The Charade

by Laura Lee Guhrke

  “However,” the governor continued, “my orders from London are very specific—I am to arrest only Whig leaders, and I have been provided with a list of those leaders. Your name is not on that list. In addition, there is no evidence to indicate you are in any position of power within the Whig cause. The only evidence against you is the word of Viscount Lowden and Lieutenant Weston, both of whom, it would seem, have a personal ax to grind here.”

  Gage took a deep breath and let it out in a heavy sigh. “This matter comes down to the word of Lowden and Weston against that of Mrs. Armstrong and yourself. Your two versions of the events leading to this moment differ considerably, and there is no way for me to determine who is telling the truth and who is not. If I were a wagering man, I would bet that both yourself and the viscount have told me nothing but lies. Still, the fact remains that nothing can be proven against you, and I will not arrest men without hard evidence of wrongdoing. You may go, but if you are indeed a Whig spy, I would urge you not to try to leave the city. My soldiers are everywhere, and you would not get far without a pass.”

  “No, sir,” Ethan agreed, knowing that was nothing less than the truth. “What about Mrs. Armstrong?”

  Gage looked at Katie, and, to Ethan’s astonishment, he smiled at her, a sad, compassionate smile. “Mrs. Armstrong, I am truly sorry for the indignities you suffered at the hands of my officer and the viscount. You have my abject apologies. If Mr. Harding were truly the kind and honorable man you paint him, he would not keep you as a mistress.” He frowned at Ethan. “And sir, if this unfortunate girl was indentured to you and you took her for a mistress, you have abused your position as her master. The fact that you have since freed her does not change that.”

  Ethan tried to look contrite. “Yes, sir.”

  Gage returned his attention to Katie. “My dear child, what do you want out of all this?”

  Ethan caught his breath, wondering what she would say.

  “Governor Gage, all I want is to leave Boston, find a nice quiet place to live and a hardworking, steady fellow to marry, and stay out of all these complicated political affairs. I have had enough of Whigs and Tories to last a lifetime.”

  Ethan frowned. She couldn’t possibly mean that. What was she really up to?

  “And so you shall, my dear.” Gage pulled out a sheet of parchment and picked up his quill. “Here is a pass to leave the city,” he said as he began to write. “I would advise you to do so first thing tomorrow. Try not to travel alone if you can.”

  He blotted the sheet and handed it to her. She accepted it meekly. “Thank you, sir.”

  Ethan could not believe it. Not only was she free, she had managed to connive a pass out of the governor to leave Boston, which was far more than he could have hoped for. He took her arm and began pulling her toward the door, wanting her out of there before Gage changed his mind.

  Once they were safely out of Province House, once they were in his carriage and on their way to his house, he allowed his jubilation to show. He laughed a long, hard laugh of disbelief. “My God, it worked,” he told Katie as he fell back against the seat of the carriage. “The most colossal, unbelievable bluff of my life, and it worked.”

  It took him a moment to realize Katie was not laughing. He turned his head to look at her, and what he saw in her eyes caused his laughter to fade away. Something in the way she looked at him twisted his heart with a joy far greater than outwitting Gage.

  “You came for me,” she whispered in disbelief, and reached up to touch his cheek. “You came back for me.”

  Ethan turned his head to press a kiss into her palm. “How could I not? I love you.”

  “How could you?” She shook her head. “After I spied on you, after I lied to you.”

  “But you didn’t betray me. I knew it the moment Lowden and his men burst into your house. They arrested you but not me, and I knew that I had made a mistake, the worst mistake of my life.”

  “I should have trusted you, I should have told you the truth, but I was so afraid. I didn’t know what you would do, and I didn’t think even you could save me from the viscount’s threats. I didn’t think you would want to, once you knew the truth.”

  “You aren’t the only one who hasn’t been honest, Katie,” he reminded her. “But when the moment came to save yourself, you did not. You saved me instead by refusing to speak against me. How could you think I would not do the same for you?”

