"My father is an example to us all, Mr Brown - I have never asked him where he came from, being content to know what he is now - but I am sure that he and his great friend, Lord Andrews, made themselves from very humble beginnings. I am very proud to be his son, sir!"
It was the correct response; Brown showed an immediate respect for his regard for his parent - no attempts to claim nobility there but pride in his father's achievements instead. Too many of the second generation showed themselves ashamed of the source of their wealth, but young Star gloried in it, and very rightly so.
"You have been keeping company with Cordelia, I have noticed, Mr Star. Am I right to reckon that's why thou art 'ere today?"
"It is, Mr Brown. I like your daughter, sir - a forthright, no nonsense sort of a girl - and it is time I settled down. An alliance with your family as well is an attractive idea."
"It is, too, Mr Star. You will be able to look after her, and any family, that I do not doubt, and I suspect that you will end up richer than me. You will do as far as I am concerned, Mr Star. What she will say, I do not know, but I give you my leave to find out!"
George was surprised, he had not expected such a welcome - Brown had a name for being protective of his girl, yet seemed to be almost casually willing to get rid of her.
"I'll tell thee the truth, Mr Star, for that's my way - I'll be glad to see the lass lawfully wed and in the way of producing grandchildren, for it do seem that she be the only hope of the family. Her sisters ain't neither of 'em strong and 'ealthy like what she is - they seem to be goin' the way of their Ma, and I don't hold out no 'opes - hopes, that is - for either making old bones, and, as for children, not a bloody chance - if you will excuse my French, sir!"
"Miss Brown certainly gives the appearance of good health, sir. One might hope that the weakness, whatever it might be, will not manifest itself in her at a later stage."
"Doctors all say she do 'ave missed it, that it did show in the others when they was fifteen or so and growing up like, if you know what I mean."
George did know what he meant and made no attempt to pursue the embarrassing topic.
It would be quite simple to discover the name of Brown's doctor, and absolutely remarkable if a few sovereigns did not persuade him to relax the rules of professional confidentiality - there was no law governing the conduct of medical men, no such thing as a register like that loosely controlling barristers. There was, in fact, no legal basis for the term 'doctor' - which made life easier for quacks and herbalists and snake-oil merchants, who quite commonly healed just as many as the learned men who had walked the wards, and killed as frequently, too.
That for the morrow, today was to discover whether he needed be informed about the family.
"May I speak to Miss Brown now, sir?"
"You can, Mr Star. She'll be waiting for thee in the withdrawing room, which is what she calls it, though it warn't never that when I were 'er age - not that I 'ad a roof this size over me 'ead then!"
It occurred to George that he could come to like Brown, far more than his daughter, which was a pity, but not a major drawback.
A manservant - far more elegantly turned out than his master - led George through the hall, in process showing that the house was big, new and furnished with a quite remarkable lack of taste. It had to be out of the ordinary, George reflected, because he had noticed it. Still, a mile out of town, sat in its own five or six acres of garden, at least a dozen rooms downstairs apart from the kitchen offices - it was a valuable property in itself, and no doubt to pass down to the surviving daughter.
An intriguing mixture of Chinese urns and Grecian statuary decorated the hall and the wide sweeping staircase, and there was a claw-footed Egyptian sofa, an eclectic pot-pourri of tastes, or lack of any taste at all, one might feel. None looked cheap, however.
Miss Brown stood and bowed as he entered, very correctly, approved as he returned the courtesy quite naturally.
She was dressed in a day-gown, in the latest, for Lancashire, fashion and colour. Neither suited her, but she had shown willing, he supposed. Lemon-yellow did not show her brown complection off to advantage, and the cut emphasised that she was broad in the beam and narrow in the chest - but he was dominated neither by concupiscent lust nor romantic fervour and was far more attracted by the scarlet gleam of rubies at wrist, neck and ears.
"I have just spoken to your father, Miss Brown, as I expect you are aware. I do not know what he has said to you, obviously, but he has given me permission to address you, to beg your hand in marriage. I know that you are of age and that your father's consent is more of a courtesy than a legal necessity, but I would not have felt comfortable had I not seen him."
"Of course, Mr Star, that is the right thing to do. Particularly if you wish to secure the inheritance first!"
He laughed, despite himself.
"Quite right, ma'am - one must look to the future!"
She was surprised into a reluctant smile, possibly the first genuine expression he had seen from her; it did not improve her looks.
"And thus you stand before me, sir. Should you not in fact be kneeling? My last suitor was, before being taken by a romantic transport and trying to sweep me into his arms!"
"My word - I presume that was not the most delightful of experiences, ma'am."
"Not for him, I have a sharp knee, sir!"
"How very unladylike! And how very sensible! Much wiser than to delicately swoon, I think."
This interview was not following the course he had planned and hoped for, but all he could do was swim with the tide. At worst it might make a good after-dinner story in a few years time.
"I ain't delicate, Mr Star, don't pretend to be. I'm not beautiful either, and I don't believe you are in love with me, so there ain't many reasons left for you to want to wed with me."
