Part 40 (2/2)

”I will. I expect I'll need it very soon.” But not until he determined exactly why Edward Winston was burning down his employer's town, he might have added.

”The sooner I'll like it, ” Goode said, already looking for a piece of burlap with which to wrap the offensive visitor.

Matthew left Goode's house and walked to the mansion, which was a relatively short distance but a world away from the slave quarters. He knew he should get to sleep quickly, as there was much to do at daylight. But he knew also that sleep was going to be difficult in the few hours of dark that remained, be-cause his mind would twist this new revelation into every possible shape in an attempt to understand it. Banished now from his thoughts was the equine l.u.s.t of Seth Hazelton; the crimes of Edward Winston loomed far larger, for the man had set those fires and willingly ascribed them-as did Bidwell and everyone else-to Rachel's pact with the Devil.

Matthew had every intention of going to the door and ringing the bell to gain entry if necessary, but between intention and deed he s.h.i.+fted his course a few degrees and soon found himself standing again on the gra.s.sy bank of the spring. He sat down, pulled his knees up to his chin, and stared out across the smooth water, his mind turbulent with questions of what was and what might be.

Presently he decided to stretch out, and lying on his back in the gra.s.s he looked up at the streams of stars that showed between the moving clouds. His last conscious thought before he drifted to sleep was of Rachel in the darkness of her cage; of Rachel, whose life depended on his actions in the hours that remained.

Of Rachel.

Twenty-Five.

A chorus of roosters crowed like triumphant horns. Matthew opened his eyes to a rose-colored light. Above him, the sky was pale pink and dappled with purple-edged clouds. He sat up, drawing in the sweet air of what seemed the first true morning of May.

Someone began ringing a bell, and then a second higher-toned bell added its voice. Matthew got to his feet. He heard a man's joyous shout from further along Harmony Street, and then Matthew saw perhaps the most beautiful sight of his life: the sun, a golden fireball, was rising over the sea. This was the sun of creation, and its mere touch had the force to waken the earth. Matthew lifted his face toward the light as a third bell chimed. Two birds began to chirp in one of the oaks that stood around the spring. Tendrils of low-lying mist still clung to the ground, but they were pitiful and short-fated relatives to the ma.s.sive thunderclouds that had so long held dominion. Matthew stood breathing the air as if he'd forgotten what springtime smelled like, as indeed he had: not the wet, foul stagnance of a swamp, but the clean soft breeze that brought the promise of new beginnings.

If ever there had been a morning to put Satan to flight, this was the one. Matthew stretched his arms up toward the sky to loosen the tight muscles in his back, though it could certainly be said that sleeping outdoors in the gra.s.s was preferable to grappling with Somnus in the gaol. He watched the sunlight strengthening across the roofs, yards, and fields of Fount Royal, the mist in full retreat. Of course the clear weather might only last one day before the rain returned, but he dared think nature's pendulum had swung in Bidwell's favor.

He had business this morning with the master of Fount Royal. He left the spring and walked to the mansion, the shutters of which had already been opened to the air. He found the entrance unlatched, and as he considered himself somewhat more than a visitor he opened it without ringing the bell and proceeded up the stairs to look in on the magistrate.

Woodward was still asleep, though either Mrs. Nettles or one of the other servants had already entered to crack the shutters of his room. Matthew approached the bed and stood beside it, looking at the magistrate. Woodward's mouth was partway open, the sound of his breathing like the faint sc.r.a.ping together of rusted iron wheels in a mechanism that was near failure. Brown bloodstains on the pillow behind his head marked the administrations of Dr. s.h.i.+elds's lancet last night, a task that was becoming a nocturnal ritual. A plaster medicated with some kind of nose-searing ointment bad been pressed upon Woodward's bare chest, and grease glistened on the magistrate's upper lip and around his green-crusted nostrils. On the bedside table, three candles that had burned down to stubs indicated that Woodward had attempted more reading of the doc.u.ments last night, and the doc.u.ments themselves had spilled off the bed and lay now on the floor.

Matthew set about picking up the papers, carefully arranging them in proper sequence, and when he was done he returned them to the wooden box. The portion that Matthew had taken to his room and read yesterday evening had not delivered any further insights, much to his disappointment. He stared at Woodward's face, at the way the yellow-tinged flesh stretched over the skull, at the pale purple eyelids through which could be seen the protrusions of the orbs. A spiderwork of tiny red blood vessels had appeared on either side of Woodward's nose. The man seemed to have become thinner since Matthew last saw him, though this was due possibly to the change of light. He appeared much older too, the lines upon his face cut deeper by suffering. The blotches on his scalp had darkened as the flesh paled. There was a terrible fragility about him now, something breakable as a clay cup. Looking upon the magistrate in this condition frightened Matthew, yet he was compelled to observe.

