The Rebels: The Kent Family Chronicles Read online

  Judson had to admit that Adams, who was perhaps the most determined exponent of independence in the Congress, hadn’t exaggerated. In the days since the release of Paine’s tract of some fifty pages and fourteen thousand words, it had become a publishing phenomenon. People literally fought their way into Robert Bell’s small shop in Third Street to purchase copies; either the version in a deluxe binding, or the one in less expensive paper covers.

  Judson had finally gotten hold of one of the latter just this afternoon. So far he hadn’t done more than examine the title page. But he knew a little about the book’s history.

  Aitken, the local printer for whom Thomas Paine did menial shop work, had deemed his employee’s material too inflammatory to print. But help and advice from Franklin and the ultra-radical Samuel Adams of Boston—not present tonight; even radicals like his own cousin John considered him a mite too radical—had led to the connection with Bell.

  But Bell, who took the risk of bringing out the first edition, wasn’t enjoying exclusive benefits—or profits—from his venture. All over Philadelphia, and in other cities as well, other presses were churning out copies. The eager public didn’t care whether an edition was pirated or not. They just wanted to read it.

  So did Judson. He was anxious to get away from this stultifying if augustly populated room, return to his rented quarters in Windmill Street near the river and dive into Paine’s pamphlet.

  Scraping chairs and the opening of the doors to admit serving girls to clean up the litter of plates, cups and glasses indicated he might be getting his opportunity.

  He judged the hour to be past nine. He hoped Alice wouldn’t choose to spend the night with him. Her whims were unpredictable; dictated largely by how much claret she’d consumed.

  She was a damned attractive wench, of course. A welcome diversion despite certain puzzling, even alarming quirks of personality, and a history that was a total enigma—

  But he didn’t want Alice tonight. He was eager to go to bed with no companion save Mr. Paine’s Common Sense.

  Reaching for his hat and stick as the gathering broke up, he was startled by a hand on his sleeve:

  “Judson? A word with you—”

  Tom Jefferson stood well over six feet. He met his fellow Virginian’s smile with a calm, almost remote expression. Judson’s smile disappeared.

  He had gotten on exceptionally well with Tom Jefferson ever since arriving in Philadelphia in mid-December. The other members of the Virginia delegation—the Lees, Ben Harrison, Jefferson’s law tutor George Wythe, Braxton, Nelson—all were cordial enough. But Jefferson was closer to Judson’s own age than the rest of them. Just a little over thirty, Judson guessed.

  Not much for oratory, but reputed to be the best phrase-turner in Congress, Jefferson still spoke with a quiet directness that demanded a listener’s attention. His laugh, when he was in the mood, could roar. Tonight he obviously wasn’t in the mood—as Judson had noticed a while ago, when the wealthy young man gave him that odd look.

  “By all means,” Judson said with a slight bow. “Shall we go to the public room? I’d drink another ale before braving that rain.”

  Jefferson shook his head. “I believe enough’s been drunk for one night.”

  Instantly Judson tightened up. The polite reply had delivered its barb—as he was sure Jefferson intended. Annoyed, Judson picked up a tankard left by someone else. He gulped the warm, flat ale remaining in the bottom.

  That defiance out of the way, he wiped his lips with his lace-trimmed cuff and smiled engagingly:

  “Then let’s talk here, Tom. What did you want to discuss?” He suspected he knew.

  Jefferson didn’t avoid Judson’s gaze. “You, Judson.”

  The smile stayed in place. “A fascinating subject! Go on.”

  “As you know, we’ve welcomed your presence and your liberal spirit in the Congress. In that sphere, you’re as much a credit to Virginia as your brother.”

  Judson’s smile soured then. “Shall we skip the preliminaries? I smell that compliment for what it is—a preamble to something less flattering.”

  Jefferson’s lips thinned a moment. “Very well,” he said. “We have received word of a rather distressing exhibition of patriotism at The Keg the other evening.”

