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&039;Twas said better to light a candle than to curse the dark, but in the town of New York in the suht do both, for the candles were se True, there were the town-appointed constables and watchmen Yet often between Dock Street and the Broad Way these heroes of the nocturne lost their courage to a flask of John Barleycorn and the other terantly on the midsummer breeze, be it the sound ofscent of perfuhtlife was, in a word, lively Though the toakened before sunrise to the industrious bells oflabors, there were stillhours to the avocations of drinking, gaht follow those troublesome twins The sun would certainly rise on the ht was always a teroolish-dressed town boast more than a dozen taverns, if not for the joy of inte man who sat alone at a table in the back room of the Old admiral was not there to seek companions, be they of humankind or brewer&039;s yeast He did have before hi dark ale, which he sipped at every so often, but this was a prop to blend into the scene One watching hi, for it took a true hardgut to down the Old admiral&039;s keel-cleaner This was not his usual haunt In fact he ell-known at the Trot Then Gallop, up on Crown Street, but here he ithin a coin&039;s throw of the Great Dock on the East River, where the ht currents and the flaainst the eddies Here in the Old adht as men bellowed fortables sounded like the pistols of little wars That noise never failed to remind Matthew Corbett of the pistol shot that had blown out the brains ofwell, it had been three years ago, it was best not to linger on such a foregone picture

He was only twenty-three years old, but so about hirave seriousness, his austere demeanor, or the fact that he could always forecast rain fro in his bones like those of a toothless seniorOr, to be more correct, the ache of ribs below his heart and left arm at the shoulder, bones broken courtesy of a bear known as Jack One Eye The bear had also left Mattheith a crescent scar that began just above his right eyebrow and curved into the hairline a doctor in the Carolina colony had once said to hi scar, but this one seemed to warn the ladies that he&039;d come close to a cropper with Death, and perhaps the chill of the ered in his soul His left arm had been almost without life for over a year after that incident He&039;d expected to live on the starboard for the rest of his days but a good and rather unorthodox doctor here in New York had given hi an iron bar to which horseshoes were chained on either end-to do daily, along with hot co when he could rotate his shoulder all the way around, and with further treatth had returned Thus passed away one of the last acts of Jack One Eye upon the earth, gone now but surely never forgotten

Matthew&039;s cool gray eyes, flecked with dark blue like sht, were aimed toward a certain table on the other side of the rooh, not to stare too pointedly, but only to graze and jab and look into his ale, shift his shoulders, and graze and jab again No matter, really; the object of his interest would have to be blind and dumb not to knoas there, and true evil was neither No, true evil just continued to talk and grin and sip with puckered lips at a greasy glass of wine, puff a srin sos and dice-shots and shadowy

But Mattheasof a tavern in a young toith the sea at its chest and wilderness to its back that brought out this festivity It was the Thing That No One Spoke Of The Incident The Unfortunate Happenstance

It was the Masker, is what it was

So drink up wine from those fresh casks and blow your srin like thieves We&039;ve all got to walk a dark street hoht

and the Masker could be any one of theone the way he&039;d coain Who could knowi Certainly not the idiots who these days called themselves constables and were empowered by the town council to patrol the streets He reasoned they were probably all indoors soh the weather be war; they were stupid, yes, but not foolish

Matthew took another drink of his ale and flicked his gaze again toward that far table The pipes with the wind of motion or exhalation at the table sat three er with the look of ruffians But to be sure, this was a ru Matthew hadn&039;t seen either of the men with the fat bloatarian before They were dressed in rustic style, both ell-used leather waistcoats over white shirts and one with leather patches on the knees of his breeches Who were theyi he wondered and what business did they have with Eben ausleyi

Only very seldolint of ausley&039;s sled his white-wigged head away and continued the conversation with his two juniors anyone looking on would not realize that the young Corbett-with his lean long-jawed face, his unruly thatch of fine black hair, and his pale candlelit countenance-was a crusader whose quest had slowly, night upon night, turned to obsession In his brown boots, gray breeches, and simple white shirt, frayed at the collar and cuffs but scrupulously laundered, he appeared to be no istrate&039;s clerk deistrate Poouldn&039;t approve of these nightly travels, but travel Matthew must, for the deepest desire of his heart was to see Eben ausley hanged froallows

