Chapter 8
Victoria came down to breakfast while Bert was reading the newspaper on Monday morning, and he looked up to see her in a simple black suit.
She was wearing pearl earrings, her wedding ring, and a watch of her father’s.
She looked sober and businesslike and he smiled as soon as he saw her.
She looked beautiful and elegant, as she always did, but serious, and he was proud to take her to the office with him.
He was going to give her a tour of one of the factories too.
He wanted her to see everything and learn more about his business, since she was interested in it.
She was right. It would give her a deeper grasp of what he did every day.
He knew that she was capable of understanding it, probably better than most of the men he knew.
There was no reason why she couldn’t shadow him at the office.
If he had a son, he would let him do it, even want him to, in order to learn how his business functioned.
So why not Victoria? Just because she was a woman, there was no reason not to teach her about his work.
He loved the idea, and was glad she wanted to see everything.
He didn’t care what anyone else thought of it.
In fact, it amused him that she was so creative and curious.
She had a wonderful mind. He was sorry she couldn’t go to university, because he knew how desperately she wanted to, and she would have made good use of the knowledge she acquired there, more than most of the young men who went because their parents said they should.
After breakfast, Bert drove Victoria into the heart of the city where his office was.
His factories were a little farther out, on the edge of town.
They drove past the slums, as he did every day, trying not to think of the abject poverty that existed there, among people who had no chance for a better life.
“Does anyone ever try to clean that up?” she asked as they drove past.
“Some people do, but it seems to be hopeless. You help a few and make a small difference, and you turn around and it’s all just as bad again, or worse.”
Bert had a garage near his office, where he left his car every day.
He padlocked the door, and he and Victoria walked a block to the building where his domestic and international offices were.
It was where they took wholesale orders.
There were people in every room of the building, and they all worked for him.
Sometimes he thought about it and it was dizzying.
He had worked hard for his success and he never took it for granted.
As they rode up in the elevator, two men got in with them.
When the elevator got to his floor, he and Victoria got out.
Bert wasn’t sure if they had recognized him or not.
And if they had, they would have been impressed by Victoria.
She looked completely self-possessed and calm, and as though she and Bert belonged together in these hallowed halls.
The building itself was eight stories tall, which was as tall as most buildings in Manchester.
Many of the factories were the same height and filled with people and machinery.
The offices were more accommodating than the factories.
Bert was adept at both sides of the business.
He was wonderful with people, and with calming the men down when they were upset.
He had averted strikes many times with humanity and compassion.
He was also good at math—the percentages, the spreadsheets, and the profit margins.
He had noticed that others didn’t pay as meticulous attention to the details as he did.
It was those spreadsheets of details that he had strong instincts for, and he was rarely wrong.
Victoria followed him down the long hall that led to his office.
He greeted the receptionist at the switchboard, who was hiding in plain sight, and went straight to his office, where his secretary was waiting for him with his second cup of coffee of the day.
He introduced Victoria to Mrs. Emerson and explained that his wife would be following him at meetings.
The serious-looking secretary was surprised to meet her, and offered Victoria coffee too, which she declined.
Victoria followed Bert into his office, a large sunny corner room with a view of the factories and office buildings lining the street.
It was an entire city dedicated to industry and commerce, everything that Victoria’s aristocratic world hated and disapproved of, and yet everything around her was part of the economy and important to the country.
Their disapproval made no sense to her. On the contrary, she found it exciting just being there.
It wasn’t where she belonged or had been brought up to be, but it felt like the heartbeat of the country all around her, its life force and energy.
Going to the office with Bert felt important.
Her life seemed more meaningful and relevant because of it.
It seemed far more real to her than her rarified place in society among people who were creating and producing nothing. She was happy being with him.
She quietly attended meetings with him all morning, and made notes of pertinent questions she wanted to ask him later, to better understand each situation and why he made the decisions he did.
She was trying to learn what he did every day.
It seemed vital to her, and the decisions he made equally so for the life and strength of the business.
Commerce wasn’t the enemy as she’d been led to believe.
It was the blood flowing in the veins of the country and kept the economy strong and productive.
She had always had a fascination with business, but now she had a deeper respect for it than ever before, and for Bert.
He had introduced her as his wife, and she then sat quietly in the background, taking notes.
She didn’t comment or interfere, and they forgot her presence after a few minutes, although they were intrigued as to why she was there, which Bert didn’t explain.
After his last meeting of the morning ended at noon, they left the building together, went to retrieve his car, and drove the short distance to one of his principal factories.
The building was throbbing with activity when they walked in, as shifts of men left for lunch and others returned.
There was a sense of orderly activity and massive organized productivity all around them.
The men recognized Bert instantly, as they saw him often.
Victoria stayed close to him, as the men looked at her in surprise, wondering why she was there.
He had never brought a woman with him before.
She saw no women anywhere in the building and correctly guessed that she was the only one.
She felt as though she was part of something important just being there with him.
His employees’ respect for him was palpable as they nodded in deference to him, and he acknowledged each of them. He was respectful of his workers.
Bert walked past the men still at work on giant looms, weaving the cotton that had been stored in enormous warehouses, which he wanted Victoria to see too.
He wanted her to see all of it, since she was interested, and he stopped here and there for a moment to speak a word to someone, or to nod, not wanting to distract them.
Bert seemed fully in control of his environment.
He was completely at ease among the men, and she could sense the admiration he had earned from the people who worked for him.
Bert and Victoria stopped at the back of the factory as a tall man with powerful arms and shoulders walked toward them.
He had straight blond hair, blue eyes, and a serious expression.
His attention was entirely on Bert as he spoke to him, answering Bert’s questions about the quality and condition of the cotton.
They had to pay close attention to make sure it didn’t rot in the warehouses, and working with it was a delicate process.
She had learned more in one morning than she had ever known about his industry, and found it fascinating.
She hadn’t been bored for a single instant, and it was invigorating watching him in the environment in which he excelled.
The younger man was very focused on his exchange with Bert.
He stood almost as tall as his employer and paid no attention to Victoria whatsoever, even after Bert introduced them.
If anything, he seemed mildly annoyed that she was there.
He made it clear with attitude and body language that as far as he was concerned, women didn’t belong in the factory as guests or visitors.
She had nothing to contribute. He worked in an entirely male-dominated world, and a woman had no place there, no matter who she was.
His name was Thor Lindqvist. After Bert introduced them, he gave Victoria a cursory nod and went on speaking to Bert as though she wasn’t there.
She waited patiently, and listened to the questions and answers they exchanged.