Victorian Dawn (A Poor Man at the Gate Series, Book 12)

by Andrew Wareham

  “All very well, of course, but it must come to an end, Robert. We cannot cover the land with tracks so that every town and village is joined to the next!”

  “We can, and we shall, James. People wish to travel! It amazes me, but men are no longer willing to stay in their own little places. They wish to take ‘trips’!”

  The concept was new to James and had to be explained carefully.

  “You are saying, Robert, that people wish to go to places because they have not been to them before. That does seem somewhat peculiar, you know… I can understand going to a place one does know and like, but going to a town or part of the country for no better reason than that one does not know it… well, it is rather strange!”

  “People do it, even so, James. Also, and importantly, you have seen the roads in London morning and evening when the office workers are on the march?”

  James had; an uncounted number of men dressed in clerks’ blacks walking to their offices in the City for six or seven in the morning and leaving for home twelve or thirteen hours later. Most took a horse omnibus to the river, then a steamer to the landing nearest their place of work, then a walk of up to half an hour; the journey could take two hours for those unfortunates who could not find a house or lodging close to Town.

  “Think, James, of a ring of railway stations around the City, and lines extending out to every small town and suburb. I have heard of respectable men arguing that more than one hundred thousand men make the march six days a week. Say that a return journey could be provided for, I don’t know, let us say sixpence a day, and that is three hundred thousand shillings in revenue. Fifteen thousand pounds a week; three quarters of a million pounds sterling a year, James!”

  James was a member of the government and was in the habit of talking in large sums, but the word ‘million’ was not in commonplace use even in Whitehall.

  “That is a very convincing piece of arithmetic, Robert, with the potential for some very substantial profits. The Board of Trade must have a part to play in this; government must act to make the necessary land available. From the point of view of my current post at the Home Office, Robert, one of our great nightmares is the difficulty of responding to riots. We have constables sat in rural Hampshire, for example, moving the cows along while London or Birmingham can be in flames; was there to be this network of railways you speak of, then two hours could bring extra men in from much of the country. What does it matter then if there is unrest in Birmingham when the army may be brought in from London and Manchester to restore order?”

  “Just so, James!”

  The government must have an interest in the new railways, but could not possibly own or plan them; all that the Prime Minister could do was to ensure that they did not fall into bankruptcy, or arrange their immediate rescue when they did. James came to that conclusion and realised that in effect the government was to play fairy godmother; he did not like the idea.

  “No more do I, James. Therefore, brother, we are to build our lines and place rolling stock upon them, and then sell them on to the optimists who are quite certain that they will be able to run them at a profit.”

  “How will the railways affect the shipyards, Robert?”

  “Hardly at all, James. The call for ships to cross the Channel and ply the German Ocean is growing every day. We may build fewer passenger steamers to work the Thames, but that will be unnoticed in the call for more and greater sea-going ships. The thousand-ton collier plodding down the East Coast will not be replaced in many years, if ever.”

  Robert made his slow way back to Thingdon Hall, a journey that never took less than three days for the need to break it just to the north of London, in Hertfordshire. This was a special occasion, however, and he had made a point of arriving on this day.

  He was welcomed, as ever, by a smiling Judy, strong and handsome in the prime of her life, late-thirties, he supposed, a little less than him. They exchanged the normal greetings and enquiries, for it had been two months since last he had been able to visit, then they joined the children, growing-up fast now.

  Patrick was the particular reason for the visit – a powerfully built lad of some seventeen years, a man in fact, nearly as tall as his father and with some growing still left in him. He had inherited his colouring from both parents and displayed more than a passing resemblance to Robert, very obviously so when the pair were together.

  Kathleen was fast approaching womanhood and would be more than handsome, Robert believed; the question of a proper marriage was exercising his mind – she must in a couple of years be put in the way of meeting folk from the sphere of the well-off townsmen, possibly from the County itself. That could be done, with a little of thought given to the creation of a proper parentage; he would speak to Mr Michael and set about establishing a respectable and unassailable lineage for her and for her ‘widowed’ mother.

  Robert shook Patrick’s hand, treating him as an adult, to his pleasure, and asked whether he was still happy in the course they had long discussed.

  “Very much so, my lord. In fact, sir, I am anxious now to be going, for it is time that I became my own man.”

  “You are young, but so was I when I ventured across the water, Patrick. It will do you no harm at all, I suspect, to be away and on your own feet. Remember though, always, that you are my son, even if by the left-hand, and that I shall never forget that you have a claim on me. Write frequently to your mother and I shall read the letters. If need ever arises, then you must make contact with Mostyns Bank who will know of you and will provide assistance if it is necessary. Your ship departs for Alexandria in two days and you should board her tomorrow afternoon, as you know. All is arranged for your passage across the desert and to the Red Sea ports and then to Bombay; I have double-checked that, in person. You have received the gold? That will provide you with travelling money and a reserve to hold in your pocket in future; you never know when it will be useful, or what for.”

