. . . ; he should have no more profit of romance than Pinkerton

[shootingstar]

. . .
Reality was his romance; he gloried to be thus engaged; he wallowed in his business. Suppose a man to dig up a galleon on the Coromandel coast, his rakish schooner keeping the while an offing under easy sail, and he, by the blaze of a great fire of wreckwood, to measure ingots by the bucketful on the uproarious beach; such an one might realise a greater spoil; he should have no more profit of romance than Pinkerton when he cast up his weekly balance-sheet in a bald office. . .
(The Wrecker by R. L. Stevenson and L. Osborne, chapter vii, published 1892)

Please could you tell me what should means in this context? I don't know what meaning of should is expressed there.

 

[shootingstar]

Please, what do you take should to mean in this context? Please help.

 

[Piscean]

A present-day writer would use would rather than should.

 

[shootingstar]

Thank you very much.
Then, what meaning does would, respectively should, express there?

 

[Piscean]

It's a hypothetical conditional sentence;

.Suppose a man dug up a galleon on the Coromandel coast, [...] he would have no more profit of romance than Pinkerton when he cast up his weekly balance-sheet in a bald office. .

 

[shootingstar]

Doesn't the meaning of should in sentences like the following ones matter in this context?

Shall we start? Luke's delayed but he says he should be here in ten minutes.
We should arrive before dark.
He should have finished the book by Friday.
The roads should be less crowded today.
Kathy should be in the office by now.

 

[Piscean]

No.

You use should when you are saying that something is probably the case or will probably happen in the way you are describing. If you say that something should have happened by a particular time, you mean that it will probably have happened by that time.

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/should

 

[shootingstar]

'You use should when you are saying that something is probably the case or will probably happen in the way you are describing. If you say that something should have happened by a particular time, you mean that it will probably have happened by that time.' (Collins)

OALD has a much easier definition regarding this: 'should, used to say that you expect something is true or will happen'

This is true of affirmative sentences but it's true of negative sentences as well, as is the case with the sentence he should have no more profit of romance than Pinkerton

Example: The roads shouldn't be crowded today, etc.

. . . and this meaning very much fits our sentence actually.