Forever Young Birth Of A Nation (86 page)

She watched the annual Lacrosse match with
great interest although it lasted all day long. Tall Elk’s team won
by a score of 3-0 as once again, Ian did not allow a single goal.
Once again, Tall Elk’s village won the right to hunt in the shared
lands between the villages over the winter.

When it was time to bring Snow Fawn back to
New York, Ian used a sling that he had made just for her. Snow Fawn
was brought to New York City for the summer two years in a row, and
Aimee accompanied the two when they went to get her and when they
returned her. She had been given a wardrobe so that she could be
anywhere with them, never even being noticed. Her hair was always
in a bun when in public and she had been given a pair of ivory
framed sun glasses on a golden chain just like Cosette’s. Not
having really strong Indian features anyway, she only appeared to
be a dark complexioned middle aged lady of some foreign extraction
the way that Cosette made her up.

She had learned just enough English to get
by and they were careful where they took her so as to never place
her in a situation which might be embarrassing to her. She was
happy and curious about so many things, always asking questions and
peering about. The sheer number of people was the thing that amazed
her most it seemed. She had quickly adapted to living in the big
house with the others, realizing that they too were of the same
strange race of people as Ian and Cosette. Cosette instructed her
in proper table manners by preparing her meals especially and
serving them to her in the kitchen. Everyone in the place went out
of their way to make her feel at home, and Aimee spent a good deal
of time with her. By the time she attended a large sit-down meal
with the family or the Millhouses, she was accustomed to using
utensils and well versed in the eating habits of well-mannered
white people.

They had taken her sailing several times on
a small ketch Ian had bought and it had been an astounding
experience for her. The third year she had declined to return with
them, being as she had married Gray Fox. She had been forty four
years old at the time and he was only thirty three, having lost his
wife in a drowning accident some years earlier. She had given birth
to Moon Owl at only age fifteen, so she was not really an old woman
by any means, and had a fine figure, being very fit and trim. The
two had a daughter and a son in successive years and she never
again traveled away from her village, although Ian, Cosette, and
Aimee would go to visit her every year.

Rebecca gave birth to a son and Stuart had
come to work for Ian and Cosette, beginning as a teller and
becoming assistant manager in three years. The two still lived in
the tenant house in back of Ian and Cosette’s home which by now was
furnished quite nicely. Rebecca’s father had retired from the
British Army being given an honorable discharge and a colonel’s
pension. He lived alone at first in the home where he and Rebecca
had lived before, but hostilities due to him being a retired
British officer caused him no end of grief. Ian bought the place
from him at the going rate for houses of that size and locale and
he was able to move into Ian and Cosette’s tenant’s house with his
daughter and Son in Law, Stuart.

Ian asked Priscilla and Oliver if they would
like to move into the old Davis place and they accepted, liking the
idea of more privacy, even though the two were at Ian and Cosette’s
place nearly every evening anyway. The two of them were deeply in
love and were overjoyed at the turn their lives had taken since
becoming part of Ian and Cosette’s family. Both were trusted
officers of Milliken Merchants’ Bank, and began to get some
training from time to time regarding helping to oversee Ian’s four
businesses.

Ian and Cosette kept current nearly on a
daily basis with the family whether they were in France or in the
Swiss Confederation by means of Celeste and Celine. The two of them
were easily able to communicate with Li and Sophia although those
two were increasingly busy with three businesses in Manhattan that
they had bought. Of course Ian and James had kept up their official
correspondence with Robert Milliken and Henri using official
channels. It was agreed to open a third bank in Philadelphia in
1787 so Ian and Cosette made plans to go there. It would be
entirely funded by Henri and Ian though, and not a part of the
Milliken partnership. This would the first bank that Ian had ever
put startup funds of his own into.

“Cosette, I want for us to go to Europe when
we return from Philadelphia. It is wonderful to be able to talk to
all of them through Celeste and Celine, but I want to see
everyone.”