He had seen the mask of Death before. He knew it was now before him, clasping on to the magistrate's face. The skin was being shrunken, the skull sharpened for its imminent emergence. A dagger of panic pierced him and twisted in his guts. He wished to shake Woodward awake, to pull him to his feet and make him walk, talk, dance... anything to banish this sickness. But, no... the magistrate needed his rest. He needed to sleep long and hard, with the benefit of the ointments and the bloodletting. And now there was good reason to hope for the best, with the freshened air and the sun's appearance! Yes, it was best to let the magistrate sleep until he awakened on his own, no matter how long, and let nature work its medicine.

Matthew reached out and gently touched Woodward's right hand. Instantly he drew back, because even though the magistrate's flesh was hot there was yet a moist waxy sensation to it that greatly disturbed him. Woodward made a soft moaning sound, and his eyelids fluttered but he didn't awaken. Matthew backed to the door, the panic dagger still jabbing at his stomach, and then he went quietly out into the hallway.

Downstairs, he followed the noise of cutlery sc.r.a.ping a plate and found Bidwell at the feasting table attacking a breakfast of corncakes, fried potatoes, and hambone marrow. ”Ah, here is the clerk this fine, G.o.d-lit morning!” Bidwell said before he stuffed his mouth. He wore a peac.o.c.k-blue suit, a lace-ruffled s.h.i.+rt, and one of his most elaborately combed and curled wigs.

He washed the food down with a drink of apple beer and nodded toward the place that had been set for Matthew. ”Sit down and feed yourself!”

Matthew accepted the invitation. Bidwell shoved a platter of corncakes in his direction and Matthew speared two of them with his knife. The marrow platter followed.

”Mrs. Nettles told me you weren't in your room when she knocked.” Bidwell continued to eat as he talked, which resulted in half-chewed food spilling from his mouth. ”Where were you?”

”Out, ” Matthew answered.

”Out, ” Bidwell said, with a note of sarcasm. ”Yes, I know you were out. But out where, and doing what?”

”I went outside when I saw the schoolhouse on fire. I stayed out the rest of the night.”

”Oh, that's why you look so poorly then!” He started to stab a fried potato with his knife, but paused in mid-thrust. ”Wait a moment.” His eyes narrowed. ”What mischief have you been up to?”

”Mischief? You presume the worst, I think.”

”You may think, but I know. Whose barn have you been poking around in this time?”

Matthew looked him in the eyes. ”I went back to the blacksmith's barn, of course.”

There was a deadly quiet. Then Bidwell laughed. His knife came down into the potato; he claimed it from the platter and shoved the rest of the charred tubers toward Matthew. ”Oh, you're full of spite today, aren't you? Well, I know you may be a young fool but you are not fool enough to go back to Hazelton's place! No sirrah! That man would put a pole to your backside!”

”Not unless I was a mare, ” Matthew said quietly, taking a bite of a corncake. ”What?”

”I said... I would do well to beware. Hazelton, I mean.”

”Yes, and that's the smartest thing I've heard leave your lips!” Bidwell spent a moment eating again, as if food would be outlawed by the King on the morrow, before he spoke. ”Your back. How is it?”

”A little painful. Otherwise, all right.”

”Well, eat up. A full belly dulls all pain. That's what my father used to tell me, when I was your age. Of course, by the time I was your age I was working on the docks fourteen hours a day, and if I could steal a pear I was as happy as a lord.” He paused to quaff from his tankard. ”Have you ever worked a whole day in your life?”

”Physical work, you mean?”

”What other kind of work is there for a young man? Yes, I mean physical! Have you ever sweated to move a pile of heavy crates twenty feet because the b.a.s.t.a.r.d in charge says you'll do it or else? Have you ever pulled a rope until your hands bled, your shoulders cracked, and you cried like a baby but you knew you had to keep pulling? Have you ever gotten on your knees and scrubbed the deck of a s.h.i.+p with a brush, and then gotten down and scrubbed it again when that b.a.s.t.a.r.d in charge spat on it? Well? Have you?”

