“Master?” Roger quietly said.
Ewing looked up from the offending document. “Roger.” Exasperation filled his voice. “Do you know where Catherine is?”
A voice called from the hall at the back of the house. “Father, what’s wrong? Bettina and I can hear you all the way to the kitchen.”
Taking a deep breath as he listened for her footfall, Ewing waved away both Roger and Weymouth.
Weymouth, who shaved Ewing daily, noticed a small spot he’d missed at the older man’s jawline. He hoped his father didn’t notice or he’d hear about it.
Catherine swept into the well-proportioned office, a fire crackling in the fireplace keeping the room warm on a cold January day, too cold, really.
He smacked the letter on his desk. “Connecticut has raised its tariff on tobacco. Our agent up there has written to inform me that this will decrease our profit by two percent.”
“Father, it’s a long time before we cure tobacco and send it to Connecticut. By that time perhaps they will repeal the tariff.”
He settled in his seat a bit. “Never. Once an agency raises a tax they never reduce it. This is designed to weaken Virginia. They have always been jealous of us. Is it my fault their soil is poor? Well,” he thought for a moment, “most of it.”
“You were wise, Father, to sell early at a fixed price so they know your prices won’t jump. You won’t lose business, you’ll lose a bit of profit. Actually, I’m surprised they aren’t charging more. Connecticut is still moaning about its war debt.”
Ewing waved his left hand, a large signet ring on his third finger. “One hundred fourteen million dollars. The total for all thirteen states. I know the debt amount but I am weary of Connecticut citing the sum as though this is all their own problem.” He inhaled deeply. “Actually, my dear, I don’t know how any state can recover from this. We don’t recover by trying to slap extra taxes on out-of-state goods. It’s madness.”
Catherine pulled up a light wooden chair with back slats to sit next to her father. He handed her the Connecticut letter.
Reading it, she shook her head. “You’re right but you usually are. The only thing I can see that will help each state climb out of this terrible hole is increased trade with England and France or any European nation. We aren’t going to clear this hurdle by stealing from one another.”
How like her mother she was, Ewing thought to himself. Clear, a good head for business, and logical. Catherine was not given to excessive emotion.
“Add to this, now the states are printing too much money just as the Continental Congress did. Worthless paper. Worthless.” His voice fell.
“Perhaps someone could use the old bills for wallpaper.” She laughed.
That made him smile. “You’ll enjoy this.” He handed her North Carolina currency. “They have a printer at last. No more North Carolina script. However, what is a North Carolina dollar worth compared to a Virginia dollar or a Connecticut dollar, since that state seems determined to get all our money?”
“Father, do you fear the war was for nothing?”
He sat bolt upright. “No, I do not. We had to get rid of the king. But this, this is chaos. You know, dear, this is one of the few times I would like to talk to Francisco Selisse.” He mentioned the wealthy, disliked, late Francisco. A man accused of sharp business practices.
“I can’t say that I share your feeling.” Catherine had hated him.
“He came from the Caribbean, he understood their banking procedures, was familiar with her ports, both free and encumbered. I tell you there is no such thing as a poor Caribbean banker.” He smiled slightly. “Helps that they do business with pirates. I think, my dear, the solution to this crisis must come from someone who has prospered in business elsewhere. As it now stands, I don’t know if I would trust any plan arriving from the resident of another state. I think each man will favor his own home, so to speak.”
“Possibly.” She rose to throw another log on the fire.
“Roger or Weymouth can do that. No need for you to trouble yourself.”
“I wanted to stand up.” She picked up another log, a light one, examining it. “Sleeping bugs. I can’t throw them in the fire. I’ll tuck them lower on the pile here.”
“My dear.” He smiled. “I’m not sure the bugs will thank you. Sooner or later they’ll be in the fire.”
“I’ll watch that log. I want to see them when they awaken.”
“April,” he simply stated.
“John hears from men with whom he served. He mentioned last night that Light Horse Harry Lee is speculating on hundreds, maybe thousands of acres of land. Everyone is giving him credit. They’re running over themselves to give him money.”
“A man can be a great general but a poor businessman. Now is not the time to buy land.” Ewing picked up the North Carolina ten-dollar bill. “I don’t know what it is time to do.”
“Our holdings are secure.”
“Yes, but holdings are not gold or silver. One must make money, must create profit.” He threw up his hands. “I apologize. Some days are darker than others. Before I forget, when Jarvis Hoffman brought the mail he told me that another of Maureen Selisse’s slaves had run away.”
Catherine sat down. “I would not be surprised if one day she wakes up and there is not a soul at Big Rawly other than her new husband and Sheba.”
Ewing laughed out loud. “Quite so. But this time it was a woman who Sheba says was stealing jewelry. Jarvis says the report is she was stealing enough to buy her way to Vermont, where she would be free.”
“That makes a good story, but Vermont is a long, long way off.”
“And cold.”
“That, too.”
“They never did find the two slaves who were accused of killing Francisco,” Ewing said. “They simply disappeared. Unusual.”
“Yes, it is, but the world is full of mysteries. Did Louis the Fourteenth have a twin? People love to imagine things.” She picked up more papers from her father’s desk, reaching across him. “Did Jarvis give the slave’s name?”
“Mignon. I don’t recall her, do you?”
“Bitty woman.”
He shook his head as he couldn’t picture her. “I do recall Ailee, the beautiful woman who fled, the one accused of helping to kill Francisco. I often wonder why more women, regardless of station, don’t kill men who abuse them. I’d kill.”
“Father, women are taught to endure.” She let out a peal of silvery laughter. “After all, Mother endured you.”
“My angel. There were times when I tried her patience.”
Catherine gently touched her father’s hand. “Now that I am married and a mother, I have ample occasion to think of what you and Mother endured from Rachel and me. And I confess there are days when I look at John and I could just throttle him.”
“Marriage forces one, if one truly loves his or her mate, to try and see the world through another’s eyes. I learned more from your mother than from any other person in my life, including my own parents. Perhaps if we can remember those lessons we can, the states, I mean, find a way through this morass. I hope so.” Then he handed her the ten-dollar bill. “For your wallpaper.”
November 1, 2016 Tuesday
“Every time I came into the shop I was mesmerized by the color, the shape. Fabulous. To think it’s stolen.”
Mrs. Murphy, Pewter, and Tee Tucker sat on a bench against the wall while Harry listened to MaryJo.
“It was extraordinary,” Liz quietly replied, wondering if MaryJo would be nosy, ask insurance questions.
Liz changed the subject. “MaryJo, given your investment business, with the market all over the map, I don’t know how you have the time to do all the research for our wildlife group. You’ve done so much just on the Chesapeake Bay alone.”