  “I heard Lowden had constables out looking for you, but you were nowhere to be found. I was certain you had left the city. I had hoped you had escaped. But then, there you were, striding into court, and I was so afraid they would hang you.” Her voice broke on a sob, and she threw her arms around his neck, burying her face against his shirt-front.

  He stroked her hair and smiled. “Are you crying again?”

  She shook her head. “No,” she choked with a sniff. “I never cry.”

  “Oh, then you must have something in your eye.”

  She laughed with him and sat up, brushing away the tears she said she wasn’t crying. “But how could you take such a risk? You must have known about Weston by then. You must have known he would recognize you.”

  “I found out this morning he had returned to duty, and when I learned of your trial for the theft of Weston’s purse, I knew he would be called as a witness.”

  “That’s my point. You knew, and you came anyway.”

  “I also knew there was no other way. I couldn’t break you out of Castle William, so my only option was to get all four of us in front of Gage and see if I could bluff our way out.”

  She stared at him as if he’d lost his mind. “You had it all planned?”

  “Of course. I knew if we could just get Gage to give the final word, we would have a chance. I know the man, I know how he thinks, and unless Lowden had evidence of which I was unaware, I felt there was a strong chance Gage would let us go. But, of course, it meant telling some outrageous lies.” He smiled at her, that wry, one-sided smile she loved. “You see, I took a page out of your book. I crossed my fingers and lied like hell.”

  She laughed. “What a marvelous idea.”

  “Yes, wasn’t it?” He paused, and his smile faded. “I am hoping you have another one.”

  “Another idea?”

  “For how I can get out of the city. I have to get word to the countryside of what you told me last night, that Regulars are marching tonight. I found Paul Revere this morning and told him, but both of us have the same problem—how to get out of Boston.”

  She held up the document Gage had given her. “That’s no problem. I have a pass.”

  “Yes, and I couldn’t believe how you finagled one out of him. I thought I’d ask Gage to give us both passes, but when he indicated he had suspicions regarding my loyalty, I decided not to push my luck. So you can leave, but I can’t.”

  “Of course you can.” Katie leaned back against the carriage seat. “A spot of forgery is clearly indicated.”

  “Agreed, but we’d still need someone skilled enough at forgery to do the work. Most of my contacts have left the city by now, and I don’t know anyone still in town with the talent to—” He broke off and stared at her, understanding dawning in his eyes as she started to laugh. “Can you do it?”

  She turned her head and smiled at him. “Did I ever tell you about the time Meg and I did our forgery swindle?”

  He grasped her hand and pressed it to his lips. “Did I ever tell you how much I love you?”

  “Yes,” she whispered, “but tell me again. And again. And again. For the rest of my life.”

  Trull’s Inn and Tavern, located by the wharf in Charlestown, had been doing a brisk business all evening. If Tory informants had been watching the place, they would have found it highly suspicious to see so many people running in and out. Their suspicions would have been justified. Every few minutes, another person arrived with news of the movements of Gage’s Regulars.

  Daniel Munro was supposed to be asleep, tucked safely i
n a bed upstairs, but he had no intention of being left out of things. He tiptoed downstairs to find out what was going on.

  He found his father and mother in the taproom with the Macalveys, and he kept out of sight by the door, listening.

  “He’ll be here.”

  Daniel recognized his father’s voice, and he wondered who was expected to arrive. Paul Revere, maybe. But his mother spoke, and Daniel knew it wasn’t Paul Revere.

  “Ethan will come,” David said. “He knows to meet us here. If what Joseph told us is reliable, and Ethan doesn’t arrive, I’ll be the only one to ride north tonight, and I can’t cover all that distance by myself. Many people won’t be warned.”

  “I’ll do it,” Joshua said.

  “You can’t make such a hard ride with your leg, and if Ethan doesn’t come soon—”

  “Ethan will come only if he hasn’t been arrested,” Dorothy Macalvey said, and the shaking in her voice made Daniel roll his eyes. She sounded as if she was going to cry or something.

  “Ethan won’t be arrested,” Molly said fiercely. “Last we heard, John Smith wasn’t on Gage’s list.”

