As I looked around at the wealthy diners, I felt I was seeing my future. However I used a little time to watch an oriental trader mounting a staircase to reach a warehouse. His stiff gait indicating battles fought. But my attention was pulled back into the coffee house as a snippet of conversation reached my ears. A naval captain was talking about Van Diemen’s Land. His audience of two clergymen enthralled.

I had just returned from an unsuccessful venture in Spain, and had a need to refresh my fortune. It was time to seek pastures new. If the orient could reach my part of the world, I must surely be able to reach Van Diemen’s Land. As I paid for my coffee, I thought of how I might raise the capital to buy a berth in a ship and a stake to purchase trade goods. I must look for a wealthy widow, marry her, then fly the coop. Marriage three was beckoning me.

Footnote: I spent a large part of today in the Merchant’s Hall at York; the environment of its coffee house seems to have washed off on me. In true I only have one wife.