CHAPTER XI
THE PLAY
They were all arrayed in their very best clothes, even Master Jonathanhaving powdered his hair, and tied it in an uncommonly neat queue,while his buckled shoes, stockings and small clothes, though ofsomewhat ancient fashion, were of fine quality. Mr. Hardy gazed at himadmiringly.
"Jonathan," he said, "you are usually somewhat sour of visage, butupon occasion you can ruffle it with the best macaroni of them all."
Master Jonathan pursed his lips, and smiled with satisfaction. All ofthem, in truth, presented a most gallant appearance, but by far themost noticeable figure was that of Tayoga. Indians often appeared inNew York, but such Indians as the young Onondaga were rareanywhere. He rose half a head above the ordinary man, and he wore thecostume of a chief of the mighty League of the Hondenosaunee, thefeathers in his lofty headdress blowing back defiantly with thewind. He attracted universal, and at the same time respectful,attention.
They were preceded by a stout link boy who bore aloft a blazing torch,and as they walked toward the building in Nassau Street, owned by RipVan Dam, in which the play was to be given, they overtook others whowere upon the same errand. A carriage drawn by two large white horsesconveyed Governor de Lancey and his wife, and another very much likeit bore his brother-in-law, the conspicuous John Watts, andMrs. Watts. All of them saw Mr. Hardy and his party and bowed to themwith great politeness. Robert already understood enough of the worldto know that it denoted much importance on the part of the merchant.
"A man of influence in our community," said Master Benjamin, speakingof Mr. Watts. "An uncommonly clear mind and much firmness anddecision. He will leave a great name in New York."
As he spoke they overtook a tall youth about twenty-three years old,walking alone, and dressed in the very latest fashion out ofEngland. Mr. Hardy hailed him with great satisfaction and asked him tojoin them.
"Master Edward Charteris,[A] who is soon to become a member of theRoyal Americans," he said to the others. "He is a native of this townand belongs to one of our best families here. When he does become aRoyal American he will probably have the finest uniform in hisregiment, because Edward sets the styles in raiment for young men ofhis age here."
[Footnote A: The story of Edward Charteris, and his adventures atTiconderoga and Quebec are told in the author's novel, "A Soldier ofManhattan."]
Charteris smiled. It was evident that he and the older man were on themost friendly footing. But he held himself with dignity and had pride,qualities which Robert liked in him. His manner was most excellenttoo, when Mr. Hardy introduced all of his party in turn, and hereadily joined them, speaking of his pleasure in doing so.
"I shall be able to exchange my seat and obtain one with you," hesaid. "We shall be early, but I am glad of it. Mr. Hallam and his finecompany have been performing in Philadelphia, and as we now welcomethem back to New York, nearly all the notable people of our city willbe present. Unless Mr. Hardy wishes to do so, it will give me pleasureto point them out to you."
"No, no!" exclaimed Master Benjamin. "The task is yours, Edward, mylad. You can put more savor and unction into it than I can."
"Then let it be understood that I'm the guide and expounder," laughedCharteris.
"He has a great pride in his city, and it won't suffer from histelling," said Master Benjamin.
They were now in Nassau Street near the improvised theater, and manyother link boys, holding aloft their torches, were preceding theirmasters and mistresses. Heavy coaches were rolling up, and men andwomen in gorgeous costumes were emerging from them. The display ofwealth was amazing for a town in the New World, but Mr. Hardy and hiscompany quickly went inside and obtained their seats, from which theywatched the fashion of New York enter. Charteris knew them all, andto many of them he was related.
The number of De Lanceys was surprising and there was also a profusionof Livingstons, the two families between them seeming to dominate thecity, although they lived in bitter rivalry, as Charteris whispered toRobert. There were also Wattses and Morrises and Crugers and Waltonsand Van Rensselaers, Van Cortlandts and Kennedys and Barclays andNicolls and Alexanders, and numerous others that endured forgenerations in New York. The diverse origin of these names, English,Scotch, Dutch and Huguenot French, showed even at such an early datethe cosmopolitan nature of New York that it was destined to maintain.
