Person or Persons Unknown Read Online Free Page B

money! It would not take a great deal, really — ^just enough to pay for passage for two to America. There I could start a new life for Mariah and me. There was opportunity for all in the great city of Philadelphia, or perhaps Boston or Baltimore. These were magical names to me, as they were to many young Englishmen of that time, names put on hope, symbols of optimism to stir the imagination. And indeed they stirred mine, for what else had I to do as I waited but spin fantasies of what might be for Mariah and me in the American colonies. There were adventures in the printing trade, perhaps even a career in law, speeches to be given, important documents to be signed, and in all these dreams Mariah was at my side, the very model of a wife for a personage such as myself; I would dress her in silks and laces; we would have children and a great house to keep us in. Or perhaps I should be a farmer — land was to be had for the taking out there in the wilderness; all I should need would be an axe, a plow, and some seed — and Mariah; together we would make our way, braving dangers, aiding and being aided by our Iroquois neighbors.
    Thus did I pass the time, sitting alone there in the antechamber of that great house. I lost all sense of the passing minutes; whole hours slipped by (two, in fact, and the better part of a third). So deep was I in my thoughts and fantasies that I barely noticed when the butler returned, clack-clack-clacking down the long hall, until he was near upon me, illuminating my darkened comer with the candelabrum he bore. I jumped to my feet.
    “He has returned,” said he, placing the candelabrum on a small table.
    And as he said it, I heard the rumble and clop of the coach-and-four as it came to a halt outside the door. How had the butler known? Had there been a lookout posted in the upper rooms?
    He threw open the door with great authority, a “Welcome, my Lord,” and a proper bow. I took a place suitably back from the entrance as the Lord Chief Justice came bustling in. Rewarding the butler with his hat and stick, the Earl of Mansfield gave me a look and grunted.
    “Sir John Fielding’s boy,” said the butler.
    “I recognize him.” Then to me: “Have you a letter for me, boy?”
    “I have, my Lord.” And I stepped forward and handed it to him with a bow of my own.
    He took it and ripped it open at the seal. He stepped over to the candelabrum to read it. “Smithers,” said he to the butler, “do let us have some light in here. Lady Mansfield will be home soon, and she hates coming home to a darkened house, even more than I.”
    “Til attend to it immediate, my Lord,” said the butler.
    And off he went as his master gave his attention to the letter.
    “Oh, he makes conditions, does he? Well!”
    The Lord Chief Justice continued to read, mumbling to himself to the end of the letter. Then he refolded it and offered it to me.
    “You may tell Sir John that I shall do my utmost to see that his conditions are met. More I cannot promise.”
    I kept my hands steadfastly at my side — in effect, refusing to accept the letter.
    “Sir John asked in particular that you make a reply in writing, my Lx)rd. He said there was room at the bottom of the page.”
    “Oh? Indeed? Wants something he can wave under my nose sometime in the future, does he?”
    “If you say so, sir.”
    “I just did.” He sighed. “Oh, all right, come along then.”
    He picked up the candelabrum and led the way into the library nearby. Standing at the great desk, he took a pen, dipped it, and scrawled his message. He signed his name with a flourish and handed the letter to me; this time I took it from him with thanks.
    “I wrote it down as I said — I’ll do all in my power.” He waved his hand at me in a dismissive gesture. “On your way, boy.”
    With a bow, I left him, emerging into a hall that had suddenly been transformed by the light from half a hundred candles. The butler barely noticed me as I let myself out.
    It