March, 1775 - Boston

Nathaniel was thankful two months passed without his seeing Lieutenant-Colonel Weston. The rest of the British soldiers who frequented the tavern at night quickly took to gambling with Henri and when they realized they would only win money from him if they gambled coin, Nathaniel soon had more money to add to his accounting. Combined with the money John and Samuel often left them, it was enough to finally buy himself some new clothing that wasn't frayed and to be more generous about the debts owed to him. He lowered the debts in his ledger for some men who agreed to give him one or two chickens each. Soon he had acquired six chickens and a small coup for the yard. This made Marie quite happy, as she had wanted chickens to supply her with fresh eggs for some time.

John and Samuel both remained quiet about the importance of what felt to Nathaniel like pointless reports. At times they left more payment than at others, but all Marie or Henri passed on were general details Nathaniel thought would be easy to discover elsewhere, such as the numbers of soldiers and routes of guard patrols. Yet these must have been useful to whomever John and Samuel took the messages to.

Nathaniel chose to enjoy the time he could spend in the company of Marie and Henri as often as possible. It helped him worry a bit less about the tension in the city. More and more it felt as if the city were becoming a place of strife and high emotions, a powder keg waiting to be ignited. The firing of muskets could be heard daily, and no one ever knew if it was the soldiers drilling, another execution of a deserting soldier, or the greatly feared attack nearly everyone in the city was anticipating.

John had passed along a code one evening that he instructed them to use when they communicated with himself or Samuel. It was a list of locations throughout the colony where munitions were stored. They feared the army would march out of the city to retrieve them as they had done previously. It had sent the countryside wild with alarm when it had happened in September. The fear was that, were it to happen again, the response would be far more dangerous, deadly even. They must be prepared.

On the list were also several names of prominent and outspoken citizens of Massachusetts, people the army might set out to arrest at any time. Those names, and the locations of the munitions, were all designated by numbers so that anyone seeing the note when it was passed wouldn't know what was meant by it. Nathaniel studied it frequently to memorize the codes, though the list was hidden under the small desk in the storeroom where Marie and Henri could both find it, as well.

Their situation had become so dangerous that John and Samuel had also taught them a signal of warning. Nathaniel, Henri, and Marie had been chosen as some of the few spies who would be warned to leave the city if something desperate were to occur. The concern was due to Nathaniel's known run-in with Lieutenant-Colonel Weston, John had explained. The others assisting in acquiring information were less obvious targets to the British, but those with spouses and children would also be warned to leave if something serious were to begin.

Three hard taps to the kitchen door, followed by two fast, lighter ones. That would be the warning signal. It would be repeated three times. If they didn't answer the door on the third attempt, they would be left on their own without direction to a place of safety. Many nights Nathaniel lay awake expecting those knocks. He was almost tempted to sleep in the kitchen at times.

One day, at the beginning of March, a group of four men entered the coffeehouse soon after it opened for the day. They moved immediately to the collection of newspapers and pamphlets Nathaniel kept for his patrons to read at their leisure. He had chosen to continue receiving papers that wrote from both Tory and Whig viewpoints, mainly to remind his patrons that anyone could drink, eat, and rest at the house. He considered it especially important now considering his association with John and Samuel.

"Tory papers!" one of the group exclaimed. "What foolery is this?"

"From a man who stood so bravely against them once!" another of the men added.

Nathaniel stepped around the bar and Henri and Marie both joined him from the kitchen. Also at that moment, Samuel stood from where he sat in the far corner of the room. He was between the men and Nathaniel, and when they turned, no doubt to confront Nathaniel, they saw him. Nathaniel saw Samuel shake his head twice.

The one who must have been the leader of the group stopped, looked at Samuel for a moment, then past him to Nathaniel. Finally, he nodded and turned back to his companions. "All is well," he told them.

One of the group still attempted to toss a paper into the fire, but the leader caught his arm.

"All is well," he repeated.

The moment of tension persisted and it seemed the others weren't prepared to trust their leader. Finally, they set the papers back and stepped away from the collection. Samuel sat down again.

There was a brief silence, broken finally by Henri.

"Would any of you gentlemen like a coffee?"

The tension eased away and the group settled at a table while Henri went for coffee. Nathaniel stepped into the kitchen to take a moment to catch his breath. He wasn't certain how he would have addressed the situation if one had arisen in his establishment. In truth he didn't have any issue with those men other than their desire to control what he allowed his paying patrons to read. Their concern was something he could appreciate, however.

Finally, he drew a deep breath and returned to the tavern room. Seeing no one else in the room yet aside from the group and Samuel, he took a moment to speak to Samuel under the pretext of offering him more coffee.

"Are they associates of yours?" he asked quietly.

Samuel smiled just slightly. "We have our separate associations, but we have similar ends. Ours is a quieter group than theirs. Both operate respectful of the other. They shouldn't bother you again. We've all grown more concerned as the city seems to draw more of the Tories in, thinking it safe because of all the soldiers."

Nathaniel nodded and offered Samuel his cup again, now refreshed. "Thank you."

With so many working against them, Nathaniel felt a bit sad for the soldiers. He knew some had behaved poorly to the townspeople and he disliked the officers such as Lieutenant-Colonel Weston, as well as the new governor, General Gage, but many of the soldiers were simply doing what they were paid to do. They were attempting to keep the peace, but they were unwanted peacekeepers.

