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Upon awakening fro Eben ausley, Matthew lay on his bed in the dark and pondered how easy it would be to e fro and drinking, and then fall in behind hio on ahead and lie in wait at a place of one&039;s choice Here come the footsteps, heavy on the stones Best to be sure it&039;s hih, before you strike Sniff the air Rotten clovesi That&039;s our man
Closer he comes, and closer yet Let him come on, as we decide how to do the deed We must have an implement, of course a knife Terriblyfor his life Blood all over the place a hideous ulation cord Yes, and best of luck getting a rope around that fat neck; he&039;d shake you off like a flea before you got his eyes popped
a club, then Yes, a nice heavy bastard of a club with skull-cleaving knots all over it The kind of club the blackguards sell to each other in theto the Gazette Here you may offer your coins to the shadow-faced villains and take your pick of brainers ah, there&039;s the one ant! The one with a hard ridge running the length of the bopper, the better to bust with Right there, under theof nails
Matthew sat up, lit a match from his tinderbox on the bedside table, and touched the candle in its brown clay holder as the welco, really-i blurredausley for the dark purpose and when he came up behind him he killed the man He wasn&039;t sure how, or hat, but he did re up fro little lip-twisted sone crooked as if he&039;d seen what the Devil had waiting for hihed and rubbed his forehead He ht wish to with all his heart and soul, but he could no ht to find somethin&039; better than this to hold on to, John Five had said Somethin&039; with a future to it
"Da he was going to say it
John Five was nothing, if not to the point
The point being, it was over Matthew had long ago realized his hopes of seeing ausley brought to justice balanced on a slender thread If only he&039;d been able to get one of the others-Galt, Covey, or Robertson-to bear witness Just one, and then ausley&039;s pot would&039;ve been cracked But think nohat had befallen Nathan Spencer, who&039;d seen better to hang himself than let everyone in New York kno he&039;d been brutalized What sense was there in thati Nathan had been a quiet, timid boy; too quiet and too timid, it seemed, for even as Matthew had offered hi suicide
"Damn it," he repeated, in spite of all reason He didn&039;t want to think, as John Five had maintained, that his intrusions into Nathan Spencer&039;s life had aided the death-wish along No, no; it was better not to think along that line, or one ht to find somethin&039; better than this to hold on to Matthew sat on the edge of his bed How long had he been asleepi an hour or twoi He didn&039;t feel very sleepy anyh his s there was no hint of dawn He could go down and check the clock in the pottery shop, but he had the feeling just froht He stood up, his nightshirt flagging about hiht, and looked out thethat faced the Broad Way Everything quiet out there, and mostly dark but for the few squares of other candlelit s No, no; hear thati Fiddle ht breeze, then gone as Lord Cornbury had put it, the last gentle the Stokelys, who&039;d attended the governor&039;s address but had been back in the crowd closer to the street, had praised Matthew&039;s suggestions for the constables It was past tiard, Hira about the station where they were to ht of thati
as for Lord Cornbury&039;s appearance, Hira to represent the Queen, Hiram said, but couldn&039;t he have worn a man&039;s clothes just as welli It was a peculiar day, Patience said, when the governor of New York toas dressed in more ribbons and puffs than Polly Blosso her snout against Matthew&039;s knees, re him that whatever premonition she foresaw had not yet come to pass
Matthew turned froe nor particularly sarret tucked behind a trapdoor at the top of a ladder above the shop There was a narrow bed, a chair, a clothes chest, the bedside table, and another table on which rested his washbasin In a hot summer one could cook up here and in a cold winter the thickness of a blanket spared him fros Everything was clean and neat, well-swept and well-ordered He could cross from wall to ith six steps, yet this was a favorite part of his world because of the bookcase
The bookcase There it stood, beside the clothes chest Three shelves, made of lustrous dark broith diamond-shaped mother-of-pearl insets Underneath the bottoo de Pallares, Octubre 1690 It had arrived in New York last May, on a privateer&039;s vessel, and was offered at waterfront auction along with many other items taken froift to hiain as much by the shipbuilder Cornelius Raistrate Powers, who&039;d been present at the auction, announced to Matthew that Corny had decided to sell that "old worm-eaten piece he&039;d picked up at the dock" for Matthew&039;s original bid just to be rid of a Spanish captain&039;s tobacco-pipe smell