Now ausley put down his pipe and drew the table&039;s lamp nearer The companion on his left-a dark-haired, sunken-eyedquietly and seriously ausley, a heavy-jowled pig in his th Matthe hiar wine-purple suit, the frills on his shirt quivering with the belly-strain The white wig on ausley&039;s head was adorned with elaborate curls, which perhaps in London was the fashion of theausley brought fro-wrapped lead pencil and a palm-sized black notebook that Matthew had seen hiold-leaf ornamentation on the cover Matthew had already ht that ausley was as addicted to his note-taking as to his games of Ombre and Ticktack, both of which seemed to have a hold on the ine with a faint ses: Dropped a loaf this et today ausley touched the pencil to his tongue and began to write Three or four lines were set down, or so it appeared to Matthew Then the notebook was closed and put away and finally the pencil as well ausley spoke again to the dark-haired young man, while the other one-sandy-haired and thick-set, with a slow oxen-like blinking of his heavy eyelids-appraised the noisy garinned; the yellow laroup of drinkers stumbled past between Matthew and his objects of interest Just that fast ausley and the other twofor their hats on the wallhooks ausley&039;s tricorn displayed a dyed crimson feather, while the dark-haired man with the leather-patched breeches wore a wide-brient a coroup strolled to the tavern-keeper at the bar to settle their bills

Mattheaited When the coins were down in theout onto Dock Street, Matthew put on his own brown linen cap and stood up He was a little light-headed The strong ale, currents of sed his senses He quickly paid his due and walked into the night

ah, what a relief out here! a warm breeze in the face was cool compared to the heated confines of a crowded tavern The Old admiral always had such an effect on him He&039;d tracked ausley here on ht to be i was a drink of polite wine and a quiet gaulars at the Gallop He sence of harbor tarbuckets and dead fish But there on the very sa past, was quite another scent Matthew had expected: Eben ausley wore a heavy cologne that sht as well have carried a torch with his; it certainly helped to follow ausley by on these nights But tonight, it seemed, ausley and his co up ahead They walked past the glow of a lantern that hung from a wooden post to mark the intersection of Dock Street and Broad Street, and Matthe their intent was to go west onto Bridge Street Well, he thought, this was a new path Usually ausley headed directly back the six blocks north to the orphanage on King Street Better keep back a bit more, Matthew decided Better just walk quietly and keep watch

Matthew followed, crossing the cobblestoned street He was tall and thin but not frail, and he walked with a long stride that he had to restrain lest he get up the back of his bull&039;s-eye The smells of the Great Dock faded, to be replaced by the heady aromas of hay and livestock In this section of toere several stables and fenced enclosures for pigs and cows Warehouses held maritime and animal supplies in stacks of crates and barrels Occasionally Matthew caught a glih a shutter, as sohouse or stable Never let it be said that all the residents of New York gaht rather labor clock-round if physical strength would allow

a horse clopped past, its rider wearing polished boots Matthe ausley and the two others turn right at the next corner, onto the Broad Way near the Governor&039;s House He made the turn at a cautious pace His quarry walked a block ahead, still just aht in several upper s of the white-bricked governor&039;s abode beyond the walls of Fort Willialand only a few days ago Matthew hadn&039;t yet seen him, nor had anyone else of his acquaintance, but the notices plastered up announced ain the town hall toent who&039;d been awarded the reins of New York by Queen anne It would be good to have sos, since the constables were in such disarray and the town&039;s mayor, Thomas Hood, had died in June

Matthe that the red-feathered cockatoo and his co another tavern, the Thorn Bush That nasty little place was even gamier than the admiral, in all senses of the word Matthew had been witness in there last November when ausley had lost what ame of Bankafalet Matthew decided he wasn&039;t up to any o in and drink theo ho past the Thorn Bush, not even pausing to look in the door as Matthew neared the place, a drunk young ht-and a dark-haired girl with a heavily painted face staggered out into the street, laughing at some shared amusement They brushed past Matthew and went on in the direction of the harbor Kippering was an attorney of some renown and could be a serious sort, but was not unknown to tip the bottle and frequent Madaht onto Beaver Street and crossed Broad Street once again, heading east toward the riverfront Here and there lanterns burned on cornerposts, and every seventh dwelling was required by law to show a light a dog barked fiercely behind a white picket fence and another echoed off in the distance a -stick suddenly turned a corner in front of Matthew and almost scared hi away, the stick tap-tapping on the brick sidewalk

