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It was a long walk to a bad end, with the bell pealing a spritely dirge

Matthew and Berry were side-by-side as they progressed along the road toward the vineyard ahead of them strode Chapel, deep in conversation with Evans arrayed around the hapless prisoners in a dangerous triangle were Jere pace were the boys, hooting and laughing with joyful glee, jostling one another for closer looks at Berry, darting in and plucking at Matthew&039;s coat or Berry&039;s dress and then being chased back by an almost playful feint from Jeremy&039;s knife or a backhanded threat and Prussian yell from the count No one bothered Ripley and Ripley reacted to no one; he&039;d put on dark-tinted spectacles to shield his eyes from the sun and walked with a sole to do to usi" Berry pressed up close beside Matthew, flinching as a yellow-haired boy of about fourteen ran in and pulled at her dress She started to turn and shout at him, as she&039;d done to several others, but as that had just brought about a storhter she decided it asted breath

Mattheanted to say I don&039;t know but the time for that lie ell and truly done after all, he was so da to kill us," he said

Berry stopped She stood gaping at hiren gave her a shove that almost propelled her into Matthew Oh, how the boys did convulse themselves! One-a little brown-haired i the front of his breeches and grinningly pranced a jig, his boots kicking up dustpuffs

"Kill usi" she gasped when she could speak "Kill usi What have you got ht you liked those"

"I like adventures I can live through!" Her oing to bite it off Her hair ild and tangled and whitened by dust She looked desperately around and saw only woods beyond the laughing faces and capering figures "We can run, can&039;t wei"

"Not faster than they can catch us"

"They&039;re not going to kill us!" Herto frighten us, aren&039;t theyi"

"I don&039;t know I don&039;t think I could be any !" she insisted, again right up at his ear

Matthew just grunted What are you going to do, ht Break down in tears and let thee Let the moonbeam playsas that word he&039;d conjured up in Philadelphiai Detective Ho, ho, what a joke! One has to survive his first investigation, Matthew thought griave another pull at his bonds, as he&039;d done at least half-a-dozen ti to come off when his wrists had thinned a little , aren&039;t theyi" Berry pleaded Her voice cracked and she caught herself "Tell ate&039;s locked" Was he being too crueli He thought to put an arotten about the cords Hisin the blood of the future The very near future Well, his heart ht fall down and die without further injury

But not further insult, for he realized he had just stepped into a pile of manure left by the coach horses on their way to the stable The laughter and hollering swelled up and someone called him a "shitfoot" Could sorettably, no

"Mister!" Berry shouted Then, louder to be heard over death-bell and merriment, "Mister Chapel!"

Chapel interrupted his discussion with Evans and drifted back "Yes, !" she told hireed

"I mean it! We&039;ll be quiet! Won&039;t we, Matthewi"

"Yes, you&039;ll be very quiet," Chapel said

Berry suddenly sat down on the ground at once Chapel e Matthew thought Berry&039;s clothes were going to be torn off, and her breasts and private area squeezed and felt by every hand on an ar, until Count Dahlgren carabbed a handful of her hair, shook her head back and forth, and hollered, "You vill valk!" into her ear His fist was ready to strike before her forehead could Matthe her eyes go blank and her ony pierced his heart as she staggered forward and the little paradewell," Chapel remarked as he walked at Matthew&039;s side

"This is her first tier voice than he&039;d ever iined such a situation at all

"Just don&039;t run very far," Chapel advised, in the ive them some exercise Then just lie down and let the hed softly The bell stopped, which ht cod "Being disposed of," the ht be used up and throay That&039;s what all hus Correcti"

"If I said yes, would I and the girl livei"

again that soft laugh

"So that&039;s what all this is abouti" Matthe at the end of the road the vineyard and the arranges all constructed fros had a s commodities for use by Professor Felli"

"Yes, and for use by anyone willing to pay Come on, Matthew! Surely you understand how important it is for thehow shall I phrase iti"

"Criminal underworldi" Matthew supplied

"Brotherhood," said Chapel, "and sisterhood, also, to replenish itself We are commodities, too all our talents rees and different worths Take Billy Hodges, for instance as I said, he did some wonderful work for us and beca off to the left, therei Beside the one with the belltoweri That would be our priht his pupils in there Some of them advanced to take other positions in the colonies, where they are waiting for certain signals Soland to work The same as with all our classes: the art of self-defense, the study of finance, the techniques of hueet to the more defined studies of assassination, arson, blackery, and-"

"Poisoningi" Matthew interrupted "How to concoct drugs to kill five innocent people in a Philadelphia taverni"

"Oh, those five people were unfortunate byproducts of the contract Someone had to drink that wine We couldn&039;t exactly ruin Swanscott and his business if no one was poisoned, could wei"

"Lovely"

"Necessary Don&039;t you see that this is a businessi Really, Matthew! This is a business with a great future It&039;s been sailing along in England and Europe forup and all its potential ahead, we&039;d be pretty foolish not to want to get in the door too, wouldn&039;t wei" He sighed, because he kneasn&039;t ht be interested to know that when Mr Nack coe, only Mr Deverick had any idea why he lance at Matthew to gauge his interest, then went ahead anyhen Mattheed none "ausley only supplied the hu their exact use as for Godwin, the doctor was involved with a young whore in London after his wife died We found out her name was Susan He fawned over her, and she used hioes I suppose he&039;d do anything to stay around her, for that is the illusion we call love Me, I would have ripped her gutless and thrown her out aBut Godwin ht himself a noble soul ould so cocks of other ot herself knocked up and he killed both his sweet Susan and the little bastard on the abortion table an accident, I&039;m sure But you know, he was always drawn to the doves a sad episode in an otherwise exemplary life However, we thrive on such episodes They make our business so ood doctor abouta small batch of poison for us-out of belladonna he purchased at the Smith Street apothecary, by the way-he was at first very reluctant until we brought all that up about Susan Could we prove iti Witnesses could be found and letters written, we said" Chapel gave a broad wink "We have ladies with great iination and not a little experience But Godas a weak nut Guilt-ridden and pliable, so notto kill hih constable We would have found soedy," Matthew replied

"a business Like any other, except" Chapel thought about it "It made me, a poor but ambitious tinker&039;s son, very wealthy"

The boys suddenly rushed ahead Oht They disappeared around the corner of the belltower building

"ah, the ragged schools give us such dedicated pupils," Chapel said, with a hint of wicked delight "Now listen, do as I say Run a little bit to get theirl, if she&039;s in any state to hear you But you won&039;t be able to run very far, anyway"

"What&039;ll you do to us afterwardi Throw our bodies in the riveri"

"Certainly not Billy jumped off that cliff over there," and here Chapel motioned in the direction of the Hudson, "before he could be stopped He was half-blind, as it was Couldn&039;t see where he was running to or from Ordinarily, ould have buried him back in the woods where we bury all our mistakes and failures Which are unfortunatelystandards, the same as any university Out of all the candidates sold to us by ausley, we only pass through about six a year Now this ausley situation is a proble to have to find a replaceirls&039; orphanage, so we have a lot of work to do the next fewChapel had just said "Half-blindi What do you mean, Billy was half-blindi"

"Oh, his eyes were all torn up The birds, you know"

"The birdsi"