CHAPTER XVII
"IN THE LISBON TRADE"
I was greatly surprised, being on duty aboard in the forenoon, to seeLord Fylingdale on our quay, which adjoins the Common Stath, incompany with Captain Crowle.
In truth, the nobleman looked out of his element--a fish on dryland--in a place of trade. His dress was by no means suitable to thecollection of bales and casks and crates with which the quay waspiled, nor did his look resemble that of the merchant, who may be fullof dignity, as he is full of responsibility, but is never cold andhaughty. His secret purpose, as I afterwards understood, was toascertain the true nature of Molly's fortune, which he could notbelieve to be so great as had been represented to him. His professedpurpose was to see what Captain Crowle was anxious to show him. Thegood old man, in fact, played the very game which this virtuousgentleman desired; he threw the girl--money, and lands, and ships, andall--at the feet of the very man who wanted the fortune, and for thesake of it would not scruple to bring misery upon the girl.
"I have heard," his lordship was saying, as he looked around andmarked the crowd of porters, lightermen, and clerks running about, "ofships and shipping. There is a place near London, I believe, wherethey have ships. But I have never seen that part of town. My ownfriends own farms, not ships."
"Ships may be better than farms," the old sailor replied, stoutly."You have frosts in May; hail in August; drought in spring--where areyour farms then?"
Lord Fylingdale laughed pleasantly.
"Nay, captain, but there is another side to your picture also. Stormsarise; the waves become billows; there are hidden rocks--where areyour ships then?"
"The underwriters pay for all. There may be better money, I say, inships than in land."
"Then the merchants should be richer than the landowners."
"Not always, by your leave, my lord. For there are too many merchants;and of landowners, such as your lordship, there are never more than afew. But some merchants are richer than some landowners. Of these myward is one."
"I should like to know, captain, what you mean by rich. Your ward ownsships, and brings home their cargoes--turpentine and tar--a fragranttrade."
"The farmer's muck heap smells no sweeter, and pig-styes, my lord, areno ladies' bowers."
"Show me one of your ships, captain. If you have one in port, take meon board. Make me understand what this trade means. I doubt not thatbefore long we shall all turn our ploughs into rudders, our maypolesinto masts, and our oaks into ships, and so go a trading up and downthe seas, and get rich like the merchants of Lynn Regis."
I do not know how far he spoke truthfully; I am, on the whole,inclined to believe that he was actually ignorant of trade andshipping of any kind. He and his class build up a wall betweenthemselves and those who carry on the trade which pours wealth intothe country and push out their fleets into far distant seas; and heand his class imagine that they are a superior race to whom Providencehath delivered the work of administering the kingdom, with all theoffices, prizes, places, and honours belonging to that work. They willnot admit the merchants to any share; they fill the House ofCommons--which should be an assembly containing the merchants, and whomake the country rich--with placemen (their servants), and their owncousins, sons, and brothers. They command our armies and our navies;they are our judges and our magistrates; for them the poet writes, theplayer acts, the artist paints. They do not condescend to penetrateinto the ports where the ships lie moored and the quays contain thetreasures brought home and the treasures sent out. They growcontinually poorer instead of richer; their gambling, their troops ofservants, their drinking, their pleasant vices impoverish them; theysell their woods and pawn their revenues. All this time the merchantsare growing richer; they live in places where they never see anythingof the fashionable world--in villages outside London; in towns likeBristol, Lynn, Southampton, Newcastle, where there are no noble lords;they do not concern themselves about the government if only the seasare kept open.
Again, if these noblemen meet the merchants on any occasion theircarriage is cold and proud. Perhaps they show an open scorn of trade;in any case, they treat them with scanty consideration, as people whohave no rank. Even when they desire to conciliate these inferiorstheir manner is haughty, and they speak from a height.
One man is not better than another because he makes his living out offields while this other makes his out of ships. And I do not find thatone man makes a better sailor than another because he is the son of agentleman while the other is the son of a boat builder or a ropemaker.
