.’
‘Will Mr Hughes need coal from both companies?’ Edward asked cautiously.
‘And more. Smelting iron eats as much coal as sheep do grass. As I said, amalgamating the companies is something we can think about in the future, but for the moment I’d rather keep Alexei and Richard’s enterprises separate from ours.’
‘Is that a pub?’ Edward watched the door open on a large wooden warehouse that sported a single window in the front. Half a dozen men, brawling, shouting, and swearing in a mix of incomprehensible languages sprinkled with a few curses in English and Welsh that Edward did understand, spilled out. A man stepped behind them wielding a broom. From the way he was gesturing, Edward had the impression that he’d literally swept them out of the building.
‘It’s a beer shop, and too rough for most of the Welsh workers. There’s another further down the street on the opposite side that’s slightly more refined which caters for the Welsh.’
‘I never thought I’d see the day when the Welsh patronised a refined establishment.’
‘Well, “slightly less rough” is a better description than refined. We, however, are going in here.’
‘The hotel?’ Edward’s spirits rose. The bar was warm and he’d enjoyed quite a few drinks there in the company of Ezra, Alf, Richard, and Alexei. Glyn had determinedly refused to enter the place until Betty moved out of the suite, which he was still paying for despite his threat to stop after nine days. The letters he sent Betty on a weekly basis, asking her to find somewhere else to live, or at least somewhere cheaper, hadn’t elicited any response – or if they had, none Glyn had cared to share with Edward.
‘No.’ Glyn walked past the hotel turned left, opened a gate and headed down the garden path of a fine, brick built house set back from the road.
‘Another hotel?’
‘The Russians and French would call it a salon, the British a brothel. The people in Merthyr a knocking shop.’
‘The last place I want to visit is a knocking shop.’
‘Don’t look as though you’ve never heard of one,’ Glyn scoffed. ‘This salon is run particularly well by a friend of mine. Madam Koshka.’
‘Peculiar name,’ Edward observed.
‘Koshka is Russian for cat. You’ll like her and her girls.’
‘I’d say the last place you need to visit, with a wife in town and a mistress in your house, is a knocking shop. As for me, I’ve never been in one yet and have no intention of entering such an establishment.’
‘Try broadening your experience of life.’
‘Into vice?’
‘Leave your chapel ethics and upbringing behind you for the rest of the evening.’ Glyn walked into the porch and lifted the iron door-knocker which was cast in the shape of a cat’s head. ‘I told you, this is a salon. Koshka has elegant, comfortable rooms where men of means and intellect can sit and discuss business or the politics of the day, whichever they chose, while sampling drinks from her well-stocked bar. She also has an excellent cook and serves delicious canapés. It’s the only civilised place in town outside of home and the somewhat noisy hotel which my wife has taken root in.’
The door opened and Koshka’s German manservant, Fritz, bowed. ‘Welcome, Mr Edwards. A very good evening to you’
‘And to you, Fritz. This is my brother, Mr Edward Edwards.’
‘Welcome to you too, Mr Edwards. We heard you were in town and have been looking forward to making your acquaintance. You’ll find madam in the main salon.’
Glyn entered and handed his coat to an attractive young girl who hung it on a rail. He winked at her and noted Edward’s disapproving frown. ‘No one’s asking you to sample the wares, Edward. Give the girl your hat and coat and come and meet some people.’ He listened for a moment. ‘That is Mr Hughes’s laugh?’
‘It is, sir,’ Fritz confirmed. ‘He came in an hour ago with Mr Dmitri and Prince Roman Nadolny.’
‘Respectable enough for you, Edward?’ Glyn queried.
Edward handed over his hat and coat and followed Glyn up the stairs.
Chapter Sixteen
Beletsky Mansion
December 1871
The meal was exactly the same as the one that had been served to the servants the day before and the day before that. A bleak, unappetising mess of cabbage soup and black bread followed by barely cooked, bluish-white sausage skins stuffed with lumps of fat, swimming in a bath of grease. The dish reminded Ianto Paskey of dead fish floating in a polluted river.
He wondered if the servants were ever fed anything else in the Beletsky mansion. The supper was all the more unpalatable for being eaten in the same kitchen that the “master’s” dinner had been prepared. The atmosphere was redolent with the appetising aromas of roasting beef, onions, apple pies, gravy, and spices. All of which tantalized taste buds doomed to disappointment. As experience had taught him that the soup was marginally less foul than the sausage, Ianto reluctantly dipped his spoon into his bowl. It tasted worse than he remembered.
‘Pass me the salt,’ he growled at his brother.
Mervyn picked up the dish and slid along the bench until he was close enough to whisper in Ianto’s ear. ‘You heard? Mr Levsky, the count, and most of the guests are going to visit Koshka’s brothel tonight.’
‘So what?’ Ianto questioned. ‘From what I’ve heard it’s a stuck-up knocking shop that wouldn’t allow the likes of us through the door. Even if we had money enough to pay the asking price.’
‘Why should we pay, when we can get what it’s offering for free? There are plenty of women in Hughesovka. Just like Merthyr, they’ll be walking around begging for what we can give them.’
