Charlotte: The Practical Education of a Distressed Gentlewoman (18 page)

“
Sam,” Elizabeth said when she
finally recovered her breath, “where did you learn
that?”

“
Spain. Had to deal with my share
of bandits and guerrillas. I learned to react quickly.”

“
What do we do now?”

“
It looks like our post boy has
scampered off. I'd best see what I can do.” He alighted from the
carriage. They were at the end of a farm track, somewhere in the
country to the east of Reading. He re-opened the carriage door and
said, “Lizzy and, uh, Miss De Vere, It looks like I'll have to back
the carriage and trace our path back to the main road.”

While they were being driven by
Major Travers, Elizabeth mussed, “Charlotte, that
robbery.”

“
Lizzy?”

“
It was very odd. Highwaymen used
to be fairly common but since the Bow Street Runners started a
horse patrol, they have been scarce. I've ridden post to Bath many
times and there was never anything like this.”

“
The post boy did drive us off the
main road.”

“
I wonder if he was crooked. That
would be the way to stage one of these robberies, but they'd have
to plan it farther in advance.”

When they finally reached the
posting house at Caldicot Green Major Travers dismounted from the
horse and went in to give the posting company officer a few choice
words. When he came out with the station manager scraping and
bowing, he told Charlotte and Elizabeth, “They will get us a new
postilion. I've made sure the manager will file a report. Not that
it will do a lot of good. What I wanted to ask you was, did we need
a new carriage or should we just push on with this one?”

Elizabeth answered, “How long a
wait for a new one?”

“
It could be arranged
tomorrow.”

“
Then we'd best go as soon as we
get a new post boy. Could they sweep the seats for glass while
we're waiting?”

Delayed by their unfortunate
encounter, the yellow bounder flew up the path into the yard at
Staverton Hall in the late afternoon. A peculiar smell permeated
the air around them as Elizabeth, Charlotte and Major Travers
exited the carriage.

Charlotte sniffed, “It smells like
pigs. What are they doing here, so close to the hall?”

Elizabeth replied, “I don't know,
smells a bit like London. I guess father is getting homesick.” In
addition to its porcine augmentation, the hall showed the signs of
frantic restoration. The doors and window trims were being painted,
the roofers were on the roof looking for and fixing the leaks in
it, and the over-grown hedges and plantings were cut back to reveal
the front of the building. Freddy's father came bounding out of the
hall.

“
Lizzy, you've finally made it! Is
that Miss De Vere? Delighted to see you again. I hope you're not
too dismayed by the changes?”

“
No, the hall looks better than it
has in years. It smells a little different, though. Did you have to
have the piggery set up so close to the hall?”

Ignoring the question about his
prized pigs, Mr Talbot replied, “Good, capital, capital, capital.
Who is this young man?”

Major Travers stepped up and
introduced himself, “Sir, We've met before, but I'm sure you've
forgotten. I'm Major Samuel Travers.”

“
Oh yes, I remember you now. One
of Freddy's friends from school. Well come in, Freddy, Mr. Bayliss,
your steward and some chap they've been calling Willis are here.
Dreadful business this.”

“
Father,” Elizabeth asked, “Why
the pigs?”

“
Pigs? Oh yes, it's a pet hobby of
mine. Trying to improve the farm economy by finding alternatives to
just growing corn. Thought about bringing in a prize bull to
improve the cattle with better breeding, but there's something
about these pigs. I love watching them eat. They really enjoy their
food, and the way they convert food and scraps to solid porker is
just amazing. Reminds me of your uncle Henry it does.”

“
Do they have to be this close to
the house?”

“
Yes they do, I like them. You get
used to the smell and it reminds me of home.”

“
So there are pigs in
London?”

“
Some, and not all
porcine.”

“
Father!”

“
Any road, you need to get inside.
Freddy's all in a tither and wanting to get started on sorting out
the mess. I think Miss De Vere, he was waiting on you, since many
of these decisions require your approval.”

He led them to a front parlor,
which had been converted into an impromptu office. Freddy, Mr.
Barford, Mr. Willis and Mr. Bayliss were there. Seeing his visitors
enter Freddy asked, “If you've had a chance to refresh yourselves,
I'd like Mr. Willis to tell you what he found out.”

Charlotte gave Elizabeth an anxious
look. Elizabeth took the hint, “Freddy, we've just arrived, could
you give us a few minutes and maybe send for some tea.”

“
Cat-lap for the ladies? What
about you Major Travers?”

“
I wouldn't say no to it, but a
sherry or something a bit stronger would not come amiss. We had an
exciting ride to get here.”

“
Tell me about it while we await
the tea.”

“
We were driven off of the main
Bath road south of Reading and met a highwayman.”

“
Driven off?”

“
The postilion was in on it. He
bolted when the highwayman scampered.”

Elizabeth blurted, “Major Travers,
you've left out the best part of it. You stopped the robbery by
kicking the gun and then stabbing the highwayman.”

Major Travers was both too
weathered and too male to blush, but he stammered in embarrassment,
“It really wasn't much. The fellow wasn't expecting me to be there
or to act quickly.”

“
Not much? If you hadn't been
there, I don't know what would have happened.”

Freddy looked at his friend, “Sam,
thank you. It sounds to me like you could use a brandy. I'll ring
for it.”

After the tea, sherry and brandy
arrived, Freddy asked Mr. Willis to describe what he
found.

“
Mr. Talbot, as you requested, I
started to nose around Staverton. That solicitor, Mr. Cruise. I
noticed him slip off to a cockfight in Colne. He bet very heavily.
Solicitors don't do that.”

Mr. Bayliss concurred, “At least
the good ones don't.”

