Pargeter Interview Clive Street
Outcome: Pargeter admitted he moved the Wentworth capital out of the failing Nadia indigo into a godown syndicate on the Strand run by Baijnath Mullick, and that the remittances stopped because the balance is engaged in a reinvestment call. He agreed to write to Sir Nathaniel, and the sisters will carry the letter themselves. Georgiana noticed several other thin pigeonholes, all English family names.
Participants
- Georgiana Wentworth — pressed him; read his fear; saw the thin pigeonholes
- Emma Wentworth — pressed him; the client's part
- Crispin Pargeter — evasive, then named the syndicate and Mullick
Summary
On the morning of Monday 10 October 1814, with the Salisbury letter in hand and no man in the room, Georgiana and Emma Wentworth called on Crispin Pargeter at his office off Clive Street and asked why two half-yearly remittances had failed.
What Happened
- The reception. Upstairs, tea and Madeira, warm enquiries after Sir Nathaniel’s health. Then “man’s business”: he answers only to their father.
- Pressed. The Nadia indigo failed years ago, as it did for everyone. He moved the family’s capital into a godown syndicate on The Strand paying better returns. The balance is temporarily engaged in a reinvestment call. He did not write plainly to Salisbury because the difficulty would be past before any letter came back.
- The books. The sisters demanded them and were shown summary accounts in a beautiful fair hand that were hard to make anything of.
- The read. Georgiana watched him and saw rehearsal, fear, and shame under the polish.
- The name. Pressed further, Pargeter said the syndicate is run by Baijnath Mullick, the man whose zebra carriage the drawing room had laughed about the night before.
- The letter. The sisters made him agree to write to Sir Nathaniel explaining the position. They intend to deliver it themselves.
- The pigeonholes. On the way out Georgiana noticed several other client pigeonholes as thin or empty as the Wentworths’, all bearing English family names.
Outcome & Consequences
- The Wentworth money has a name on it, and the name is Mullick’s. See Wentworth Consortium Holding and Absentee Account Pattern.
- The sisters left knowing they had not heard the whole story, and holding the shape of the other families.
- Pargeter has been made to put something in writing. What he writes, and whom he tells about the visit, are his next moves.
- The subscription-ledger line did not surface. The Temple Subscription Ledger is still three routes away.
Connections
People
Discovered
- Baijnath Mullick NPC hostileNamed by Pargeter as the man whose consortium runs the syndicate
Had participant
- Crispin Pargeter NPC hostileReceived two ladies with no man in the room and answered them anyway, in the end
- Emma Wentworth Player character neutralPressed him; the client's part
- Georgiana Wentworth Player character neutralPressed him; read his fear; saw the thin pigeonholes
Places
Located at
- Pargeter and Co Location neutralThe upstairs room, tea and Madeira, the summary accounts on the desk
Papers
Discovered
- Wentworth Consortium Holding Clue hostileThe syndicate named, and its manager