A couple of days later, when the letter reached the Foreign Office, a secretary to Minister William Gendville cautiously opened it. The minister sat beside him, buried in a mountain of documents—the consequence of the alliance Great Britain was struggling to secure.
As the secretary read, a faint sneer crossed his face.
The minister noticed at once and frowned."Why are you sneering? Do you have so much free time that you can laugh at a letter?"
Startled, the secretary straightened. "It's not that, Minister. This letter comes from Murdoch—the one we sent to demonstrate the steam engine to the Spanish envoy, hoping they'd buy our products instead of trying to build their own from the blueprints they stole from us."
Gendville paused his writing, raising an eyebrow."Oh? And what does our esteemed merchant have to say?"