“Speaking of Celine, she and Xavier are
going to be thirteen years old by the time we get to see them.
Let’s book passage as soon as possible and get things lined up
regarding our businesses then so we can go as soon as we
return.”

“What about Aimee?”

“She is no trouble at all. If she wants to
come with us, then we’ll take her. If not, she can stay with Li and
Sophia. Why don’t we just leave it up to her?”

The three of them made ready to travel afoot
to Philadelphia, figuring to buy a small wardrobe for themselves
after they arrived. Cosette had a complete set of frontier clothing
made for Aimee similar to theirs.

Stuart was placed over the operation of the
bank and a letter to that effect was written and sent to Robert
Milliken in London. Both Priscilla and Oliver were put in charge of
Ian’s and Cosette’s four businesses.

Ian, Aimee, and Cosette slipped away from
Manhattan late one night by canoe, departing from their own
property on the Hudson River where Ian kept the canoe. After
stashing it behind the carpenter shop in Hoboken where Ian still
leased the storage building, they soon were rocketing through New
Jersey toward Philadelphia.

The young man waited nervously on the porch
of the grand mansion, located just east of Lacoste. A tall muscular
man with strange eyes that seemed to look through him answered.

“I am here to see the Marquis de Sade.”

“Whom shall I say is calling, sir?”

“Tell him it is Max. He knows me.”

He was shown in to the grand foyer,
marveling at the opulence of it even as he passed through,
following the large, muscular butler into the parlor.

The butler said “The Marquis is in his
study. Please wait here monsieur.” Max nodded and sat down in an
exquisitely carved wingback chair.

In the study the Marquis was just sealing a
document and was thinking
here are funds that you will need to
pursue Ian McCloud. I hope you will have success this time. For
five thousand pounds, you had better do well.

He walked to the parlor then, and as he
entered it he said “Hello Max. Would you like some tea?”

“Why yes, thank you monsieur.”

After the tea was poured and the butler had
vanished, the young man made an impassioned plea for support from
the Marquis. “I have word that I may get to sit in on the committee
who will decide how the vote is taken by the 3
^rd
estate.
You know my views on that, and I am desirous of your support,
sir.”

The 3
^rd
estate was what the
general French public was called, the other two estates of France
at that time being the Clergy and the Noble families.

The Marquis studied him over his teacup,
thinking
King Louis is losing control or else he would not have
called for a meeting of the three estates.
You are a zealot
and one of seemingly high principles, but in your zeal, I see a man
who would stop at nothing to achieve his goals. You will do nicely
for what we have planned for France and for Europe.

“Max, I am inclined to write my friends in
support of you. If so, you may be assured that you will be heard
and supported in this procedure. However, your loyalty to us must
be absolute. Be assured that dethroning King Louis, abolishing the
power of the clergy, and having the vote for the common man are
goals of ours too. If you will swear your loyalty to me now, I will
see to it that you will indeed have a voice that shall be heard not
only at the upcoming hearings, but afterward when a more suitable
appointment will be made available for you.”

“I do so swear, sir.”

The Marquis thought
Good.
My
cohorts and I will use zealots like you to achieve our goal of
toppling King Louis and for the holocaust that will follow.

“Very well then. You will go far, Max should
you remain loyal. My friends and I will remove any opposition you
should encounter along your way.”

He rose and beckoned for Max to follow and
the two entered a well-appointed study where a massive marble
topped desk dominated one end of the room. Sitting down he took
parchment and quill and wrote a letter, sealing it with wax and his
signet ring. Looking up, he gave a perfunctory smile, saying “My
friends are influential, being the banking cartel of Europe. They
supply the oil needed for the wheels of progress to turn favorably,
Max. This will be sent tomorrow and you will soon know that you
have powerful backers.”

“Do your friends include the
Lafayettes?”

“No. They support the Crown and the status
quo. My friends are progressives like you and me. They support the
leftist Bourgeoisie and their principles, such as those written in
the
‘Rights of Man’
document.”

