A Civil Contract Part IX

 Adam arrives in London and finds that the upper classes are still having fun and not paying much attention to the war.  He goes as instructed to Mr. Chawleigh who advises him to sell his shares in Government stocks because he has information that fighting has started in Belgium and that Wellington has been defeated.  This means that government stocks will go down and Adam's private fortune which is not large, will be decimated.

Adam is angry at being told what to do by his father-in-law, although he has come to like him very well over the past year.  But he is easily angered by the man's ordering him about.  He says that he does not believe that the war is lost, that there may have been a retreat but Wellington has never yet lost a battle.  Mr Chawleigh says, with more sensitivity than Adam has expected, that he knows that his son in law is proud and would hate to lose all his money and be totally dependent on his and Jenny's fortunes. He leaves him and goes off to think about it, but as he returns to his hotel, he decides to do the opposite.  Government stock prices are low at present and a victory in Belgium would raise them.. so he makes up his mind that he will invest in stock and hope for a victory to bring him back to wealth again. 

He believes strongly that this action wont fail.. and that it would be worth taking the risk to get out of the situation where Mr Chawleigh has so much power over him, albeit he is fond of the man. He wants to feel that he is master of Fontley again, and of his own destiny. The following day he visits his man of business, Wimmering in the City and tells him what he wants to do.  Wimmering is concerned.  He can understand how Adam is feeling but it is such a risk that he feels he must advise against it.  He remembers how often Bardoph, Adam's father, risked money in gambling and on the Stock Exchange and frequently lost. He had never imagined that Adam had that trait in him. 

Adam visits the family banker and he is more sympathetic, being willing to lend him money and in the end, Wimmering buys stock for him and Adam then settles down to wait for news to come from Brussels.