Forever Young Birth Of A Nation (9 page)

Grundy was in a quandary now, trying to keep
his trousers up and to defend himself. Again Ian rushed in and
again he kicked Grundy in the chest, sprawling him onto his back
and as he tried to roll and get up Ian rushed in and began to whack
him repeatedly across his buttocks, and alternately to kick his
buttocks, so moving him around Grover square as a pitiful
spectacle. By now a sizable crowd had gathered, numbering above
seventy people, mostly adults.

Allowing him to recover, Ian then stepped in
and wounded his sword arm with a slash that forced him to drop his
weapon. Ian immediately had his sword at Grundy’s throat and backed
him up toward his entourage. As he backed up, his trousers slipped
to his knees and his blood-soaked underwear could be seen where his
buttocks were bleeding from the spanking he had gotten from Ian’s
sword. A snap kick sprawled him on his back, Ian above him glaring
coldly downward with eyes the color of cracked ice.

In a low voice devoid of any emotion he said
“Yield sir or I will now beat you with this sword like the coward
you are.” He then alternately whacked one thigh and then the other
rapidly until Grundy cried “I yield, damn you! I yield!”

Ian drew his sword arm back for a killing
thrust as Grundy’s eyes widened in horror and then he slowly stood
up straight and snapped the saber in two across his knee as if it
was a dried twig, saying “It seems I cannot deliver the death blow
with my sword broken. God has smiled on you today Grundy. Take that
to heart and guard your vicious temper and your tongue in the
future.”

Turning his back then, he walked toward
James and Rebecca. Grundy cried out “A pox on you sir. A pox on you
and your house!” James was smiling broadly but Rebecca was pale and
in a state of shock. The crowd buzzed with countless excited
exchanges. Soon all of New York City would know that Colonel Harold
Grundy was not only beaten but was humiliated in a duel; and by a
banker no less.

Walking Rebecca to her waiting carriage Ian
was silent, lost in thought, but James was in high spirits. “That
was the finest example of swordsmanship I have ever seen or heard
of Ian.”

He replied “It was also the sorriest example
of defusing a bad situation, I fear.” They walked in silence, only
the sound of gravel crunching beneath their feet on the footpath.
At the carriage Rebecca turned to Ian saying “I suppose that was a
long overdue lesson in humility for Colonel Grundy, Ian. I…I still
cannot believe what I just saw.”

“I do apologize for you witnessing such a
spectacle, Rebecca. Such things are not fit for a lady to see, and
I must admit that maybe I should have backed down and let him smear
me in public.” He fastened his eyes on hers and said “Truly I saw
no way out of the mess I got myself into. It seemed that no matter
which way I went, this would go badly, and it has. I have started
something that will not end this day.”

She saw that he was truly contrite and
marveled at the transition from what she had just seen. He had gone
from being a fearsome combatant to this gentle person with such a
kindly and sorrowful expression in his remarkable eyes in less than
two minutes.

“It was not you who started this Ian. I saw,
and… and heard enough from that overbearing bully last evening to
know that. But surely it is over now. You have humiliated him and
physically injured him, yet you have let him live when it was he
who demanded no quarter. Surely he will want to forget this day and
will do all that he can to avoid you forever more.”

“I fear that he will now use every means at
his disposal to target me and my friends. The bank will suffer for
my folly. I have put myself in the center of a storm, and anyone
near me will feel it one day.” He sighed deeply then and looked out
toward the sliver of sea that was visible from the park site.
Shaking his head then he turned to James. “I might well return to
London and leave you here to oversee things. That could serve to
pacify him enough to leave the Bank alone. Still, I hate to leave
you with this mess and with yet another bank to start up
elsewhere.”

Rebecca was crushed to hear this, and
stepped close to Ian then. Putting her arms around his waist she
laid her head on his chest and said “Please, for my sake do not
leave the Colonies. I could not bear it” she said as she leaned
back to look into his eyes, her arms still encircling his
waist.