‘For what you can give them, you mean,’ Ianto snarled. ‘You might have forgotten what those bitches did to me after we had our fun with Anna Parry, but I can’t. And they would have done the same to you if the coppers hadn’t turned up when they did.’
Mervyn shuddered when he remembered the women closing in on him wielding the bloodied tools they’d used on Ianto. A minute more and he’d have been mutilated just like his brother. ‘I haven’t forgotten, but I saw you take that red-headed whore into the livery stable the night we were rele
ased from gaol back in Merthyr. From the noise I heard you both make you seemed to have enjoyed her well enough.’
‘I would have enjoyed her a lot more if those bloody bitches hadn’t gelded me.’
‘Anna Parry’s in Hughesovka, isn’t she?’ Mervyn dug Ianto in the ribs.
‘Last I heard. So what?’ Ianto kept his voice low. Too many of the other servants understood English for his liking.
‘So we’ll find her,’ Mervyn grinned. ‘Just like we did in Merthyr. And when we do you can take your revenge just how you want.’
‘Have some sense. From what I’ve heard the place has a lot of houses. It’s big and getting bigger every day,’ Ianto snapped. ‘We’ll never find her even if we look for her. And I don’t want to.’
‘Hughesovka can’t be as big as Merthyr – not yet. And we know Anna Parry’s there.’
‘All we know is that she went there with the Edwardses and that bastard brother of hers.’ Ianto didn’t want to think about, much less talk about, Anna Parry and the problems she’d caused him and Mervyn that had resulted in him being castrated and both of them being held in a cell until the judge had dismissed the case against them.
‘There are bound to be some people around. We’ll ask them where the Parrys are living. It can’t be a common name in Russia. All we have to say is “Parry”.’
Ianto thought about what his brother had said. ‘If that didn’t work we could try “Edwards”, chances are they might be sharing rooms.’
‘Anna Parry and her bastard brother are two people I really would like to pay back. If we can find them. Gleb says this knocking shop is right in the middle of Hughesovka.’
‘In which case the Parrys shouldn’t be too far away.’ Ianto elbowed the man sitting next to him. ‘Hughesovka?’ He pointed to himself and Mervyn. ‘Tonight?’
‘It’s no good shouting in the man’s ear, Ianto – it is Ianto, isn’t it?’
‘What’s it to you?’ Ianto narrowed his eyes and glared at Gleb.
‘He doesn’t speak English, but I do. If you want to go into Hughesovka tonight both of you can ride as pillion footmen on the back of Mr Levsky’s coach. My master always travels with two pillions, he thinks it makes him appear important, but he never looks at their faces. He won’t be able to see yours if you pull your hats down. But I warn you, we could be kept waiting around in the cold for hours. My master likes to take his time when he visits the ladies.’
‘How much will the footmen pay us to take their place?’ Ianto asked.
Gleb spoke rapidly in Russian to the table in general. Everyone burst out laughing. He held out his hand to Ianto. ‘You pay us twenty kopeks each.’
‘To work as pillions? While the men whose places we take sit around on their backsides doing nothing?’ Ianto glared at Gleb.
Mervyn put his hand into Ianto’s pocket, filched out some coins, sorted through them, and handed Gleb forty kopeks.
‘That’s my money!’ Ianto thumped Mervyn’s shoulder. He’d “won” it from the footmen by cheating at cards.
‘Just think of paying that bitch back – after she entertains us again.’
‘And her brother?’
‘If we find him, he’s all yours.’ Mervyn grinned, displaying twin lines of broken, blackened teeth.
Madam Koshka’s salon
December 1871
John Hughes shook Edward’s hand. ‘It’s good to have you in Hughesovka, Edward. I’ve heard a lot about you, not only from your brother but the men here who used to work for you in Merthyr. I’m only sorry we haven’t met sooner, but now that the test firing has been successful I’m hoping to have enough time to spend the odd few hours outside of the company offices.’
‘I’ve noticed that every man in this town seems to have been working at twice normal speed, sir,’ Edward commented.
‘Necessary if we’re to get this industrial complex churning out the rails and munitions the Tsar so desperately needs next year. I was ready to give you a manager’s post in one of my pits, but your brother snatched you first. Can’t say I blame him after hearing about the progress you’ve made with the Edwards Brothers collieries.’
‘Progress?’ Edward repeated. ‘We’ve made some but it’s slow going, sir.’
‘Maybe slow going in Merthyr terms but not Hughesovka’s. The snow is making it difficult for everyone.’
‘Not underground, sir, the snow doesn’t reach as far as what passes for a Russian shaft.’
‘Good point, but from what I’ve heard and seen, all the underground workings need re-shoring and rebuilding,’ John concurred.
‘There are times when I think it would be easier to sink new pits from scratch.’
‘You may well find yourself doing just that soon, Edward. Now the test firing’s gone well we’ll be in full production in a couple of weeks, and once we start smelting in earnest the New Russia Company will need a great deal more coal than we have stored at present or can produce in the company’s pits. Your contribution will prove invaluable, not to mention cut our import bill.’
