Chapter 6
Whit knew he was no match for those eyes of hers, his beloved Tansia’s witch eyes, and saved himself, at least for the moment.
“We will speak of this later, in private.” He immediately turned to Alex.
“Your guardian and I are dining with Elijah, Lord Carberry, this evening. I think you would make a fine addition to the dinner table. Carberry is not only very rich, he is also always on the lookout for excellent investment opportunities, particularly being part of the amazing train transformation here in England. Perhaps you and your guardian and I could discuss appropriate matters before we adjourn to Carberry’s and I can provide more details. ”
Ryder knew this was coming, nodded. “An excellent suggestion. We’re staying at the Sherbrooke townhouse, Whit, on Portman Square.”
Alex said, “Sir, I read of your plans to extend the Cumberland railroad line into Leeds, an ambitious undertaking given the topography.”
Ryder, not surprised at Alex’s knowledge, kept his mouth shut, watched Whit beam, take a step toward Alex.
“Ah, yes, I am on the committee to plan the actual route now we have sufficient investors. But you know, some of the gentlemen have socks for brains and believe it quite simple—buy the land, lay tracks, build train cars, shave off the tops of those hillocks and off you go—but naturally it’s not simple.
As you said, the topography is challenging.
” He paused, thought a moment, said slowly, “I’m also considering forming a consortium of investors to build more efficient trains and incorporating more efficient designs and materials for the route.
I look forward to speaking to you about your train part designs. ”
Alex was so excited it was hard to keep his voice smooth. He wanted to dance, mayhap sing one of the obscene ditties he’d learned at Oxford. He managed not to sound as excited as he felt. He gave Lord Whitsonby a short bow. “I look forward to it, sir.”
Whit eyed the young man, wondered if Ryder might let him take over Alex’s guardianship.
Probably not. He said, “I must warn both of you. Lord Carberry’s brother-in-law, James Piercebridge, is a vicar from St. Lucy Head in Kent, not two miles from the English Channel.
He will be present at the dinner table. I’m told it is his twice-a-year visit to London, a city he considers full of sin and debauchery.
To warn you bluntly, evidently Vicar Piercebridge believes a man who seeks to enrich himself through business is the devil’s tool and bound for Hell’s fires.
Thus, whenever he visits his sister here in London he tries to whip poor Carberry into shape.
We will simply leave him to his tea—he won’t drink port, it is too wicked. ”
Ryder said, “So warned. As you know, the earl, my brother, is very much involved in investing and putting in use new farming machinery. His tenant farmers bless the ground he walks on. Douglas says idiots who proclaim a gentleman doesn’t dirty his hands making money will rue the day since change is coming, fast, to England, and all those men clinging to outdated beliefs will be smashed. ”
Cam said, “But what about forcing ladies to cling to outmoded beliefs, Father? For instance couldn’t ladies be involved in business dealings as well?”
Dead silence.
Although Whit scented danger, he said, “My dearest Averil believes ladies should not involve themselves in such things, it lessens their true worth.” What was perfectly clear, but left unspoken because Whit didn’t want a bloodbath in front of Westminster Palace, was when they wed, it is their husbands who decide what is and isn’t acceptable.
Ryder said easily, eyeing Whit’s daughter with approval, “My wife, Sophie, not only manages our household accounts, she also has a very sharp brain and also an eye for a promising venture.”
Alex said, “That’s very true. She’s given me excellent advice when I receive a prospectus on improving tools for shearing sheep, for example.”
Her voice admirably calm, Cam said, only a hint of a sneer, “Papa, this change you speak of, everything sounds the same to me, at least where ladies are concerned.”
Whit wasn’t stupid, he got his brain together and said, “My pet, I must get you home and smooth all the ruffled feathers. Ryder, Alex, I will see you both this evening.”
Alex imagined the carriage ride home with Lord Whitsonby would be very interesting what with the father trying to convince his daughter to fall into line.
But would he push all that hard? Alex had seen the pride of the father for his daughter, but would his lordship defend her to his new wife?
He’d simply never considered a lady involving herself in business.
Fact was, though, he’d always taken Sophie’s counsel for granted, and Jayne’s too of course, hadn’t even thought to question it because of their sex.
Both of them were highly intelligent and competent.
Without them Brandon House would be vastly different, and not for the better.
He remembered the virulent fever he’d caught that had swept through Upper Slaughter.
Both Jayne and Sophie had nursed him, spent hours with him, saved him, not the ancient local doctor who’d wanted to bleed him.
It made him wonder what Ryder would say to Camilla Rohman if he were her father.
He remembered clearly at Oxford it was never questioned that males were the superior sex, that their rules, their pronouncements, ran the world.
Of course a man was expected to marry eventually to produce children and have as many mistresses as he could afford, with discretion, of course, since he was a gentleman.
But if men did allow women to involve themselves in business, what would happen to children and to households without the wife to oversee them? It made his brain ache to think of it.
As Alex rode in a hackney beside Ryder to Portman Square and the Sherbrooke townhouse, he knew to his bones Camilla Rohman was a force to be reckoned with, like Sophie and Jayne. He wondered if her father would give her business lessons on the sly.