Robert was intensely interested. Charteris' fund of information waswonderful, and he flavored it with a salt of his own. He not only knewthe people, but he knew all about them, their personal idiosyncrasies,their rivalries and jealousies. Robert soon gathered that New York wasnot only a seething city commercially, but socially as well. Familywas of extreme importance, and the great landed proprietors who hadreceived extensive grants along the Hudson in the earlier days fromthe Dutch Government, still had and exercised feudal rights, and wereas full of pride and haughtiness as ducal families in Europe. Classdistinctions were preserved to the utmost possible extent, and, whilethe original basis of the town had been Dutch, the fashion was nowdistinctly English. London set the style for everything.
When they were all seated, the display of fine dress and jewels wasextraordinary, just as the wealth and splendor shown in some of theNew York houses had already attracted the astonished attention of manyof the British officers, to whom the finest places in their owncountry were familiar.
And while Robert was looking so eagerly, the party to which hebelonged did not pass unnoticed by any means. Master Benjamin Hardywas well known. He was bold and successful and he was a man of greatsubstance. He had qualities that commanded respect in colonial NewYork, and people were not averse to being seen receiving his friendlynod. And those who surrounded him and who were evidently his guestswere worthy of notice too. There was Edward Charteris, as well born asany in the hall, and a pattern in manners and dress for the young menof New York, and there was the tall youth with the tanned face, andthe wonderful, vivid eyes, who must surely, by his appearance, be therepresentative of some noble family, there was the young Indian chief,uncommon in height and with the dignity and majesty of the forest, anIndian whose like had never been seen in New York before, and therewas the gigantic Willet, whose massive head and calm face were soredolent of strength. Beyond all question it was a most unusual andstriking company that Master Benjamin Hardy had brought with him, andold and young whispered together as they looked at them, especially atRobert and Tayoga.
Mr. Hardy was conscious of the stir he had made, and he liked it, notfor himself alone, but also for another. He glanced at Robert and sawhow finely and clearly his features were cut, how clear was the blueof his eyes and the great width between them, and he drew a longbreath of satisfaction.
"'Tis a good youth. Nature, lineage and Willet have done well," hesaid to himself.
More of the fashion of New York came in and then a group of Britishofficers, several of whom nodded to Grosvenor.
"The tall man with the gray hair at the temples is my colonel,Brandon," he said. "Very strict, but just to his men, and we likehim. He spent some years in the service of the East India Company, inone of the hottest parts of the peninsula. That's why he's so brown,and it made his blood thin, too. He can't endure cold. The officerwith him is one of our majors, Apthorpe. He has had less experiencethan the colonel, but thinks he knows more. His opinion of the Frenchis very poor. Believes we ought to brush 'em aside with ease."
"I hope you don't think that way, Grosvenor," said Robert. "We in thiscountry know that the French is one of the most valiant races theworld has produced."
"And so do most thinking Englishmen. The only victories we boast muchabout are those we have won over the French, which shows that weconsider them foes worthy of anybody's steel. But the play is going tobegin, I believe. The hall is well filled now, and I'm not trying tomake an appeal to your local pride, Lennox, when I tell you 'tis anaudience that will compare well with one at Drury Lane or CoventGarden for splendor, and for variety 'twill excel it."
Robert was please
d secretly. Although more identified with Albany thanNew York, he considered himself nevertheless one of the people whobelonged to the city at the mouth of the Hudson, and he felt alreadyits coming greatness.
"We call ourselves Englishmen," he said modestly, "and we hope toachieve as much as the older Englishmen, our brethren across theseas."
"Have you seen many plays, Lennox?"
"But few, and none by great actors like Mr. Hallam and Mrs. Douglas. Isuppose, Grosvenor, you've seen so many that they're no novelty toyou."
"I can scarcely lay claim to being such a man about town as that. Ihave seen plays, of course, and some by the great Master Will, and Ido confess that the mock life I behold beyond the footlights oftenthrills me more than the real life I see this side of them. Once, Iwitnessed this play 'Richard III,' which we are now about to see, andit stirred me so I could scarce contain myself, though some do saythat our Shakespeare has made the hunchback king blacker than hereally was."
