“Perhaps not, Miss Smithers. Was he to go to school, then it would have to be at a distance, where his family was not known, and cruelly misunderstood as it is locally. Better he should be educated at home with his brother, as so many genteel lads are. His sister and Mr Nick’s daughter will come to your care when they are old enough, to learn their letters and all else that they may be capable of.”
“Indeed, ma’am. Reading and writing, first and foremost, but a knowledge of the arithmetic can do no harm, as well as an understanding of the globe and of the other, lesser, peoples of the world. The Land and its crops must be considered too, and then there is the mining of coal and the working of pottery, so important to us locally. There is no end to what they may learn.”
“Equitation and dancing as well, Miss Smithers. Are you a hand with the pianoforte?”
“I can play, ma’am, though I much prefer the violin, with which I believe I have some slight facility.”
“We have no music room at Thornehills. One of the rooms downstairs in the new wings should be set to that use, and instruments procured. I shall not ask you to teach horsemanship, ma’am!”
This was evidently a joke. Miss Smithers tittered, but not too loudly, being ladylike.
“We have a groom and a driver who can teach such, and Mr Nick who will show the boys the mastery of the pistol, necessary to any young man, especially to a second son. Young Abraham will be obliged to make a life for himself. The Army will not be possible – I could never be permitted to purchase him a commission, no regiment would take him. He may well show an aptitude of sorts as he grows.”
Miss Smithers nodded gravely – she would endeavour to foster a self-sufficient spirit in the young man.
“They should have some time to play and run outdoors, Miss Smithers. They are to grow up strong and healthy.”
“Of course, ma’am.”
Miss Smithers reflected as she left the room that the poor children might well require twenty-five hours to each of their days, busy as they were to be. Not to worry, she would bring them up to be rational beings if at all possible. She pushed her glasses back on her nose and trotted off to organise her little empire. The governess’ life was not what she had ever wanted, but it was better far than to be a spinster miss sat in the corner at home, thankful for a new dress every second year and wondering what must become of her when her mother died and the house fell to her brother’s inheritance.
Samuel and Abraham found that they quite liked Miss Smithers – she was pleasantly demanding of them and often found them interesting things to do. Their sister was not so much in favour of the new lady, having been able to cajole her mother to give her almost anything she wanted but discovering the governess to be quite inflexible when it came to treats and playing instead of learning her lessons.
“A young lady must read and write with ease, Mary.”
“And look pretty, Miss Smithers.”
“Not until you are fifteen, Mary. There is no need to attract any attention at all before you reach that age, and that is not for another ten years, I believe.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
All three were bright children, to Miss Smithers’ relief, and she was able to bring them forward to read to their mother and proudly display specimens of their handwriting. They were less talented musically, it seemed, but picked up the basics of the piano and discovered at least how to hold a violin.
“I much doubt they will progress beyond ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’, ma’am, but they can place a sheet of music the right way up if little more.”
Josie was not too deeply concerned at that failing.
“Their arithmetic is sound, Miss Smithers, and that is far more important.”
Two years later Nick’s daughter and only child, Josephine, joined them and fell instantly into love with the instruments. She was no genius but was more than competent and by the age of ten was willing to sit for hours, lost in practice and outstripping Miss Smithers’ capacity to teach her.
Chapter Five
Killing’s Reward
Section Two - AD 1765
“We must discuss Master Samuel, ma’am, if it pleases you. He is of seventeen years now and becoming a man. I do not believe, ma’am, that he should remain a prisoner, as he may see it, of the schoolroom.”
Josie stood from the desk she had brought into the downstairs room she had made into an office and turned her mind to the problem of her son.
“Miss Smithers, of course… Yes, you have been with us for a full twelve years now, very nearly thirteen, in fact. How time flies! What is to be done with Samuel, do you think?”
“I believe, ma’am, that he must come to learn the ways of business, unless you prefer him to grow up as a squire, farming his land.”
Josie shook her head vigorously; it was not her intention for her son.
“No. We are not of the gentry, Miss Smithers. I shall leave that particular conceit to Mr Rowlands over the hill. Samuel has a large inheritance waiting for him and he should, if he is capable, become master of it. I doubt it wise that he should live a life of indolence, relying upon hired managers to make his money. His father would not have expected that of him. Nor do I. How do we best bring him from boy to man, do you believe?”
In a house of women, that was no easy task, they thought.
“Perhaps Mr Nick could give advice, ma’am?”
“No… I might prefer him not to be Mr Nick’s sort of man. There is Mr Malone, but he is not an ideal model for a part-grown youth. It is difficult, Miss Smithers, when you consider that we have so little of genteel acquaintance despite our prosperity. The locality does not visit, apart from Mr Scott, the rector, who calls from duty and in the increasingly faint hope that he might attract my attention. Rich widows are often attractive to churchmen, it would seem.”
Miss Smithers was shocked, having considered the rector a fine, upstanding gentleman, overdue to be wed, an ambition in which she might just possibly assist him. She had not attributed mercenary motives to him.
