Charlie.”
“Shall I come into your bed, then?”
“Yes, please.” She heaved a sigh and put her head on his shoulder. “I have hopes for my own happiness, but I fear greatly for Mary’s. If she weds Angus, married life will come as a shock to her.” She giggled. “However, she’s not as ignorant as I was. Do you know, Fitz, that when we gathered at Shelby Manor for Mama’s funeral, she actually said to me that she wished Charles Bingley would plug it with a cork for Jane’s sake? I was appalled! She was so pragmatic!”
“She’ll walk all over poor Angus.”
“I very much fear that you’re right about that. Yes, she’s changed in many ways, but she’s still the one-sided, stubborn and determined creature she always was.”
“Give thanks for one thing, Elizabeth. That Charlie told her she screeched. Think of the songs we have been spared!” R as a formal chairman, Fitz held a roundtable conference about the gold. Present were Elizabeth, Jane, Kitty, Mary, Angus, Charlie, Mr. Matthew Spottiswoode and Fitz himself. He explained very carefully to the four ladies that each had a vote, that each lady’s vote was the equal of a gentleman’s, and that, since Mr. Spottiswoode owned no vote, their votes therefore were in the majority: they could, if united, outvote the gentlemen four to three. This confused Jane and Kitty, but thrilled Elizabeth and Mary. It appeared, however, that despite refusing to act as a chairman, Fitz had every intention of conducting the meeting. He rapped a paperweight on the literally round table.
“Each orphanage will be known as a Children of Jesus orphanage, and we will be known as their Founders, with a capital
Flutters and whispers broke out.
Fitz rapped the paperweight.
Silence fell.
“There are one thousand and twenty-three ingots of gold, each weighing ten pounds,” Fitz said, rather like a schoolmaster. “To Matthew’s and my surprise, we discovered that Father Dominus chose avoirdupois for his ingots, not troy weight, which is customary for precious metals. Therefore the ingots weigh a full sixteen ounces to the pound, instead of twelve ounces, which is troy weight. This increases their value by one-quarter or four ounces. A druggist as skilled as Father Dominus must have known what he was doing. My theory is that he cast an ingot of a weight no government would, and also of a portable weight. Even a child can carry ten pounds avoirdupois.”
“He made the children carry it, you imply?” Mary asked.
“Within the caves, certainly.” He waited for other remarks, then went on. “Because of her vast colonies and trade routes, our own Britain is the source of the gold for a number of European countries desirous of establishing a gold-based currency. They buy the gold from Britain.”
“How do you pay for gold?” Charlie asked.
“With raw materials and other goods Britain needs but cannot produce. Coal we have aplenty, but our iron is running out, so are our supplies of steeling metals and copper. We cannot grow enough grain to feed the populace anymore-the list is virtually endless. However, gold is in short supply too, though some is coming out of India and some other of the old East India Company countries. But that means that we Founders around this table are in an excellent position, as it cannot be proved that
They were hanging on his every word; when he paused this time, no one spoke.
“I believe we can sell our gold to the Exchequer for six hundred thousand pounds, and no questions asked. It’s worth far more.”
Loud gasps went up; Charlie whooped.
“Very well, let us assume that we’ll have six hundred thousand pounds in trust for the Children of Jesus orphanages,” Fitz went on. He gave Mary a minatory glare. “And before you go off half-cocked, Mary, kindly hear me out. To spend money on the construction of an orphanage is one thing, but the cost of a building and its land doesn’t mean we can build a hundred of them, or even half a hundred. Before even one additional institution can be contemplated, we must first arrive at the cost of keeping the original orphanage going. If one hundred children are to be properly fed and clothed, comfortably accommodated, adequately supervised and satisfactorily educated, we will need three teachers and one headmistress, ten nursemaids and a matron, four cooks, and at least twenty general servants. Otherwise you’ll have a typical parish orphanage, in which the staff are too few, too poorly paid and too discontented to be fair or kind to the children, where education does not happen at all, and the children are put to work in place of general servants. It’s my understanding that you wish to conduct an institution which will serve as a model for all other orphanages. That means you’ll want to prepare the children to set forth at fourteen on productive and lucrative careers, rather than unskilled. Am I correct?”
“Yes,” said Mary.
“Then your original orphanage will cost you about two thousand pounds a year in staff wages alone. You must allow about twenty-five pounds per child per year for food and clothing. That’s another two thousand, five hundred pounds. Many items from bedding to towels will wear out at least once a year. And it goes on, and on, and on. I mention these figures to give you some idea of the expenses incurred in running one institution. Take them in and keep them in your minds.”
He glanced to right and to left, avoiding Angus’s eyes for fear he’d laugh. “If we invest our six hundred thousand pounds in the four-percents, they’ll yield an income of twenty-four thousand pounds a year. I would suggest that four thousand be re-invested to allow for rises in prices as time goes on. So your income for running expenses will be twenty thousand pounds per annum. I strongly urge that you err on the side of caution, my fellow Founders. Build a second orphanage, by all means, but no more. Then you’ll always have the money to keep them solvent, for once you apply to any other sort of body for additional funds, you’ll lose control, autonomy. In conjunction with Matthew and my solicitors, I’ll draw up deeds of trust that prevent any future trustees looting the funds. It will be Angus’s task to commission external auditors.”
I am so happy! Elizabeth was thinking, her mind far from the business at hand. Why did I fear it so much? Oh, how lovely it was to be in his arms, hold nothing back! He was so gentle, so tender, so considerate. He led me like a little child, explaining to me why he did this or that, the pleasure he felt in doing them, encouraging me to let go of my fear and feel the pleasure too. I am voluptuous, he says, and now that I know what the word means, I’m not offended by it. His hands stroke me so perfectly! How did he put it? He sent that man-no, I mustn’t think that way!-he sent that
Blushing scarlet, Elizabeth recollected her surroundings and looked anywhere but at Fitz, who was smiling as if he knew what she had been thinking about. “Oh! Yes?”
“You didn’t hear a word I said!” Mary snapped.
“I am sorry, dear. Say it again.”
“I think we should build at least four orphanages, but no one agrees with me-not even Angus!” She turned on the hapless Scot in fury. “I hoped for your support at least!”
“I’ll never support you in foolishness, Mary. Fitz is in the right of it. If you built four orphanages, you couldn’t split yourself into four segments, which means the institutions wouldn’t be properly supervised. You’d be cheated, taken advantage of. What we view as charity, others will view as rich pickings. There’s an old saying, that charity begins at home. Well, many who work in charity institutions have adopted that as their credo-but not in any admirable sense.” Angus looked heroic at successfully defying Mary: Mary looked taken aback.
“Bitten by a tartan moth, Mary?” Charlie asked wickedly.
“I can see that no one masculine agrees with me,” said Mary sulkily.
“And I do not agree with you either,” said Elizabeth. “I suggest we build two Children of Jesus orphanages-the one near Buxton, and a second near Sheffield. Manchester is too vast.”
And so it was arranged.
The forty-five existing Children of Jesus had settled in at Hemmings and discovered all the horrors of reading, writing, and sums. In one respect Mary retained her common sense; the senior teacher and the head nursemaid were to be sparing with the rod, but not spare it entirely.
“Having been so isolated and regimented, they are bound to go the opposite way for a while,” she said to
