It ought not to have stung. I presented myself as nothing more, and yet I did not want to hear it. “And now?”
“And now,” he said, “I find you are a useful drunk.”
I pushed the bottle away, but not the glass. Then I looked him full in the face. “I want to help you. The devil take me, I want to help Hamilton, though I never thought I would utter such words, but first I must help Cynthia. That is my obligation and my desire. It is the air in my lungs, and I cannot breathe if I turn from it. You must see that.”
“I do see it, but I see what you don’t. You can rid Cynthia of her husband in a single stroke, and only we shall know of it, yet you won’t do it. I understand why, but if you won’t do it in a single stroke, we must do it strategically. Pearson has bound himself and his fortune to larger schemes, and if you want to be rid of him, we must deal with Duer and the threat to the bank. We must discover the plot and bring down the plotters, and somewhere, amid all that chaos, I believe Pearson will be dealt with. You believe it too, I think, and I know you long to be part of this, to bring down Duer with me. You simply cannot endure the torment of taking your eye off Pearson. I promise you, you may turn away from him, and he will not trouble you. He is done in Philadelphia. He is in exile. He can’t hurt her now, and, if we do this right, he will not hurt her again.”
I could see the reason in what he said, and I did not mind that he’d thrown in a few very kind words about me. This was Kyler Lavien, perhaps the most powerful man-if only secretly so-in the employ of the most powerful man in Washington’s administration, and he begged me for my help. I would have hated to turn him away, but perhaps I did not have to. Perhaps he was right. I had no notion of what to do about Pearson. I would go, instead, with Lavien and see what came of his methods.
“What do we do?”
He grinned that evil grin again. “We’ve only a few hours before we take the express back to Philadelphia, so in the meantime we see Duer. We find out what he means to do next, and then we report to Hamilton. In keeping Pearson from utterly undoing himself, you may have completed your New York business as a private citizen. Now you are upon Treasury business.”
A t near seven, Duer received us in the parlor of his Greenwich mansion. He seemed as unflappable as ever, cool and friendly, a man at ease in the comforts of his own home, and he was alone: no Isaac Whippo in sight and no Reynolds. He showed us a painting he’d purchased and pointed out his window to a new pair of hunting dogs. Not a care in the world, and certainly not a thought for that pesky business with the Million Bank.
At last we sat but, unlike our last visit, no offer of refreshment was made.
“Now, how is it I can assist you gentlemen? Always at the service of the Secretary of the Treasury and his men.”
Lavien leaped right in. “I have heard that your plans to acquire a controlling interest in the Million Bank came to nothing.”
Duer kept his speculator’s smile in place. Let the building collapse around him, Duer would not flinch. “I never entertained such a scheme. I thought very ill of that project.”
Lavien scowled. “And now I hear that your agents move to acquire Bank of New York issues, and you continue your efforts to control government six percents.”
“You perhaps think you observe much from your little perch in the Merchants’,” Duer said, “but you are new to the world of trade, and you may not understand all you see. I beg you to leave my business to me. I have politely entertained your interference, but you must understand that Colonel Hamilton will not thank you for troubling me.”
“I understand it is time for you to be honest with us,” Lavien answered. “No more prevarication, if you please.”
“I must object, sir,” he said, with a bit of a nervous laugh. “You speak to me as I am unused.” Duer turned to me. “Do you not think a more civil tone is in order?”
“I shall tell you what is in order,” said Lavien, with surprising harshness. “Forthrightness, sir. I must know of your plans. I want to know everything about your schemes, with the banks and with the government issues. I want it all and I want it now, and then Treasury will decide if you can be permitted to continue.”
Duer flushed but attempted to laugh it off. “Oh, a businessman never reveals such things. I’m sure you understand.”
“I don’t give a fig for your schemes,” said Lavien. “And you, sir, do not wish to stand in my way.”
“Now, wait a moment-”
“No,” Lavien said, his voice hard but quiet. “There is no negotiation. I am telling you what will happen, not proposing an arrangement. The time for subtlety is done. You will tell me what I wish to know, or I will find out my own way and you shan’t like it.”
Duer’s face, which had gone white, suggested he did not doubt it. No one looking upon Lavien could doubt it. The man appeared to be himself in every way, and yet somehow he had metamorphosed into a devil. There was a hardness in his eyes, a hooded quality to his brow.
“I am happy to make open inquiries,” Lavien said, “to spread about what I know and collect the information I require from others, laying open your schemes, as I understand them, to all. I presume you do not wish that.”
Duer continued to gaze upon Lavien but said nothing. I believe this man, who had made his way through the world with lies and manipulation, could not now speak when faced with the sheer unmovable force of a man who would not, under any circumstances, allow himself to be convinced, charmed, or manipulated.
Lavien turned to me. “We will now go to the Merchants’ Coffeehouse. We will announce what we know about Mr. Duer and offer a reward for anyone who will tell us more. Surely if we get enough men together, each saying what he has heard from the man himself and each finding himself contradicted, then we shall know all.”
Before I could rise, Duer spoke. “No, no, wait. I will tell you, but you must promise to keep everything I say a secret.”
Lavien said, “I’ll promise nothing. I’m not a gossip, and I’ll not go about speaking of your business idly, but I’ll speak of it as needs must.”
Duer shook his head, as though exasperated at Lavien’s stupidity. “I think the value of both six percent securities and bank stock will rise. I am patriot enough to invest in my country, and if you wish to persecute me for that, go ahead. Yes, I have tried to convince the world that I do otherwise, but that is the curse of my success. I am watched too closely, and my plans would be thwarted should they be uncovered.”
“That is all?” asked Lavien. “What about your Mr. Whippo buying up money so dearly-taking those absurdly expensive loans from grocers and peddlers?”
Duer shrugged. “I require cash. It is a steep rate of interest, but it shall be repaid by and by. Hammy has made sure of it, by extending credit through the bank so readily. That is all, Lavien. A man who attempts so much at once, in an economy as small as ours, must have cash, so I raise cash. Would you destroy me for that?”
Lavien smiled. “If you had said as much sooner, we could have avoided the bickering.”
“You must understand that a man of trade must keep his secrets.”
“And a man of the government must sometimes discover them.” Lavien rose from his chair, and I did the same. In the hall, I observed Whippo as he came out of a room, a pair of heavy books tucked under his arm. He stopped and looked at me, and I thought he should say something accusing. Instead he shook his head, as though with a recollected amusement, and laughed softly. “Pudendum,” he said. “Very witty.”
A s we rode back to the tavern, Lavien sat in silent contemplation. I did not think he was withholding anything from me. As we rolled past the dark countryside between Greenwich Village and New York City, and he stared into the darkness, I honestly believed he forgot I was beside him. He might even have forgotten that he himself was there. Perhaps he was back in some dank Surinam jungle.