CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Daniel did go to see his banker when he reached London, but that was not the real motive for his sudden retreat from Grex. He had awoken early the morning he departed, and, lying on his back, arm thrown over his forehead, he had thought about last night’s encounter. After awhile he turned on his side to look at Anne while she slept.
She was so exquisitely lovely, with her long slender neck, ivory skin and silky dark hair. Her clear brown eyes were closed and her long dark eyelashes lay quietly against her faintly flushed cheeks.
The realization of what his inner self had known for some time rose to the surface of his mind. He loved her. He loved her and the thought terrified him. He had set out to make her love him, and he had been successful. But it had never been his intention to reciprocate that love. It was dangerous to love another person. This was one conclusion Daniel had drawn from his parents’, and he had sworn never to let himself be so vulnerable again. His marriage had been based on the solid sensible grounds of property and money, not love.
He hadn’t wanted her to know about his birth, yet he had poured his heart out to her last night. She had already heard it from his father, of course, so he hadn’t told her anything she didn’t already know. She hadn’t changed to him last night, but he knew very well the power of his seductive art. Today, in the clear cold light of morning, how would she feel to find she was married to the despised trash of some great noble?
The Earl of Preston hated him, and he already had enemies enough. The Manchester mill owners hated his factory, hated the way he was spending money on his workers, money they believed should go to the owner in profits. They were afraid Daniel’s generosity might foment a revolution among their own workers, who would want what Daniel’s workers had. The entire social situation in England was ready to boil over, and all the government could do was try to oppress the underclass even more. If anything happened to him, he had to make certain Anne would be provided for.
He had reached this point in his thoughts when Anne stirred. Daniel stopped breathing and watched as her eyelashes fluttered. Don’t wake up, Annie, he thought. “Not now. Don’t wake up.”
She turned onto her side and went back to sleep. He watched her, watched how her dark hair parted to reveal the tender white nape of her neck.
What the hell had he been thinking when he told her she could take charge of building a school? The school was one more thing the other mill owners would hold against him. Anne was his hostage to fortune. Should anything happen to her....it didn’t bear thinking about. He’d find someone else who could take over the school. She wouldn’t like that, but his concern wasn’t to do what she liked, but what would keep her safe.
He rose quietly from the bed and went into his dressing room to change. The trip to London he had been putting off had suddenly become urgent. He wanted to hire security guards for the factory, and he needed to put some space between himself and his wife. She had got too close to him. It wasn’t safe. Daniel had a light breakfast and in less than an hour was on his way to London.
# # #
The first thing Daniel did after he checked into the Pulteney Hotel was to pay a visit to Rundell and Bridge, one of the most well-known jewelers in London. He had brought a huge collection of jewelry home from India, dumped it in a bank box and forgot about it. It was time, he thought, to make certain his estate was in order. First on the list of things to do was to find out how much all that jewelry was worth.
Mr. Aubrey Spencer was the jeweler who accompanied Daniel to the bank. He was a man in his fifties, with narrow shoulders and a narrow face. His long thin nose was the most noticeable feature on his face, but Daniel found both shrewdness and intelligence in his gray gaze. He escorted Mr. Spencer to the bank in a cab.
The bank was ready for them. A secure room had been made available, with plenty of table space for the jewels. Once Daniel and Mr. Spencer were in place, the bank president himself brought in the two boxes. “Take as much time as you wish, gentlemen,” he said before he left the room, closing the door firmly behind him.
Mr. Spencer began to remove the jewelry from the first box. After he had taken out four pieces and laid them on the black velvet cloth he had brought, he turned to Daniel, saying in a hushed voice, “Do you realize how rare and valuable these pieces are?”
Daniel wasn’t surprised. “You should see the jewels Maharajah Pranav has in his possession. Indians collect jewels, and they pass them down from one generation to the next. In ancient times, they used jewels instead of money to trade or purchase the items they needed. Indians love beauty, you see, and to them nothing is more beautiful than the color, the design, the perfection of form that is a perfect stone in a perfect setting.”
