This I did, for the servants made me known to the tenants,
and got back at night-fall, able to tell him all which he was glad to
learn, since it seemed that he had not seen this estate for five long
years.
On another day he sent me to visit ships in which goods of his were
being laden at the wharf, and on another took me with him to a sale of
furs that came from the far north where I was told the snow never melts
and there is always ice in the sea.
Also he made me known to merchants with whom he traded, and to his
agents who were many, though for the most part secret, together with
other goldsmiths who held moneys of his, and in a sense were partners,
forming a kind of company so that they could find great sums in sudden
need. Lastly, his clerks and dependents were made to understand that if
I gave an order it must be obeyed, though this did not happen until I
had been with him for some time.
Thus it came about that within a year I knew all the threads of John
Grimmer's great business, and within two it drifted more and more into
my hands.
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