As a boy he seemed destined to any life
save that of humdrum commerce, of which he spoke with contempt and
abhorrence; and there was no reason why he should not have gratified
his desire of seeing the world, of leading what he called "the life
of a man." Yet here he was, sitting each day in a counting-house in
Whitechapel, with nothing behind him but a few rambles on the
continent, and certainly with no immediate intention of going far
afield. His father's death left him in sole command of the business,
and his reasonable course would have been to retire from it as soon
as possible, for foreign competition was making itself felt in the
English trade, and many firms more solidly established than that in
Little Ailie Street had either come to grief or withdrawn from the
struggle. But Godfrey's inertia kept him in the familiar routine,
with day-to-day postponement of practical decision. When Warburton
came back from St. Kitts, and their friendship was renewed,
Godfrey's talk gave full play to his imaginative energies. Yes, yes,
the refining business was at a bad pass just now, but this was only
temporary; those firms that could weather the storm for a year or
two longer would enter upon a time of brilliant prosperity. Was it
to be supposed that the Government would allow a great industry to
perish out of mere regard for the fetish of Free Trade? City men
with first-hand information declared that "measures" were being
prepared; in one way or another, the English trade would be rescued
and made triumphant over those bounty-fed foreigners.
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