The books that were jammed into these three shelves had also co front or back covers or large sections of pages, some yet almost perfect for their tribulations of sea travel, and all to Mattheonderful miracles of the human intellect It helped that he was fluent in Latin and French, and his Spanish was co them John Cotton&039;s a Discourse about Civil Government, Thomas Vincent&039;s God&039;s Terrible Voice in the City of London, Cyrano de Bergerac&039;s a Comic History of the Society of the Moon, and the short stories of The Heptah, all these volury, soht to build barriers and others that sought to break them; all the books spoke, in their oay It was left to hi the chair and rereading soraphia, Or a Discourse Concerning Coet these demons of hed on hi more on the ht and sunny June round; a day when the birds sang, and that night the fiddles had played in the taverns and the laughter had gone on just as every night, but Matthew had sat in this room, in his chair, in the dark He had wondered then, as he wondered now-as he wonderedbefore John Five had said it-if he&039;d killed Nathan If his adamance and thirst for justice-no, call it what it was: his unflagging a Eben ausley to the noose-had led Nathan to uncoil the rope He&039;d thought Nathan would crack, under his unrelenting pressure and surely Nathan would do the right thing, the courageous thing Surely Nathan would bear witness before Magistrate Powers and Chief Prosecutor Bynes to those terrible things done to hi to repeat those same atrocities before a court of the town of New York
Who wouldn&039;t do such, if they were truly in need of justicei
Matthew looked into the fla: to be left alone
I did kill hian
He drew a long breath and let it out The flae shadows crawled upon the walls
The funny thing, he thought Nothe tragic thing, was that the sa fire for justice in himself that had saved the life of Rachel Howarth in Fount Royal hadprobablymost likelyalmost certainlyicaused Nathan Spencer to take his own life
He felt constricted within these walls; his shoulders felt pinched He had thedrink to calm his mind He needed to hear the fiddle play across the room, and to be welcomed in a place where everyone knew his name
The Gallop would still be open Even if Mr Sudbury was just cleaning the tables down, there&039;d be tiet dressed and hurry, though, if he wished to end this night in the presence of friends
Fivea fresh white shirt, tan-colored breeches, and the boots he&039;d polished before retiring to bed The pottery shop was as neatly kept as Matthew&039;s roo as hoas also Matthew&039;s responsibility arranged on shelves were various bowls, cups, plates, candle-holders, and such, either waiting for a buyer or awaiting further orna It was a firarret floor a largethat displayed select pieces of the potter&039;s art faced the street to entice custoht the pierced-tin lantern that hung on a hook next to the door, deciding that tonight-though he was deter of ausley-he could use more illumination to beware any attack from the headmaster&039;s stolitter silver on the black harbor water The Gallop was on Crown Street, about a six-ood distance north of the rougher taverns such as the Thorn Bush, the Blind Eye, and the Cock&039;a&039;tail He had no need for danger or intrigue tonight, as his head was still not quite comfortable on his neck One drink of stout, a little conversation-probably about Lord Cornbury, if he knew anything about the public taste for gossip-and then to bed until
He turned left onto Crown Street, where at the corner stood the Owleses&039; tailor shop The sound of fiddling cahter Thefrom the lamp-lit doorway of the Red Barrel Inn, across the street Twosome off-key ditty whose words Matthew could onlybehind them a thin woman with black hair and dark-painted eyes came to the door and heaved a bucketful of who-knehat at their backs, then screeched a curse as her dowsed targets laughed as only those who are truly stoggered may One of the an to dance aaround him as the woman hollered for a constable
Matthew put his head down and kept going, knowing that oneat any tihtfall had aspirations to rival the coarser deeds of London
But how could it not be soi Matthe that, after all, London was in the blood of these people There was talk of New Yorkers, those ere born here, but the ris It was still theive birth to New Yorkers Matthew sure its own complete identity, if it survived to become a city, but for noas a British investment shaped by the will of Londoners for the pocketbooks of London How could it not take that city as its rowth, industry, and-unfortunately-vicei Which was exactly why Mattheas concerned about the lack of organization concerning the constables He knew fro that the mother city was nearly overcome by the criminal element, with the "Old Charlies" unable to cope with the daily flood of murders, robberies, and other derew to profit in New York, the ships would be bringing over experienced wolves intent on chewing the bones of a whole new flock of sheep He fervently hoped that High Constable Lillehorne-or whoever was in charge by then-would be ready when it happened
The Gallop was just a block ahead, across S the street and tore after what appeared to be a large rat, the effect causing Matthew&039;s heart to give a leap up soht down Sain, now louder and ent: "Help! Murder!"