Presently a little bell rang, the curtain rolled up, and Robert passedinto an enchanted land. To vivid and imaginative youth the great styleand action of Shakespeare make an irresistible appeal. Robert hadnever seen one of the mighty bard's plays before, and now he was inanother world of romance and tragedy, suffused with poetry and he washeld completely by the spell. Shakespeare may have blackened thecharacter of the hunchback, but Robert believed him absolutely. Tohim Richard was exactly what the play made him.
Although the stage was but a temporary one, built in the hall of RipVan Dam, it was large, the seating capacity was great and Hallam andhis wife were among the best actors of their day, destined to a longcareer as stars in the colonies, and also afterward, when they ceasedto be colonies. They and an able support soon took the whole audiencecaptive, and all, fashionable and unfashionable alike, hung withbreathless attention upon the play. Robert forgot absolutelyeverything around him, Willet was carried back to days of his youth,and Master Benjamin Hardy, who at heart was a lover of adventure andromance, responded to the great speeches the author has written forhis characters. Tayoga did not stir, his face of bronze was unmoved,but now and then his dark eyes gleamed.
In reality the influence of the tragedy upon Tayoga was as great as itwas upon Robert. The Onondaga had an unusual mind and being sent at anearly age to school at Albany he had learned that the differencebetween white man and red was due chiefly to environment. Their hopesand fears, their rivalries and ambitions were, in truth, about thesame. He had seen in some chief a soul much like that of humpbackedRichard, but, as he looked and listened, he also had a certain feelingof superiority. As he saw it, the great League, the Hodenosaunee, wasgoverned better than England when York and Lancaster were tearing itto pieces. The fifty old sachems in the vale of Onondaga would decidemore wisely and more justly than the English nobles. Tayoga, in thatmoment, was prouder than ever that he was born a member of the Clan ofthe Bear, of the nation Onondaga, and doubtless his patron saint,Tododaho, in his home on the great, shining star, agreed with him.
The first act closed amid great applause, several recalls of smilingand bowing actors followed, and then, during the wait, came a greatbuzz of talk. Robert shook himself and returned to the world.
"What do you like best about it, Lennox?" asked Grosvenor.
"The poetry. The things the people say. Things I've thought oftenmyself, but which I haven't been able to put in a way that makes themstrike upon you like a lightning flash."
"I think that describes Master Will. In truth, you've given me adescription for my own feelings. Once more I repeat to you, Lennox,that 'tis a fine audience. I see here much British and Dutch wealth,and people whose lives have been a continuous drama."
"Truly it's so," said Robert, and, as his examining eye swept thecrowd, he almost rose in his seat with astonishment, with difficultysuppressing a cry. Then he charged himself with being a fool. It couldnot be so! The thing was incredible! The man might look like him, butsurely he would not be so reckless as to come to such a place.
Then he looked again, and he could no longer doubt. The stranger satnear the door and his dress was much like that of a prosperousseafaring man of the Dutch race. But Robert knew the blue eyes, loftyand questing like those of the eagle, and he was sure that the reddishbeard had grown on a face other than the one it now adorned. It wasSt. Luc, whom he knew to be romantic, adventurous, and ready for anyrisk.
Robert moved his body forward a little, in order that it might bedirectly between Tayoga and the Frenchman, it being his first impulseto shelter St. Luc from the next person who was likely to recognizehim. But the Onondaga was not looking in that direction. The youngEnglish officer, moved by his intense interest, had engaged him inconversation continually, surprised that Tayoga should know so muchabout the white race and history.
Robert looked so long at St. Luc, and with such a fixed and powerfulgaze, that at last the chevalier turned and their eyes met. Robert'ssaid:
"Why are you here? Your life is in danger every moment. If caught youwill be executed as a spy."
"I'm not afraid," replied the eyes of St. Luc. "You alone have seen meas I am."
"But others will see you."
"I think not."
"How do you know that I will not proclaim at once who you are?"
"You will not because you do not wish to see me hanged or shot."
