“But I didn’t. I went straight home.”
Marc let Leroy go back to his work. Without astrong motive, it was hard to see that he — in a good mood afterwinning at dice — would have gone out to the site and committedmurder. But he was still on the list, especially if his landladydidn’t hear him come in.
Marc thanked Campion and drove back toKingston, straight to the magistrate.
***
In the foyer of the hotel Marc was met by RobertBaldwin, who looked excited.
“What is it?” Marc said.
“We’ve just received a letter from HenriThériault, in response to Christopher Pettigrew’s letter. Come oninto the meeting room. Everybody’s there.”
Marc followed Robert into the nearby room,where, seated around the table were Hincks, LaFontaine, GillesGagnon and young Pettigrew.
“You’re just in time, Marc,” Hincks said.“I’ve got a letter here. It’s in French, so why don’t you read andtranslate it for us?”
Marc nodded to the others and sat down. Therewas an air of expectancy in the room, for the cohesion ofLaFontaine’s nationalist group might well be tied up in thisresponse. Certainly the fact that Thériault, isolated on hisfamily’s farm in Chateauguay, had replied at all was a positivesign. Marc took the letter and read one sentence at a time,translating as he went.
Dear Christopher:
It was good to hear from you again after such a longabsence, and to know that you are well and proposing to marry. MayI offer my congratulations. I know also, from our conversationsduring the time I spent hiding out in your Montreal home almostfour years ago, that you were a passionate believer in the Reformcause in your province. I have of course heard, and heard much,about your champion, Robert Baldwin, and I have been kept informedof the attempts by Louis LaFontaine to forge an alliance of theleft with him. While I admire Mr. LaFontaine, I, like many of mycontemporaries, are puzzled by his consistent denunciation of theterms of the union and his readiness to embrace the Britishparliamentary form of government. Was it not this very form ofcolonial rule that prompted even the English farmers of UpperCanada to take up arms?
However, your patient and detailedexplanation of Baldwin’s hopes for a responsible form of governmentwherein the executive would be beholden to the Assembly and theAssembly beholden to the electorate was intriguing, to say theleast. However, interesting though the possibilities be, there isno more than a hope and a desire on the part of the Reformers thatthe governor will accede to their pressures, even if they becomethe dominant voice in the Assembly, representing both races.
What you are asking me to do is to betray thetrust that so many of my countrymen have placed in me over the pastthree and half years — to collaborate with those who have burnt ourbarns and destroyed our churches — on the faint hope of a politicalbreakthrough in Kingston this Spring. Let me say that I am nowconvinced that responsible government could work in favour of bothraces, but am not sufficiently certain of its attainment to joinLaFontaine’s alliance. Your eloquence has, however, convinced methat I should stay where I am and not respond to the overtures ofJohn Neilson and his ultra-nationalists. For while there would besatisfaction personally for me to do so, I think an obstructionistand xenophobic approach at this point in our history is not the wayforward.
So I will sit tight, and do nothing but wishyou and your Reformers the best of luck in pursuing your goals.Please feel free to write me again. I want to hear about your newbride and would like news of that twin sister of yours, of whom youspoke so often and so highly.
Until then,
I remain
Your friend
Henri Thériault
“Well,” Robert said into the absolute silence,“you’ve caught his attention. I congratulate you, Christopher, andMarc here for composing a letter persuasive enough to elicit thisresponse.”
“At least we’ve convinced him there’s anotherroute than Neilson’s ultra-nationalists,” Louis said.
“We came so close, though,” Hincks said.
“Is it worth writing him again?” GillesGagnon said.
“I don’t know what we could add that wedidn’t put in the first letter,” Marc said.
“I could keep the next letter personal,”Pettigrew said. “He obviously remembers our time together and whatI did for him.”
“It’s worth the effort,” Robert said. “Isuspect Neilson will keep sending agents to work on him. We need tokeep reminding him, through Christopher, that we English are notall demons.”
“I’d be happy to do that,” Pettigrew said.“He’s given me an opening with that last sentence, hasn’t he?”
“Perhaps he’s wavering more than he’s lettingon,” Louis said.
“Why don’t you invite him to meet you?” Marcsaid, and was surprised at the sudden silence in the room.
“I mean, Christopher could suggest that he’dlike to meet on a personal basis, say, at a place somewhere neutralbetween here and Chateauguay,” Marc added.
“Splendid idea,” Hincks enthused. “How aboutCornwall?”
“There’s a little inn just the other side ofCornwall,” Marc said. “They could arrange to meet there. If we geta letter off immediately, he should have it in two days.Christopher could suggest that he intends to be there on businessanyway, and will simply wait to see if he shows up. They could betogether, if all goes well, in four days.”
“What have we got to lose?” Robert said.
“As long as our friend can take this timeaway from his bride,” Louis said with a wry smile.
“I’m sure she’ll understand,” Pettigrewsaid.
“And we’ll send you along, Marc, to help withthe persuasion. If Thériault objects, you can just step asidequietly.”
“All right,” Marc said. “It was my idea, so Iguess I really can’t say no, can I?”
Marc and Christopher Pettigrew wereinstructed to go up to the young man’s room and begin drafting asecond letter right away.
Up in the room Pettigrew looked suddenlyforlorn.
“What’s the matter?” Marc said. “Don’t youwant to leave your fiancée?”
“It’s not that,” Pettigrew said. “Marthawould be very understanding about it.”
“It’s not your sister again?”
“I’m afraid so. I’ve had another disturbingletter. My attempt to reassure her she’s safe and loved apparentlyhad little effect. Would you mind reading the letter and giving mesome advice?”
“I’d be glad to,” Marc said. He took theletter that Pettigrew picked up off his desk, and read:
Dear Christopher:
Once again you confess what, knowing you, I cannotaccept as the truth. You are not the only one in the Reform partywho can deal with this execrable Frenchman, and your including apathetic screed from one of those you bow down before was apathetic attempt to persuade me otherwise. Mr. Edwards writes welland passionately, but then he does not know anything essentialabout you or your bride to be. He does not know you have forsakenthe one to whom you pledged your love and lasting devotion. Whatsort of witch must this Martha Todd be if she can beguile you soand woo you away from the troth you made to me, and the promises toremain at my side forever? It is all right for you on your ownthere in Kingston because you have your gentlemen friends and yourinamorata. How could you allow such diversions to keep you awayfrom Toronto and me, who waits as patient as Penelope for hersoul-mate to return and make her well again?
Yes, the headaches have come on as severe asthey did when we were five years old and I was struck down, you’llremember, like a tree felled by lightning, and you refused to leavethe darkness of our room and my side even though the doctorsinsisted on it. Please know that because of your absence, I wassemi-conscious for almost a day, moaning by myself in the dark ofmy bedroom, knowing you ought to be in the adjoining room preparingto offer me the only comfort against the pain.
I want you back in Toronto. I need youdesperately. I rant against that awful woman who keeps us apart andme miserable. If I were a witch I would curse her.