She thought again that he should open the house to the public, but this was not the moment to air the subject.
Ellie-May joined them.
“Where is Papa?” she asked.
“I will go and find him,” suggested Lord Bramton.
He was just about to do so, when Mr. Farlow came hurrying down the passage.
“I’m sorry if I’ve kept you waiting,” he said. “I just had to have another look at your ivory collection and also at the pictures we passed by too quickly.”
“There is a great deal more that I could show you,” Lord Bramton proposed. “But I did not want to bore Their Royal Highnesses’.”
“Well, I want to see everything you possess,” Mr. Farlow insisted. “It’s wonderful, amazing and different to anything I’ve ever seen in any other country.”
“I rather pride myself that the Priory is unique.”
“I’m not surprised.”
Then, as he realised that the carriages were waiting for him, he hurried down the steps.
Ellie-May and Galina climbed in and Lord Bramton and Sir Christopher followed them.
“I think you are the luckiest man in the world,” Ellie-May asserted enthusiastically. “I just can’t imagine anyone having such a fine collection.”
“There is just one item I would wish to add to it,” Lord Bramton answered her.
He looked at Galina as he spoke.
CHAPTER SIX
Georgie came down for breakfast and two servants started to serve him.
He thought now as he had when he went to bed last night how lucky he was not to be in some cheap lodging house.
Instead, he was now staying in one of the largest and most comfortable houses on Fifth Avenue.
Mr. Wilbur entered and Georgie started to rise.
“Don’t get up, my dear boy,” he declared. “I’m not used to such good manners in New York.”
“I was enjoying breakfast and thinking how grateful I am to you for having me here.”
“I like having you.”
“Are we to travel to Pennsylvania today?”
Georgie could not help feeling that it was a mistake to waste too much time before he started on the real object of his journey.
Mr. Wilbur sat down at the table and the servants brought him a dish of eggs and bacon.
When they had left the room, he turned to Georgie,
“I have arranged for us to leave for Pennsylvania tonight and I think you will be interested in seeing the new sleeping cars on our train.”
“I am sure you are more advanced than we are.”
Mr. Wilbur did not answer – he was obviously deep in thought and then he remarked,
“I’ve been thinking since we met how much I’ve enjoyed your company and how interesting it is for me to be able to show you around.”
“I should be thanking you. As you rightly pointed out yourself I am a complete greenhorn and I am sure that I should get into trouble if you were not there to guide me.”
“It’s not just guiding, but having the company of a young man, who I think has a very good brain.”
Georgie laughed.
“Now you are paying me a nice compliment I really appreciate and I will certainly report it to my sister when I return home.”
“You have not talked much about your own home,” Mr. Wilbur commented. “In fact, I have a feeling that I’ve done all the talking.”
“I am so very intent on learning from you and being inspired by the brilliant way you have been so successful.”
“And you yourself want to be successful?”
“It is something I have to be,” answered Georgie, “and a great deal depends on it.”
There was silence for a moment as Georgie helped himself to some toast and marmalade.
“What I have been thinking,” Mr. Wilbur continued slowly, “is that, as you so wish to explore the oil fields, we might go into partnership together – ”
For a moment Georgie did not think he had heard correctly. He put down the spoonful of marmalade he was conveying to his plate and stared at Mr. Wilbur.
“Did you say – partnership?”
“You made me recognise as we were coming across the Atlantic how much I have missed in life by not having a son. I have very few relatives and I have often wondered what will happen to my possessions when I die.”
“You might get married,” suggested Georgie.
“I’ve thought about it, of course I have, but I have never met any woman who did not bore me after a short time and who I am quite certain would love me for myself and not for my money.”
“I am sorry – ”
“You needn’t be. I’ve been perfectly happy on my own. But now I’ve met you, I would like to help you make the fortune you say you need. We have a great number of interests in common in the development of new ideas.”
Georgie drew in his breath and then he asked in a rather small voice,
“Are you really saying I can be your partner?”
“That is exactly what I want and we will go to the Solicitors this morning and draw up a proper partnership agreement between us. Everything I invest in from now on will be shared with you.”
“But I have no money to invest.”
Mr. Wilbur smiled.
“I’m aware of that, my boy, but that is immaterial. I’ve quite enough for both of us until the dollars flow in, as I expect them to do.”
There was silence because Georgie was completely overcome by the idea.
Then he exclaimed,
“I cannot believe this is really happening to me.”
Mr. Wilbur laughed loudly.
“I know that feeling, but I also know we’ll have a very happy and interesting partnership together.”
Again there was silence and then Georgie broke it rather tentatively,
“I think before we go any further I must tell you the truth.”
He realised Mr. Wilbur stiffened before he asked,
“The truth! What do you mean by the truth?”
“I have been travelling under an assumed name and actually I am the seventh Earl of Ranmore.”
It was Mr. Wilbur’s turn to look surprised.
