Stephanie Laurens - A Gentleman's Honor

His dark gaze, along with a piratical smile, swept the room. “So, what do we have?”

Alicia followed that sweeping glance around the faces, saw in each an impatience, an eagerness, a determination to get on with the business of unmasking A. C. They were quite a crowd, five ladies and eight gentlemen, an intelligent and talented company focused on their common goal.

“So what did you find?” Tony’s gaze rested on Jack Hendon.

Jack had settled on a straight-backed chair. “I got the information from Lloyd’s, unfortunately not as much as I’d have liked. There’s a watchman who goes around every half hour. I could only chance three passes—I had to put out the light every time he came by. Without it, I couldn’t see to make copies of the bills of lading.” He drew a sheaf of papers from his inside coat pocket. “I got the full details of six ships before I called it a night. However—”

He distributed the papers, handing three to the men on his right, three to his left; the ladies, on the two chaises perpendicular to the hearth, had to contain their curiosity until the men had scanned the pages and passed them their way.

“As you can see,” Jack resumed, as the men finished with the papers and looked up, “there’s nothing obvious, no particular goods or commodities that were carried on all six ships.” He paused, then added. “I’m not sure where that gets us. I was assuming there would be something in common.”

The men frowned; they looked at the six sheets, now in the ladies’ hands.

“How did you choose which ships to examine?” Christian asked.

“More or less randomly over the years ’12 to ’15.” Jack grimaced. “I thought that would be most useful, but now I wonder whether whatever’s the crucial element changes over time. One thing for so many months, another later.”

Gervase Tregarth leaned forward, peering at the lists Kit and Alicia had spread on a low table before the chaise. “Is there definitely no item in common?”

Kit, Alicia, and Leonora shook their heads.

One of the men muttered something about the seasons.

Alicia tapped an item on one list. “Three hundred ell of finest muslin. Remember how expensive muslin was? The price is much better now, but when this was brought in, it would have been worth a small fortune.”

“Hmm.” Leonora studied the entry. “I never thought of it before—one simply grumbles and pays the price—but it must have been due to the war.”

“Supply and demand,” Kit said. They were speaking quietly, their lighter voices a counterpoint against the men’s rumblings. “Jack says it’s the merchants who best supply the demand who get on in business.”

“True,” Miranda put in, “and during the war, the demand was always there, never satisfied. Anything imported was by definition expensive. Just think how the prices of silks—”

“Let alone tea and coffee.” Alicia tapped another entry on one list.

Miranda nodded; so did the others. “All those things became hideously dear….” Her words faded.

Their gazes met. They all exchanged one long wondering glance, then looked at the lists.

“You don’t think…?”Adriana leaned nearer.

All five ladies bent over the lists again.

The gentlemen continued to reassess and revisit their reasoning, trying to see a way forward.

Alicia straightened. “That’s it.” She pointed triumphantly to items listed on each of the six bills of lading. “Tea and coffee!”

“Yes— of course !” Kit snatched up one of the lists and checked the entry, then reached for another.

“Ah—I see!” Leonora, face lighting, picked up another list.

Tony, Tristan, and Jack exchanged glances. “What do you see?” Tristan asked.

“The item in common.” Alicia picked up another list and pointed to a line. “Tea—one thousands pounds of finest leaves from Assam.”

Handing that list to Tony, she picked up another. “On this one, it’s coffee—three hundred pounds of best beans from Colombia.”

Kit sat back. “So sometimes it’s coffee, and sometimes it’s tea—one from the West Indies, the other on ships from the East.”

“But they’re often both handled by the same merchant,” Leonora informed the men as the lists made their way around the circle again. “Not necessarily sold through the same shops, but it’s usually the same supplier.”

“Which supplier?” Christian asked.

The ladies exchanged glances. “There are many, I imagine,” Miranda replied. “It’s a profitable area, and fashionable in its way.”

“But it’s the price that’s so important.” Alicia looked around the male company. “It’s always difficult to get good-quality coffee and tea—there never is enough brought into the country, even now. As Kit said, it’s supply and demand, so the price always remains high.”

“For good quality,” Adriana stressed.

“Indeed.” Kit nodded. “And that, perhaps, is where A. C. might have made his money. During the war, certainly over the years ’12 to ’15, the price of tea and coffee—the better-quality stuff—fluctuated wildly. It was always high, but sometimes it reached astronomical heights.”

“Because,” Leonora took up the tale, “you men always insist on your coffee at the breakfast table, and we ladies, of course, must have our tea for our tea parties, and the ton wouldn’t go around if those things weren’t there.”

There was an instant’s silence as the men all stared at them.

“Are you saying”—Charles leaned forward and fixed them with an intent look—“that during the war, the price of tea and coffee was often driven high—very high— because of sudden shortages?”

All five ladies nodded decisively.

Miranda added, “Only the best-quality merchandise, mind you.”

“Indeed. But tea and coffee—the finest quality—appears on each of those lists? One or the other at least?”

Again, the ladies nodded.

“That,” Alicia concluded, “seems the only link—the only thing in common, so to speak.”

“Held to ransom over our breakfasts.” Gervase gathered the lists and shuffled through them. “Doesn’t bear thinking of, but it certainly looks—and sounds—right.”

Tristan was looking over his shoulder. “Two ships from the West Indies with coffee, the other four, all East Indiamen, carried tea.”

“These prices.” Jack fixed his wife with a questioning glance. “How much of an increase are we looking at— prices twice as high, three times?”

“For the best coffee?” Kit glanced at Leonora and Alicia. “Anything from ten, to even fifty times the usual price, I would say.”

“For tea,” Miranda said, “it could easily be from ten to thirty times the price before the war—and even that price was always high.”

“How high?” Tristan asked.

The ladies pursed their lips, then tossed around figures that made the men blanch. “Good God!” Charles stopped, calculating. “Why that’s…”

“One hell of a lot of money!” Jack growled.

“One hell of a lot of profit,” Gervase said.

“One very good reason to ensure that the supply failed at critical times.” Tony fixed the ladies with an inquisitorial look. “From what you’re saying, the person who would stand to gain—”

“Is the merchant who had brought in a cargo of tea and coffee safely just before any shortage occurred.”

It was Jack who had spoken. Tony looked at him. “Before?”

Jack nodded. “The warehouses and docks know when a ship and its cargo doesn’t arrive, and the merchants mark up the prices of the goods they have in stock accordingly—that I know for fact.”

“So…” They all sat and thought it over, then Tony called them to order. “Assuming the answer is tea and coffee, how do we go on from here?”