Chapter 327: Gladstone’s Family Ethics Drama

Chapter 324 Gladstone’s Family Ethics Drama
Liverpool Old Docks, Gladstone’s Import and Export Trading Company.

Hoofbeats roared in the distance, Gladstone galloped his horse, seeing that he was about to reach his destination, he skillfully tightened the reins to slow down his speed.

The servant who was in charge of parking the transportation for the guests in front of the door saw the appearance of the person coming, and hurriedly accelerated his pace to take the reins from Gladstone, who rolled over and dismounted from the horse.

“Young master, what brings you here?”

Without much explanation, Gladstone took off his leather gloves and asked, “Is my father here?”

“Is inside, but he said he has to go to the harbor authority in a while.”

“To the Port Authority? After the morning meeting?”

“It hasn’t been long since it ended, and you can see the fresh wheel marks on the floor from the guests leaving.”

“Don’t rush to get the car ready, I’ll go talk to him first.”

With that, Gladstone shoved his gloves toward the servant’s hand, then hotfooted it up the front steps of the door rushing toward the third floor.

Unexpectedly, before he could reach the third floor, he met his father, who was talking and laughing with others at the second floor platform.

The gray-haired gentleman held his cane in one hand and pointed to the sky outside the window with the other: “John, look at this weather today, a rare winter sun, accompanied by a little bit of cold, wrapped in the sardine smell of the sea breeze, like the day we first met. It was at the east end of the old wharf that you bought a pocket watch from me, who was working on a street stall.”

Old Gladstone just bristled and shook his head slightly at this, “Robert, you screwed me over that time. I used that watch for two weeks and could not walk, I took it back to you, but you told me that the repair belonged to the after-sales service, need to add another half a shilling. You know, at that time I was working as an apprentice in the trading company can not earn a few pennies, how can you heart black to such a degree.”

The old gentleman, who was called Robert, laughed heartily, and said, “My old fellow, but didn’t you not give a penny in the end? Not only that, but you even beat me up by my collar. However, we’re kind of not fighting each other. At that time who would have thought that a small clerk of a trading company and a poorly learned watchmaker’s apprentice could come to this point.”

Old Gladstone joked with his old friend as he rested both hands on his cane, “It’s nothing unexpected, I’ve always believed that young people always have unlimited possibilities. And I think you’ve succeeded mainly because your pocket watches are now mainly exported. Customers can’t swim across the Atlantic to settle their accounts with you, can they?”

The old gentleman wasn’t annoyed when he heard this, he responded wryly, “It’s no big deal, John, don’t you have a boat? You ship the customers over, and we’ll split the after-sales service payoff in half. Don’t worry, although I now have to sell tens of thousands of watches in North and South America every year, the yield rate is not as low as it used to be. If you bring me two shipments a year, that should be about right.

By the way, isn’t William idle now? You can ask him to organize this. To be honest, every time I see William, it’s like seeing you when you were young. Whether it’s business or something else, that little son of yours will always have a future.”

Gladstone was about to walk up, but as soon as he heard himself mentioned in the conversation, his forward steps couldn’t help but pause and freeze in place.

“On the company’s side, it’s enough to have a few of his brothers helping out. As for him, I don’t have much expectation for him, being able to have a serious career is enough.”

“Hahaha, John, you and I really have the same mood. When the children get older, for the sons to arrange a serious career for them, and for the daughters to pick a husband with a serious career for them.”

“Oh, that’s right. With all the free-love heresy being preached in the papers, and the journalists and writers talking like wicked heathens, Britain is just too poisoned by Byron and Shelley right now.”

“Alas …… then again, John, unlike you I have a share of good fortune; I have no sons capable of carrying on the cause, and only a few girls. Anna married to Scotland, Alice married to Sussex, although both aunts are a good-looking man, but because they are the eldest son, so each has their own property to inherit.

I had to pin all my hopes on the youngest, Catherine. I originally thought that Catherine had grown up so beautifully that she should not need me to worry too much about her marriage. But who would have thought that she was a strange girl, and that she did not like any of the young men whom I thought distinguished …….”

Old Gladstone heard this, and was instantly alarmed.

He told him why the conscienceless old watchmaker had suddenly been so enthusiastic about climbing into friendship with him at the end of the meeting.

After all, it turned out to be waiting here.

Seeing that the other party didn’t say anything, the old gentleman further hinted, “John, I don’t think it’s advisable to delay the marriage of a girl’s family too late. According to our British tradition, the girl is sixteen years old when she comes of age and starts to attend social occasions, and she should usually get married before she is eighteen. If she passes twenty, then she can become an old girl.”

Old Gladstone bit the bullet, he just stared at the window glass and said, “Well …… that’s true for girls, but boys can be delayed a little later.”

When the old gentleman heard this, he was choked and almost gasped.

It was at this moment that Gladstone rushed up and took off his hat in greeting, “Good noon, Mr. Rothwell.”

