THE _HENRIETTA_
During the winter of 1869-70 it seems that Posh conceived the idea that
the capital of the firm of FitzGerald and Fletcher justified the working
partner in increasing the stock-in-trade. A boat-building company at
Southwold put up some craft at auction, and among them was one which had
already seen a good deal of sea service named the _Henrietta_. This Posh
bought for about 100 pounds without consulting his partner. It
transpired afterwards that the sale was not acceptable to all the
shareholders of the company that owned the boat, especially to a Jerry
Cole, one of the principal shareholders, and there was a good deal of
bother for Posh in obtaining delivery of his purchase. It may be as well
to include all the letters relating to this transaction in one chapter
without regard to dates.
The first is dated February 1st--that is to say, February 1st, 1870--and
was written at Woodbridge by FitzGerald to his partner. The letter, as
handed to me by Posh, was incomplete, and lacked signature. No doubt the
second sheet had been lost with those "sackfuls."
"WOODBRIDGE, _February_ 1_st_.
"MY DEAR POSH,
"Mr. Spalding was with me last night; and I asked him if I was
justified in the scolding I gave you about buying the Lugger and Nets
too; telling him the particulars. He would not go so far as to say I
was _wrong_; but he thought that you were not to blame either.
Therefore I consider that I _was_ wrong; and, as I told you, I am very
glad to find myself wrong, though very sorry to have been so: and I
cannot let a day pass without writing to say so. You may think that I
had better have said nothing to anybody about it: but I always do ask
of another if I am right. If Mr. Spalding had been at Lowestoft at
the time all this would not have happened: as it _has_ happened, I
wish to take all the blame on myself.
"All this will make you wish the more to be quit of such a _Partner_.
I am sure, however, that I _thought_ myself right: and am glad to
recant. Perhaps another Partner would not do so much: but you say you
will not have another.
"Mr. Spalding thinks you would have done better to stick to _one_
Lugger, considering the double trouble of two. But he says he is not
a proper judge. _I_ think the chief evil is that this new Boat will
keep you ashore in the Net-room, which I am persuaded hurts you. I
told you I was sure the _Dust_ of the nets hurt you: and (oddly
enough) the first thing I saw, on opening a Paper here on my return,
was a Report on the influence of _Dust_ in causing Disease. I hope
you have seen the Doctor and told him all--about last Summer's
Illness. Let me hear what he says. I should have advised
_Worthington_, but he is very expensive. One thing I am sure of: _the
more you eat_, _and the less you drink_, _the better_."
Even here, when Posh had obviously gone beyond his rights and bought
another boat without consultation with his capitalist partner, FitzGerald
shows his anxiety and solicitude for the man.
There _is_ a good deal of dust flying about the net chambers; for the
cutch and oil and thread all shred off and poison the air. "Why," said
Posh the other day, "he bought me one o' them things that goo oover the
mouth" (a respirator), "but lor! I should ha' been ashamed ta be seed a
wearin' on it!"
Dr. Worthington referred to in the letter is one of a long line of
medical practitioners, and was the Lowestoft medical attendant of
FitzGerald himself. I have experienced great kindness from both this Dr.
Worthington and his son Dr. Dick Worthington. The former tells me that
FitzGerald would never enter his house, but would stand on the doorstep
to consult. He had no objection to the doctor entering his
(FitzGerald's) lodgings, and on one occasion when Dr. Worthington called
on him at 12 Marine Terrace the doctor saw all his medicine bottles
unopened in a row. "You know this isn't fair to me," said the justly
irritated doctor. "I do what I can for you, and you won't take my
medicines." "My dear doctor," said FitzGerald, "it does me good to see
you."
Dr. Aldis Wright says that this is merely an instance of FitzGerald's
rule that he would never enter the house of his equal. Of course his
"social" equal is inferred, for the rule would have been unnecessary if
the "equal" bore another significance. His inferiors in station he would
visit and charm by his manner and speech. But the house of a society
equal he avoided, lest he should be compelled, for mere courtesy, to go
where he would not.
