The Vice Of Virtue (A Poor Man At The Gate Series Book 10)

by Andrew Wareham

  Once indoors and changed out of his work suit, carefully brushed and hung up, a habit of his impecunious youth that had never left him, Farlow trotted downstairs to his dining table where he was served his invariable weekday meal of a tiny steak accompanied by a batter pudding and potatoes and greens; he counted the potatoes - four large or five medium - and found them satisfactory. Cook breathed a sigh of relief - if the potatoes were of the wrong size and number she would never hear the last of it, and if she perchance mixed both large and medium on the plate then he would be distressed for a week.

  It was Tuesday, so she opened a bottle of pale ale and placed it in front of him with a well-polished glass. He drank a half-bottle of wine on weekend nights, beer on weekdays.

  He retired to his chair in front of the fire in his drawing room, took up the local paper which was neatly folded on the table to his side, the pages smooth from being run over by the flat-iron. At nine o'clock precisely he retired to bed to sleep for a proper eight hours and to have time for his cold bath in the morning.

  Sir Matthew and Mr Joseph entered his office at ten o'clock exactly next morning, much to his pleasure - he did so like to work to time!

  "Shareholdings in the Liverpool and Manchester, gentlemen! The price of your purchases has very nearly doubled in the past week, since it has become clear that the railway must be a great success. My advice would be to sell by private tender immediately, rather than let the shares go on the Manchester Exchange. The return will be much the same, but you will be able to choose your purchaser - to the satisfaction of the chosen gentlemen. I believe that there is now considerable interest in the railway in London, and it is difficult indeed to lay hands on a shareholding there; a number of the influential would be very pleased to be favoured by you."

  They agreed to leave the matter in Farlow's eccentric hands - this was why they employed him and his brain was still acute in financial affairs.

  "Is all well locally, Mr Farlow? Are we to expect more strikes in the immediate future?"

  "Hunger may well lead to unrest, as it did last year, gentlemen, and there is talk amongst the wholesalers of a shortage of flour, Sir Matthew. A purchase of oats is sensible this year. Potatoes will be short, as well; our supplies come mostly from Ireland and it has been a wet season again, the harvest of the 'praties' down on some years."

  "The Scottish Lowlands or the Germanies, perhaps?"

  "I will endeavour to make purchases, Sir Matthew, but the price will be higher and the cost of shipping not small."

  "We must feed our people, Mr Farlow. Starving men will not produce ships, sir. I wish there might be a way around these damned Corn Laws - we need to import far more than they will allow!"

  "It is not impossible that the Irish wheat harvest might transpire to be somewhat larger than might rationally have been expected, Sir Matthew."

  Matthew met Joseph's stare, raised an eyebrow of incomprehension.

  "How might that be, Mr Farlow?"

  "Oh... mistakes can be made, Sir Matthew, and people might discover they had been pessimistic in their assumptions, for example. It is sometimes the case that a number of additional shiploads can make port, to the pleased surprise of all, sir."

  Rarely, Joseph identified the undercurrents, realised what Farlow was unwilling to say.

  "Not quite impossible that some of the seamen might have American accents, as well, Mr Farlow?"

  "Exactly so, Mr Joseph, yet their ships' papers will make it abundantly clear that they derive from the smaller ports of the west coast of Ireland."

  "If their manifests state that the wheat is Irish then it must be so, Mr Farlow - there can be no questions asked in such a case."

  "The correct persuasions will certainly ensure that to be so, Mr Joseph."

  Matthew was inclined to object, to refuse to be part of the illegality, to leave the office in law-abiding outrage; Joseph scowled him back into his seat when he made to rise.

  "We need flour, Mr Farlow. We must have bread for the men. Can you ensure that such additional shiploads as arrive are sent to nominated mills and then to bakers of our own choosing?"

  "Very easily, Mr Joseph."

  "Then do it, sir. Cash may be discovered in sufficient quantities from our railway shares, I would imagine?"