“The Earl of Ranmore! Well, so why in Heaven’s name then are you calling yourself Mr. Donaldson?”
“It’s the name on the passport of a friend of mine who was killed in an accident and I thought too, as you do not have many titles in America, it would create too much interest for a man who had come out to make his fortune and is, at this present moment, almost penniless.”
“But how can you be if you’re an Earl?”
“Very easily as it happens. I would not have been able to afford this trip if one of your countrymen had not rented my large house in London and paid a great deal for doing so.”
“Who is that?”
Mr. Wilbur looked curiously at him.
“Mr. Craig Farlow. Perhaps you know him?”
“Of course, I know him. A jolly good fellow and he’s been a friend of mine for years. I knew he was going to England to find a titled husband for his daughter. Why don’t you marry her?”
Georgie smiled.
“I did think of it, but quite frankly as a man I like to have money of my own, and, if I do marry, I want to be in love with my wife.”
“Quite right!” Mr. Wilbur said loudly. “Absolutely right, but now tell me about yourself and the house Farlow is staying in.”
“Actually I have two houses. One in London which I think you would call enormous and a house in the country which is hundreds of years old and has a finer collection of pictures than any other house in England.”
Mr. Wilbur stared at him in astonishment.
“And you say you have no money?”
“It does sound ridiculous, but I literally don’t have a penny to bless myself with and a large number of debts.”
“How? I just don’t understand.”
Georgie explained how the houses and possessions of the aristocrac
y in England were entailed from one heir to another.
“It is the reason why the great houses have all been preserved over the centuries, and I can honestly tell you that my country house is an antique masterpiece standing in a thousand acres, but I cannot afford to live in it.”
“So that is why you have come to America?”
“Exactly! Because things cannot go on as they are. I have been thanking God every day we have been at sea, because you were telling me all I wanted to know about the American oil wells.”
“Well, tomorrow you’ll see them for yourself. Now breakfast is finished, we’ll go to my Solicitor and draw up a partnership agreement between us.”
“Are you quite certain that you want me?”
“That’s a stupid question,” Mr. Wilbur replied. “If I wanted you as Johnson Donaldson, you’ll be far more use to me as the Earl of Ranmore and instantly I shall be one up on Craig Farlow!”
Georgie laughed.
He had heard how the millionaires on Fifth Avenue vied with each other for prestige as well as riches.
They set off in Mr. Wilbur’s smart carriage and he was asking Georgie question after question about the life he lived in London.
He enquired whether he knew the Prince of Wales and if he had ever been to Windsor Castle.
When Georgie said ‘yes’ to the last two questions, Mr. Wilbur sat back with an air of satisfaction.
“Now there’s no need for me to be envious of the Vanderbilts’, the Rockefellers’ or Farlow for that matter! With you as a partner, I’ll have them grinding their teeth!”
“I shouldn’t be too sure. There are, I believe, quite a number of rich American heiresses coming to London in search of a title. I am told you already have quite a number of Italian Princes on Fifth Avenue.”
Mr. Wilbur nodded.
“That’s true, but in my opinion an English Lord, or rather an Earl, is worth half a dozen of them!”
“I hope you go on thinking that.”
They went into the Solicitors office.
Georgie remained silent while Mr. Wilbur set down exactly what he wanted in their partnership agreement.
As far as he could make out the details, it would be of enormous benefit to him and he hoped that Mr. Wilbur’s share would be satisfying for him.
While still at the Solicitors, Mr. Wilbur said he had already put quite a lot of money into the development of the telephone.
However, he would like to add much more and he was also going to finance a new idea he had only heard of just as he was leaving for England.
“What can that be,” asked the Solicitor.
“It’s called a typewriter. I believe it was invented some years ago, but it’s only now arousing interest. From what I’ve heard and seen it should make a fortune once it catches on.”
The Solicitor smiled.
“I hope you are right, sir, as you usually are. And, of course, the next thing I feel you will be interested in is what they call the ‘heavier than air flying machine’.”
“I’ve heard about it too, but I don’t think that you’ll find that on the market for some time.”
Georgie was listening entranced.
Then he signed his name to the document to which Mr. Wilbur had already put his.
As he did so, he saw the look of satisfaction in the older man’s face and he knew he was doing him a favour that he had not expected.
After an excellent luncheon, they left New York in a highly comfortable train.
While they were travelling, Georgie persuaded Mr. Wilbur to talk again about the oil towns.
He made it sound fantastic with his descriptions of rowdy saloons, gambling for high stakes and life and death duels.
When they had first started drilling one or two men were killed every day, but it had settled down now.
But it could still be very dangerous for a greenhorn.
“I really cannot tell you,” enthused Georgie, “how incredibly grateful I am to you for your protection.”
“You’ll be protected all right,” Mr. Wilbur assured him, “and my men will be guarding us all the time.”
