Part 62 (1/2)
”Not to worry,” Roger a.s.sured him, ”the Mint would not go into production anyway until after the coronation, which I'm told is scheduled for the twentieth of October. Give us, then, say, a week for the festivities to subside...”
”Sir Isaac Newton suggests Friday, the twenty-ninth.”
”Worst possible possible day, I am afraid. That is a Hanging-Day at Tyburn. Impossible to move.” day, I am afraid. That is a Hanging-Day at Tyburn. Impossible to move.”
”Sir Isaac is aware of the fact,” said Bothmar, ”but says it is good, because on that day the Coiner shall be executed.”
”I see. Yes. Yes. On one day-practically at the same moment-the Pyx shall be put to the trial, Sir Isaac shall be vindicated, and the most notorious of all coiners shall be put to death before an audience of, oh, half a million. Practicalities aside, Sir Isaac's proposal is, come to think of it, very clever.”
”Well,” Bothmar pointed out, ”he is is a genius.” a genius.”
”That he is!”
”And,” Bothmar added, ”his majesty thinks highly of Sir Isaac's philosophickal prowess.”
”Did Sir Isaac have an opinion about the turnips?” Daniel inquired, but Roger stepped on his foot and Bothmar politely omitted to translate it.
”So,” said Bothmar, ”unless you object-”
”Not in the least! Friday, October the twenty-ninth, it is! Get the Privy Council to wave a quill over it, and we shall make ready for a Trial of the Pyx!”
ROGER AND D DANIEL were permitted to stay and mingle. But Daniel hated mingling worse than anything. He launched a desperate escape attempt via the terrace in the back, but could not work out how to get round to the Thames side and flag down a pa.s.sing s.h.i.+p without making a spectacle of himself. He stared across the Lawn and pretended to philosophize about the turnip farm. When he felt this pretense might be wearing a bit thin, he stared up the hill at the Observatory and wondered if Flamsteed was awake yet, and whether he'd raise objections if Daniel went up there to tinker with the equipment. This too was wearing thin when haply he came across that old last resort of introverts at c.o.c.ktail parties: a doc.u.ment that he could pretend to be utterly absorbed in. It was a broadside, lying face down on the stone pavement of the terrace with gentlemen's boot-prints all over it. Daniel raked it up over his toe with the tip of his walking-stick and from there was able to coax it up into a hand, and flip it over. were permitted to stay and mingle. But Daniel hated mingling worse than anything. He launched a desperate escape attempt via the terrace in the back, but could not work out how to get round to the Thames side and flag down a pa.s.sing s.h.i.+p without making a spectacle of himself. He stared across the Lawn and pretended to philosophize about the turnip farm. When he felt this pretense might be wearing a bit thin, he stared up the hill at the Observatory and wondered if Flamsteed was awake yet, and whether he'd raise objections if Daniel went up there to tinker with the equipment. This too was wearing thin when haply he came across that old last resort of introverts at c.o.c.ktail parties: a doc.u.ment that he could pretend to be utterly absorbed in. It was a broadside, lying face down on the stone pavement of the terrace with gentlemen's boot-prints all over it. Daniel raked it up over his toe with the tip of his walking-stick and from there was able to coax it up into a hand, and flip it over.
At the top of the sheet were two portraits of equal size, arrayed next to each other. One looked like an ink-blot. It was a miserable rendering of a black-haired black man in a black suit with two white eyes poking out. Beneath was a caption: Dappa as rendered in April 1714 by the renown'd portraitist, Charles White Dappa as rendered in April 1714 by the renown'd portraitist, Charles White. The other was a rather good engraving of an African gentleman with silvery dreadlocks and a beard, dusky, of course, but with a range of skin tones suggested by the hatchures and other tricks of the engraver's art. It was captioned DAPPA as rendered in September 1714 by DAPPA as rendered in September 1714 by-, and here was given the name of a highly regarded artist. Looking more closely Daniel saw, in the background of the picture, a barred window, through which could be espied the skyline of London rising above the Thames. It was the view from the Liberty of the Clink.
The t.i.tle was ADDITIONAL REMARKS on FAME by DAPPA. Daniel began to read it. It took the form of a sugary and, Daniel suspected, sarcastic encomium to the Duke of Marlborough.
”That was inadvertent,” remarked a man who had been standing nearby, smoking a pipe. From the corner of his eye, Daniel had already marked this chap as a military man, for he was wearing an officer's uniform. Reckoning him to be a fellow non-Mingler, he had had the simple decency to ignore him. Now this general or colonel or whatever he was had shown the poor form to irrupt in on Daniel while he was pretending to read something so as not to have to talk to anyone. Daniel looked up and saw, first, that the facings, piping, cuffs, &c. of the uniform were those of the King's Own Black Torrent Guard. Second, that this was Marlborough.
”What was inadvertent, my lord?”
