Page 92 of New World Tea Company
George spoke for a moment about Mr George Darcy’s wish for him to take orders, but the man confessed, “I did not have the call to the church that I believe is necessary to be an effective man of the cloth.”
He nodded his head toward Mr Collins but then continued, “Therefore, I turned my attention to earning a living with business.”
Thinking the man spoke well for a member of the lower classes, the woman asked, “Were you apprenticed to some merchant?”
“No, ma’am. I made my own way with small investments with merchants and worked in their accounting offices with monies and cargos.”
“What has changed that you are seeking more gold? That you need investors for this tea business?”
“The New World Tea Company has been successful carrying tea and other goods to British colonies and the new American states across the Atlantic Ocean.”
“How are you successful?” she asked. “I thought only noblemen could manage these matters.”
“The number of people drinking tea increases through births and immigration from England. The merchants here hesitate to send ships across the ocean because of the continued wars with Bonaparte and predation by French privateers.”
The lady motioned for Wickham to continue, and the man added, “A merchant ship has come up for sale and I have been given the opportunity make the purchase, hire my own captain and crew to carry cargo to America.”
“And they return with money? With gold?”
“No, Lady Catherine. They return with holds filled with sugar, rum, molasses, tobacco, rice, and indigo. London merchants bid against each other for these goods from the New World and put profits into my pocket to share with my shareholders.”
Mr Collins spoke up, “Mr Wickham paid handsome profits last autumn. And the other night he paid me…”
The parson froze realizing he had violated the promise to keep the payments this spring as confidential. Lady Catherine frowned, but George remained calm and continued with his proposal, “When I learned about the ship being offered for sale and I gathered all the particulars, the first person I approached about purchasing shares in this new enterprise was your nephew, Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy.”
“My nephew’s behaviour is much altered this spring,” Lady Catherine admitted. “His treatment of me–his closest relation–has been scandalous!”
Sighing Wickham stated, “I count Darcy as a trusted acquaintance, and it is distressing to hear of such behaviour.”
The parson interjected, “It is most distressing for Lady Catherine to have her nephew disregard her wishes!”
“When he heard about my new business venture, he expressed an interest,” George explained. “I offered him a new preferred stock that would be paid ahead of every other investor.”
“How much are these things…these shares?” asked Mr Collins.
“There are fifteen hundred shares at twenty pounds a share.”
“Thirty thousand pounds!” exclaimed the woman. She gathered her thoughts and asked, “Did my nephew invest in your business?”
“Initially, Darcy and I spoke about his purchase of the full amount, thirty thousand pounds, but then he hesitated to makeany investment. I have another investor anxious to purchase half of the stocks once I have secured a promise for the remaining investment. When I heard Darcy was visiting Rosings, I believed he planned to speak to you about investing wealth from Miss de Bourgh’s estate in the ship.”
Lady Catherine’s frown deepened as she revealed, “My nephew did not speak of this opportunity during his visit.”
Wickham sighed, “I do not understand. With the first trip across the Atlantic, I shall recover half of the investment. We would have enormous profits after the second year.”
“Indeed?” Lady Catherine asked.
Smiling, Wickham said, “The London merchants who buy the American goods tell me that I would have almost fifteen thousand pounds in profits each year.”
“The peoples in the Americas need our tea provided by good British ships,” Lady Catherine stated. Then she asked Wickham, “Are you sure it will be fifteen thousand a year? Each year?”
“I cannot guarantee the amount every year, Lady Catherine. Profits vary just as the amount of corn harvested from the fields varies from year to year.”
“At least you are honest about that,” she conceded.
“If the profits are fifteen thousand pounds, I shall pay the two primary investors five thousand pounds each and divide the remaining funds among the other men who own New World Tea Company shares.”
“Surely, you can see that I would make better use of these profits,” Lady Catherine argued.