  "Ten times over, Mr Joseph. You will sell the loaves in your own company stores, I would expect, sir?"

  "At cost, yes."

  "Leave the matter in my hands, sir! There will be no adulteration of the flour, that I guarantee, sir!"

  "Fees where they may be necessary, and to be paid to individuals selected at your discretion, Mr Farlow. If additional sweeteners are required then speak to me directly, sir."

  It was possible that a few of the necessary bribe-takers might want favours other than direct cash - a job for a son or younger brother would be most common, though some might have unusual requests, which might not be supplied to them. As Farlow knew, Joseph had no objection to ordinary corruption – the wheels of commerce often needed to be greased – but he would not play the part of pander to the nastier perverts.

  “Leaving aside questions of morality and decency, Mr Farlow, though they are not unimportant, we must be seen to keep our hands clean. The ordinary run of people have notions of right and wrong which we should endeavour not to offend, or not too frequently, certainly.”

  They made to take their leave, stopped at an afterthought.

  “Is there any word of young Mr Clapperley, Mr Farlow?”

  Farlow smiled innocently, said that he believed the gentleman to be enjoying his vacation overseas, supposed him in fact to be enjoying the climate of the United States, or perhaps it was Canada. He confidently expected him to return in the next year or two.

  Matthew innocently offered his wishes for the young man’s good health, having understood that it was for the benefit of his well-being that he had left the country.

  Joseph had not heard, but was well able to guess, waited till they had left the office before inquiring.

  “Just what did he steal and from whom, Matthew?”

  “Carelessness more than active theft, one understands, Joseph. He had word of an iron works in Sheffield that was badly mismanaged since the founder had died and his son had taken over – normal enough. The works had been floated on the Manchester Exchange and young Clapperley chose to sell shares short, in expectation of a rapid failure.”

  Joseph was not quite sure of the significance of ‘selling short’.

  “He sold shares he did not possess at the then current price, sure that he would be able to buy them for a far lower amount after the bankruptcy. The purchaser would be obliged to honour the contract and there would be a substantial profit to be made. He chose his purchaser with some care, a gentleman who had bested him in a previous deal of some sort.”

  “So… to be clear in my mind, he sold shares which were priced at one pound, say, for perhaps eighteen shillings, so as to attract a purchaser, in the expectation that they would be available for pennies after the firm had gone bust?”

  “That is correct. Needless to say, the heir’s younger brother became impatient with the evils he could observe and ‘persuaded’ the feckless incompetent out of office; he took over and very quickly turned things round!”

  “And the shares rose, instead of falling.”

  “They did. Normally this would have meant no more than young Clapperley purchasing the shares to meet his contract and taking a financial loss, painful but no more than that. On this occasion, for some reason, he was unable to buy shares at all, at any price. All those on the market had been snapped up, it would seem. He had no choice other than to flee the country while his father negotiated a financial settlement.”

  “Imprisonment for debt?”

  “The word was that fraud charges were to be preferred, Joseph. His rival wanted him hanged. I do not know the ins and outs of their feud, but I believe young Clapperley had offered grievous personal offence at some stage.”

 
; Joseph was sure that was very likely, bearing in mind the young man’s character.

  “Is all clear yet, can he return soon?”

  “The word is that he will be able to come back within the twelvemonth, but that he will not be welcome on the Exchange. He will have to find another occupation.”

  “No doubt there will be a brothel needing a pander, brother!”

  They walked through the town shoulder to shoulder, the streets so congested that there was small point to taking a cab or using their own carriages.

  The flagways were as crowded as the roads, mostly with women of the comfortable classes and servants out on shopping errands, but with a number of idling youths as well.

  "I do not like this smuggling and law-breaking and bribery and corruption, Joseph!"

  "There is nothing to like in it, brother. I like to see my people starve even less, however. We shall find this need upon us more and more over the next decade, I suspect, Matthew. There are more people every year, but the number of acres is unchanging. Wheat may be transported across the seas, but meat cannot be moved great distances, so what we will do for that part of their diet, I do not know. There will be hunger in the towns, Matthew, and we must look to our own, for there are none else to do so! Add to that, there are never quite enough jobs, there are always a few at leisure and with no income, sometimes through no fault of their own, and they cannot be left to starve."