"There are three, in fact, Miss Brown. First, I am very nearly thirty years of age, and that makes it urgent that I should settle myself. Second, your father is rich - and I would be a fool to marry a poor girl, except for the most pressing of circumstances and emotions. Third, you are intelligent, as I believe am I - and I suspect the children we produced would be at least as able as us - and I think we could make a comfortable life together."
She nodded - that was all obvious enough.
"From your point of view, Miss Brown - first and foremost, I shall be rich before too many years are gone by. Very rich! Because of my father I would find it possible to become a baronet as soon as I could put ten thousands into the right hands. A peerage would be very expensive and I doubt it would be worth the outlay, but the family might just be able to provide political considerations that would reduce the cost. Lady Star is a certainty, however, and a hereditary title, not a mere knighthood."
"I would like a title, Mr Star, and a son to inherit - rare in our circle, indeed!"
"I would not necessarily expect to remain in this circle, ma'am - though I would not wish to leave the business world either. For the rest - I can promise to behave decently to you. There will be no mistresses or bawdy houses, I assure you - and if that is speaking too plain, then I have misjudged you, I fear!"
It was not speaking too forthrightly, it seemed, and she let it be known that she wished the same could have been said of her beloved, but not especially respected, father.
"I am three and twenty, Mr Star, and have not secured a husband in five years of fishing locally - I am on the shelf, or very nearly so. I was almost ready to consider a half-pay officer - there are a number of them about, poor but sufficiently gently born to possess the King's Commission. I am glad I did not, because you will make a far better husband than most. We can, I think, make an honest match, and we may well be able to build a family. I will accept your hand, Mr Star - and hope that you will not regret it in later life when you discover that you might have wed higher."
"I have met young misses from, as you put it, 'higher circles' - hot-house flowers, ma'am, very pretty but given to wilting in the cold world of rea
lity. I hope not to expose you to harsh circumstance, but expect that you would stand firm if it came about."
"I ain't no flower, Mr Star, except maybe the ones you find on bramble bushes."
The engagement was made and announced and excited some local comment - only some of it envious. General opinion was that even twenty thousand could be dearly bought.
Mr Martin thought it to be an excellent match and guaranteed Lodestar's accounts to remain healthily in the black, and at a single-figure rate of interest, for love of the family and desire to retain George's account for a generation.
Mr Brown's doctor was a little harder to trace than might have been expected, and surprisingly expensive to tie down, but gold sovereigns were very persuasive, softly chiming on his mahogany desktop.
"I am only recently, some five or so years, in the confidence of Mr Brown, sir, brought in when his younger daughters began to show a decline. I venture to suggest, Mr Star, that neither will reach the age of discretion - they will continue to fade away for all that I can do. Their mother is suffering from the same contagion, and was before the two were born, hence their infection. Mr Brown himself shows symptoms of decay, and I would not be surprised were mania to seize him inside the decade."
"And the cause, sir?"
"That dreadful and unnamed disease, Mr Star, that may be found amongst sinners. It seems that he strayed from the paths of Righteousness in the time after his first daughter was born, presumably while his lady wife felt in no condition to welcome his advances."
George noticed a Bible on the bookshelves, a religious picture on the wall - the doctor was chapel, it seemed, and devout.
"Poxed-up, eh, doctor?"
George tended not to be mealy-mouthed.
"Just so, sir. I have exhibited mercury, in small amounts, but fear that the treatment is too late and too little, but I dare not present more to the daughters' weakened frames and am certain it is too late for the adults."
"Then I must make quite sure his Will is attested soon. I will beg you to be a witness, sir, thus ensuring that his reason cannot be questioned in court."
A pity for the old chap, George thought, but it set him up to be sole heir, or managing trustee to the heir, inside the decade.
"It's an ill wind," he said to himself, whistling as he walked out to his gig.
Book Seven: A Poor Man
at the Gate Series
Chapter Eight
"Our Christian Kingdom, Mr Speaker, leads the world in commerce and in the production of manufactures and in the new expansion of steam. Literacy is spreading and our people are enjoying comforts to a great extent previously unknown. Our glorious navy rules the seas from Pole to Pole and around the whole span of the world. Britain is the pre-eminent nation on Earth today."
James took a glance around the three-quarters full Chamber, members of all of the factions that made up the loose party groupings listening courteously - perhaps more interested to hear what his families thought than spell-bound by his oratory.
"As the greatest current exemplar of Christian civilisation, Mr Speaker, we must not neglect our duty to the whole world. We must march out of our tiny island and spread the benefits and blessing of our presence around the whole of the globe. The nations of Europe are attempting to emulate our prowess, but in Africa and Asia ignorance, barbarianism and primitivism rule almost unchecked. We have a duty, Mr Speaker, to the lesser peoples, to bring them, eventually, to a civilised condition. Our missionaries must be protected in their great work. Our merchants must be sheltered by the scarlet coat of the army - in the Levant, for example, the lack of order creates the greatest of hazards to our traders in Egypt. Particularly, we must bring order to the toiling masses of the peasantry."
A few ears pricked at that - he was reaching the meat after the familiar commonplaces.