“Master Samuel is a capable horseman, ma’am. He could ride out to be seen at the collieries, perhaps.”
Josie had bought a fourth working two years previously, conveniently close to Stoke and making a fair profit already. Its owner had been a farmer of great ambition and small intellect and had expected to make tens of thousands in months when he had discovered the coal seam on his acres. He had borrowed heavily and committed himself to early repayments and had opened a large pit with a hundred men employed from the outset. He had dug many thousands of tons of coal but had neglected to discover customers for his black gold. It seemed from the little he had said that he had expected the pottery masters to come beating at his door, demanding their share of his output and bidding against each other to secure it. He had an immense stockpile, worth, if only he could have sold it, many times the extent of the borrowings he had to repay.
The poor man had been resentful of his rescuer, could not comprehend how his failure had come about and was indignant that she had not simply made him a further loan to tide him over for a year or two until everything came right. It had taken the arrival of the tipstaffs with their writs and the intention of hauling him off to custody in the sponging house pending a court order of imprisonment to bring him to an understanding of his position. He had finally sold the pit and the remainder of his old farm for just three hundred pounds more than the total of his obligations and had taken himself off, bitterly regretful that he had ever seen the coal on his hillside.
Josie had made it her first business to send Mr Richard Rowlands to canvass every pottery owner inside four hours travelling of a waggon and four horses. By shaving her price a ha’penny on the hundredweight, she had located a dozen men who wished to add another kiln or run a nightshift as well as a day. The stockpile fell in the most satisfactory fashion and the pit became profitable.
It was all very well, she thought, but there was little for Samuel to do at that colliery, or the others. He could learn th
e ways of business, but it should take only a few months. After that, he would be a spectator, understanding what his managers were doing, but offering them very little.
“Has Samuel an aptitude that you have noticed, Miss Smithers? A skill in the making of any sort?”
The governess regretted not – he was a bright lad, a quick student who could pick up ideas and explain them in a satisfactory fashion, but he had shown no great desire to delve into any particular aspect of learning and certainly had no great talent in the artistic fields.
“He is not another Wedgewood, ma’am, to preside over the production of elegant pottery, and I doubt he will be an engineering sort to produce the new steam engines we hear of. It might be possible to find him an interest, ma’am…”
Josie thought it best to call the boy – the young man, she corrected herself – into a formal conference, in the faint hope that he might have suggestions to offer. It was peculiar, she thought, that she knew so little of her own son. They dined together unfailingly and very often breakfasted as well and she spoke to him at some length on every such occasion. She supposed they spent little enough time otherwise in each other’s company – but she was so very busy, keeping the books for all of his enterprises and ensuring that his money was properly looked after.
“Samuel, Miss Smithers tells me that you should leave the schoolroom soon. You have learned much and must become a man, not a boy. The question is how this is to come about. What are you to do?”
He had nothing immediately to say, having not expected to be asked for his opinions on his future. His mother had always tended to be decisive, to know what was best for him.
Josie inspected him, was not too displeased with what she saw, though he could no doubt be improved. He was growing fast, would be taller than his father had been. Heavier in the shoulders as well. Not unhandsome, but no Adonis; he would not be the cynosure of all eyes but would attract a little attention from the young ladies. He was shaving, she noticed, looking him over closely. Not spotty, which was fortunate for him. Medium brown hair, which needed cutting, she thought; grey-blue eyes, not especially piercing but not stupid-seeming; a strong and straight nose over a firm mouth and chin and good-enough teeth. Not a striking face but attractive when he smiled. He would do, which was fortunate, for there was no way of amending his features.
“I think, ma’am, if you might approve, that I should like to go away for a while. To see other parts of the country. I have never seen a large town and Stoke only infrequently. A visit to London, perhaps, would be a good idea.”
She had asked and he had answered – she could hardly dismiss his suggestion out of hand.
“Not on your own, young man. You should have a manservant about you, one who could provide you with the comforts you require and look to your dress as well. You must be kitted out as a man, not as a schoolboy. I will discover a companion of sorts and then, yes, a visit to the Metropolis might make good sense. After that, you may have other ideas.”
“There are possibilities, ma’am. There is some degree of excitement about artificial waterways, canals, that is. A canal from Stoke to Liverpool, or connecting to London, must be a source of great profit, do you not think? A smooth voyage on the water rather than the jolts and bumps of our very poor highways would save hundreds of pounds in breakages for the potteries. I hear tell that there are canals in the making already, ma’am, and a need for many more.”
“Are there now? I have not been told of them. Where did you come across them?”
“In the newssheet, ma’am. Miss Smithers brings it to us every month when it appears, and we read through it with her.”
Josie thought that to be an excellent idea, inculcating an awareness of public affairs in the young.
“The rector mentioned them in church just three weeks ago as well, ma’am, suggesting they were impious as ‘cutting up’ God’s countryside.”