”No, ” Matthew said.

”Ha!” Bidwell nodded, grinning. ”I have. Many times! And I'm d.a.m.ned proud of it, too! You know why? Because it made me a man. And you know who that b.a.s.t.a.r.d in charge was? My father. Yes, my father, rest his soul.” He stabbed a chunk of potato with a force that Matthew thought might send the knife through the plate and table both. When Bidwell chewed it, his teeth ground together.

”Your father sounds like a hard taskmaster, ” Matthew said.

”My father, ” Bidwell replied, ”came up from London's dirt, just as I did. My first memory of him was the smell of the river. And he knew those docks and those s.h.i.+ps. He started out as a cargo handler, but he had a gift for working wood and he could lay a hull patch with the best who ever lived. That's how the yard started. One s.h.i.+p here, another there. Then more and more, and soon he had his own drydock. Yes, he was a hard taskmaster, but just as hard on himself as on anyone else.”

”You inherited your business from him, then?”

”Inherited?” Bidwell cast a scornful glance. ”I inherited nothing from him but misery! My father was inspecting a hulk for salvage-something he'd done dozens of times before-when a section of rotten planks gave way and he fell through. His knees were shattered. Gangrene set in and to save his life the surgeon took both his legs. I was nineteen years old, and suddenly I was responsible for my invalid father, my mother, and two younger sisters, one of whom was sickly to the point of emaciation. Well, it quickly became clear to me that though my father was a hard taskmaster he was a sorry bookkeeper. The records of income and debts were abysmal, if they existed at all. And here came the creditors, who presumed the yard would be sold now that my father was confined to his bed.”

”But you didn't sell it?” Matthew asked.

”Oh, I sold it all right. To the highest bidder. I had no choice, the records being as they were. My father raged like a tiger. He called me a fool and a weakling, and vowed he would hate me to his grave and beyond for destroying his business.” Bidwell paused to swig from the tankard. ”But I paid off the debtors and settled all accounts. I put food on our table and bought medicine for my sister, and I found I had a small amount of money left. There was a small marine carpentry shop that advertised for investors, as they were expanding their workplace. I decided to put every last s.h.i.+lling I had into it, so I might have some influence over the decisions. My family name was already known, of course. The greatest problem I first faced was in raising more money to put into the business, which I did by laboring at other jobs and also by some bluffing at the gaming tables. Then there were the small-thinkers to be gotten rid of, those men who let caution be their rulers and so never dared to win for fear of losing.”

Bidwell chewed on bone marrow, his eyes hooded. ”One of those men, unfortunately, had his name above the workplace door. He was too concerned with inches, while I thought in terms of leagues. He saw marine carpentry, while I saw s.h.i.+pbuilding.

Thus-though he was thirty years older than me, and had built the shop from its beginnings-I knew the pasture belonged to him, but the future was mine. I set out to procure business that I knew he would not condone. I prepared profit statements and cost predictions, down to the last timber and nail, which I then presented to a meeting of the craftsmen. My question to them was: did they wish to take a risk of a great future under my guidance, or did they wish to continue their current plodding path under Mr. Kellingsworth? Two of them voted to throw me out the door. The other four-including the master draftsman- voted to take on the new work.”

”And Mr. Kellingsworth?” Matthew raised his eyebrows. ”I'm sure he had something to say?”

”At first he was mute with anger. Then... I think he was relieved, because he didn't want the mantle of responsibility. He wanted a quiet life far removed from the specter of failure that haunted his successes.” Bidwell nodded. ”Yes, I think he'd been searching for a way to that pasture for a long time, but he needed a push. I gave it to him, along with a very decent buyout settlement and a percentage of future income... to decrease with the pa.s.sage of time, of course. But my name was on the placard above the door. My name and my name only. That was the starting of it.”

”I expect your father was proud of you.”

Bidwell was silent, staring at nothing though his eyes were fierce. ”One of the first things I purchased with my profits was a pair of wooden legs, ” he said. ”The finest wooden legs that could be made in all of England. I took them to him. He looked at them. I said I would help him learn to walk. I said I would hire a specialist to teach him.” Bidwell's tongue emerged, and he slowly licked his upper lip. ”He said... he would not wear them if I had bought him a pair of real legs and could bind them solid again. He said I could take them to the Devil, because that is where a traitor was destined to burn.” Bidwell pulled in a long breath and let it go. ”And those were the final words he ever spoke to me.”

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