”When you came to call on me at my levee, levee, just after I returned to this city, a month and a half ago, I had been reading some of this chap's work,” said Marlborough. ”Must have made some remark. Those other chaps must have gone forth and spread the rumor that I was a devotee of Mr. Dappa's work. It seems he has only become more popular since. People have sent him money-he lives now in the finest apartment that the Clink has to offer, and strolls on a private balcony there, and is called on by fops and whatnot. He says in the doc.u.ment you are holding in your hand there, that he has all but become a white man as a result, and presents these portraits as evidence. He still wears chains; but those are less restrictive than the chains of the mind that bind some to out-moded ideas such as Slavery. So he deems himself a Gentleman now, and has begun to place donations in escrow, in the hopes that he may purchase Charles White as soon as the price drops low enough.” just after I returned to this city, a month and a half ago, I had been reading some of this chap's work,” said Marlborough. ”Must have made some remark. Those other chaps must have gone forth and spread the rumor that I was a devotee of Mr. Dappa's work. It seems he has only become more popular since. People have sent him money-he lives now in the finest apartment that the Clink has to offer, and strolls on a private balcony there, and is called on by fops and whatnot. He says in the doc.u.ment you are holding in your hand there, that he has all but become a white man as a result, and presents these portraits as evidence. He still wears chains; but those are less restrictive than the chains of the mind that bind some to out-moded ideas such as Slavery. So he deems himself a Gentleman now, and has begun to place donations in escrow, in the hopes that he may purchase Charles White as soon as the price drops low enough.”
”My word! You practically have the thing memorized!” Daniel exclaimed.
”I have had to spend many hours of late waiting for his majesty to wax talkative. Dappa writes well.”
”You have command of your old regiment again, I gather?”
”Yes. The details are quite unfathomable. Others are toiling away at them. Colonel Barnes has been located, and put in charge of rounding up certain elements who were scattered during the amus.e.m.e.nts of the summer. I am glad I was not here. It all would have vexed me to no end. I understand congratulations are in order for you.”
”Thank you,” said Daniel. ”I have no idea what are the duties of a member of the Treasury Commission-”
”Keep an eye on my lord Ravenscar. See to it that the Trial of the Pyx goes rather well.”
”That, my lord, hangs on what is in the Pyx.”
”Yes. I was meaning to ask you. Does anyone anyone really know what's in the b.l.o.o.d.y thing?” really know what's in the b.l.o.o.d.y thing?”
”Perhaps he he does,” said Daniel, and inclined his head toward a nearby window. A red-wigged gentleman was in there, mingling with Germans, but glancing frequently at them. does,” said Daniel, and inclined his head toward a nearby window. A red-wigged gentleman was in there, mingling with Germans, but glancing frequently at them.
”Charles White,” said Marlborough, ”is, it's true, still in command of the King's Messengers, who pretend to guard the Pyx. I am pleased to let you know that they are now surrounded, and carefully observed, by the King's Own Black Torrent Guard. So Mr. White cannot make any more mischief with the Pyx. And Colonel Barnes has related to me that White was downriver with you and Sir Isaac Newton at the moment that the Pyx was molested in April.”
”Very well,” said Daniel, since, plainly enough, Marlborough had figured this all out on his own: ”The only one who really knows what is in the Pyx is Jack Shaftoe.”
”Hmm. If that is the case, then I am astonished that there is not a queue before Newgate Prison quite as long as that yonder.”
”Perhaps there is,” Daniel said.
White came out on the terrace and bowed. ”My lord,” he said to Marlborough. ”Doctor Waterhouse.”
”Mr. White,” they both said. Then they all took turns saying, ”G.o.d save the King.”
”I trust you'll be even more busy even more busy than usual,” White said to Daniel, ”now that you've two Mints to look after.” than usual,” White said to Daniel, ”now that you've two Mints to look after.”
”Two Mints? I do not understand, Mr. White. There is only one Mint that I know of.”
”Oh, perhaps I was misinformed,” said White, mock-confused. ”People are saying there is another.”
”Do you mean Jack Shaftoe's coining house in Surrey? The Tory Tory Mint?” Daniel asked, and let the handbill snap in the breeze, hoping that White would notice it. He did. Mint?” Daniel asked, and let the handbill snap in the breeze, hoping that White would notice it. He did.
”You really ought to have better sources of information. Don't read that rubbish. Listen to what Persons of Quality are saying.”
Marlborough turned his back, which was a rude thing to do; but the way this was going, it would soon become a duelling matter unless the Duke pretended he wasn't hearing it.
”And what are Persons of Quality saying, Mr. White?”
”That Ravenscar is coining, too.”
”People are accusing the Marquis of Ravenscar of committing High Treason? Seems audacious.”
”Everyone knows he raised a private army. 'Tis a small step from that, to a private Mint.”
”Bored toffs in drawing-rooms may believe any phant'sies they please! Such accusations require at least some evidence.”
”They say that evidence may be found in abundance,” said White, ”at Clerkenwell Court, and at Bridewell, and in the cellars of the Bank of England. Good day.” And he left. Which was fortunate for Daniel. A few seconds ago he had been amused at the sheer idiocy of the notion that Roger had been coining. Now he had become too fl.u.s.tered to speak.
”What was that about?” Marlborough very much wanted to know.
”It is a philosophical project I have been undertaking with Leibniz,” said Daniel, ”that, to make a long story-” and he gave a sketchy account of the thing to the Duke, explaining the movement of the gold from Clerkenwell to Bridewell to the Bank to Hanover. ”Someone seems to have gathered rather a lot of information about it,” Daniel concluded, ”and spreads now a twisted version according to which it is a coining coining operation.” operation.”
”We know who is spreading spreading it-we have just been conversing with him,” said Marlborough. ”It matters not where the rumor originated.” To this Daniel said nothing, for a sickening awareness had come over him that this might all have originated with Isaac. it-we have just been conversing with him,” said Marlborough. ”It matters not where the rumor originated.” To this Daniel said nothing, for a sickening awareness had come over him that this might all have originated with Isaac.
”What does does matter-very much-is that two members of the new Treasury Commission are mixed up in it,” said Marlborough. matter-very much-is that two members of the new Treasury Commission are mixed up in it,” said Marlborough.