"In India the British flag flies over fewer than one half of the people. That must change, Mr Speaker, and the authority of the Crown must be known from the great mountains of the Hindu Kush to the seas about Ceylon, from the borders of Persia to the Malay States and Singapore itself. In China a degenerate Empire attempts to exert authority over our traders, and sometimes seeks to play one civilised country against another; this must cease and the hordes of coolies must be brought under proper governance."
James took a breath, desperately reviewed his next, crucial sentences. Members were not permitted to speak from notes, or, even worse, attempt to read speeches - all had to be extempore, which demanded a good memory for one's lines.
"Government in the territories which inevitably will fall to our control must be driven by principle - by the demands of service, not by commercial greed. In the days of Queen Elizabeth all could be left in the hands of the merchant adventurers, but those days are long past, and those companies should be gone as well. The Honourable East India Company provides the example of an entity which has served us well but whose days must now be numbered - the Board of the Company now governs more people than fall under the sway of Lord Liverpool!"
A few eyebrows raised at that, mostly belonging to members who had never considered the Indian question and were unaware of anything other than that people, for some strange reason, drank tea.
"The Company must be brought under the direct control of government, Mr Speaker, and policy for the governance of the vast new realm must be made in parliament, for the benefit of our nation rather than for the commercial interests of a few from the merchant classes."
James sat, thankfully, relieved to have completed his longest speech yet in the House; he had been on his feet for ten minutes and had said all that he had intended and, he was within reason sure, nothing that he had not. India must be opened to the traders of the whole country, not merely to the monopoly of John Company, and, particularly, the interests of the City of London - the banks, insurers and shippers - must no longer be hindered in the sub-continent. He had mentioned Egypt as well, under instructions from Robert to do so whenever possible.
The commercially aware members were quietly assessing just what the young gentleman had said. He was himself a younger son of the Andrews - powerful in iron, coal and steam; the family in turn was closely related to Goldsmids and Mostyns, two of the greatest of the new banks; the cotton interests of the Stars went hand-in-hand with the Andrews by long alliance and, it was said, relationship - though that was unclear. Then there was the Masters influence, and the Grafhams were directly related to half and more of the great clans of England.
It seemed that a very powerful cabal had just positioned itself on the side of those who sought an end to the monopoly enjoyed by John Company. Why?
It might simply be that the screws were being put on the Company - that they were being encouraged to share a portion of their wealth out amongst the Andrews. It was possible that the Board might soon appoint a new member to a position of power and profit, and that the family would then fall into line. They considered that option and mostly discounted it - not in character, not the way they had tended to behave in the past.
The speech must be taken at face value then - as a declaration that Britain must take a new place in the world, effectively that the Kingdom must seek empire.
Christianising? That went without saying, to an extent, because barbarianism, paganism, was incompatible with business enterprise - one could not fall down upon one's knees before blood-bespattered idols when there was a profit waiting to be made - religion must take its proper place as an occupation for the womenfolk on Sundays. The Church of England - anodyne and properly subservient - must spread its wings throughout the world; it would help if it could become more widely accepted in England as well.
Efficient government could not come from a commercial company, but would not be cheap - the taxpayer in England might well ask why he was to pay for the extension of the benefits of civilisation to the Indian peasant. Thus, if there was to be a new India then there must be a truly Indian government, one that paid for itself, though certainly run from England, by Engl
ishmen in the higher levels, slowly teaching civilised habits to the locals.
What of China? The young gentleman had made mention of the Chinese problem, though giving it less attention - it would be well to discover what was in their minds on that issue.
Egypt as well, what did Egypt have that England wanted? Where was the bloody place?
A very few thought further - what of the Hudson's Bay Company in Canada, the West India Company in the Sugar Islands, the Levant Committee? If John Company was to have its wings clipped then its emulators could not hope to survive in their current form.
He had referred to the army - well, with that leg of his as a reminder he might be expected to - but, also, government and soldiers went hand in hand, the one depended on the other. Did England need a larger army? Did England want a larger army? Would the taxpayer stand for it?
The young man had asked any number of questions, it transpired, and none of them had obvious or simple answers. Except... one solution was obvious - if the Whigs were to form an administration, which was seeming increasing likely to eventuate, then there should be a Minister of the Crown with responsibility for colonies and their like, and young Mr Andrews could take upon himself the burdens he seemed to be creating.
That, it was soon agreed, would teach the young bugger to ask insoluble questions of his elders!
Brougham, rapidly becoming a leading figure among the Whigs and renowned for a broad-ranging and erratic intelligence, stopped by James in the member's rooms, congratulated him on his thought-provoking contribution to the debate and asked him if he was in fact proposing the creation of Empire.
"Not one such as the Russians and Austrians possess, sir, every man an obedient citizen of a single state. I do not think that possible across the whole world. But an Empire of lesser countries, all being brought up as a parent nurtures a promising child, to become free yet closely tied adults, then, yes, sir, that I would much like to see. It would profit England, and the gains to the primitives are clear to see."
The Old Order (A Poor Man at the Gate Series Book 7) Page 21