“And this Maharajah just gave you these jewels?”
“I did not steal them, Mr. Spencer,” Daniel said evenly.
“Of c-c-course not…I d-d-didn’t mean,” the jeweler began to reply.
Daniel interrupted him. In the same even voice as before, he said, “These jewels were a gift to me from a man I greatly admired. They signify how highly he regarded me. I was deeply honored by that regard, but I do not possess the Indian passion for jewelry. Except for a few pieces I would like to give my wife, to me these gems represent what they represented to the early Indian traders. Money.”
“Yes, I see.” Mr. Spencer sounded suitably chastened. He turned his eyes to the four pieces laid out upon the black velvet cloth and picked up the pink diamond ring. He looked at the diamond through his lens, put the lens down and turned to Daniel. “This is a perfect pink diamond. Four carats I would say. Do you know how rare this is, Mr. Dereham? It is worth a small fortune all by itself. It’s hard to believe anyone would part with it.”
“He was quite fond of me and he had others.”
“Others? Like this?”
“Yes.”
“Dear God.”
Next Mr. Spencer lifted an emerald necklace and looked at it through his glass. Holding it, he turned to Daniel. “There are sixteen emeralds on this necklace, Mr. Dereham, and countless number of diamonds.”
Daniel had a sinking feeling he was going to be in this little room for a long time.
Much later, when Mr. Spencer had examined all of the jewels and was carefully replacing them in their wrappings to put back into the boxes, Daniel asked if the jeweler could give him an estimate of what the jewels were worth.
After making a point of excepting the pink diamond, which was basically priceless, the jeweler named a figure.
Daniel was stunned. He had expected to hear a large figure, but not one as large as that.
“If you wish to sell any of these immediately,” Mr. Spenser said, “please let me know. Our firm will give you a good price, and you will avoid the nuisance of trying to sell them yourself.”
“I thought I might sell a few pieces,” Daniel replied. “I could use an infusion of cash about now.”
“Then, please, come to see us. Or we will come to you!”
“Don’t get your hopes up too high, Spencer. I plan to hold onto most of this jewelry. The only reason I wanted it priced now was that I am making my will and I want to split the jewels – half to my wife and half to my mother. That’s why I wanted the valuation, so that they could be split fairly.”
“I will be happy to give you a separate estimated price on each of the jewels, Mr. Dereham.”
“Thank you,” Daniel said sincerely. “That will be very helpful.”
The jeweler left and the bank representative came into the room to collect the jewelry to return it to its safe.
“Is that all, Mr. Dereham?” the bank officer inquired.
Daniel had already slipped into his pocket a six-strand string of perfect pearls he thought would look lovely on Anne’s long graceful neck. “Yes,” he said. “That is all for now.”
# # #
The following day Daniel ordered a carriage. If Anne wished to go anywhere he didn’t want her having to travel in a hired chaise. She would travel the way all the fine ladies of the aristocracy traveled – in a carriage of her own. Carriages were safer than curricles, where you sat out in the open. An enclosed carriage would give her more protection.
The next stop Daniel made was to his solicitor to have his will drawn up. As he had told Mr. Spencer, all of the jewelry of which he was possessed was to be divided between his wife and his mother, ‘Mrs. Maria Owen of Redgate Farm, Candleford, Devonshire.’ Grex, the house, the property, ‘the horses and all other appurtenances,’ he left to Anne.
He had spent some time debating what to do about the factory. He didn’t want to leave it to Anne because it might be dangerous. But he wanted her to have some of the money the factory would generate. In the end he left the factory to ‘my dear friend and colleague, Robert Denver,” with the stipulation that “one quarter of its yearly profit should go to my wife, Anne Elizabeth Sophia Dereham.”
If all went well, and he survived long enough to have children, he could make the appropriate alterations.
He also hired a few ex-soldiers to act as security guards at the factory, and lastly he visited an employment agency to ask them to try to find someone fitting to start up his school.
When all of this business had been accomplished, and he had no other excuses to stay away from Grex, he made plans to return home.