Then the eyes of St. Luc left Robert and wandered ever the audience,which was now deeply engrossed in talk, although the Livingstons andthe De Lanceys kept zealously away from one another, and the familieswho were closely allied with them by blood, politics or business also,stayed near their chiefs. Robert began to fancy that he might havebeen mistaken, it was not really St. Luc, he had allowed an imaginaryresemblance to impose upon him, but reflection told him that it was noerror. He would have known the intense gaze of those burning blue eyesanywhere. He was still careful to keep his own body between Tayoga andthe Frenchman.
The curtain rose and once more Robert fell under the great writer'sspell. Vivid action and poetic speech claimed him anew, and for themoment he forgot St. Luc. When the second act was finished, and whilethe applause was still filling the hall, he cast a fearful glancetoward the place where he had seen the chevalier. Then, in truth, herubbed his eyes. No St. Luc was there. The chair in which he had satwas not empty, but was occupied by a stolid, stout Dutchman, whoseemed not to have moved for hours.
It had been a vision, a figment of the fancy, after all! But it wasmerely an attempt of the will to persuade himself that it was so. Hecould not doubt that he had seen St. Luc, who, probably listening tosome counsel of providence, had left the hall. Robert felt an immenserelief, and now he was able to assume his best manner when Mr. Hardybegan to present him and Tayoga to many of the notables. He met thegovernor, Mr. Watts, and more De Lanceys, Wilsons and Crugers than hecould remember, and he received invitations to great houses, and madeengagements which he intended to keep, if it were humanlypossible. Willet and Hardy exchanged glances when they noticed howeasily he adapted himself to the great world of his day. He respondedhere as he had responded in Quebec, although Quebec and New York, eacha center in its own way, were totally unlike.
The play went on, and Robert was still absorbed in the majesticlines. At the next intermission there was much movement in theaudience. People walked about, old acquaintances spoke and strangerswere introduced to one another. Robert looked sharply for St. Luc, butthere was no trace of him. Presently Mr. Hardy was introducing him toa heavy man, dressed very richly, and obviously full of pride.
"Mynheer Van Zoon," he said, "this is young Robert Lennox. He has beenfor years in the care of David Willet, whom you have met in other anddifferent times. Robert, Mynheer Van Zoon is one of our greatestmerchants, and one of my most active rivals."
Robert was about to extend his hand, but noticing that Mynheer VanZoon did not offer his he withheld his own. The merchant's face, intruth, had turned to deeper red than usual, and his eyes lowered. Hewas a few years older than Hardy, somewhat sto
uter, and his heavystrong features showed a tinge of cruelty. The impression that he madeupon Robert was distinctly unfavorable.
"Yes, I have met Mr. Willet before," said Van Zoon, "but so many yearshave passed that I did not know whether he was still living. I can saythe same about young Mr. Lennox."
"Oh, they live hazardous lives, but when one is skilled in meetingperil life is not snuffed out so easily," rejoined Mr. Hardy whoseemed to be speaking from some hidden motive. "They've returned tocivilization, and I think and trust, Adrian, that we'll hear more ofthem than for some years past. They're especial friends of mine, and Ishall do the best I can for them, even though my mercantile rivalrywith you absorbs, of necessity, so much of my energy."
Van Zoon smiled sourly, and then Robert liked him less than ever.
"The times are full of danger," he said, "and one must watch to keephis own."
He bowed, and turned to other acquaintances, evidently relieved atparting with them.
"He does not improve with age," said Willet thoughtfully.
Robert was about to ask questions concerning this Adrian Van Zoon, whoseemed uneasy in their presence, but once more he restrained himself,his intuition telling him as before that neither Willet nor MasterHardy would answer them.
The play moved on towards its dramatic close and Robert was back inthe world of passion and tragedy, of fancy and poetry. Van Zoon wasforgotten, St. Luc faded quite away, and he was not conscious of thepresence of Tayoga, or of Grosvenor, or of any of his friends.Shakespeare's _Richard_ was wholly the humpbacked villain to him, andwhen he met his fate on Bosworth Field he rejoiced greatly. As thecurtain went down for the last time he saw that Tayoga, too, wasmoved.