I have, of course, chuckled over the opinion that Dr. Worthington senior
was "very expensive." But I believe that FitzGerald was one of those (I
might almost say "of us") who regarded all doctor's bills as luxuries! At
all events, if FitzGerald was right, I can say that Dr. Dick Worthington
is not atavistic in this particular!
Mr. Spalding's opinion inclined FitzGerald to make no difficulty about
finding the money for the _Henrietta_. He lodged it at his bankers' for
Posh to draw when occasion required. But Posh seems to have been a
little in advance. There is no heading whatever to the following letter.
"DEAR POSH,
"I don't understand your letter. That which I had on _Friday_,
enclosing Mr. Craigie's, said that you had not _drawn_ the money, your
letter of _To-day_ tells me that you _had_ drawn the money, _before
the Letter from Southwold_ came. Was not that letter Mr. Craigie's
letter?
"Anyhow, I think you ought not (after all I have said) to have drawn
the money (to keep in your house) till you wanted it. And you could
have got it at the Bank _any_ morning on which you got _another_
letter from Southwold, telling you the business was to be settled.
"Moreover, I think you should have written me on _Saturday_, in answer
to my letter. You are very good in attending to any letters of mine
about stores, or fish, which I don't care about. But you somehow do
not attend so regularly to things which I _do_ care about, such as
gales of wind in which you are out, and such directions as I have
given over and over again about money matters.
"However, I don't mean to kick up another row; provided you _now_ do,
and at once, what I positively desire.
"Which is; to take the money directly to Mr. Barnard, and ask him, as
from _me_, to pay it to my account at Messrs. Bacon and Cobbold's Bank
at Woodbridge. Then if you tell me the address of the Auctioneer or
Agent, at Southwold who manage [_sic_] the business, Bacon and Cobbold
will write to them at _once_ that the money is ready for them directly
the Lugger is ready for you. And, write me a line to-morrow to say
that this is done.
"This makes a trouble to you, and to me, and to Bankers, but I think
you must blame yourself for not attending to my directions. But I am
yours not the less.
"E. FG.
Mr. Craigie was an old Southwold friend of the Fletcher family, with whom
Fletcher senior (Posh's father) had spent Christmas for over forty years.
The criticism of Posh's system appears, to the impartial critic, to be
both painful and true. But Posh, in this case, was not altogether to
blame. This Mr. Jerry Cole, before mentioned, was keeping things back.
He had a preponderating interest in that Southwold company, and he
thought that the _Henrietta_ had been sold too cheap, and that hung up
the delivery. At least that's what Posh tells me, and at this date I
can't get any better evidence than his.
Shortly after the last letter FitzGerald wrote again. Now his kind
anxiety about this man, whom he still loved, outweighed all thought of
money. It was a bitter winter, and Posh, he thought, was not over-hale.
"WOODBRIDGE, _Saturday_.
"DEAR CAPTAIN,
"Whatever is to be done about the money, do not you go over to
Southwold while this weather lasts. I think it is colder than I ever
knew. Don't go, I say--there can be no hurry for the boat (even if
you _can_ get it) for a a [_sic_] week or so. Perhaps it may be as
well at Southwold as at Lowestoft.
"I wish you were here to play Allfours with me To-night.
"Yours,
"E. FG."
Posh got the lugger in March, 1870, and on March 2nd FitzGerald wrote to
Mr. Spalding (_Two Suffolk Friends_, p. 118): "Posh has, I believe, gone
off to Southwold in hope to bring his Lugger home. I advised him last
night to ascertain first by letter whether she _were_ ready for his
hands; but you know he will go his own way, and that generally is as good
as anybody's. He now works all day in his Net-loft: and I wonder how he
keeps as well as he is, shut up there from fresh air and among frowsy
Nets. . . . I think he has mistaken in not sending the _Meum and Tuum_
to the West this spring. . . . But I have not meddled, nor indeed is it
my Business to meddle now. . . ."
I think this must have been written about the date of the letter with
which I commence the next chapter, or possibly a little later. It would,
almost certainly, be _after_ the catches of mackerel mentioned by "Mr.
Manby" as hereinafter appears, and, very likely, after the termination of
the partnership.