The old gentleman twisted his head to look and was instantly surprised, “William, when did you come back?”

“Uh ……” Gladstone returned, “I only came back yesterday, so I haven’t had time to pay you a visit. Mr. Roswell, it’s been a long time, how is your health?”

“Stiff! My body is as hard as an old pocket watch that has just finished its aftermarket!”

The old gentleman’s face broke into a smile, “Actually, even if you don’t come to visit me, I guess I’ll have to wait until the beginning of spring next year to pay you a visit in London.”

“You are going to London?” Gladstone asked, “Is there some business matter to deal with?”

“Hmm! Indeed it is to talk business!”

The old gentleman coughed and said, “I am also distressed about my little Catherine. The little girl is getting older, her mind can’t even fit in the whole of Liverpool anymore, it has to be a city the size of London to satisfy her. I thought, if she wants to go then so be it, but the social season starting in April is sure to be so costly that I might as well just acquire a watch factory in London to support her. Anyway, when this old pocket watch of mine can’t walk the talk, won’t the money have to be left to her sooner or later?”

Gladstone couldn’t help but be a little enraptured to hear that his sweetheart actually wanted to settle in London, and he asked, “From what you say, Catherine will be living in London from now on?”

Where could the young man’s little pointer escape the observation of the old pocket-watch, Mr. Rothwell smiled faintly, and lifted his finger for emphasis.

“Not necessarily; it will depend chiefly on where my future son-in-law lives; don’t wives follow their husbands? But one thing I can guarantee is that wherever the young couple goes, my watch business will go. Alas …… I’m getting older, long past the time when I only think about profits. Let’s leave the matter of profit to the new aunt to bother about.”

Gladstone was about to speak, but before he could get out, he was interrupted by his father.

Old Gladstone shook his head slightly, “William, didn’t you say you were reflecting on the party’s primary defeat? Why are you suddenly in the mood to run to the company?”

“Ah!” Gladstone then remembered the matter at hand, “Father, I do have something to find you.”

Hearing this, Mr. Roswell also took the initiative to take his leave in a rather genteel manner. He raised his finger and lightly touched the brim of his hat, “William, don’t be discouraged, this is just a minor setback in life’s journey, you still have a long road ahead of you. When I set up a street stall for the first time, I had no business for several days in a row, until the fifth day when I opened my business with a small staff of a trading company, although I received a punch on the nose for it. But all in all, it wasn’t my problem that honest business was treated rudely. My advice to you, William, and my own business experience over the years, is to make your own money and let them cry.”

With that, Roswell shook out his tuxedo and walked down the stairs humming a little tune.

Old Gladstone watched from the window as he came up to the carriage, before speaking with a black face, “William, my silly boy! What have you learned in three years at Oxford? Even if you have to order this batch of goods, we can’t just come up and reveal our cards during the negotiations!”

Gladstone heard his father’s reprimand, and only then was he awakened from the fantasy he had been thinking about.

“I …… dad, but this is not business, this is marriage.”

“Marriage is a business too, and you have to sell yourself at a higher price.”

Old Gladstone beckoned, next to the secretary rushed up to light his pipe, “William, if we take the stock for example, you are now the unquestionable top-performing stock in the stock exchange. Whether long term or short term, your upward trend is on the surface. Your position shareholders include not only individual investors like the Duke of Newcastle and Sir Peel, but also powerful and solid groups like Oxford University and the Tories. With a long term view of the red, are you now prepared to back stab your father, the original shareholder?”

Gladstone had grown up knowing that his father was an amazing trader, but he still hadn’t realized that the old man in his late sixties was still refining himself to this day, to the point where he was starting to get into the field of finance.

“I ……” Gladstone deflated a bit, “Dad, I really like Catherine.”

“Whoa! Silly boy, listen to what you’re saying.”

Old Gladstone gently patted his son’s face, “Liking is just an emotion, but it doesn’t produce value. If you like her and you want to have a love, you can absolutely develop a relationship with her. But the relationship doesn’t have to be a marriage.

Do you know what marriage represents? Don’t believe the flim-flam of the newspapers and magazines, what’s written in Blackwood’s and Cockney’s is a stinking pile of shit. Marriage is not some emotional union of two people, it’s a brand new social relationship for the couple.

This social relationship is completely positive, something you can put on a pedestal and brag about to outsiders, something that can legitimately help elevate your social status and power. You can absolutely use this relationship to make yourself a more powerful person.

But William, but now you’re telling me that you want to marry a watchmaker’s daughter? If that’s the kind of marriage you’re just after, then I’ve worked all my life for nothing. You could have such a marriage even if you were not the son of John Gladstone, the great Liverpool merchant, but the son of John Smith, the blacksmith of King Street.”

Gladstone was silent for a long time, and rarely red-faced, but this time he argued strenuously, “But, father, Mr. Rothwell is no ordinary watchmaker. He is the biggest watchmaker in Liverpool!”

Old Gladstone frowned and asked, “The biggest watchmaker is not a watchmaker?”

