Chapter 23 Filled with anticipation for the future…
Filled with hope for the future, Mary continued to dedicate herself to her hat business. Everything was going smoothly, except for one thing that worried Price and his team: Christmas was approaching, and there was still no news from Richard.
Based on the timeline, he should have already arrived in Calcutta, India. Once there, he would surely have written to his family in Portsmouth, but they haven't received a letter. The long distance has made communication unreliable; perhaps by next year, when Richard's merchant ship has already returned from India, the letter still won't have reached Price's family.
“Richard really worries me. I thought being a sailor was safer than being in the army, but he’s not even as safe as William. At least Mr. Price always gets news about the Antwerp from the newspapers, but there’s no news about Richard at all.” One evening, Mrs. Price suddenly said this to her daughter with great concern.
“Oh, Mother, you can’t think like that. No news is good news right now. Maybe in two months, Richard’s letter will suddenly appear before us, or maybe the letter was lost on the way. There’s nothing we can do about it,” Mary tried her best to comfort Mrs. Price.
But the mother wasn't convinced: "I don't understand. We're seventy or eighty miles from London, and even further from Mansfield. John and Sir Thomas's letters have never had any problems, so why are Richard's letters encountering so many difficulties..."
“Mom, don’t forget, Richard is going to India, which will take more than three months by boat.” Susan was a little helpless about Mrs. Price’s forgetfulness. Mary had drawn a nautical chart for her mother when Richard had just set off.
Mrs. Price couldn't understand those strange geographical terms, like "Cape of Good Hope," and continued to mutter about the unreliability of the postal system. No matter how her daughters explained the difficulties of overseas communication to their mother, Mrs. Price refused to accept this reality, and even when they brought up her eldest son William's similar situation, she still couldn't understand.
“William is in the army, so of course we can’t be guaranteed to receive letters every time. In fact, even so, we’ve received many letters from him. Why can’t the owner of Richard’s merchant ship send the crew’s letters back safely?”
In addition, she was extremely worried about her son's health in India. She feared that Richard would contract the terrible "tropical disease" like countless British soldiers stationed there. He would surely lack food and clothing and be left unattended. Perhaps when the merchant ship returned, a crew member would suddenly knock on her door to deliver some unfortunate news.
In short, Mrs. Price spent a quiet and worried Christmas. Because the Christmas holidays weren't long, and John hadn't returned, he was staying with a friend in London. Now there were fewer than ten people in the house (including the servants), which was quite a rare experience for the Price family.
This worry persisted until March of the following year, just before the Easter holidays, when the merchant ship finally returned, and Richard returned safely. This news, like the spring breeze, dispelled the gloom that had lingered over the Price family for months.
Compared to his initial high spirits when he left, more than six months later, when the young man returned to Portsmouth, he felt a little more confident. He had left Great Britain for India with less than eighty pounds in goods and capital, and returned with fifty pounds and goods worth about two hundred and fifty pounds.
When the tanned young man appeared at the door carrying heavy luggage, the whole house erupted in cheers. "Thank God!" Mrs. Price examined her son from head to toe, making sure he didn't have a serious illness. Mr. Price patted his son's shoulder forcefully: "Good lad, I knew women were just worrying unnecessarily. The men of the Price family are all born sailors."
Mary noticed that Richard's face held the same radiance that William had when he first returned home from overseas—the confidence that, even though he was penniless, he believed he could win the future through hard work. It was this soaring confidence that helped the United Kingdom become the British Empire.
He eagerly opened his luggage, producing various gifts as if by magic: "Dad, Mom, Mary, Susan, Sam, Tom, Charles, come and see what I brought back for you!" He enthusiastically introduced the gifts to his family one by one: an Indian pipe for Mr. Price, a shawl for Mrs. Price, fine Indian cotton fabric for his two sisters, and a set of exquisite wooden exotic dolls for Sam and the other little ones...
In addition to these, his luggage also contained local Indian spices such as pepper, cinnamon, cloves, and turmeric, as well as tea and silk from the East, all of which Richard would soon sell at the Portsmouth market.
Before Richard could finish unpacking, everyone asked him if he had written a letter after the merchant ship arrived in India. Upon learning that he had written a letter as soon as he arrived in Calcutta, they all began to curse the unreliability of the postal system. It seemed that the letter had indeed been lost en route.