He rose then, saying “I will show myself out
sir. Thank you. You won’t regret this. Good night.” he said as he
turned and walked toward the foyer.

The Marquis leaned back, laughing as he
thought
no I won’t regret it Maxemillien Francoise de
Robespierre. You will one day be the spearhead of a reign of terror
such as France has never seen. It will even surpass the horrors of
the St. Bartholomew’s day massacre. You’ll go down in history,
Max.

Ian took the time to take Cosette and Aimee
to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania where he had spent several winters
with the Continental Army. There he told them of how often the men
would go hungry during the harsh winters, and explained how that in
spite of the game he was able to kill for meat, that it meant
little to an army that was rarely below eight thousand to nine
thousand men. The two got to appreciate the hardships suffered by
the soldiers who had fought under Washington for so many years.

“I can tell you both that I saw men with
their feet wrapped in rags marching at night when we took Trenton
in ’76. I can still remember seeing bloody footprints in the snow
that night and on other nights here in this place. I have seen men
cut up what are left of their boots to boil and eat them. I suppose
that was what motivated me to hunt for them each winter.”

Aimee asked “Did you kill any of the British
in the fighting?”

“No, sweetheart. I was asked to join a
marksman’s detachment, but I refused.”

“What is that?”

“Their job was to kill as many British
officers as possible during a battle or anywhere else we could find
them. For us, shooting and killing humans is easy, and to me it is
murder. I just couldn’t do it.” Laughing then he said “I think some
of them figured me to be a Quaker.”

“What is a Quaker?”

“They live around these parts and are
opposed to violence of any sort. The ones I have met are real nice
people, really. Anyway, I never joined the Continental Army, so I
could leave whenever I wanted to. I always waited until springtime
to leave so that I could help feed them while I was with them.”

“What did you do in the summertime?”

“I usually went to the land of the Seneca. I
had been wanted for sedition by the Crown so I never went to New
York City except once. I wore a white wig and looked like a rich
Tory.” He and Aimee laughed at the thought as Cosette said “I knew
that was you! You were reading a newspaper on a park bench at
Central Commons one day!”

“Why yes! Yes I was. I had come to see if
the climate was right for me to return, and I decided that I had
best stay out of New York. So you saw me?” he said with
surprise.

She came to him and put her arms about his
waist, looking up at him she said “It was Celeste, Ian. She somehow
got through to me that I had just passed you by and when we
returned, you were gone. I was so discouraged that I could have
wept. In fact I forgot that I was in a public place and I literally
jumped up onto the backrest of that big bench and looked all about
for you. That is how Priscilla saw me and knew that I was a vampire
and began to follow me around.”

Aimee was smiling from ear to ear, saying
“Oh my! Oh my!” Ian drew Cosette near and kissed her tenderly
saying “Something good came out of even something as sad as that
was. From what I have learned from Oliver, it was Prissy who helped
you to save my life, stopping those vampires when they were ready
to chop me to pieces. I think she held them off until you arrived
and then you held them off until Li and the others arrived. Look at
how such a small thing had such a great impact on all of us.”

Tears formed in Cosette’s eyes then as she
put her head on Ian’s chest, laughing and crying a bit as it all
hit her. She drew back from him and said “We are so blessed.”

“Indeed we are.”

Having bought a small wardrobe for the three
of them, Ian led Cosette and Aimee through the streets of
Philadelphia. Acting as a sort of tour guide, he recounted some of
the times he had come there bearing correspondence from George
Washington himself. Even though the seat of the new government had
been moved to New York City in 1785, all of the delegates for the
Constitutional Convention were assembling and debating the new
document in Philadelphia at Independence Hall.

They were in the area of 8
^th
and
Market Street where there were seemingly endless shops of all
sorts. Cosette and Aimee were constantly looking at one thing and
another. Ian was enjoying himself too, being as he had not always
had leisure time while there during the war. Of course he was very
interested in a series of vacant lots he had seen a bit closer to
Independence Hall as a possible site for their new bank.