  “It wasn’t an exhibition of patriotism, it was a brawl.” Judson cheerfully exhibited the bruises and healing scrapes on the back of his right hand. “I just went in the place for a drink. I had no idea it was the refuge of every young Tory in town. I had two or three, and then a couple of sweet-smelling chaps remarked that German Georgie would soon make the Congress regret it ever convened—by signing his treaties with the landgraves who are to supply him with German mercenaries.”

  Judson shrugged: “One thing led to the next, and when I got done with ’em, two of the pretty young gentlemen looked less pretty than when they first opened their mouths.”

  The lanky Virginian’s nod was dour. “So it was reported. I only want to remind you, Judson—friend to friend—that we’re engaged in deliberations of the most serious nature. Our every act will be scrutinized for years to come—”

  “A lecture, then. This is a lecture!”

  “Judson, calm down.”

  “No, by God, I won’t listen to—”

  “Yes you will,” Jefferson said, so softly that Judson caught his breath. “Your private life is your affair. But publicly—”

  “Publicly what?”

  “We ask that you do nothing further to bring criticism to our cause.” To ease the situation, he smiled a quick, glowing smile. “I don’t doubt that in certain yet-to-be-written histories, we’re damned beyond redemption as it is.”

  Jefferson seemed to relax then, the stiffness going out of his shoulders. But his clear eyes watched, awaiting a response. Judson bridled his temper with difficulty.

  “You keep saying we, Tom. You’re not speaking personally, then?”

  “Not entirely.”

  “For the delegation?”

  “And some others. Let’s just say I was requested to pass the message along. I didn’t relish doing it—in case that wasn’t obvious. But I agreed because, in principle, the gentleman who asked me to do it was right.”

  Cheeks livid, Judson blurted, “Name the gentleman.”

  “Judson, there’s no point—”

  “Name him!”

  Jefferson sighed. “Mr. Hancock—with the concurrence of Mr. John Adams.”

  “Hancock! That pompous dandy—!” Judson was sputtering.

  But his anger cooled almost at once. The handsome and extremely rich Boston merchant, formerly the chief financier of patriot activities in Massachusetts, was the duly chosen president of the Congress. This was no mere slap on the wrist by a nonentity. For a blink of time, Tom Jefferson’s lean face seemed to be replaced by that of Angus Fletcher—

  Around the private dining room, shadows sprang up as the serving girls snuffed candles. All the other men had gone. Winter rain struck the window glass.

  In a more temperate voice, Judson asked:

  “You say John Adams also joined in the request?”

  “You must understand why, Judson. What we’re undertaking here in Philadelphia will be considered so heinous in some quarters of the world, our personal motives and behavior must be above reproach.”

  “In other words, we can drink and curse and whore as much as we like behind closed doors, just so long as the public face is hypocritically spotless?”

  Jefferson looked upset. “If that’s the way you care to phrase it, yes.”

  “That’s the only way I care to phrase it!”

  Jefferson stifled a sharp reply. Then: “Judson, the central argument makes sense, if you’ll just reflect on it a while—”

  “I’ll reflect on it while I’m having a drink somewhere else!” He turned and stormed out, leaving Jefferson in the shadows by the dying fire, a red-etched figure, vaguely accusing. All he could think of as he rushed from the City Tavern was that he
had once more been found wanting.

  ii

  Winter rain slicked the brick streets and gathered in wind-riffled pools that reflected the butter glow of chimneyed streetlamps designed, people said, by Dr. Franklin personally. Muffled in his cape, Judson headed for Windmill Street, cursing fluently.

  One minute he cursed Jefferson, deputized by Hancock and Adams to chastise him. The next minute he cursed himself, for again failing to live up to what was expected of him. Whatever the hell that was!

  Jefferson’s warning couldn’t be ignored. Though still young, the red-haired Virginian had already made a considerable name for himself because of his grasp of divers fields of learning, from the natural sciences to the law. That Hancock had assigned him the task of speaking to Judson was proof of his rising status.