Nathaniel had heard all the arguments in his tavern. He'd heard those speaking for the new taxes and those speaking against them. As a business owner and as someone so recently living in England, he truly placed his beliefs with those opposed to the changes. Though he had not owned a business in England, he could recognize that it truly was a challenge for those in the colonies to have their voices heard by Parliament, and the taxes indeed were different on either side of the vast Atlantic. But in the case of violence, he could not stand in support. Defense of self or property he could accept, but the seeking of violence was too much.

So he paused at the table with the group of men and nodded to them. "I hope we've reached an agreement of sorts," he said.

The man who seemed to be the leader of this small group saluted him with his mug. "Aye. We'll allow it so long as our friend speaks for your credibility."

"Then I must ask you a question," Nathaniel said, glancing at each man in turn. "How is it you call yourselves Sons of Liberty, but you would suppress anyone's liberty to read what they will?" At their very abrupt response – two standing and one pounding his fist on the table, with only the leader still gazing at Nathaniel – he held up his free hand in a placating gesture. "I meant no disrespect. I merely ask."

"Now I worry about your loyalties myself," the leader finally said. "What could you truly mean by keeping both sides of the issues informed?"

Nathaniel smiled. "Only to distract anyone should I suddenly favor one side due to injustices done to myself and my establishment."

Their leader nodded. "Very good."

"I find I favor your position," Nathaniel told him honestly. "Though I am not a man for violence or intimidation."

The leader nodded again. "I must say I appreciate your effort then," he said, smiling. "You are braver to show favor to both sides while assisting ours in whatever way that lot are using this establishment for. To vocally follow one side or the other would be far easier."

Nathaniel was surprised by that. "Thank you. I am, as you say, attempting to be seen as neutrally as possible."

He saw someone else enter the house then and he left the table to welcome the new visitor. He was thankful when the group left a short while later. Despite the leader's words, the men kept watching him, Marie, and Henri while they had their coffee. He felt the tension in his own mind concerning their visit echoed the tension in the city itself. Though he would not voice the words, he couldn't help but wonder how much more of it all of Boston could endure before something terrible happened.

On a morning only a few days later, Nathaniel allowed Marie and Henri to spend a few hours in the city. Marie wished to do some shopping and took Henri with her for companionship. Nathaniel happily spent the morning roasting the coffee for the day and preparing one of the few dishes he could cook with any decency. He spent the time pondering his lack of cooking ability and wondering whether the gray skies meant rain sooner or later. It was a decidedly peaceful morning until, three hours after they had left, Henri rushed into the kitchen and sank into a chair at the table.

"Are you well?" Nathaniel asked in concern.

"Henri has been concerned for you since we passed some soldiers coming this way," Marie explained, setting her packages down on the table. "That was in the early part of our walk. The soldiers went another way, but that didn't ease his concern."

"I worried we had been discovered," Henri added quietly. "The fear would not leave me all morning."

Nathaniel nodded. "I worry about that often," he admitted. "Only for the safety of each of you. My own life is not a concern to me."

"You shouldn't say such things," Marie scolded. "Not in times such as these."

"These times are only going to grow worse," Nathaniel told her. "I say that only in honesty. By the day the call for war gets more persistent. You hear it as often as I do. We were very lucky months ago when violence truly came close to erupting just outside the city."

"Marie told me of that, I believe," Henri commented. "When the soldiers took arms and powder from a storehouse in a place called Cambridge nearby and all the countryside thought it an act of war. Some other colonies were prepared to send us their own militias."

Nathaniel nodded. "That's what I was speaking of, last September. The day was chaos. I closed the house for a time, until it was certain war wasn't erupting on our doorstep. I don't believe we can be so lucky again. Not since all I've heard points to the country raising its own kind of army, not simply militias, to prevent such an event from happening again. And John gave us the coded list of possible raid locations to listen for."

"All sides say that another such event will spell the end of Boston as we know it." Marie stepped close to look at what Nathaniel was cooking and sighed. "I thought so. All you can cook is beans."

"There is pork in there, too," Nathaniel informed her. He stepped aside when she started to huff over the food and sat down with Henri at the table.

"So long as we aren't ended with the city, it may not be so bad a thing," Henri grumbled.

"At times I must agree," Nathaniel told him. "At other times I worry for the ones who would suffer most. In time I could start anew, but not everyone would be safe."

They grew quiet for some time before Henri finally spoke again.

"Tell me," he said, watching Nathaniel. "Why do you consider your life of so little concern?"

Nathaniel considered this for a moment, but still struggled to speak the truth. "It's a difficult story to tell," he finally settled on saying. "In truth, I would rather be home with the family and friends I had known for so much of my life. I never intended to come here and it still distresses me at times that I'm not at home. I'm allowed no contact with my family and I've had no word from friends since my father forced me to choose America. It was not a choice I had wished to make. I will say both of you are good friends to me, but I've not had the years with you that I had with those at home. Perhaps, should we all survive long enough, that will be quite different. I do worry for the safety of you both, and for what may happen to you if anything should become of me. Apart from the two of you, I live quite the solitary life and likely will forever."

Marie sat down beside him and hugged him. "Oh, my English brother. What am I to do with you?"

Henri didn't respond for a moment, then reached over and touched Nathaniel's hand. "Perhaps all three of us belong here together then."

Nathaniel gave him a hint of a smile, though it was forced. "Perhaps."