Markle then shouted a vile suggestion as to what Darcy could do. Elizabeth started, and Darcy glared in silence. “Her ladyship was an equal partner in our arrangement,” Markle said, anger still in his voice, “and what cost her one thousand pounds, I could sell for three.”
Elizabeth gave Darcy a questioning look. “What has this to do with treason?”
“It has been illegal to export English gold to France since 1797. The French are hoarding coins, and our economy has beenweak during the war, propped up by credit, with little gold in reserve.”
“All the more reason people like you need people like me,” said Markle smugly.
“No respectable person would willingly purchase wares that had never paid the king his dues.”
The entire room laughed save for her and Darcy. “Tobacco, tea, coffee, sugar, spirits, silk, lace”—Markle counted on his fingers—“all come into this country and are bought with no duty by people just like you. You think it is only unscrupulous shopkeepers who buy from me and not houses like yours? By your own housekeeper?”
Darcy shook his head. “You think people have the right to shun paying any duty on their goods?”
“Absolutely I do.” The other men in the room nodded. “We are free traders. Everyone benefits from cheaper prices.”
Darcy had no answer, but comprehension to the scheme rose over Elizabeth.It was a racket!
Lady Catherine bribed excise men for permits to ship her bad cherry brandy across England, and she also funded the purchase of contraband French brandy to be shipped in its place. The brandy was bought and swapped in France and then smuggled into England and sold. They paid a low, tax-free price for what the excise men thought was English brandy, but in fact it was fine French brandy that had not paid a penny of taxes.
Her ladyship paid a thousand pounds to buy the French brandy, plus fifty guineas per permit and whatever bribes were also needed, and Markle swapped her cherry brandy with quality spirits from France, and sold it here for three thousand pounds. If they profited two thousand, Markle likely got five hundred, and Lady Catherine got her initial investment plus another five hundred pounds.
“What went wrong?” Elizabeth asked curiously. “If you had this clandestine arrangement with my mother, why did you kidnap me?”
She regretted asking when she saw the harsh expression in Markle’s eyes. He rested his elbows on the table and fixed his eye on her while fear settled into her stomach.
“For the sake of fifty or a hundred guineas, she ruined the entire deal. Your mother decided she did not want to pay for new permits and certificates. She thought she knew better and reused ones from a previous shipment.”
“You have done this more than once?” Darcy interrupted.
“Every month for six months,” Markle said. Turning his gaze back to her, he continued. “Until she thought she could scrimp. Colton and Conway collected March’s shipment and took her permits without reading them, assuming all was as it should be. They loaded the ship, captained by my brother-in-law, Ramer.” Here he looked to the boy Kirby, who sat on a stool in the corner, his eyes on the floor. “Ramer cannot read well and did not know that he did not have permits for the load on his ship. The navy stopped him, and when his certificates were found to be invalid, they discovered he had one hundred gallons of foreign brandy, being uncustomed goods, and was liable to pay duties that had not been paid or received.
“Ramer offered to resign half the goods and let the navy who caught him off the coast keep the other half, but they refused. He fought for his goods and pulled a pistol. He was tried for attempted bribery and tax offences, and violence as well. We thought they would hang him on account of the fight he put up, but now he is in Newgate for two years! My sister is back to drinking without his income, and I lost a full load and a member of one of my crews.” He pointed at her again. “And all because your mother thought to save a few guineas!”
Elizabeth did not have to pretend to be Anne de Bourgh to stay silent. She wrote as best she could about Markle’s fury at her ladyship’s refusal to pay for the permits and bribes, and his distress at the arrest of this Ramer.
He leant down the table to see what she had written. “Tell Mamma that if she wants your return next week, she will have to pay handsomely for it.”
Next week? When next week? Today was Saturday. Why would it take long to secure a banknote and see them returned? Did Lady Catherine even have the money to pay them?
“If you want prompt compensation, you know that our uncle, Lord Fitzwilliam, is one of the wealthiest landowners in England,” Darcy said, likely thinking the same. “His lordship will pay handsomely for our swift return.”
“I don’t want his lordship’s money!” cried Markle. “Your aunt’s actions caused my brother-in-law to end up in Newgate. Kirby might not have lost his father to the gallows, but it is bad enough he is in jail. I lost a hundred gallons of brandy. I wantLady Catherine’smoney. And if she has sleepless nights over her daughter’s welfare, all the better!”
Markle exhaled sharply and added, “Now, Nan, write that since she lost me a crew member and an entire shipment, if she would like you and your cousin returned unharmed, she can expect to pay ten thousand pounds. Tell your mother you will write again regarding the arrangements if she returns a favourable reply.”
“If my aunt entered this smuggling scheme, it must have been for the money. What makes you think she can pay you ten thousand pounds?” Darcy asked. “I am in a far stronger position and will?—”
“Shut it!” he cried. “The point is that your aunt pays, and if you suggest otherwise again, then I will have Steamer share a bed with your cousin instead of you!”
Markle leant back in his seat, clasping his hands behind his head. “Your aunt’s access to money is not my problem. She crossed me, and I want what I am due. Her ladyship made three thousand pounds through our arrangement, and I do not care if she has to beg, borrow, or steal to get the remainder.”
This affair was deeply personal to Markle. Elizabeth finished the letter and hoped Markle did not notice her falter when she had to sign her name Anne de Bourgh. Their captor was rough and rugged to the last degree. He felt wronged, disrespected in his profession, and had no qualms with using violence, fear, and coercion to achieve his end.
Was Darcy right to want to attempt an escape?
Was Markle to be trusted to return them if he got his money, or would he kill them both and tell himself that it was a righteous justice in return for his brother-in-law being jailed and Lady Catherine betraying him?
While Markle folded and sealed the letter, Steamer pushed off from the wall and opened the cabinet with the chamber pot. Rather than use it in the cabinet, with his back to her, he pulled it out and turned sideways so she would be certain to see everything.