“
So I pretended, like, to be a
sold out officer looking for a farm to buy. Went and asked to see
what was available. He showed me his books, and took me to the
manor where the deeds were recorded.”

“
What happened next?”

“
Nothing while he was present, but
I returned the next day and searched the mortgages. Remember what I
told you about the mischief with the mortgages on the Chalfield
estates?”

“
Remixing parcels to issue a
second mortgage?”

“
That's what he'd been up to. Any
road, somehow he found out I'd been looking at the records and did
a runner.”

“
Mr. Bayliss, when we purchased to
mortgages, did you notice anything?”

“
They looked normal, title, parcel
description. Nothing unusual.”

Mr. Willis continued, “That's the
beauty of his scheme. It looks fine unless you go to the manor and
look at the original records and identify the parcels.”

“
Damn.”

Freddy's father came in towards the
end of the conversation. “I'd say Mr. Cruise was an enterprising
chap.” He held out a express package. “This just arrived, from
Newman's. I doubt it is good news.”

It wasn't. Before his untimely
demise and while he was still simply the honorable John De Vere,
had issued a 'post-obit' bond for fifty thousand pounds, to be
payable when his father died. It was to cover his gambling debts,
under the fallacious assumption that lady luck would let him buy it
back before it was called in. Unfortunately, lady luck turned her
back on him.

They didn't have long to discuss
the implications of this latest arrival before dinner was
announced. Freddy asked Major Travers and his father to remain for
a short discussion while the others went in.

“
Father, the carriage Lizzy and
her friend were riding was attacked today. If my friend Sam weren't
there I'm pretty sure that it would have been very bad.”

“
What happened Major Travers? I
missed that part of your discussion.”

“
The post boy drove us off into
the countryside, to what looked like a prearranged rendezvous with
a highway man.”

“
Oh.” Mr. Talbot paused, “How was
the post hired?”

Sam replied, “I went to the usual
agency. That old carriage you saw was all they had. I didn't notice
anything odd about it, or the post boy.”

Freddy nodded at his father and
then told Sam, “Sam, we were worried about this. Elizabeth is a
potential target for many sorts of blackguards. It's both the money
she usually carries, and her person. We have to be very careful,
especially around London, that she doesn't go astray. If you see
what I mean?”

Sam replied, “I think I catch your
drift. Do you have a special agency you use for hiring
posts?”

“
Yes. We're very careful about
that. In the future have our servants arrange it.”

“
I'm sorry, I didn't understand
the risks. They aren't small are they?”

Mr. Talbot continued, “No they
aren't, and it would help if she were carefully watched, had a
bodyguard so to speak.”

“
So that's what you'd like me to
do? Stick close to Miss Talbot?”

“
If you could.”

“
Something tells me that won't be
too hard.”

Dinner itself was nondescript, but
what happened afterwards caught both Major Travers and Charlotte by
surprise. In most households, after dinner the female host, in this
case Mrs. Talbot, would signal to the other women that it was time
to leave the men to their port and snuff. The port and snuff
arrived at the end of the meal, but everyone stayed and
participated in a free ranging discussion.

It was Mr. Talbot who started it.
“Miss De Vere, I was looking over your books with your steward. You
know if you could lower your rents, you might make a better
return.”

“
Lower my rents and make more
money? Surely you're pulling my leg.”

“
No, I'm not. If you leave the
farmers with more money for their work, they'll work harder, and
they can put more into their farms which results in a better
yield.”

“
That could be true.”

Elizabeth continued her father's
argument, “If they have more money, then they'll spend more of it
in the village, and don't you have rents there?”

“
Yes.”

“
So the more they spend, the more
trade there is. The more trade, then the more revenue overall, and
the more you can charge the shop keepers.”

“
I never would have thought of
that. Maybe when these mortgages are cleared up, I'll look into
giving it a try.”

The next day started early in the
morning at the solicitor's now vacant office. Mr. Bayliss and
Freddy were having a difficult time sorting out the mess Mr. Cruise
left behind when he bolted for America. They sat, together with
Charlotte and the steward Mr. Barford, in Mr. Cruise's office going
through the files. The farmers and merchants bank was the easiest
problem to solve. Freddy simply wrote a draft on his personal
account and recapitalized it in exchange for shares. Most of the
capital was then invested in the four-percents which would ensure
some level of stable solvency for the immediate future.

There were multiple layers of
fraudulent and legitimate mortgage documents for the estate which
in themselves were not too difficult to sort through. What to do
about them was another question. Several of the documents that were
left behind seemed to point to recoverable assets, and Mr. Bayliss
scribbled letters about them as the first step toward seeing what
could be salvaged. The next step, if cooperation was not
forthcoming, would be to ask a magistrate for writs of
detinue.

The absolutely, positively, most
difficult document of all was the 'post obit' bond that John,
Charlotte's late brother, had issued to cover his debts of honor.
It was due and payable from the estate upon the death of John's
father Lord Staverton. Somehow Newman's bank had acquired it and
was demanding the fifty-thousand pounds from the estates. It would
have to be paid ahead of the mortgages. Newman's were business
rivals of the Talbot firm and while 'business was business' there
was a certain grim sense of glee in the letter that accompanied the
demand.

Charlotte sat in the light from a
window in the office and read a novel. Occasionally, when a
difficult point arose, either Mr. Bayliss or Mr. Talbot would
politely ask her a question about the estate. Sometimes she could
answer it, but many times it was Mr. Barford who knew the answer.
More often, Freddy took a brief break from reading the difficult
legal copperplate to rest his eyes. When he glanced her way, she
smiled at him. For some reason he felt better when she did that.
Then he would return to trying to sort out the mess. Other than
matters of business, they exchanged few words.