However, I am talking likely enough as a fool. It is not for me toquestion the order of the world. If the merchants go on getting richthey may, some time or other, look down upon the House of Lords asmuch as the House of Lords, with their ladies, their sons, theirdaughters, their nephews, and their cousins, now look down uponmerchants and all who earn their livelihood by honest work, and byenterprises which demand courage and resolution, knowledge, patience,and skill.
Presently I saw them both get into a dingey, which the captain rowedout into the river, making for _The Lady of Lynn_. He made fast thepainter to the companion and climbed up the rope ladder, followed byhis lordship, who, with some difficulty, landed on the deck, lookingat his tarred hands with curiosity rather than disgust. I must saythat he made no complaint, even though his dress, which was notadapted for rope ladders, showed also signs of the tar.
"My lord," said the captain, "this is one of my ward's ships, andthere is the mate of the ship, Mr. Pentecrosse, at your service."
"At your service, sir," said my lord, from his superior height, andwith that cold condescension which I should try in vain to imitate andcannot attempt to set down in words. It is not the voice ofauthority--every skipper knows what that is and every sailor. It is amanner which is never found except among people of rank. However, Ipulled off my hat and bowed low. His lordship took no further noticeof me for awhile, but looked about him curiously.
"A strange place," he said. "I have never before been on a ship. Tellme more about this ship, captain."
"She is called _The Lady of Lynn_. She is three hundred and eightytons burden, and she is in the Lisbon trade."
"In the Lisbon trade? Captain, neither the amount of her tons nor thenature of her occupation enlightens me in the least."
"She sails from here to Lisbon and back again. She takes out for thePortuguese things that they want--iron, lead, instruments of allkinds, wool, and a great many other things--and she brings back whatwe want--the wine of the country. She comes laden with port wine,Sack, Malmsey, Canary, Teneriffe, Lisbon, Bacellas, Mountain--in aword, all the wines of Spain and Portugal. My ward is an export andimport merchant as well as a shipowner; she fills her ships with wine.The country round Lynn is a thirsty country; the gentlemen of Norfolk,Lincoln, and the Fen countries, not to speak of the University ofCambridge, all drink the wines of Spain and Portugal, and a great dealof it. We send our wine in barges up the river and in waggons acrossthe country; we send our wine to Newcastle and Hull by ships. Thetrade of Lynn Regis in Spanish and Portuguese wine is veryconsiderable, and most of it is in the hands of my ward."
"This is the Lisbon trade. I begin to understand. And what may such aship as this be worth?"
"To build her, to rig her, to fit her for sea, to provision her, wouldcost a matter of L1,500 or L2,000."
"And I suppose she earns something by her voyages?"
The captain smiled.
"She makes two voyages every year; sometimes five in two years. Shemust first pay her captain and the ship's company; then she must payfor repairs--a woman and a ship, they say, are always wantingrepairs--then she must pay for provisions for the crew; there arecustoms dues and harbour dues at both ends. When all is paid the shipwill bring to her owners a profit of L500 or L600. It is a bad yearwhen she does not bring in L600."
His lordship's eyebrows lifted. "How many ships did you say are ownedby this fortunate young lady?"
"She has eight. They are not all in the Lis
bon trade. Some sail toNorway; some to the Baltic--that is, to Revel and Dantzig--and bringhome what you saw on the quay, the turpentine, deal, skins, fur, andso forth."
"Eight ships and a bad year when every single ship does not bring in aprofit of L600. Then, Captain Crowle, we may take it that your wardhas an income of L4,800 a year."
The captain smiled again. "If it were only that I should not be soanxious about her future. But consider, my lord. For eighteen yearsshe has lived with me--she and her mother--we live in a plain andhomely way, according to our station. We are respectable, but notgentle-folk. We live on about L150 a year. The rest is money saved.Some of it is laid out in land. My ward has a good bit of land, hereand there, chiefly in marshland, which is fat and fertile; some of itis laid out in houses--a good part of Lynn belongs to her--some of itis lent on mortgage. Since your lordship hath kindly promised to giveme your advice on the matter, it is proper to tell you the truth. Thegirl, therefore, will have an income of over L12,000 a year."