  And once he cooled down a little, Judson had to admit that Jefferson’s argument was probably correct. The Congress was engaged in momentous and difficult work. The faction to which Jefferson and Judson belonged saw independence as the last available option in the face of the king’s continuous refusal to protect American liberties. But time and again, Judson had heard John Adams state that although he considered independence a cause with high moral purpose, the idea lacked support among ordinary folk in the colonies. If it were noised about that members of the independence group were thugs who bloodied the noses of Tories in public taverns, the legitimacy of the cause could be seriously hurt.

  And right now, the radicals certainly couldn’t afford that.

  Opposition to independence among the Congressional conservatives led by Wilson and the London-trained lawyer, John Dickinson of Pennsylvania, was formidable and determined. The conservatives would seize on every remark or incident that might change minds and ultimately swing votes. No, Jefferson couldn’t be faulted—

  Especially now that Paine’s pamphlet had finally fired the imaginations of great masses of people, and begun to sway them toward the viewpoint of the radicals. All at once, Judson felt like a moral pygmy among giants.

  By the time he neared Windmill Street and the plainly furnished rooms he rented from an elderly tinker, his sense of shame had deepened even further. He vowed he wouldn’t embarrass Donald again—for he had certainly done that too, along with alienating himself from the members of Congress whose convictions he shared. He would have to work hard to repair the damage.

  Judson had undergone subtle changes in attitude since coming to the city beside the Schuylkill river. At first, appointment as Donald’s alternate had been little more than a welcome escape from the turmoil at Sermon Hill.

  Then there’d been a period of confusion; a couple of weeks of familiarizing himself with the routine of the Congress; of sitting in on his first committee meetings, saying little. He was a junior member of two committees. One screened officer appointments for the twenty-seven new Continental regiments established the preceding November. The other supervised the newly structured Post Office Department, a Congressional creation which John Adams scorned as “frivolous” in view of the weightier matters to be considered.

  Confusion and all, those first two weeks brought Judson a great sense of pleasure. He relished association with important men who had only been names before.

  Then, because he did share Donald’s politics, he began to take an active interest in the seesaw struggle between the conservative and radical factions. He was now definitely aligned with those who wanted independence but lacked the votes, or even an initial resolution to be voted upon. The conservatives were using every device and argument to block the introduction of the latter. Despite the king’s rejection of the petition for conciliation, the conservatives and many of the moderates still believed that separation from England would not only be morally wrong for the colonies, but would also be economic suicide.

  Judson climbed the rickety outer stair and let himself into the tinker’s musty parlor. Flinging off his wet cloak and hat, he headed automatically for the sideboard, and the decanter of claret he kept for Alice.

  Well, not only for Alice—

  Midway there, he stopped, stung again with the conviction that, by his actions, he’d betrayed the men—and the cause—he supported without reservation. He ran his tongue over his teeth, scowled, turned away and lit a lamp.

  He was again aware of some serious and fundamental flaw within himself. A weakness for the bottle was just one of its manifestations. Tonight, by heaven, he meant to start some corrective actions, however small. Such as forcing himself to leave the claret alone.

  He took off his finely cut coat of plum velveteen, grateful that Alice wasn’t on the premises. He carried the lamp to the bedroom and picked up Paine’s pamphlet from the bedside table. Sprawling on the coverlet, he opened to the first page of text.

  He read the whole book in less than an hour, relishing its polemical savagery. Then he went back to particular passages.

  He laughed out loud at Paine’s characterization of monarchy as the most prosperous invention the devil ever set on foot for the promotion of idolatry. He agreed with Paine’s insistence on urgency: The period of debate is closed. Arms, as a last resource, must decide the contest. By referring the matter from argument to arms, a new era for politics is struck; a new method of thinking hath risen. All plans, proposals, etc., prior to the nineteenth of April, i.e., to the commencement of hostilities, are like the almanacs of last year; which, though proper then, are superseded and useless now …

  He likewise concurred with Paine’s assessment of the king’s behavior:

  Even brutes do not devour their young, nor savages make war upon their families.