With a sad look he replied “I will not leave
then, Rebecca.” He kissed her forehead then and turning to James he
said “We have plans to be laid this day. Let us take this young
lady to that Inn which you and Laura seem to like so well. She is
hungry.”

Rebecca looked at him and at James,
puzzled.

“Rebecca, your stomach has been growling
non-stop since the fight ended” he said with a twinkle in his eyes.
James and Ian both chuckled as Rebecca gasped. Her eyebrows shot up
and she blushed and covered her mouth with both hands but then she
joined in, glad to be laughing, and astonished at the same
time.

Private investigator Terrence Dalton waited
in the London offices of Robert Milliken patiently. He had been
there around a half an hour when a man emerged from Milliken’s
office who Dalton knew was a member of the House of Lords. Shortly
Milliken’s receptionist came and summoned him to Milliken’s
office.

Entering, he saw Robert staring out the
window at the light rainfall. Without turning around Milliken said
“Please be seated Mr. Dalton.”

Dalton sat down on the far side of
Milliken’s expansive desk. Coming to his chair, Milliken sat and
looked at Dalton expectantly, raising his eyebrows.

“Sir, I have been following Miles Edwards
and it appears that he has made two contacts who may be working for
him.”

“Investigators?”

“Not likely. Surely none that I know, and I
know most all of them.”

“Then who?”

“There is a man who wears a silver hook in
lieu of his right hand. The other one is a red-headed woman.”

“And what have you learned about them?”

“They have met with a constable recently.
One Frederick Connors.”

“Hmmm. Do you know yet what they are looking
for?”

“No. But I did get to overhear them
speaking, and they sound as if they could be French; especially the
woman. She is really quite lovely sir, and she has striking green
eyes. She is the one working with Connors. I got the sense that he
fancies himself as something of a ladies man, and that she is
manipulating him.”

Chuckling then, Robert said “That is an old
tactic, nearly as old as time itself. Stay on them and on Edwards
too. Bring in two more men, and do be discreet and very, very
careful. If these people are who I suspect they might be, it would
be dangerous to follow them at night. If you see them go into an
establishment, you can go in too, but do not follow them out under
any circumstance if it is after dark, understand?”

Dalton nodded.

“Keep me informed, and I want to see you
every single day from now on regarding this matter, and that
includes Sundays as well. Good day, Dalton.”

“Good day sir.”

As Dalton left, Robert came out and told his
assistant “I am going to be at the Chief of Constables for the rest
of the afternoon” as he walked out the door, putting on his
raincoat as he went.

***

“James, we need to make a change, and we
likely should do it fairly soon.”

Regarding Ian over one of Mrs. McKinley’s
dining room tables he raised his eyebrows as he finished up the
last of his breakfast.

“I am pretty sure that Grundy will
eventually try to get General Gage and the high command to come
against us. One thing they would do if that happened is to take our
funds.”

“Ian do you really think it will go that
far? I mean…look, Gage likes you and I both, and he seems like a
fair-minded fellow.”

“True, but Grundy will not relent, and would
not be above planting false evidence to discredit me. He might even
act independently while Gage is gone. Should that happen you will
be at risk too, being guilty by association.”

“So?”

“What I am thinking about will be a bit of
trouble, but there is nothing bad that will come of it, and it
might save us from having every penny confiscated by agents of the
Crown for who knows how long.”

“So you really do think it could get that
bad?”

“Maybe, yes.”

“Will they take the property too?”

“Maybe, but they cannot sell it. It is in
the name of Robert Milliken and he cannot be seriously accused of
sedition, not even being here and in fact he enjoys good relations
with the Crown. Grundy is not that stupid.” He looked at James then
and said “You know, they could take it for billeting troops
temporarily since we are not officially open yet.”

“But New York is not occupied at present.
This is only a token force here, and they do not exert any local
control.”

“That could change and what might Grundy do
if Gage is absent? He will have to return to Boston soon
enough.”

“What is your plan?”