"The English king was a wicked man," he said, "but he died like agreat chief."
They all passed out now, the street was filled with carriages and thetorches of the link boys and there was a great hum of conversation.St. Luc returned to Robert's mind, but he kept to himself the factthat he had been in the theater. It might be his duty to state to themilitary that he had seen in the city an important Frenchman who musthave come as a spy, but he could not do so. Nor did he feel anypricklings of the conscience about it, because he believed, even if hegave warning of St. Luc's presence, the wary chevalier would escape.
They stood at the edge of the sidewalk, watching the carriages, greathigh-bodied vehicles, roll away. Mr. Hardy had a carriage of his own,but the distance between his house and the theater was so short thathe had not thought it necessary to use it. The night was clear, verycold and the illusion of the play was still upon the younger membersof his group.
"You liked it?" said Mr. Hardy, looking keenly at Robert.
"It was another and wonderful world to me," replied the youth.
"I thought it would make a great appeal to you," said Master Benjamin."Your type of mind always responds quickly to the poetic drama. Ah,there goes Mynheer Adrian Van Zoon. He has entered his carriagewithout looking once in our direction."
He and Willet and Master Jonathan laughed together, softly but withevident zest. Whatever the feeling between them and whatever the causemight be, Robert felt that they had the advantage of Mynheer Van Zoonthat night and were pushing it. They watched the crowd leave and thelights fade in the darkness, and then they walked back together to thesolid red brick house of Mr. Hardy, where Grosvenor took leave ofthem, all promising that the acquaintance should be continued.
"A fine young man," said Mr. Hardy, thoughtfully. "I wish that moreof his kind would come over. We can find great use for them in thiscountry."
Charteris also said farewell to them, telling them that his own housewas not far away, and offering them his services in any way theywished as long as they remained in the city.
"Another fine young man," said Master Benjamin, as the tall figure ofCharteris melted away in the darkness. "A good representative of ourcity's best blood and manners, and yes, of morals, too."
Robert went alone the next morning to the new public library, foundedthe year before and known as the New York Society Library, a noveltythen and a great evidence of municipal progress. The most eminent menof the city, appointed by Governor de Lancey, were its trustees, and,the collection already being large, Robert spent a happy hour or twoglancing through the books. History and fiction appealed most to him,but he merely looked a little here and there, opening many volumes. Hewas proud that the intelligence and enterprise of New York had foundedso noble an institution and he promised himself that if, in the timeto come, he should be a permanent resident of the city, his visitsthere would be frequent.
When he left the library it was about noon, the day being cloudy anddark with flurries of snow, those who were in the streets shiveringwith the raw cold. Robert drew his own heavy cloak closely about him,and, bending his head a little, strolled toward the Battery, in orderto look again at the ships that came from so many parts of theearth. A stranger, walking in slouching fashion, and with the collarof his coat pulled well up about his face, shambled directly in hisway. When Robert turned the man turned also and said in a low tone:
"Mr. Lennox!"
"St. Luc!" exclaimed Robert. "Are you quite mad? Don't you know thatyour life is in danger every instant?"
"I am not mad, nor is the risk as great as you think. Walk on by myside, as if you knew me."
"I did not think, chevalier, that your favorite role was that of aspy."
"Nor is it. This New York of yours is a busy city, and a man, even aFrenchman, may come here for other reasons than to learn militarysecrets."
Robert stared at him, but St. Luc admonished him again to look infront of him, and walk on as if they were old acquaintances on somebusiness errand.
"I don't think you want to betray me to the English," he said.
"No, I don't," said Robert, "though my duty, perhaps, should make medo so."
"But you won't. I felt assured of it, else I should not have spoken toyou."
"What duty, other than that of a spy, can have brought you to NewYork?"
"Why make it a duty? It is true the times are troubled, and full ofwars, but one, on occasion, may seek his pleasure, nevertheless. Letus say that I came to New York to see the play which both of uswitnessed last night. 'Twas excellently done. I have seen playspresented in worse style at much more pretentious theaters inParis. Moreover I, a Frenchman, love Shakespeare. I consider him theequal of our magnificent Moliere."