‘Glyn said you’ll be able to use all the good quality anthracite your pits and ours can dig out of the ground.’
‘And more. I’ve built up a stockpile and hidden it well, but it won’t last more than a month or two once we go into full operation. You’ll soon see for yourself how much coal we’ll be needing.’
‘Considering the difficulties you’ve met in this inhospitable country you’ve achieved miracles, sir,’ Edward complimented.
‘Miracles wrought by hard workers like your brother, Edward. I’ll see you tomorrow evening at Mrs Ignatova’s?’
‘I’ve received an invitation, so barring accidents you will, sir.’
‘Thank you for joining us, Edward. I know the journey here isn’t a pleasant one, but I hope you’ll think it was worthwhile once you’ve settled in. Please excuse Mr Dmitri and I, we have to rise early to finalise contracts with a landowner.’
‘Count Beletsky,’ Glyn guessed.
‘He’s withdrawn his unsubstantiated claim to the parcel of land Mrs Ignatova leased to us before her daughter’s death. The count argued that the ground between his estate and Mrs Ignatova’s was part of Olga’s dowry and passed to him as Olga left no will. Fortunately Mrs Ignatova had a detailed account of what was included in her daughter’s dowry and what wasn’t. She’s proved beyond all legal doubt that the land is hers and Mr Dmitri has drawn up papers to that effect. The count has agreed to sign them in the morning.’
‘I’m glad you set him straight, sir.’ Glyn despised the count for abandoning his family and retreating to the hotel in Hughesovka when cholera struck the Beletsky mansion. His brother Peter had died of the disease while trying to help the count’s wife and daughters. The count had never thanked Sarah for nursing Olga, or acknowledged the debt he owed Peter for tirelessly working to save the Beletsky family even when he was dying.
‘The count’s claim was preposterous,’ Dmitri declared, ‘but from what I’ve heard he’s using every delaying tactic to stave off his creditors. Including filing bogus claims to property that was never his.’
‘I thought he’d left the area,’ Glyn eyed John Hughes in the hope of gleaning more information.
‘He returned to the Beletsky Mansion just before the fire,’ John divulged.
‘Any connection between the two events?’ Glyn wondered.
‘None that anyone can prove. The count travelled with Mr Levsky, who’s stayed on as Beletsky’s guest,’ John revealed.
‘Levsky the industrialist?’ Glyn checked.
‘They and their associates are walking through the door right now,’ John nodded surreptitiously to the entrance where eight men were being greeted by one of Koshka’s “hostesses”.
‘It’s rumoured Levsky’s bought up all of Beletsky’s debts,’ Dmitri elaborated, ‘but I can cast no further light on their relationship, business or otherwise.’
Glyn knew that John Hughes was as wary of Levsky as he was. Roman
had warned that Levsky could be spying on the New Russia Company, as he owned small factories and coalmines on his estates that were in even worse condition than the ones the New Russia Company had taken over in the Donbas. Levsky had also solicited government ministers for munitions and rail contracts before the Tsar had approached John Hughes. When Tsar Alexander II had awarded the contracts to the New Russia Company, Levsky had lobbied and bribed everyone he knew with any influence at court in an attempt to countermand the Tsar’s decision. But Levsky’s reputation for paying his workers below subsistence wages and setting such impossibly high targets – some men had literally driven themselves to sickness, even death, while attempting to meet his demands – had only served to sway the Tsar’s decision in John Hughes’s favour.
‘They aren’t wasting any time,’ Dmitri observed as Levsky, Komansky and Beletsky headed for the door that led to the corridor housing the private rooms. He saw Fritz watching them, and as soon as they left the manservant knocked the door to Koshka’s office.
‘We’ll talk tomorrow, Glyn, nine o’clock in the office. I’ve called a meeting of senior management and the management of all our coal suppliers. Make sure Richard and Alexei attend. Enjoy the rest of your evening, gentlemen, it was good to meet you, Edward.’ John signalled to one of the footmen to summon his carriage.
‘It was good to meet you too, sir,’ Edward stood back to allow Dmitri to pass.
Glyn accompanied Mr Hughes and Dmitri to the door while Edward remained at their table. Koshka’s salon was more luxurious and exotic than anything he’d seen in Wales. Even the ‘best’ bar of the Black Lion in St Mary Street in Cardiff would have looked primitive in comparison to Madam Koshka’s. It resembled the photographic illustrations he’d seen of the interiors of aristocratic mansions and palaces.
The men sitting at the tables around him were better dressed than any of his superiors had been in Wales, even in the Coal Exchange in Cardiff. The score or so ‘girls’ in the room were eye-catching. He guessed their ages at between fifteen and thirty. Every one of them was strikingly attractive and beautifully dressed in gleaming, shimmering gowns that showed more of their charms than he’d seen music hall actresses display on stage. The atmosphere was intoxicating, a heady mix of musk-laden scents, the babble of alien tongues, and a positive feast of female flesh to titivate the senses.
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