Since August had provided us with the grandest room, I chose the next door. I tried the latch. It opened. I pushed. The hinges squeaked. I summoned my last bit of courage and held the candle high. An empty bed stood at the far end of the room. It was not even made up for use, but had blankets and pillows folded in a stack at the foot of it. I tried the next door. A bed was laid out in that room, but had not been slept within. Yet, as I looked about, I knew this was not a room well used, for no clothing hung on hooks, no belt or boots stood by the cold fireplace.
I peeked into the gallery before stepping out of the room. I tried the next door and found the latch had been locked from the inside. I felt at odds with myself now, foolish, and decided against going to the next two rooms. I turned and nearly bumped right into a man. I covered my mouth with one hand and stifled a scream. “Cullah!”
“Wife, what are you doing creeping through this house at this hour? The watchman just called one of the morning.”
“I could not sleep. Come back to our room. I must tell you something curious.” With the door closed, we sat upon our bed. “I opened the window for fresh air, and—”
“It’s none too fresh in this town.”
“Aye. But I was watching the moon rise, when I saw a man leave this house by one of the windows in the study below our room. He did it in quiet, in the dark, and he looked up at me.”
“Did he see you?”
“I think not.”
“Well and aye.”
“But Cullah, what if the house has been robbed?”
“Why were you abroad in your shift down the corridor?”
“I thought I should find August, or not, to make out what happened. If I found his room, and he was there in bed, I would alarm him to the intruder. If he were not there, I might suppose the figure leaving the house to be him.”
“You cannot leave this alone, my Resolute?”
I frowned and my shoulders dropped from their tense, raised shape. The blanket dropped off one shoulder. “This is something you knew about?”
“Yes.”
“You trust me not at all, Cullah, my husband?”
“I trust you, but the fewer people who know things, the better. If you know it not, you cannot be questioned. You cannot give word against any.”
“You will find no man alive more able to hold a secret than I. You understand me so little, husband? Do you not see that in keeping all this from me, I imagine only terror? If I knew the things that work in that head of yours, I would rest easier. I think that you have no thought for my soul, my inner light.”
“Careful. You will sound too like a Quaker for some.”
“August is not sick, is he? Why would he want me to think that?”
“He believes you would then feel it was God’s mercy if he were killed on his mission. And, he assumes you might ask for prayers for his health, which you might, and that would give credence to his ruse. Besides, he would not have you mourning him as a life half lived, nor cursing his devotion to making this a free country from England.”
“Treason.”
“Yes. Secession from the empire. And the lot of us are in it. Hancock and your brother have been outrunning and outgunning the East India Company. August has another ship fitted with forty guns of his own, a sloop he named Westwind, just to do battle against the English navy in the East. He has gone this night to have her unloaded.”
“In wharf twenty-one?”
“No. It is always backward. In wharf twelve. And do not ask me to tell you which one is given that number for I do not know. They change the numbers regularly.” Cullah breathed and nearly put out the candle flame; his sharp exhalation caused a ribbon of melted wax to run over and onto my hand. “Ah, I’m sorry, Ressie. Let me take the candle for you.” I rubbed the hot wax, trying to spread it fast enough that it would not have time to burn, while he placed the candlestick upon the table by the bed. “Now you know. It is a small thing, my part in this, for I would have stood by your brother and swung a sword, and I may yet, but all they have asked is that I carry the word. Now you, my wife, are not only an apple thrower, you are a traitor, too. None of this will come cheaply. Our own son a Tory soldier. I did all I could to keep it from you—”
“But you could not, for I would not have it. I can stand against anything, husband, except the distance you keep between us by not telling me things. You made me no different than an acquaintance.”
“I made you safe.” He raised the coverlets. We settled into the bed.
“You made me sad.”
“If I am caught, they may now come for you as well.”
I laid my head upon his shoulder, nestled in the cove of his arm. “You will not be caught. And, I work hard to be honest, Eadan, but it takes constant guarding of my tongue. I am a considerable liar. If I am caught, I will deny knowing. I will not deny you, but I will deny my knowledge.”
“I will not deny it. I will stand.”
“Cullah.”
“Ask me no more, wife. I am grievously tired. As you should be, after the firkin of Madeira you had tonight. Come here to me and rest.”
“I am glad my brother is not going to die.”
Cullah’s answer was to stroke my hair.
“I will tell him in the morning,” I said, “how happy I am.”