Chapter 18 For those struggling...

For those struggling, time is a long and agonizing ordeal; for those full of hope, the days fly by like birds.

It seems like only yesterday that Mary gave Mrs. Price the hat and seashell bead necklace she had made herself, and now a year has passed in the blink of an eye. Mary and Susan have already spent three terms at the girls' school (in the British school system, a year is divided into three terms), and with the summer holidays approaching, the Price children have all temporarily left school.

Since resolving the previous difficulties, Mary's hat business entered a phase of steady growth. John was in charge of the bookkeeping each month, and the total profit over eight months had reached nearly £190. After giving Aunt Taylor £47, and Susan, John, and Richard £9.80 each, Mary received £112.60. She gave £100 to her godfather, General Maxwell, to continue buying bonds, and kept the rest for personal expenses.

Perhaps in the eyes of the most devout ascetics, money brings endless sins. But for most people in the nineteenth century, the magic of money was enough to send them to heaven, and people developed an unprecedented love for it. The Price siblings and Aunt Taylor, who had never been wealthy before, gradually acquired some money, and their lives changed considerably.

Aunt Taylor tidied up her shop, and now her income is almost equal to what she and her husband used to earn together. Because she was too busy with business to take care of her children, she sent her six-year-old son Charlie to a charity school.

This is a mentorship school, a type of school that has only emerged in the last twenty years or so. It primarily enrolls underprivileged children, who, due to a lack of funding and the inability to afford multiple teachers, have to rely on older, high-achieving children to act as mentors. After some training, these children then teach other students. Just a year ago, even a school like this was something Aunt Taylor wouldn't have dared to dream of, but now she's even considering that if business continues to be good, she might be able to send her child to a better school next year.

While Aunt Taylor was worrying about her children's future, Mrs. Price hardly had to worry, and her children grew up to be more and more pleasing to the eye.

Every morning, without needing to be urged, John and Richard were already neatly dressed. John was becoming increasingly composed, while Richard was becoming increasingly clever. When there were household chores that Mr. Price needed to handle, and he happened to be drunk, asking the two brothers to do the work was just as efficient as William was at home. Their daughter Mary was getting healthier and healthier, hardly coughing at all that year. Susan's temper had improved considerably since starting school. The three little boys were all robust and ran around the house every day.

The only person she truly missed was William, who had only returned two or three times that year, and each time his visits were brief.

"Mary, did General Maxwell tell you when William will be eligible to become an officer cadet?" Mrs. Price suddenly asked one evening.

“Mom, I think we should wait until William comes back from overseas. He hasn’t served two years yet.”

“I also think he will definitely be able to get this done after he comes back. William is highly regarded by the captain, and I don’t think anyone would refuse to give the general face. William is the person he wants to promote, so there shouldn’t be any problems with this matter.” Mrs. Price had been thinking about this matter for a long time, and the closer she got to the final moment, the more nervous she became. Although she kept muttering to herself, she was still uneasy.

Mary and Susan exchanged a helpless glance and could only continue to comfort Mrs. Price: "Mom, Godfather has definitely taken care of these things. Besides, you have to trust William's abilities; he can handle everything, and there won't be any problems."

Mrs. Price continued to nag for almost a month until one day in August, when William finally returned with the Antwerp, and his return was welcomed by the whole family.

Shortly after returning, he successfully became an officer candidate at the Royal Naval School in Portsmouth, with the service certificate issued to him by the captain.

This did not mean that William could stay in Portsmouth and attend school. Like all such schools of the time, the naval academy only admitted outstanding and promising junior and mid-ranking officers from among the active-duty naval officers, and William was currently only an officer candidate. He had to continue serving on the HMS Antwerp, receiving bloody "hands-on instruction" aboard the ship, learning his book knowledge in real combat.

Rather than teaching, this is more like a survival-of-the-fittest competition that thoroughly embodies the law of the jungle. How many officer candidates will actually make it to the day they pass the junior officer exam and become officers? Nobody can say for sure.