A strange and sudden flush rose to his lordship's cheek; for a fewmoments he did not reply. Then in a harsh and constrained voice hesaid: "It is a very large income, captain. Many members of the UpperHouse have much less. You must be very careful. At six per cent. it isactually L200,000 or thereabouts. You must be very careful."
"I have been, and shall be, very careful. With such a fortune, mylord, may not my girl look high?"
"She may look very high. There are some families which would notadmit, even for so great a fortune, a _mesalliance_, but they arefew. There are the jewels, too, of which she wore so many last night.What may they be worth?"
"I do not know. They have been lying in a chest for fifty years andmore. They were brought from India by Molly's grandfather, who sailedthere, and made the acquaintance of an Indian prince, to whom herendered some service. They were too grand for him and his wife; andthey were too grand for Molly's mother, who is but a homely body.Therefore they have been locked up all this time. Nobody has ever wornthem until Molly put them on last night."
"I am a poor judge of such things, but, captain, I believe that whatthe lady wore last night must be worth a very large sum--a very largesum indeed."
"It may be so. It may be so," said the captain. "There are as many inthe box as we took out of it. Well, my lord, will her diamonds add toher attractions?"
"Captain Crowle, no one knows or can understand the extraordinarybeauty of a woman who is worth L200,000 and has, besides, diamonds andpearls fit for a duchess. You must, indeed, be very careful."
I who stood beside him humbly, hat in hand, wondered within myself asto what his lordship would say if the captain should suddenly orinadvertently reveal his secret ambitions. Indeed, he looked socommanding and so noble that these ambitions appeared to meridiculous. I felt happier in thinking that they were ridiculous.
How, indeed, should our girl, who must appear homely to one who knewcourts and the charms and splendour of great ladies, attract this coldand fastidious nobleman?
He turned suddenly upon me. "This," he said, "is one of your crew?"
I was dressed in my workaday frieze and shag, and looked, I dare say,to unpractised eyes, more like a fo'k'sle hand than the chief officer.
"It is our mate. I told your lordship before. He is second incommand."
"Oh! sir," he said, bowing, a gesture which politeness demanded anddifference of rank allowed to be a slight inclination only, "I begyour pardon. The strangeness of this place made me forget. Stay, isnot this the--the gentleman who attempted a minuet last night with thefair Miss Molly?"
The question threw me into confusion. The captain answered for me.
"Gad! He did it rarely."
"Rarely, indeed. Well, sir, you are lucky. You dance with the lady;you are in the service of the lady; by faithful service you help tomake her rich. What greater marks of favour can Providence bestow uponyou?"
I made no answer, because, indeed, I knew not what to reply.
"And now, sir, if you will show me your ship, I shall be obliged toyou. Teach me the economy of a merchant man."
I obeyed. We left the captain on deck, and I took him over the wholeof the ship. He wanted to see everything; he inspected the twocarronades on the quarter-deck and the stand of small arms. I showedhim the binnacle and explained how we steered and kept her in hercourse. I took him below and showed him the lower deck, and let himpeer into the hole. He saw the galley and the fo'k'sle, andeverything.
I observed that he was extremely curious about all he saw. He wantedto know the value of things; the wages; the cost of provisioning theship; the purchase and the sale of the cargo. It was wonderful to finda man of his rank so curious as to every point.
"I suppose," he said, "that the old man states the mere facts as tothese ships--and the lands--and--and the rest of it."
"No man knows better than the captain," I replied. "He has worked fornearly twenty years for his ward."
"And for himself, as well, I doubt not."
"No, my lord, not for himself. All for his ward. He has taken nothingfor himself, though he might have done so. It has been all for hisward."
"A virtuous guardian, truly. Young man, he should be an example toyou. Would that there were many guardians so prudent and so careful!"