  "We are conniving at actual crime, Joseph, and that is simply wrong! Ours is to set an example to the ordinary run of people, or so I believe, and what sort of leaders do we show ourselves to be now? It is no good saying that our activities will remain unknown - this sort of thing always leaks out. If the Roberts works and yards have bread for sale when all others are scraping for turnips and potatoes, then all will know either that we have cornered the market or that we are running American wheat unlawfully. It is impossible to hide such evidence - too many longshoremen must know what the ships are and the sailors will always talk when they are drunk."

  "Let them! When the word reaches the authorities then they will have the choice of quite literally taking food from the mouths of the people or of turning the blind eye. I believe that they will follow Lord Nelson's example, and strongly recommend you to do the same, brother. Robert has told us repeatedly that we must have peace on our streets, and he is right, you know. You must have heard General Ludd mentioned in the yards, and I am told that the name of Captain Swing is on the farm labourers' lips for the first time in a generation. It will take very little to tip us back to the state we were in immediately after the wars ended, and we must not go back to that. I have seen the words ‘Ca Ira’ daubed on a wall! Robert has said time and again that we were lucky not to fall into revolution then, and he might be right, you know."

  Sir Matthew was unconvinced; he believed that Robert was too anxious, far too much concerned to be seen as conventionally virtuous, to make a fair judgement.

  "One slogan does not a revolution make! Reds under the bed, I think, Joseph!"

  The comment was a little obscure for Joseph's understanding, had to be explained to him; he did not agree but would not argue.

  "Fish, Matthew!"

  Matthew in his turn demanded elucidation.

  "In the absence of a sufficiency of meats, then more of fish must make up the deficit. More boats and bigger to sail from our ports. Cockles and mussels and shrimps, as well!"

  It was logical, and Joseph was strong in seeing solutions to problems, though perhaps less able to create a business to implement his ideas.

  "Are we to build and operate a fishing fleet, Joseph? Or perhaps to create a firm of wholesalers on a larger scale than the little local men who exist in the fishing ports? Perhaps a railway to run the coast and bring the fish fresh into town each day?"

  A railway immediately appealed to Joseph, but he doubted that one could be paid for exclusively by fish.

  "Could you build little steam drifters and trawlers, Matthew? Was you to do so then we could buy the first few ourselves and crew them out of the local fishing villages and work them for a year or two. I do not doubt that other men of affairs would very soon scent a profit and buy the boats from us, and more from the yard. I do not believe that I wish to spend the remainder of my days in the fishing trade, but there could be a small profit in the business and an ongoing demand for the boats, sufficient to justify the endeavour. And the supply of even twenty or thirty more tons of fish every day would be very welcome in the local markets. Though more so in winter than in summer, perhaps."

  It was to be a legitimate, above-board undertaking, so they did not seek Farlow's advice and assistance but cast about amongst the family for an able man to act as manager.

  George Star was able to assist almost immediately; he had, he said, a little time on his hands, due to the success of his current business adventure.

  "My managers are taking the great bulk of the day-to-day labour off my hands, brothers. My Mr Tonks is a man of shining parts and is running the mills and taking an interest in the lead and silver mine in the hills and I have a pair of gentlemen who are busying themselves in the made-goods line. A new endeavour would keep me busy, I doubt not, and the family would benefit, it would seem."

  Matthew had doubts, preferring to be a little more tender of his employees than was George's habit, but Joseph had fewer scruples.

  "Whilst we pay a respectable wage then we may ask much of the people, or so I think, brother. And, if they do not like to work for us, well... it is not as if they were slaves. By the way, George, what of this man of yours? What sort of name is 'Tonks'?"