In any case, William was fortunate to have the patronage of General Maxwell and Sir Thomas. From that moment on, his treatment, income, and future were completely different from those of ordinary sailors. In fact, in a sense, the future of the United Kingdom was in the hands of these officer cadets like William.

After this important matter was settled, William finally had time to ask his younger siblings about the "secret" they had been hiding from their parents.

“John, Richard, Mary, Susan, none of you told me how useful those seashells and conches were when you came back the last few times. I only found out because many sailors were collecting them, and this hat you made yourself.” William held the hat Mary had given to Mrs. Price, his blue eyes, like Mary's, shining, and said with a hint of grievance, “Why did you keep it from me?”

John, Richard, Mary, and Susan exchanged glances, surprised that they had all forgotten to tell William about it. John spoke first: "Mary, didn't you tell William about this? I thought you would."

“Oh, we didn’t mean to hide it from you, it’s just…” Mary stammered, trying to find an excuse for her previous avoidance of the topic.

Richard didn't think there was anything wrong with saying it, so he told his brother directly, "Oh, William, we're not hiding it from you, but from Mom. We're afraid you'll tell her. If Mom finds out, she'll definitely let it slip to Dad, and you know, then this whole thing will fall apart."

“Even if Dad has a prejudice against business, we can persuade him properly…” Although Mr. Price had many shortcomings, William always felt that he was, after all, his father, and his children should always respect him.

“William, I’ve always been in charge of the family accounts. In the two years you’ve been away, there’s clearly been a surplus in the accounts, but Lieutenant Price would rather use that money to eat and drink extravagantly than ever think about our future. Putting aside his prejudice against business, even if he didn’t have any prejudice, do we really have to tell him and let him squander all the money we’ve worked so hard to earn?”

Mary wasn't without other ways to make money, but she was just a minor girl, and not all her ideas could be explained away as childish "spur-of-the-moment" whims. She had considered telling Mr. Price these ideas; he was a grown man, a former military officer, and had a natural advantage in this era. But Mr. Price was utterly useless. Even if they made a fortune, he would squander it all. To put it more cynically, she might even become his "cash cow."

Over the years, William had enjoyed his parents' attention. Although he was aware of the Price couple's irresponsibility, he did not have the same deep-seated "sense of crisis" as Mary.

As the eldest son, if the Price family owned land, he could, according to past custom, inherit his parents' entire estate. Of course, for ordinary middle-class families without land, such an inheritance scheme that completely disregards the other children is rare. Even so, if Mr. Price were to make a will someday, considering William's importance to his parents, he could at least inherit half the property, with the other brothers possibly dividing the remainder equally. Now that Mr. Price is unwilling to provide dowries for his daughters, how can he be expected to think of them then?

Although, given William's character, he would certainly be willing to continue supporting his sisters, he was now willing to hand over the money he earned to Mary to manage. He even secretly thought about buying a small house of his own when he had money in the future, and he, Fanny, and Mary would live together.

But why must Mary hand over this power to Mr. Price and William? Why can't she take control of her own destiny?

In this respect, it was John and Richard, the second and third sons, who understood their sisters' situation better. Since John had been receiving his share of the profits from the hat business, he hadn't suggested that Mary quit. He and Richard were both ten years old, and by this time last year, they had already discussed their future with Mary. Although Susan remained silent throughout, she clearly trusted her brothers and sisters' judgment more than her parents.

Looking at Mary's stubborn eyes, William recalled how she had argued with her father a few years ago about going to school. Considering Mr. Price's consistent attitude, it wasn't impossible for him to do what his sister said, and Mary's actions were understandable.

He was never the kind of domineering and unreasonable older brother, and his attitude quickly softened: "Don't worry, I will never tell Mother about this. But John, Richard, you must promise me that you will protect Mary and Susan and never let them go out alone. Portsmouth isn't always peaceful. I heard a lot about this on the ship—some good ladies and young women who went out alone and met with misfortune. If you encounter anything you can't handle, remember to ask the adults for help. You may not trust Father, but you should trust the General, right?"

A note from the author:

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