  Patrick had the cash, a vast sum, and was inclined to be awed by the purse of one hundred golden sovereigns that sat on the dresser in his room.

  “Jardines have assured me that their Bombay people are expecting you and will employ you in the China trade. You may expect to see Canton within a twelvemonth, Patrick! Use the brain that you have shown yourself to possess and you will have every opportunity to become rich before you are thirty. Take to drink, or opium, or to debauchery, and you may be dead before you are thirty, though you may go with a smile on your face! The choice will be yours – think before you make it!”

  Judy coughed in the background, entertained by the expressions succeeding each other on her son’s face.

  “On a practical note, Patrick, always watch your back! You will be living and working in lands where ordinary people earn in pennies, and often few of them, where a man can live a month like a king for possession of a gold sovereign. You will be rich in their eyes, and hence well worth a cut throat on a dark night. Carry the pistols you have been given – never venture out of doors for so much as a minute with empty pockets. You know how to use them, have shown yourself more than competent, and you must be willing to pull the trigger if the need arises. In the Monsoon, by the way, check your loads very carefully – the percussion caps will be reliable but the black powder charge can get wet very easily, so take great care.”

  Patrick nodded and promised to be good.

  “On that topic, by the way, changes are coming, particularly in the field of the handgun; look out for the best of the new revolving pistols as they appear, and be sure to buy one. For the rest? Come back when you can. Do not think that you must stay away if, for example, you lose all of your money. There will always be a welcome. I may not see you for another twenty years, my boy, but you will be in my mind!”

  Patrick made his thanks, aware that he owed some gratitude to his father, but resentful to an extent that he could not realistically stay in Britain. Was he to work for a merchant house in the City of London then sooner or later as he became richer an
d advanced into the public eye the strong family resemblance would be noted and the scandal-mongers would enjoy themselves; he had no real alternative to going overseas. He still wondered just a little whether he might not have done better to cut all ties and go to America; perhaps in a later year.

  “What of you, Kathleen? How do your studies progress?”

  “Tediously, sir, but I have lately taken up the German flute and believe I show some talent there. I shall play for you later, sir!”

  Robert raised an eyebrow to Judy, received a decided nod, rather to his pleasure.

  “I shall be glad to listen to you, young lady. What of your other maidenly accomplishments?”

  She grinned, displaying a charming, questioning face that should bring attention from many of the brighter young men, and would almost certainly scare the dullards away, which was much to be applauded.

  “Stitchery, sir? I can hem a seam, if I really must! Embroidery is, I fear, beyond my talents and painting is not my forte. I can, I think, write a sensible letter and might wish to do more with the pen one day. For the rest, I love my books, following Mama’s example.”

  “You would do well in the company of Miss Verity Andrews, your aunt who happens to be much of an age with you. I think we must make an arrangement, my dear. Your respectability must be created earlier than I had thought… That is for another day, however. Your mother and I will talk at length on the matter.”

  “Judy-love, we must organise you a dead husband.”

  “By far the best kind, Bobby-me-dear. Who, how and why?”

  “I could not do it for Patrick, as he will be more of a prominent figure in future years, I suspect; he will make himself rich and become a known man, and a false pedigree might well come to the surface. For Kathleen there will be fewer chances of questions being asked. She will not be in the way of Mayfair and a marriage into the aristocracy, and the County has less opportunity or desire to dig into the background of a young lady while she has ten thousands in her purse. Such being the case then I suspect Mr Michael must discover a distant and obscure cousin of the Andrews who was your spouse in America and provided you with the cash to return to England and to live in modest prosperity. What more natural than that she might occasionally come into contact with the family?”

  Judy had wondered what was to be done for her girl and had been unwilling to countenance her being sent overseas as well; this seemed a satisfactory solution.

  “But what if she comes into contact with a young man of family while visiting with Miss Verity? That could have an undesirable result, Bobby.”

  “It could indeed. Risk it, I think. The Dowager will be present and one may always rely on her good sense.”

  Robert found there was a slight hitch to the plans for a family get together at Christmas; Captain Hood and Lady Margaret had made plans to travel into the Germanies, with their two boys, to Cassel, where they would attend the public concerts that were a feature of the season and which would be graced by the playing of Herr Spohr who was in residence there. Apparently, and Robert did not know the whole story, they had almost heard the maestro before and much wished to remedy the lack now.

  “A pity, but not a disaster. Rothwell’s sister was always of a musical bent, was she not, and she certainly should not be denied such a treat. Do I not recall being told that one of their boys is also a gifted musician?”

  Miriam was amazed; he was not one to take a great interest in the details of the lesser members of the family. She confirmed it was so before informing him of trouble on the estate.