Gladstone asked rhetorically, “Then the biggest merchant in Liverpool is not a merchant?”

Who knows that when old Gladstone heard this, not only did he not get angry, but his frowning brows furiously stretched out.

“Right! Right! William, it’s right that you can think like this! Do you now know why I don’t let you get involved in the family business? I’ve been a merchant all my life, and your brothers will be merchants all their lives. But you’re different. You’re going to be a nobleman! A Britannian nobleman in the purest sense of the word! And the first step to becoming a nobleman starts with marrying one!
I know it’s very difficult to marry a nobleman, the likelihood of that is so low as to be negligible, just as the royal family only intermarries with the royal family, and the daughters of noble families seldom marry. But rarely marrying down doesn’t mean not marrying, we always have to try first. The old pocket-watch of Liverpool shells out a watch-factory, and I, being much more substantial than he is, will give you eighty thousand pounds if you can get a suitable wife!”

No sooner had old Gladstone finished his words than the Red Devil drifted in through the window, “Just come to the climactic part? Eighty thousand pounds, that’s quite a lot indeed, adding another twenty thousand would be enough to buy a councilor in York. It can’t be helped though, if there was just money to be had, the price to be offered would be that high.”

Old Gladstone squeezed his son’s shoulders with both hands, “William, it’s more than that, if you want to go further up the ladder, you’ll have to develop more than just marriage. Didn’t you complain to me earlier about the practices of that rival of yours, Benjamin Disraeli? You said that it was by climbing up Mrs. Sykes’ skirt that he hooked up with the Earl of Lyndhurst and thereby defeated you in the party primaries. If you can’t think of anything better than that, then why not join him? It’s no good being stubborn in business, and it’s no better in politics.”

Gladstone’s jaw dropped to the floor in shock as soon as he heard this, “But …… father, you don’t know that Mrs. Sykes could be Disraeli’s mother if it comes to age.”

“Wow …… my William.” Old Gladstone pointed out, “Ladies have different charms at different ages, they are like flowers in different seasons, you can appreciate them all. This is something your opponent does better than you, he knows how to appreciate the scenery of different seasons and has a fuller life because of it.”

When the Red Devil heard this, he laughed so hard that his tongue dragged to the ground, “Old man, you’ve really misjudged this point. That Jewish boy who likes to wear pants is simply just good at it. The ladies who hold the power are all older, so he’s got him on the wrong side of the law.”

Gladstone also disagreed with his father, “But you were just agreeing with Mr. Rothwell when you said that a girl past twenty is an old girl.”

“No, no, no, William, it’s you who misunderstood.”

Old Gladstone denied without blushing, “Those who are not married after twenty are old girls, and those who are married after twenty are ladies in the prime of life. Do you know how wine is made? Wine syrup without yeast will only deteriorate after sitting for a long time, while old wine with yeast will only become more fragrant the longer it sits.”

Hearing this, the Red Devil couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows and slap his leg and laugh, “After all this, it turns out to be the Jewish kid’s fellow travelers.”

Speaking of this, Old Gladstone didn’t forget to add, “And, William, you mark my words. For businessmen, nothing anyone says anywhere counts unless it’s written in black and white on a document. And for those politicians, even if it’s written on a document, he may still backtrack. So don’t take my off-the-cuff remarks as immutable dogma. You are already a brilliant young man, be mature in all things.”

Gladstone, seeing that his father had come to this point, could only put the matter of Catherine on the back burner for the time being.

He wasn’t as immature as his father made him out to be though, and with just a slight turn of thought, Gladstone came up with a new approach.

He spoke, “You always interrupt, causing me to forget the main matter. I came to the company today to tell you that Mr. Arthur Hastings, the anti-smuggling inspector sent from London, and I have some friendship. If you are in any difficulty and cannot speak directly, I can convey it to you.”

Old Gladstone’s eyes lit up, “You know Superintendent Hastings? William! Why didn’t you say so earlier? Oh, my God! Who would have thought that my son would find a breakthrough as soon as he opened his mouth when the Liverpool Association had been meeting all morning without solving the puzzle.”

Gladstone sniffed wryly, “Don’t be too happy just yet. Superintendent Hastings is not as easy to deal with as you think, and I can tell you that he is as decent a man as the newspapers advertise. Are you not afraid?”

“Afraid?” Old Gladstone took off his pipe and smiled gently, “Of course I’m afraid.”

Gladstone had expected his father to be stiff-lipped, but the other man’s candor had left him at a loss for words.

Gladstone asked, “What are you afraid of?”

Old Gladstone didn’t say anything either, he just raised his hand and placed it on the leather clasp on the servant’s suitcase.

With a flick of Old Gladstone’s wrist, only a clatter could be heard, and the banknotes in the suitcase flowed like a flood.

Old Gladstone stood in the middle of a golden light, holding his pipe and gently sipping, and around him, smoke billowed.

“I’m afraid he doesn’t like money.”

(End of chapter)