Taking a sip of tea, Richard began to vividly recount his experiences in Calcutta: “We stayed in the English quarter, and it felt almost like returning to our homeland. Those white-columned buildings were even more impressive than Portsmouth’s town hall. However…” he lowered his voice, “I heard the Indian quarter is quite different, with filth everywhere. But to be honest, aren’t all slums like that?”
"Is the weather in India really that hot? Mom is especially worried that you might catch a 'tropical disease'," Susan asked curiously.
"We were lucky; we arrived in winter, so it wasn't too hot, which was much better than I initially imagined. It wouldn't have been so comfortable if we had arrived in summer. Many crew members told me on the ship that living in Kolkata for a long time, the hot and humid tropical climate could even make people lazy. After we got off the ship, we realized that we had worried for nothing."
Richard turned to Mary: “Mary, you wouldn’t believe it, the cotton fabric I brought sold out very quickly. Everyone knows British goods are beautiful and inexpensive. As for the wool fabric, at first I didn’t find anyone to buy it, and I almost thought I was doomed because it’s not as cold here as in England, and even the British didn’t need these fabrics for the time being. Around the beginning of December, just when I was about to give up, a big merchant who was doing business in the northern princely states bought all the fabrics. He made three times his profit on that one deal alone, and he even made a deal with me that if I ever had any more of that kind of fabric in the future, I should sell it all to him. Your recommendation was really good!”
Mary keenly noticed the glint in Richard's eyes when he talked about business. When she heard about the complicated history of that batch of wool, she was both frightened and proud of her brother's business acumen. She couldn't help but praise him, "It was all thanks to your keen grasp of opportunities!"
After dinner, Mary and Susan went upstairs together to help Richard sort through the goods he had brought back from India. While Mary sorted the tea leaves into three grades according to their quality, she instructed Richard on how to mix the spices he had brought back into curry powder.
“Many restaurants in London are now selling Indian food because British people returning from India are missing the local flavors, so these spices can fetch at least 30% more.” Mary carefully calculated the spice ratio formula.
Mary's judgment proved to be entirely correct. After Richard put up a sign at the market that read "Authentic Indian Curry," soldiers returning home from India and wives of officers who had accompanied their husbands to their posts flocked to it.
Including the graded tea and popular silk, the goods, originally valued at £250, eventually sold for over £370, nearly half more than expected. Richard counted the heavy purse; after deducting the initial investment, he had made a profit of approximately £340.
He counted out two hundred and sixty-two pounds and said to Mary, "You gave me fifty pounds as an investment, and now the surprise I promised you has arrived. I don't think I let you invest in the wrong person." The younger sister naturally refused firmly: "How can you calculate it like that? I just want my principal back."
“We agreed on an investment, not a loan, Mary. Even though we’re siblings, we have to follow the rules.” Richard knew his sister was worried that he didn’t have enough capital, and the more she worried, the more he wanted to give her the money. He only smiled with satisfaction when Mary finally accepted it.
"What are you planning to do next? Will you buy more cotton and wool fabric?" Mary asked her brother curiously about their future plans.
“That’s right. I plan to use all 160 pounds I have to buy wool. I already made an agreement with that merchant last time. This time, the principal will be doubled, and I might be able to earn 700 or 800 pounds when I get back.” Richard revealed a determined look.
Seeing her brother preparing to gamble everything on a stock purchase, Mary couldn't help but advise, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket, Richard. To ensure your profits are on track, the most important thing is to diversify your risks. All your funds are tied up in goods; if something goes wrong along the way and you run into cash flow problems, you could lose everything. Besides, you mentioned that India's summers are hot. Even if you sign a supply contract, you'll arrive in India in July or August. How can you guarantee they won't take the opportunity to lower prices? Cotton cloth, on the other hand, has relatively stable profits, so bringing some is definitely a good idea. I also think you could consider bringing some linen with you."
Richard was stunned: he had been completely blinded by profit and hadn't even considered this point. If Mary hadn't reminded him, he would have made an irreparable mistake!
Finally, after much persuasion from his sister, Richard deposited fifty pounds into a local trust savings bank in Portsmouth, and used the rest of the money to buy cotton, linen and wool fabrics.
A note from the author:
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