Then I invited him into the cabin, and showed him how the log is kept,and the ship's course set down day by day. There was nothing which hedid not wish to understand.
"I never knew before," he said, "that ships could mean money. Pray,Captain Crowle, could a ship, such as this, be sold and converted intoready money like a forest of oak or a plantation of cedars, or anestate of land?"
"Assuredly, my lord. If I put up _The Lady of Lynn_ for sale to-morrowthere would be a score of bids for her here in this town. If I soldher in London she would command a higher price."
"Your ward could, therefore, sell her whole fleet if she chose."
"Her fleet and her business as a merchant, and her lands and herhouses and her jewels--she could sell them all."
It seems trifling to set down this conversation, but you willunderstand in due course the meaning of these questions, and what wasin the mind--the corrupt and evil mind--of this deceiver.
"But," he went on, "the ship may be cast away."
"Ay! She may be cast away. Then this lad and the whole of the ship'screw would be drowned. That happens to many tall ships. We sailorstake our chance."
"The crew might be drowned. I was thinking, however, of the cargo andthe ship."
"Oh! as to them, the underwriters would pay. Underwriters, my lord,are a class of people who, between them, take the risk of ships for apercentage."
"Then under no circumstances, not even that of ship-wreck, or of fire,or of pirates, can the owner lose."
"The underwriters would pay. But look you, my lord, there are risks inevery kind of business. There is the cargo. The owner of this ship isalso a merchant. She loads a cargo of wine on her own ship; unloads iton her own quay, and sends it about the country to the inn-keepers andthe merchants of the towns. They may not want her wine--but theyalways do. They may not be willing to pay so much as usual, but theygenerally do. These are our risks. But it is a safe business on thewhole--eh, Jack?"
"We have never lost much yet, to my knowledge, captain."
Lord Fylingdale sat down carelessly on the cabin table dangling hisleg.
"I have had a most instructive visit, captain. I do not mind the taron my hands or that on my small clothes, which are ruined. I havelearned a great deal. Captain," he added solemnly, "Miss Molly has,beside the charms of her person and her conversation--out of so fine amouth pearls only--pearls as fine as those around her neck woulddrop--twelve thousand charms a year. I do not know her equal in Londonat this moment. The daughter of a retired tallow chandler was spokenof, some time ago--said to have fifty thousand pounds--with a squint.No, sir, Miss Molly in London would take the town by storm."
He paused and fell into a short meditation.
"Jack," said the
captain, "there is, I am sure, a bottle in thelocker. His lordship must not leave the ship without tasting some ofthe cargo."
I produced a bottle and glasses.
"Your very best, Jack?"
"The king himself has no better," I replied stoutly, "because nobetter wine is made."
"I give you a toast, captain," said his lordship. "The fair MissMolly!"
We drank it with enthusiasm.
"I have this morning learned a great deal. For one who, like myself,proposes to serve his country, all kinds of knowledge are useful--eventhe smallest details may be important. I have a good memory, and Ishall not readily forget the things which you have taught me. We ofthe Upper House, perhaps, keep too much aloof from the tradinginterests of the country."
"Your lordship," said the captain, "should present an example of thebetter way."
"I shall endeavour to do so." He put on his hat and stood up. "Beforeleaving the ship, Mr. Pentecrosse--you seem to have an honest face--Iwould exhort you to persevere in faithful service and to deserve theconfidence of your employer. I wish you, sir, a successful voyage andmany of them." He took a step towards the cabin door, but stopped andturned again to me. "Mr. Pentecrosse, let me add another word ofadvice. Do not again attempt to enact the part of a fine gentleman.Believe me, sir, the part requires practice and study, unless one isborn and brought up a gentleman. Stick to your quarter-deck, friend,and to your ship's log, and leave, for the future, minuets, heiresses,and polite assemblies to your betters."
So saying he walked out of the cabin and climbed down the ladder,followed by the captain. As for me, I stood gaping at the open door,looking, as they say, like a stuck pig, being both ashamed and angry.