Matthew stopped and lifted his lantern, his heart still lodged in his throat a figure was running toward hi an effort at keeping a straight line The sight of this figure co at him almost made him concurrently pee in his breeches and hurl the lantern in self-defense
"Murder! Murder!" the young man shouted, and then he seemed to see Matthew for the first time and he held up his arms for mercy as he all but fell forward, his face bleached and his reddish-brown hair wild "Who&039;s &039;ati"
"Who are-" He recognized the face then, by the lantern&039;s glow and the added light of the lamp nailed up to the Smith Street cornerpost It was Phillip Covey, one of Matthew&039;s friends froe "It&039;s Matthew Corbett, Phillip! What&039;s happenedi"
"Matthew, Matthew! Heesh all cut up!" Covey grabbed hold of Matthew and almost tumbled them both to the dirt The smell of liquor off Covey&039;s breath nearly knocked Matthen anyway Covey&039;s eyes were shot with red and dark-circled, and whatever he&039;d seen had caused his nose to blow because glea down over his lips and chin "Heesh had it, Matthew! God help &039;i er than Mattheas so drunk Matthew had to put an ar Still Covey tre "God Lord!" he cried "God Lord, I near stepped on &039;im!"
"Whoi Who is iti"
Covey looked at hi his cheeks and his ed, "but heesh all cut up over there"
"Over therei Over wherei"
"There" Covey pointed back along Smith Street, and then Matthe the wet blood on not only the hand with the pointing finger but Covey&039;s other hand and red srisly clumps of black mess all over Matthew&039;s white shirt
"My God!" Matthew cried out, and when he jerked back Covey&039;s knees gave way and the younger ed and began to puke up his guts
"What is iti What&039;s the noisei"
Two lanterns were co from the direction of the Trot Then Gallop, and in another few seconds Matthew ht
"Here!" Matthew shouted; a stupid, confused thing to say in athis way anyhow To s more clear, Matthew shouted, "I&039; because at that ht fell upon hiasp and stumble as four men saw his bloody shirt and collided with each other like pole-struck oxen
"Matthewi You&039;re all torn up!" Felix Sudbury aiht at Covey "Did this bastard do iti"
"No sir, he-"
"Constable! Constable!" the second ht batter in doors and break shutters
Matthew turned away fro yawp and walked quickly past Phillip Covey, his lantern uplifted to reveal whoever lay grievously injured further along Sht along the street, candles were showing in s and people were beginning to e up a riot Fro, probably in response to that leather-lunged gentleman behind him who now cupped his hands to his h to surely alar south Felix Sudbury called behind him, "Matthew! Matthew!" but he didn&039;t reply Within the next few paces he round under the red-striped awning that marked the doorway to the Sht a soleht here"
Matthew obeyed, but not without reticence Then he saw the entire picture: twoover a body stretched out on its back a black pool of blood shilish dirt The man who&039;d spoken-none other than Reverend William Wade-reached up as Matthew approached and took the lantern to give ht to his compatriot
Old Dr artemis Vanderbrocken also held a laure blocked the light The doctor&039;s instru over peering at the body&039;s throat
"Quite a cutting," Matthew heard the aged physician say "a littlea body and a head"
"Who is iti" Matthew asked, leaning over to look but not really wanting to get that close The coppery s
"Not certain," answered Reverend Wade "Can you tell, artemisi"
"No, the face is too swollen Here, let&039;s try the coat"
Sudbury and the others joined the scene, as did several people from the southerly direction another drunk pushed forward to see, his pock- &039;round him like a dank mist "It&039;s me brother!" he suddenly shouted "Dear Christ, it&039;s me brother, Davy Munthunk!"