Matthew picked up his pace to keep ausley in sight, butcertain to step carefully lest hethat often littered both bricks and cobbles a horse-cart trundled past with a single figure hunched over the reins Matthealked on a narrow street between talls of white stone ahead, by the illu post-laht onto Sloat Lane a fire had broken out here at the first of the summer and consumed several houses The odor of ashes and flaled with rotten cloves and the s that needed to be roasted Matthew stopped and carefully peered around the corner His quarry had slipped out of sight, between darkened wooden houses and squat little red brick buildings Some of the houses farther on were blackened ruins The lantern on the cornerpost ahead flickered, about to give up its ghost a little prickling of the skin on the back of Matthew&039;s necka distance behind hiure in dark clothes and hat, washed by the candlelight on the cornerpost he&039;d just passed This was not his area of habitation, and it struck hiure just stood there, seeh Mattheas unable to make out a face beneath that tricorn Matthew&039;s heart had begun to haht, then daht Good thinking there, boy, he told hiainst a throat-slashing blade alon the day

Mattheas about to call to the figure-and say whati he asked hiht for a walk, isn&039;t it, siri and by the by would you please spare my lifei-but abruptly the mystery man turned away, strode purposefully out of the lantern&039;s realone The breath hissed out of Matthew He felt the chill of sweat at his temples That wasn&039;t the Masker! he told hiht have been a constable, or so, the saht He was a sheep, tracking a wolf

ausley and his tavern coht of the this ash-reeking lane or retrace his way back to where the Masker aitingi Stop it, idiot! he commanded That wasn&039;t the Masker because the Masker has left New York! Why should anyone think the Masker was still lurking in these streetsi Because they hadn&039;t caught hio ahead, but with a watchful eye at his back in case a piece of darkness separated itself froone perhaps ten paces farther when a piece of darkness shifted not at his back, but directly in front of him

He stopped and stood stone-still He was a dried husk, all the blood and breath gone froht suddenly turned winter&039;s eve

a spark leaped, setting fire to cotton in a little tinderbox, and frohted

"Corbett," said the man as he touched fla ive you an audience Don&039;t you thinki" Matthew didn&039;t reply actually his tongue was still petrified

Eben ausley took ahis pipe to satisfaction Behind him was a fire-blacked brick wall His corpulent face seethed red "What a wonder you are, boy," he said in his crackly high-pitched voice "Laboring at papers and pots all day long and following e," Mattheered

"I think you ought to getrest Don&039;t you agree with that, Mr Carveri"

Too late, Matthew heard the movement behind hi in the burned rubble on either side of-

a lu all further speculations It sounded so loud to him that surely the militia would think a cannon had fired, but then the force of the blow knocked hi was shooting stars and fla pinwheels He was on his knees and o down flat on the street His teeth were gritted, his senses blowsy It cah the haze that ausley had led hih, I think," ausley was saying "We don&039;t want to kill hiin out for youi"

Matthew heard the voice as if an echo fro pressed down hard upon the center of his back a boot, he realized about to slaht where he is," ausley said, in a flat tone of nonchalance The boot left Matthew&039;s back "I don&039;t think he&039;s going anywhere are you, Corbetti" He didn&039;t wait for a reply, which wouldn&039;t have arrived anyway "Do you knoho this younghas it been, Corbetti Two yearsi"

Two years haphazardly, Matthew thought Only the last sixnow "One of e Now I didn&039;t take him off the street myself, my predecessor Staunton did that, you see That poor old fool saw hientleht hiht you, Corbetti How to be a da his crooked road "Now this young s Oh yes, he has Went into the eistrate Isaac Woodward, who chose hi and took him out into the world Gave hientleman&039;s life and to be someone of value" There was a pause as ausley relit his pipe "and then, my friends," ausley said between puffs, "and then, he betrayed his benefactor by falling in with a woman accused of witchcraft in a little hole of a ton in the Carolina colony a murderess, I understood her to be a co istrate Woodward, God rest his soul"

"Lie," Mattheas able to say Or rather, to whisper He tried again: "That&039;sa lie"

"Did he speaki Did he say so behind Matthew