Josie rarely managed to find time to attend service and was much of the opinion that anything the rector opposed she might be in favour of.
“I find that the rector’s opinions are rarely consonant with mine, my son. One might ask whether he has the knowledge of what is good for local business people.”
“Yes, ma’am. I thought that if he was against canals, then sensible people were probably biased towards them.”
“Well said, Samuel! While you remain in the schoolroom, I do not doubt that a modicum of religion is good for you. You may develop other ideas as you become your own man. To that end, you must have some money of your own if you are to be emancipated. I will not give you great sums, but you are to remember that you come of age when you reach one-and-twenty. On that day, your father’s Will makes you free of the whole estate. Everything will be yours. Your father expected that you would provide for your sister on her marriage, or as a spinster. You will wish to find some thousands for her bridal portion, or an income of her own. Your brother Abraham will make his own way in the world – this is the fate of the second son – but that is not to say you will not wish to gift him some money to set himself up with.”
Samuel had not thought about his inheritance – he had known that the family had money, earned a comfortable living from coal and the distilleries and a share in a pottery, but that was all. He had never considered his own part in the family.
“Then I have three years, a little more, before I am the man of the Heythornes, ma’am. What will you do? I do not think I am to take all of your work from you, unless you will wish to sit in idleness. You have worked these many years for us, ma’am. Will you prefer to enjoy some leisure instead?”
“What a horrible thought, Samuel! I love the work! Indeed, it is a labour of love to me.”
He smiled his satisfaction.
“That will continue, ma’am, as long as you wish. My first idea is that I might discover new businesses while you continued to do so very well with the old – but we have three years in which to discuss that, ma’am. As for my sister, I suspect she will seek a husband and be content in marriage; she much wishes to be a pretty girl rather than any bluestocking! For her portion, as much as is possible, ma’am. I should like to see her able to marry well. Brother Abraham is a different matter – he knows his wishes already. He will cross the seas to make his fortune in the wild lands. I do not know if he will go to the Americas or to the Sugar Islands or even to far India, but go he will, ma’am.”
Josie was almost dismayed to hear that. The thought of her son as a strong young fellow, willing to dare all, was attractive, but the possibility that he would never return was real. Few men who went to the Americas ever came back, though India was different.
“Would he settle or trade, do you think, Samuel?”
“I do not know, ma’am. I think he will do whatever is best when he reaches his destination. I suspect he may be something of a wanderer, at least in his early days. I shall provide him with all he needs, and that he can sensibly carry. Some gold pieces; six good pistols on a bandoleer; a long musket and a fowling piece; powder and ball; a strong leather knapsack and sturdy clothing and good boots; a clasp knife; a waterproof hat. More than that, we cannot think of, ma’am.”
Josie thought this might be just a little sparse as an outfit.
“I will confer with Nick. It will be three or four years before Abraham leaves us, time to remedy any lacks in his outfitting. What of Josephine, by the way?”
Samuel smiled, his whole face lighting up.
“She is a sweet child, Mother! Mr Nick will look after her, as will we all, I do not doubt. She will come to no harm, not while I have any say in the matter, and Mr Nick is a fine father to her.”
It seemed there would be no need to search for a wife for Samuel. He would not wed for some seven or eight years, she imagined, but his opinions must change a great deal if he was not to lead Miss Josephine to the altar.
“I am glad you have thought of your family responsibilities, my son. Back to money, now. You should have an allowance of your own, and you ought
to have some money in your pocket if you are to visit London. I will give you ten guineas a month from this day on, and the cost of travelling to London and living while you are there will be mine to bear. That is not a great deal of money and you must behave sensibly. As you grow older, so you will wish for more cash, and you will get it, while you remain sensible. For the moment, what will you do these few weeks before we can send you south? Think about it.”
Samuel decided that the best was for him to learn the coal mines so he might become familiar with the source of his income.
“That done, ma’am, I shall beg Mr Nick to show me the ways of the distilleries and then I will spend time at the pottery at Palethorpe. There is much for me to become familiar with before I consider branching out into new forms of enterprise.”
Again, she was impressed by his strength of mind.
“Miss Smithers has done well by you, Samuel. I am pleased with the young man you have become.”
“Thank you, ma’am. I believe we have some degree of obligation to her, ma’am. As it stands, when Josephine reaches sixteen or seventeen, in about five years from now, she will be surplus to our requirements, as one might say, with no pupils to teach. I would wish, if it were possible, for her to stay with us until perhaps I am wed and have children of my own to give to her care. That will be a gap of only a few years, and I am sure we could find some useful occupation for her in the intervening time.”
Neither could imagine what the lady might do, but it would be possible to discover something if Samuel insisted.
It occurred to Josie that her son was tender-hearted, possibly too much so for his own good as a man of business. This matter could also be addressed, in time.
Samuel found his visits to the coal mines to be a salutary experience. He had never been treated with any great degree of deference previously and was at first surprised to find grown men doffing their hats to him and holding them in their hands, remaining uncovered in exaggerated respect.
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