  And his scalp prickled when the journalist urged total separation from the mother country in phrases that rang like great bells:

  The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. ’Tis not the affair of a city, a county, a province, or a kingdom; but of a continent—of at least one-eighth part of the habitable globe—

  Lying with the book resting on his hard belly, Judson thought of George Clark, wandering the western wilderness. Paine shared some of George’s vision. He devoured the rest of the passage again:

  ’Tis not the concern of a day, a year, or an age; posterity are virtually involved in the contest, and will be more or less affected even to the end of time by the proceedings now—

  Just what Jefferson had been saying.

  Now is the seedtime of continental union, faith, and honor.

  Then, almost with reverence, he turned to the final page. Unblinking, he gazed at the seven superbly isolated words Paine had contrived to have set by themselves—his last tocsin and challenge to his readers.

  Staring at the words, Judson’s scalp prickled again. So rapt was his attention, he didn’t hear the light footfalls on the outer stair, or the soft clicking of the latch.

  But suddenly he was aware that the sound of the rain was louder. He jumped up, laid the pamphlet face down on the bed, open to that final, astonishing page. He walked toward the dark parlor.

  He recognized the footsteps of his visitor. In a moment, she entered the perimeter of light cast by the bedside lamp. Alice—throwing back the cowl of her cheap cloak of gray wool. Just as lovely as she was every time he saw her.

  And just as drunk.

  iii

  “Hallo, love,” Alice grinned. She weaved a little, one sooty hand pushing back a lock of hair that might have been a tawny gold color if she had ever washed it. She was wearing her usual much-mended dark brown skirt, and a shabby low-necked blouse grayed by greasy smoke.

  Judson concealed his annoyance. “Hello, Alice. I wasn’t expecting you this evening.”

  “Meaning my company’s not wanted?” Her smile, a shade malicious all at once, unsettled him. But that wasn’t unusual.

  She sidled forward, placed her roughened hands on his shoulders, bent to give him a teasing view of her naked breasts. “Ah, but yours is, love.” The sight of her half-bared bosom started a familiar, tumid excitement.

  She was a coarse girl; pe
culiar in many more ways than one. Maybe that was part of her fascination: she was a strange admixture of feigned refinement and gutter frankness.

  At times she moved with the grace of the finely dressed ladies who took the air on Chestnut Street behind their jeweled vizards. But unlike those same ladies, she had a direct, unconcealed interest in matters sexual. She knew how to stir him. She wasted no time now, caressing his mouth with open lips.

  Judson resigned himself, though not entirely unwillingly. He slipped an arm around her waist, smelling the tavern sweat mingled with the odor of the claret she drank from dawn to dusk—and later. He bussed her ear, murmured:

  “You’re still speaking of my company, correct?”

  “Certainly, isn’t that the dignified way to refer to this?” One hand crept below his waist to grasp and fondle.

  Almost at once, her fingers produced the sought-for response. After she’d teased him a moment, she let go:

  “Ah, but we have the whole night—I don’t mean to go out in this damnable weather again. So how about a glass for a lady, Mr. Fine Fletcher of Virginia?”

  He waved to the sideboard. “Lady you aren’t. But help yourself.”

  “Not a lady? Don’t lay wagers!” she laughed, flouncing off to the decanter with a peculiar look in her sky-blue eyes. He heard a mug clink. “Want some, love?”

  He sank down on the edge of the bed, glancing with regret at Paine’s pamphlet. “No, I don’t believe—” Suddenly he saw Jefferson’s face. “Hell, why not?”

  He listened to the sound of claret splashing out of the decanter. She drank too much; much more than he did, and his consumption was far from moderate. On occasion, she used foul language, but it usually sounded awkward. She was ruining herself physically and mentally, and she couldn’t be more than twenty-three or twenty-four.

  Another curious thing: her cheeks were pitted. At one time she must have used the fashionable but ruinous cosmetics popular among highborn ladies. When and where had she been able to afford such concoctions?