  "German, I am told. I believe the father to have been Hanoverian, married a very few months before being killed in the wars, the mother impoverished and able to do very little for the son, being a foreigner in London. He is making his way in the world by his own hands, though he suffered a bad back-cast not so long ago, you will remember, cruelly wounded by an insurrectionist. Still, he has overcome that hurdle too, is now a married man with a child on the way, I understand."

  George saw no need to mention the exact circumstances of Mr Tonks' lady wife, said only that she was daughter to a minor landowner from up in the Pennines, not so far from Sir Matthew's enviable estate.

  "Ah, yes... she was a Parkin, I believe. I seem to recall something about the family, though I cannot place quite what. I must ask my lady when I return home - she will know."

  George was quite sure that Charlotte would be aware of everyone's business, would be able to tell Matthew all of the little details that might be better forgotten.

  They agreed to draw up papers for an enterprise in the fishing trade, George to seek premises in one of the small ports close to Liverpool and to discover experienced fishermen who might be consulted on the building of a steam trawler.

  "How pleasing it is, Matthew, that we are able to respond to famine in so positive a fashion! Even the possibility of men starving may be turned to profit and to employment for all in our new world of business!"

  "'Out of corruption shall come forth sweetness', brother?"

  Joseph's literary knowledge was insufficient for the quotation. Matthew apologised, explained that an early captain had been of the blue light persuasion and had shipped a chaplain who had had much to do with the midshipmen's education, Shakespeare as much as the Bible.

  "Rather a surprising man for a naval chaplain, Mr Keating. Twice we were engaged and I saw him to pick up a musket and to blaze away with it, making good practice, too, damning the Frogs as atheists who were about to discover their errors in the fires of Hell. The ship's boys were safe with him, too, which was middling uncommon for the breed, and he taught them to read and write in their own classes, which few schoolmasters ever did in my experience. Some of his lessons still remain in my memory as a result - a rarely good sort of man!"

  Joseph was quite interested, but he had a mind that delighted in the obscure and uncommon and there was little rarer than a good naval chaplain.

>   “I am a little surprised to discover Joseph taking a lead in money-making, husband!”

  Matthew had been amazed as well, had been moved to enquire what had instigated the change.

  “He tells me that he has been moved to deep thought by his unfortunate experiences in late years, my dear. Losing wife and child and then his father – who he so deeply admired – came very hard to him, and then was the flirtation with opium-eating which has scarred him deeply. He now is aware that he was weak, when he had always thought himself to be the strong, intellectually dispassionate observer of the world. He is, I suspect, much humiliated in his own private mind and has debated long on what he must do, how he must remake himself as a proud, self-reliant man. He fears he was no more than, I quote him, ‘a strutting youth, possessed of a single talent and overly vain of it’. Now he must be the man, not ‘again’, but for the first time, or so he believes. A ‘man’ is rich, the paterfamilias, the great figure of his society, so he has concluded.”

  Charlotte listened with approval, wholly agreeing with Joseph’s conclusions, pleasantly surprised by them.

  “Joseph has taken his wife – I presume you are aware that she has raised his hopes? He has bought a house with large and visible grounds that the neighbourhood may envy. Now he must make himself wealthy and remarked upon.”

  “Tastefully, I trust, Matthew! There is to be no vulgar ostentation, I most sincerely hope.”

  “No, that is not his intent; he will not play the nabob. He will be the owner of railways; of manufacturies; of a fishing fleet, it now seems; of other interesting endeavours – I believe he has some ventures in chemicals, though what I do not know, exactly – he was investigating the percussion cap, I know.”

  “I wonder, will Robert approve wholeheartedly?”

  Matthew had been possessed of the same doubt, had obliquely mentioned his fears to Joseph, was still disconcerted by his response.

  “Joseph tells me that Robert is obsessed to such a degree with the demands society makes upon the nobly-born that he has made himself into a nonentity – a ‘silk-stocking’, he actually said. He is concerned solely to be virtuous and has lost awareness of the needs of the family and its friends. Such being the case, and James being no more than a politician, it is incumbent upon Joseph to take the leading place in this generation!”