“So what did you find?” Tony’s gaze rested on Jack Hendon.
Jack had settled on a straight-backed chair. “I got the information from Lloyd’s, unfortunately not as much as I’d have liked. There’s a watchman who goes around every half hour. I could only chance three passes—I had to put out the light every time he came by. Without it, I couldn’t see to make copies of the bills of lading.” He drew a sheaf of papers from his inside coat pocket. “I got the full details of six ships before I called it a night. However—”
He distributed the papers, handing three to the men on his right, three to his left; the ladies, on the two chaises perpendicular to the hearth, had to contain their curiosity until the men had scanned the pages and passed them their way.
“As you can see,” Jack resumed, as the men finished with the papers and looked up, “there’s nothing obvious, no particular goods or commodities that were carried on all six ships.” He paused, then added. “I’m not sure where that gets us. I was assuming there would be something in common.”
The men frowned; they looked at the six sheets, now in the ladies’ hands.
“How did you choose which ships to examine?” Christian asked.
“More or less randomly over the years ’12 to ’15.” Jack grimaced. “I thought that would be most useful, but now I wonder whether whatever’s the crucial element changes over time. One thing for so many months, another later.”
Gervase Tregarth leaned forward, peering at the lists Kit and Alicia had spread on a low table before the chaise. “Is there definitely no item in common?”
Kit, Alicia, and Leonora shook their heads.
One of the men muttered something about the seasons.
Alicia tapped an item on one list. “Three hundred ell of finest muslin. Remember how expensive muslin was? The price is much better now, but when this was brought in, it would have been worth a small fortune.”
“Hmm.” Leonora studied the entry. “I never thought of it before—one simply grumbles and pays the price—but it must have been due to the war.”
“Supply and demand,” Kit said. They were speaking quietly, their lighter voices a counterpoint against the men’s rumblings. “Jack says it’s the merchants who best supply the demand who get on in business.”
“True,” Miranda put in, “and during the war, the demand was always there, never satisfied. Anything imported was by definition expensive. Just think how the prices of silks—”
“Let alone tea and coffee.” Alicia tapped another entry on one list.
Miranda nodded; so did the others. “All those things became hideously dear….” Her words faded.
Their gazes met. They all exchanged one long wondering glance, then looked at the lists.
“You don’t think…?”Adriana leaned nearer.
All five ladies bent over the lists again.
The gentlemen continued to reassess and revisit their reasoning, trying to see a way forward.
Alicia straightened. “That’s it.” She pointed triumphantly to items listed on each of the six bills of lading. “Tea and coffee!”
“Yes—of course!” Kit snatched up one of the lists and checked the entry, then reached for another.
“Ah—I see!” Leonora, face lighting, picked up another list.
Tony, Tristan, and Jack exchanged glances. “What do you see?” Tristan asked.
“The item in common.” Alicia picked up another list and pointed to a line. “Tea—one thousands pounds of finest leaves from Assam.”
Handing that list to Tony, she picked up another. “On this one, it’s coffee—three hundred pounds of best beans from Colombia.”
Kit sat back. “So sometimes it’s coffee, and sometimes it’s tea—one from the West Indies, the other on ships from the East.”
“But they’re often both handled by the same merchant,” Leonora informed the men as the lists made their way around the circle again. “Not necessarily sold through the same shops, but it’s usually the same supplier.”
“Which supplier?” Christian asked.
The ladies exchanged glances. “There are many, I imagine,” Miranda replied. “It’s a profitable area, and fashionable in its way.”