Why were they always so stupid? It hardly made the game enjoyable.
Fields looked bewildered. “Have we no time to vacate properly?”
“I think not. If you examine the third paragraph on the fourth page, you will see that, in signing this document, you have agreed to leave the premises immediately—and never to return. So, I shall have your keys.Now.”
Fields’s mouth fell open in shock. “You…youmonster!” Fields lunged, hands outstretched and eyes wild. Anticipating the move, Fiennes stepped aside. The door to his office opened, and two burly guards entered.
“Mr Fields is leaving.” Fiennes retained his air of self-command. The men seized the weeping man by the arms and hauled him away. He went to the window and watched as the former master of Netherfield Park was relieved of his keys before being thrust from the house.
“’Tis almost not amusing any longer.” The words escaped him on a breath of ennui. Of late, he had found himself driven to greater extremes to receive the same exhilaration. Never had he taken an entire estate to settle a debt. The temptation had been too strong when the notion first struck him, and he had acted on it at once. Morgan Fields had been the perfect target—a man far too free with information after too brief an acquaintance.
He resumed his seat and opened a desk drawer, retrieving his investigator’s report on Netherfield Park. The estate was the largest in the district, a few miles from a small market town called Meryton. It yielded five thousand pounds a year—hardly a fortune compared to his present income.
Born into poverty, Fiennes had begun his career in the seedier quarters of London. He first apprenticed himself to a landlord named Bacchus,who discerned his intelligence and taught him all he knew of surviving in the city’s underbelly. Bacchus could read and write—a rare skill in those parts—his mother having been the daughter of a gentleman cast off for falling with child out of wedlock. By a stroke of fortune, Fiennes was later introduced to a usurer named Morton, who likewise perceived his worth and made the young man his protégé.
After ten years in Morton’s service, Fiennes grew restless. Morton’s dealings were limited to tradesmen, from whom he earned barely a thousand pounds per year. He lived in a shabby boarding house, hoarding every penny he could. Averse to risk, he preferred meagre profits to ventures of greater promise. In the end, Morton’s timidity confined him to the same narrow sphere he had long inhabited. Fiennes, however, desired far more.
He began to frequent Cheapside, where wealthy tradesmen kept their warehouses, and many proved easy prey. When he brought Morton nearly double his former income, the old man at last recognised the benefit of expanding his business. Unfortunately forhim,Fiennes had learned that he could prosper alone. He took his due from Morton and left him with scarcely enough to survive.
Fiennes felt no guilt in departing with several thousand pounds. Morton owed his recent success to his apprentice, and Fiennes considered the money no more than his rightful share.
With his eyes on the future, he rented a small office near Cheapside from which to conduct his own affairs. He began modestly, unwilling to draw undue notice. Such business demanded finesse. He must earn the tradesmen’s trust and establish a reputation for fairness and probity. Fiennes would work within the bounds of the law, bending and twisting it so that none could lay a hand on him.
His first conquest was Arthur Reed, a young man who had just inherited his father’s concern; he longed for an easy life and came to Fiennes seekingfortune through investment. His father’s will forbade him from drawing on company funds, and so Fiennes gladly lent him a substantial sum. Reed’s chosen speculation was ill-advised, but who was Fiennes to dissuade him?
Fiennes allowed the young fool ample time to repay the loan. It was hardly surprising when Reed appeared before him in tears, begging for an extension. “It is all gone. The speculation failed spectacularly.”
“My three thousand pounds?” Fiennes feigned surprise. “How, then, will you repay your debt?”
“Give me six months!” The plea burst out of him, raw with fear. “I shall get it.”
“It will be a further two hundred pounds for the extension,” Fiennes warned. “If you cannot pay by then, I shall have no recourse but to take your company in settlement.”
Reed stared at him. “My company is worth far more than a few thousand pounds!”
“So, it is. Then I shall merely take what I am owed in shares.” It was a sound notion. By acquiring shares, Fiennes would secure an income for years to come. Three thousand pounds and interest would certainly pay for a significant number of shares.Perhaps even enough to grant him control,he mused.
“Agreed.” Reed looked hopeful. “I shall have your money in six months.”
Fiennes doubted it. Presenting his quarry with a new contract, he extended the pen.
To no one’s surprise, Reed failed to pay on time. Worse, he had attempted to embezzle funds from his company, prompting his business partner to sell his shares. Fiennes acquired them quietly, fully aware that once Reed surrendered his in payment, control would be his.
Reed was livid when he learnt the truth. Fiennes installed his own men to oversee the company and sat back as the profits poured in. Reed, holding too few shares to be heard, became little more than a clerk in his own factory—his father’s toil rendered worthless. In time, he sold his remaining shares to Fiennes for a fraction of their value, declaring that even the pittance was preferable to remaining beneath Fiennes’s thumb.
Fiennes returned to the present, a smug sense of satisfaction stirring in his chest at the recollection of hisearly days, as he termed them. He had moved from place to place, establishing connexions and ruining men before passing on to the next. By degrees, he developed a reputation as a fair and law-abiding man, though many whispered cautions in dealing with him.
There were some, however, whom he did not strip of all they possessed. The wealthier sort often escaped his schemes, for they had families with sufficient means and influence to rescue them. Fiennes did not begrudge it; such appearances preserved his true purposes. Clients continued to visit his offices in search of money; and, because there weresomesuccessful repayments, he escaped censure when another was ruined.
Yet, eventually, restlessness set in. He had amassed a fortune and held several prosperous businesses. He was known in every circle and welcomed into all but the loftiest ranks of society. Still, he was unsatisfied. He longed to elevate himself beyond his present situation.
“All in good time.” He set the latest agreement aside with deliberate care and rang the bell for his clerk. Richard Wilkens was his name—a thin, bespectacled fellow with a wiry frame and a keen head for business.
“Send men to Hertfordshire without delay. Fields will attempt to return.” He handed over the papers. “Here is the signed agreement. If necessary, consult the local magistrate—he is not to set foot onmyproperty.”
“Yes, sir.” Wilkens nodded. “Will you be travelling to Hertfordshire yourself?”
“Not yet.” Fiennes rose and stepped from behind his desk. “I must see my business affairs in order before retiring to the country.”