“Are they working on any particular oil well at the moment?” enquired Georgie.
“We closed one just before I came to England as it was empty. But I understand they’ve heard of another and are awaiting my instructions.”
Georgie wondered if he should say that Mr. Farlow had heard of one too in the same area.
He still had the telegram Galina had sent him in his pocket, but he thought he would leave things as they were.
After all he had been so lucky to become a partner of Mr. Wilbur’s and there was therefore no reason now for him to involve Mr. Farlow in any way.
Especially as, at the back of his mind, he thought it was cheating.
‘I have been blessed,’ he thought, ‘in a way I never expected. And from now on I am going to play it straight as I always have in my life.’
With a new sense of relief he had not felt for years, Georgie slept peacefully on the train.
They arrived the next morning and drove from the train to the oil fields and this gave Georgie a chance to see a little of the country.
The first thing he noticed were the wild flowers that he knew would delight Galina.
There were hepatica, wild honeysuckle, dog’s tooth violets, as the American’s called them, and anemones.
What interested him more than anything else was the animal and bird life and Mr. Wilbur had already told him there were still primeval forests in Pennsylvania.
“There are still black bears, although not so many of them. And panthers, wild-cats, wolves and elks.”
“They really do interest me. I would love to see the black bears.”
Mr. Wilbur smiled.
“You are more likely to see white-tailed deer and smaller animals such as racoons, skunks and woodchucks which are common around here.”
“And what about the birds?” Georgie asked him.
“Oh, you’ll see them right enough. Ruffed grouse, quail and pheasants if the oilmen haven’t eaten them all!”
Georgie hoped he would have the chance of going into the forest and he would love to see the rivers that he had read about in a book he had found in the library of the ship when they were crossing the Atlantic.
‘The truth is,’ he told himself, ‘I should have taken a great deal more time going through my own library. I am sure that there are books on America that will tell me far more than I know at the moment.’
But it was too late now and he knew that what he had really come for was just ahead of him.
Mr. Wilbur had not exaggerated the excitement and fantastic appearance of the oil fields.
They arrived and were taken to what he understood was the most comfortable inn in town, although it looked shabby and rough after the comfort of Fifth Avenue.
What he was really excited about were the oil wells themselves and these were to be seen everywhere.
As Mr. Wilbur explained to him it was ‘every man for himself’, a well-established American tradition.
There was no one around who was not desperately trying to discover a new source.
It was, as Mr. Wilbur put it,
“Just like putting your right hand into a sack and not knowing what you’re going to pull out. It might be a seam of coal, a vein of silver or what is more desirable than anything else, a gusher of oil!”
Then Georgie learnt that they would work the well to extinction, ravish the land and then move on.
What he found extraordinary was that many of the ‘oil towns’ as they were called had produced their ‘fill’ and had then gone back to grass and were forgotten.
“What we really require is efficient organisation,” Mr. Wilbur remarked as he showed Georgie round. “At the moment everyone’s scrambling for anything they can grab and that means waste as well as unnecessary antagonism, which we can well do without.”
Georgie knew exactly what he was saying.
; The second day they were there, the oilmen in Mr. Wilbur’s pay drilled down to where they had told him they suspected oil was to be found.
They were right.
The excitement was overwhelming.
However they were aware that evening when they went back to their hotel that there were many black looks in their direction.
There were also murmurs of ‘some people are too damned lucky!’
*
They stayed for five days seeing the oil surging up from the well.
“There’s more oil here,” Mr. Wilbur emphasised, “but I’m determined to look elsewhere and I’ve got my eye on gold.”
“Gold!” exclaimed Georgie.
It was not what he had expected.
“Gold was found twelve years ago in Colorado and I’m convinced it can be found in Nevada and other places. Again it’s just a question of organisation and good luck.”
“And you have both.”
“So have you now,” Mr. Wilbur reminded him.
The oil well looked like being one of the best in the Pennsylvania oil field of Titusville.
The two of them went back to New York delighted with themselves.
“Now, I shall have to return home,” said Georgie. “But I am hoping that you will come over next month, so that I can show you my house and you will meet my sister. Then I thought we might both come back again before the end of the summer.”
“But, of course, my dear boy. I will miss you and you must remember as partners that we have a great many more explorations to make.”
“That will be just superb. I still cannot believe that I am not dreaming and that all that black muck oozing out of the ground will really turn into dollars and pounds!”
Mr. Wilbur chuckled.
“You’ll soon learn to take it as a matter of course.”
He was, as Georgie knew, absolutely delighted that the first oil well of their partnership had proved to have a great future.
“The deeper it is the more valuable and, from what my men have already discovered, it looks as if it will feed us for at least a couple of years.”
It was difficult for Georgie to appreciate how much this meant.
He only knew that he was the luckiest man alive.
He had not telegraphed Galina with the good news for the simple reason that he was afraid, like fairy gold, it might disappear over night!
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