  “While you have been away, my lord, that fellow Nugent has been making a nuisance of himself.”

  “Again? The bloody man must be seventy if he is a day. I had thought him to be in retirement, much hoped him to be in his dotage! What is he doing now? He cannot still be preaching at his age.”

  “He is not, as such, my lord. You may remember that he was replaced some two years ago, having chosen to go into retirement in a little cottage built for him by his congregation in acknowledgment of his years of service. His wife, of course, died ten years since and the two sons moved away while the daughters wed into the chapels in Burton and thereabouts. He is therefore living on his own, which gives him time, it would seem, to read his devotional books and come to his own conclusions on the state of the world and of the Godly. He was moved by the spirit, it would seem, last Sunday fortnight and rose to speak to the faithful gathered in the chapel. It is the case, I discover, that any member of the congregation may speak out when service is being held.”

  Robert was both surprised and disapproving; they had a minister to conduct services and one did not keep a dog and bark in a well-run world.

  “What did he say?”

  “He has discovered that the Jews are the insidious, unseen enemy of the Christians in this land. The Hebrew presence corrupts and contaminates, I quote, all that are exposed to its noxious doctrines and habits. There is no place for the Yid in a Christian community, it would seem. Or for the half-bred examples, or for those who give them countenance.”

  “I shall have him taken up and hauled before the Assizes and charged with criminal libel, or slander, more strictly. I shall see him sat in a prison cell for his pains!”

  “I beg you will not, my lord. He ended his oration with the announcement that he would undoubtedly be persecuted by the wicked and had every expectation of dying a martyr behind bars. His sacrifice would be the proof of the rightfulness of his words, so he said.”

  “The little shit!”

  She cast her eyes upwards, feeling that his comment, while probably accurate, was hardly tactful when there were servants to hear and pass his words along.

  “Tell, me Miriam, did he say as well that wages were low because of the well-known tendency of the Jews to grind the faces of the Gentile poor?”

  “Of course, sir. How could he not? That is always to be heard from his sort.”

  The words had been said, and they would remain in the memories of the villagers however much they discounted them as the spite of an old man. Nugent had long been known to be at odds with my lord and the wiser folk would have thought little of his denunciation; but not all men were wise…

  “What can be done? If I simply ignore him there are those who will say that I have been frightened by the truth, that I dare not challenge him. If I take action against him, then the same people will say that I am concerned to suppress free speech in order to hide my evil-doing.”

  She knew that to be so; it was impossible to confront the Jew-baiters, it had always been so.

  “The Free Hospital in Kettering, my lord, might provide an answer.”

  “Is there one?”

  “No. You may remember that the possibility was raised last year and a committee was formed to consider the matter. They have decided that the sum of money to be raised is probably too great to be achieved. They would need at least ten thousands in hand before they could build a proper set of wards and employ two or three doctors at full time. They think they could probably maintain the institution once it was in being, but the starting costs defeat them. An anonymous donation would enable all to commence, and bearing in mind the consumption of alcohol by most of the committee members, the donor’s name would soon be common knowledge.”

  “The Lord Lieutenant chairs the committee, does he not?”

  “He does, my lord.”

  “Then I believe I must make a journey to Northampton this week. Matters of this sort are always dealt with face to face. Should it be anonymous? Would there be any harm to making over the money openly?”

  “Yes. There are those who will not scruple to say that you are seeking an earldom and that this sort of gesture will do you great good in the eyes of the Crown. Made on the quiet, the Lord Lieutenant still well aware of your identity in the nature of things, and there will be fewer to ascribe your generosity to ambition.”

  “So be it, ma’am. I bow to your better judgement. I am seeking promotion, of course, but th
is would be an unsubtle means to employ. If I become known as the benefactor of a hospital here, will there not be expectations raised elsewhere? In St Helens, for example, the need is equally great and I would be loath to pull another ten thousand pounds out of my purse in the immediate future.”

  “It would be as well to consider the matter for some five years from now, however, my lord. I presume that you would need to offer a lesser sum, St Helens being one of the wealthier towns of the country.”

  “Many more people, ma’am. The hospital would be commensurately greater. I will consult with Thomas Star when next I see him.”

  She nodded and then hesitated, seeking the precise words.

  “I do not know of a certainty, and am unwilling to ascribe criminality to so upright and reliable a person, and wed very respectably one must admit, but I suspect that Mr Joshua Barney might have it in mind to take vigorous action against Mr Nugent, having been much angered on hearing his words. He is a loyal man and had a great respect for your Papa, my lord, so much so that he might be moved to do something unwise. I am told, though uncertain with what degree of, accuracy, shall we say, that Mr Barney has been heard to observe that men who lived in thatched cottages should not let their mouths run away with them.”