Free Hugh Kenrick by Edward Cline

lodge, in Windsor Park. The subject was some sickly Arabian studshe bought from another member, and he was so fit to be tied that I thought he might be short with me. But he was most gracious and accommodating, and we had a very amiable chat.”
    “Have you discussed this with Fenwick?”
    The Earl frowned. “Good lord, no!
You
deal with the man, not
I
. You’ve talked about him often enough.”
    “I shall have to talk to him again and soon. It would have been wiser to await my return before you acted on Hillier’s message, dear brother. Fenwick shall be more surprised than I at this news.”
    “Why?”
    “If there are fruits borne of your efforts—if we are granted an exclusive contract—it will mean less serge for Fenwick to sell to the colonies…to Talbot in Philadelphia, for example, though Talbot is not our only purchaser. Fenwick has other commitments. The material has been spoken for by other factors. If he breaks his contracts with them, he may never see another.”
    “Why should that concern us?” replied the Earl sharply. “We will be dealing directly with the Crown.” He shook his head in consternation. “Does this cornucopia displease you, dear brother?”
    The Baron sighed. “It disturbs matters,” he said.
    “If you are so concerned about Fenwick, we can purchase wool and serge from Tallmadge and Brune. You told me they must send their material to Bristol and London. We can purchase it from
those
people here—and they’ll thank us for the chance—and resell it to Fenwick, so he can meet his blasted commitments.”
    “Perhaps,” said the Baron, who rose and began pacing. “But they have commitments of their own. We should have to make it worth their while to break them.”
    The Earl poured himself another port. “There is no
honor
in commerce, dear brother. I don’t know why it should trouble you so. Good lord! If there were any, we should not be giving the Lobster Pots a living, or even Talbot or Worley, for that matter.” Benjamin Worley was the Kenricks’ commercial agent in London.
    “It is honor that makes commerce possible, dear brother. And the law courts, when men lack it.”
    The Earl merely sniffed at this truism. The brothers said nothing for a while. The candles burned steadily in their lamps, and the Dutch wall clock ticked away, measuring the Earl’s growing satisfaction and the Baron’sgalling resignation.
    Then the Earl said, “We shall need to hire extra servants for the occasion, Garnet. And tidy up the place. And the staff will need to be refreshed in royal deportment.
That
is especially important. We want no discourtesy shown the Duke. All courtesies paid the king must be paid to him as well. Fawkner, his secretary, has promised he will dispatch a chamberlain to instruct us more carefully in the proper etiquette. He will also send us a list of those to be in the entourage, so that we may prepare rooms.” The Earl paused to study his pensive brother. He seemed to derive some pleasure from having shaken his sibling’s certainty about business. “The town must be jollied up somehow, to greet the Duke. I shall prevail upon the Lord-Lieutenant to loan us some militia for the occasion. I read somewhere that he has a company of unemployed musicians. No doubt the Duke will be escorted by some cavalry. Billeting for them must be found, or constructed. The grounds could do with some pruning. What do you think? Should we have fireworks? That would be grand.” Then he remembered something. “Oh! How was the tour?”

Chapter 5: The Extraordinary
    S IR E VERARD F AWKNER KEPT HIS PROMISE; A CHAMBERLAIN ARRIVED BY packet in Swanage two weeks later and drilled the Kenricks and their household in the courtesies required of them in all situations governed by a royal presence. For the Baron and Baroness, this was a tedious exercise, for they had already met the king and his family, in London at the celebration of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. But the Earl insisted that