"Which means that if you were not a Frenchman you would think himbetter."
"A pleasant wit, Mr. Lennox. I am glad to see it in you. But you willadmit that I have come a long distance and incurred a great risk toattend a play by a British author given in a British town, though itmust be admitted that the British town has strong Dutchlineaments. Furthermore, I do bear witness that I enjoyed the playgreatly. 'Twas worth the trouble and the danger."
"Since you insist, chevalier, that you came so great a distance andincurred so great a risk merely to worship at the shrine of ourShakespeare, as one gentleman to another I cannot say that I doubtyour word. But when we sailed down the Hudson on a sloop, and werecompelled to tie up in a cove to escape the wrath of a storm, I sawyou on the slope above me."
"I saw you, too, then, Mr. Lennox, and I envied you your snug place onthe sloop. That storm was one of the most unpleasant incidents in mylong journey to New York to see Shakespeare's 'Richard III.' Still,when one wishes a thing very badly one must be willing to pay a highprice for it. It was a good play by a good writer, the actors weremost excellent, and I have had sufficient reward for my trouble anddanger."
The collar of his cloak was drawn so high now that it formed almost ahood around his head and face, but he turned a little, and Robert sawthe blue eyes, as blue as his own, twinkling with a humorous light. Itwas borne upon him with renewed force that here was a champion ofromance and high adventure. St. Luc was a survival. He was one ofthose knights of the Middle Ages who rode forth with lance and swordto do battle, perhaps for a lady's favor, and perhaps to crush theinfidel. H
is own spirit, which had in it a lightness, a gayety and ahumor akin to St. Luc's, responded at once.
"Since you found the play most excellent, and I had the same delight,I presume that you will stay for all the others. Mr. Hallam and hisfine company are in New York for two weeks, if not longer. Having comeso far and at such uncommon risks, you will not content yourself witha single performance?"
"Alas! that is the poison in my cup. The leave of absence given me bythe Governor General of Canada is but brief, and I can remain in thiscity and stronghold of my enemy but a single night."
They passed several men, but none took any notice of them. The day hadincreased in gloominess. Heavy clouds were coming up from the sea,enveloping the solid town in a thick and somber atmosphere. Snowbegan to fall and a sharp wind drove the flakes before it. Pedestriansbent forward, and drew their cloaks or coats about their faces toprotect themselves from the storm.
"The weather favors us," said St. Luc. "The people of New Yorkdefending themselves from the wind and the flakes will have no time tobe looking for an enemy among them."
"Where are we going, chevalier?"
"That I know not, but being young, healthy and strong, perhaps we walkin a circle for the sake of exercise."
"For which also you have come to New York--in order that you may walkabout our Battery and Bowling Green."
"True! Quite true! You have a most penetrating mind, Mr. Lennox, andsince we speak of the objects of my errand here I recall a third, butof course, a minor motive."
"I am interested in that third and minor motive, Chevalier deSt. Luc."
"I noticed last night at the play that you were speaking to amerchant, one Adrian Van Zoon."
"'Tis true, but how do you know Van Zoon?"
"Let it suffice, lad, that I know him and know him well. I wish you tobeware of him."
He spoke with a sudden softness of tone that touched Robert, and therecould be no doubt that his meaning was good. They were still walkingin the most casual manner, their faces bent to the driving snow, andalmost hidden by the collars of their cloaks.
"What can Adrian Van Zoon and I have in common?" asked Robert.
"Lad, I bid thee again to beware of him! Look to it that you do notfall into his treacherous hands!"
His sudden use of the pronoun "thee," and his intense earnestness,stirred Robert deeply.
"Friends seem to rise around me, due to no merit of mine," hesaid. "Willet has always watched over me. Tayoga is my brother.Jacobus Huysman has treated me almost as his own son, andMaster Benjamin Hardy has received me with great warmth of heart. Andnow you deliver to me a warning that I cannot but believe is givenwith the best intent. But again I ask you, why should I fear AdrianVan Zoon?"