  Daniel frowned. What did John Smith have to do with this Ethan person? He didn’t understand. Dorothy started talking again, and he leaned closer to the door, but he needn’t have bothered. She sounded really scared, and she wasn’t bothering to be quiet about it.

  “It may not matter. If Katie told Lowden about John Smith, that he is really Ethan Harding and has been spying on the Tories for years, Gage could arrest him anyway.”

  Daniel frowned again, thinking it out. John’s real name was Ethan? But why hadn’t John told him that? Adults, he thought with disgust. Didn’t they know he could keep a secret just as well as anybody?

  “Keep your voice down, Dorothy,” Joshua admonished. “For God’s sake.”

  She paid no mind to that. “Katie betrayed him, and he could hang for it.”

  That was it. Daniel had heard enough. He ran into the room with a shout of fury. “Katie didn’t say anything to the Tories!” he cried, stopping just inside the door with his fists clenched. “I don’t believe it. She wouldn’t tell.”

  “Daniel Munro, you’re supposed to be in bed!” Molly came over to him and grabbed his ear. He hated that.

  She gave his ear a hard tug, and he let out a wail of protest. “Katie isn’t a traitor! She isn’t! She isn’t.”

  “Young man, you are going back upstairs.” Molly started pulling him in that direction by his ear, and Daniel gave another wail, but he was saved from a return to bed by the opening of the front door.

  Two figures came in, their dark cloaks billowing as the cold spring wind gusted in after them. Daniel saw Katie’s short crop of golden brown hair, and he gave a shout of joy. “Katie!” he cried, running to her.

  She opened her arms, laughing, as the boy hurled himself at her. “Watch out,” she warned, and reached into her pocket. “You’ll hurt Meg.”

  She pulled out the half-grown cat, who let out a loud wail of protest, and thrust her toward the boy. “Take her while I get my cloak off.”

  Daniel accepted the animal from her and glanced at the tall figure who had entered with her and was now pulling off his heavy cloak. “John! You’re finally here. We’ve been waiting forever.”

  “We have.” David stepped forward, shaking his head, looking confused. “What goes on here, Ethan?”

  “It’s a long story,” he replied, and Daniel frowned, remembering what he had overheard.

  “You lied to me,” he accused. “All my life, I’ve thought you were John Smith, and now I find out you’re somebody named Ethan.”

  “For heaven’s sake, Daniel,” his mother said, “who cares about that now?” She glanced from Ethan to Katie and back again. “This is a surprise. It’s so late, we thought sure you’d been arrested.”

  “I have not been arrested,” he assured her, and gestured to Katie. “Although Katie almost got hanged because she wouldn’t tell Lowden who I was.”

  He noted their bewildered faces. “It’s a long story. What news have you of Gage’s Regulars?”

  “Joseph Bramley was here a while ago, and he said they are definitely on the march. He was on his way to Lexington. Paul Revere has already gone that way.”

  “There are many soldiers on the roads,” Katie put in. “We had the devil of a time avoiding them to get here.”

  David shook his head, clearly befuddled. “How did you get here?” he asked. “Last time we saw Ethan, you were a spy for Lowden, and he was on the verge of arrest.”

  “As I said, I haven’t been arrested.” Ethan could see that he was going to have to explain before he could get any more news about the Regulars. He led them all into the taproom, everyone sat down, and as succinctly as possible, Ethan told them everything that had happened during the last twenty-four hours. Though the situation had been grave at the time, when he got to the meeting in Gage’s office, he couldn’t help laughing.

  “Of all of us, Katie fared best. Gage was so charmed by her, by how she had been taken advantage of by Lowden and myself, she came out smelling like a rose. I swear, when she connived a pass out of the city from him, I could hardly believe it.”

  “So she didn’t give your name to Lowden?” Dorothy spoke for the first time, clearly disbelieving. She turned to Katie, bristling with disapproval. “But Worth said you were Lowden’s spy. He gave you a letter from Lowden. I saw him do it, and he told me Lowden had written it to you. And now you expect us to believe—”

  “Dorothy, that’s enough, I think.” Ethan cut her off. “She didn’t betray me, or any of us, and that is what counts.”