“We can start today by looking for several
safe places. It may be that some of the funds should be hidden on
the mainland and not all here on long island.”

That very night, they located seven places
scattered about various churchyards of New York City. All were in
cemeteries, beneath large head stones which two men could not lift,
but one vampire could. Having chosen them and testing the
headstones to ascertain that they could be moved and replaced James
ordered several copper chests made, all the same size. Ian went to
New Jersey to look into likely hiding places there and found eight
more. The pair visited those that night and chose five of the eight
after testing the headstones, always choosing only headstones in
among others with no vacancies nearby to lessen the chance of
discovery.

James began to take delivery of some of the
copper chests at the bank and at night he and Ian would bury gold
sovereigns and silver coinage. Within three weeks, they had
succeeded in safely hiding away over half of the startup funds, and
over half of their personal funds as well.

Mrs. McKinley came to them one morning
looking downcast. “James, Ian; I am afraid I have bad news. Two
British officers came to see me. They said that if I evicted you
two, they would only make me quarter two soldiers. If not, they
would evict everyone by the end of the week and take the whole
building for quartering troops. They only told me this last
evening, and you two were not here.”

James looked at Ian and nodded as Ian spoke
“Think nothing of it Mrs. McKinley. James and I will live in our
bank building. We have more than enough room there. I will miss
this place, and I will miss you too Ma’am. May I have a goodbye hug
then?”

“Oh, Ian, please both of you call me Bessie.
You two are the best tenants I have ever had. Please consider
coming back when this awful war is over.”

“We will have our things out of our rooms
this morning.” They embraced and said their goodbyes, and then
together they walked out onto the front porch. Ian casually scanned
the busy street outside and he spotted a carriage with a man
sitting inside. Turning to James he said “Don’t look, but I believe
that our friend Grundy is watching us from that carriage yonder
towards the south.”

James looked off toward the north, pointing
at a large wagonload of chickens passing that direction as he
replied “I think you are right. I would wager that this is the
first time he has been able to sit down since that spanking you
gave him.” Both of them laughed then as Ian realized that likely he
had to sleep on his stomach for a week or two.

James said “It is beginning isn’t it?”

“It is. I will get transportation for our
belongings. It should not take an hour.”

“What can I do in the meantime?

“You can be buying some needed things for us
to use at the bank building. We need to at least look as if we are
living there so two cots, blankets, pillows, a coffee pot, wash
basin, wash cloths, towels, soap, chamber pot, and whatever you can
think of that will make a convincing facade should anyone visit
us.”

“We should have two wardrobe closets or at
least two chests of drawers and several oil lamps too.”

“Right. I will meet you there with our
belongings. This afternoon we will be sure to lose anyone who is
following us and buy some suitable outdoors wear. I think we will
need it soon enough.” The two then went their separate ways.

“Good morning, Angus, Stuart.” Cosette
handed each a steaming mug of tea, having made her way up the steep
steps to the helm with the two cups and easily maintaining her
balance on the rolling pitching ship.

Both greeted her and Angus said “And a fine
morning it is, Cosette.”

“Armando said last night that we were only a
few days from landfall” she said as she took the helm from Stuart
and looked at the compass heading.

“We should drop anchor in New York harbor no
more than four days from now.”

“I am so anxious. I just cannot wait to see
Ian.”

“Hah, I just cannot wait to see the look on
his face when he sees you, Cosette” exclaimed Stuart.

Angus said “Aye, laddie. Won’t that be a
sight?”

They all laughed then at the thought of
it.

“Angus, I will be forever grateful that you
brought me to New York for this. I can never thank you enough.”

“Nonsense Cosette! I would not want to miss
this reunion for all of the world.”

“Nor I” echoed Stu. “Will you both return to
Britain when this bank start up is over?”

“That will be up to Ian. I only want to be
wherever he is. If we do return, we will live part of the time in
the Swiss Confederation with the others, and likely part of the
time in Edinburg. At least that is what I would like to do.”