"That, lad, I will not tell you, but once more I bid you beware ofhim. Think you, I'd have taken such a risk to prepare you for adanger, if it were not real?"
"I do not. I feel, Chevalier de St. Luc, that you are a friend intruth. Shall I speak of this to Mr. Willet? He will not blame me forhiding the knowledge of your presence here."
"No. Keep it to yourself, but once more I tell you beware of AdrianVan Zoon. Now you will not see me again for a long time, and perhapsit will be on the field of battle. Have no fears for my safety. I canleave this solid town of yours as easily as I entered it. Farewell!"
"Farewell!" said Robert, with a real wrench at the heart. St. Luc lefthim and walked swiftly in the direction of St. George's Chapel. Thesnow increased so much and was driving so hard that in forty or fiftypaces he disappeared entirely and Robert, wishing shelter, went backto the house of Benjamin Hardy, moved by many and varied emotions.
He could not doubt that St. Luc's warning was earnest and important,but why should he have incurred such great risks to give it? What washe to Adrian Van Zoon? and what was Adrian Van Zoon to him? And whatdid the talk at night between Willet and Hardy mean? He, seemed to bethe center of a singular circle of complications, of which otherpeople might know much, but of which he knew nothing.
Mr. Hardy's house was very solid, very warm and very comfortable. Hewas still at the Royal Exchange, but Mr. Pillsbury had come home, andwas standing with his back to a great fire, his coattails drawn undereither arm in front of him. A gleam of warmth appeared in his solemneyes at the sight of Robert.
"A fierce day, Master Robert," he said. "'Tis good at such a time tostand before a red fire like this, and have stout walls between oneand the storm."
"Spoken truly, Master Jonathan," said Robert, as he joined him beforethe fire, and imitated his position.
"You have been to our new city library? We are quite proud of it."
"Yes, I was there, but I have also been thinking a little."
"Thought never hurts one. We should all be better if we took morethought upon ourselves."
"I was thinking of a man whom we saw at the play last night, themerchant, Adrian Van Zoon."
Master Jonathan let his coattails fall from under his arms, and thenhe deliberately gathered them up again.
"A wealthy and powerful merchant. He has ships on many seas."
"I have inferred that Mr. Hardy does not like him."
"Considering my words carefully, I should say that Mr. Hardy does notlike Mr. Van Zoon and that Mr. Van Zoon does not like Mr. Hardy."
"I'm not seeking to be intrusive, but is it just business rivalry?"
"You are not intrusive, Master Robert. But my knowledge seldom extendsbeyond matters of business."
"Which means that you might be able to tell me, but you deem it wisernot to do so."
"The storm increases, Master Robert. The snow is almost blinding. Irepeat that it is a most excellent fire before which we arestanding. Mr. Hardy and your friends will be here presently and weshall have food."
"It seems to me, Master Jonathan, that the people of New York eat muchand often."
"It sustains life and confers a harmless pleasure."
"To return a moment to Adrian Van Zoon. You say that his ships areupon every sea. In what trade are they engaged, mostly?"
"In almost everything, Master Robert. They say he does muchsmuggling--but I don't object to a decent bit of smuggling--and I fearthat certain very fast vessels of his know more than a little aboutthe slave trade."
"I trust that Mr. Hardy has never engaged in such a traffic."
"You may put your mind at rest upon that point, Master Robert. Noamount of profit could induce Mr. Hardy to engage in such commerce."
Mr. Hardy, Tayoga and Willet came in presently, and the merchantremained a while after his dinner. The older men smoked pipes andtalked together and Robert and Tayoga looked out at the driving snow.Tayoga had received a letter from Colonel William Johnson thatmorning, informing him that all was well at the vale of Onondaga, andthe young Onondaga was pleased. They were speaking of their expecteddeparture to join Braddock's army, but they had heard from Willet thatthey were to remain longer than they had intended in New York, as thecall to march demanded no hurry.
The Shadow of the North: A Story of Old New York and a Lost Campaign Page 12