  “I knew it!” Daniel cried, hugging Meg to his chest and giving Ethan a grin of pure satisfaction. “I told them, but they just wouldn’t believe me.”

  Ethan glanced at David and Joshua. “Is anyone going to tell me what has happened so far this night, or am I going to have to ride to Lexington and ask Joseph?”

  “Joseph stopped here on his way to Lexington and told us that there were riders spreading the word, but no one has gone north to Tewksbury,” David answered. “I was just about to go to Chelms-ford and warn them, but there is no one to go to Tewksbury.”

  Ethan looked at Katie, and he saw the fear in her eyes, the same fear he’d seen there before he went to Concord. He shook his head. “No, David. I can’t go. Not this time.”

  “Someone has to.”

  “It won’t be me.”

  The gazes of the two men locked, and no one spoke.

  After a long silence, Molly cleared her throat and stood up. “I’ll fetch some hot soup for Katie and Ethan. Look done in, both of them.”

  Molly left the taproom, and the others rose to their feet and followed her out, although Daniel paused in the doorway, the cat in his arms and an agonized expression on his freckled face.

  “I knew it wasn’t true,” he said passionately. “I knew you hadn’t told the Tories anything, Katie. You couldn’t do anything like that. I tried to tell them, but nobody would believe me.”

  Katie smiled at her young champion. “Thank you, Daniel.”

  He scowled at Ethan. “Maybe next time, all you adults will listen to me. Maybe next time, you won’t lie to me about your real names. Maybe everybody will start to figure out that just because I’m a boy, it doesn’t mean I don’t know anything. I’ve got more sense than any man.”

  With those words, Daniel departed, slamming the door behind him to show just how disgusted he was by the behavior of adults.

  Katie laughed, but Ethan did not. “He’s right about that. Daniel definitely has more sense than I do. I was convinced you had betrayed me. You tried to tell me the truth that night, but I—” he broke off and tilted his head back to stare at the ceiling. “God help me, I did not believe you.”

  She heard the loathing in his voice, just as she had only two nights before, but this time that loathing was directed at himself, not her.

  “What changed your mind?” she
asked. “That Lowden did not arrest you last night?”

  “Yes, but it didn’t matter. That night when I saw you there, when I saw Lowden taking you away, I didn’t care if you had done anything or not. I didn’t care about anything except that they were taking you to prison, and all I could think of was how scared you were of rats and how I had to get you out of there.”

  That was love, she realized, looking at him. Thinking only of your beloved, regardless of the past, regardless of the hurt you had suffered. Katie knew she was a fortunate woman indeed. She also knew what she had to do.

  She rose from her chair and knelt beside his. “Ethan, you need to go. You need to ride north to Tewksbury and raise the alarm.”

  He turned to her, touched her cheek. “How can I leave you now?”

  “For the same reason you have always had. Because you want a world where people are truly free.”

  “It means a war, Katie, probably a long and dangerous war, and an uncertain future.”

  “I know.” She put her arms around his neck and kissed him. “But I’ve never thought much about the future. I’ve spent my whole life living only for the here and now. Why should I change?”

  He started to speak, but she silenced him with another kiss, a long, full, lush kiss filled with all the promise of a future together, and she had no doubts it would happen.

  Finally, she pulled back with a sigh of contentment. “Besides,” she said, “I think our future is very bright. We love each other, and we are helping to create a brave new world.”

  He laughed softly. “I thought you said women never do anything for an ideal.”

  “We don’t.” She smiled. “Ideals be damned. I’m thinking of all the children we’re going to have, and how someday their father will be able to sit with them by the fireside and tell them how one night, in April of ’75, he helped create a nation. Now, go. When you return, I’ll be waiting. Through all the battles to come, and all the hardships, and all the joy, I’ll be waiting. I love you.”

  Ethan stood up, pulled her to her feet, and took her hands in his. “About all these children we’re going to have.”