“It must be pleasant to believe one’s own lies,” I said.
“I have proof enough.” He patted his bag. “I can demonstrate what sort of a monster Duer is. His agents in Philadelphia and Baltimore and Charleston short government issues, and the word spreads, so the price declines. His agents in New York and Boston then buy them at a reduced price.”
“But how does that aid him?” I asked. “One set of agents loses money, the other set gains. Does that not eliminate, or at least reduce, his profits?”
“It would,” said Freneau, “if the agents shorting were using Duer’s money. No, these are more like partners, convinced that they are sharing risks and rewards with the great man. They don’t know it, but Duer sacrifices them in order to gain what he imagines to be ultimate wealth.”
“Is Jacob Pearson such a man?” I asked.
“He is,” Freneau said. “Duer has quite devastated Pearson’s holdings, but the man is too big a fool to see it. What remains of Pearson’s wealth will be put into the Million Bank, and then Duer will offer to help with Pearson’s new debt in exchange for his Million Bank shares.”
“That can’t be the only means by which Duer aims to get control of the bank.”
“No,” said Freneau. “He has other agents, men who will, in fact, use Duer’s money, to buy on the day of the launch.”
“Do you know who they are?”
“I have that information,” he said, patting his bag again. “But it is time for you to give me something.”
“I’ve heard a rumor that Pearson is in New York. Do you know if that’s true?”
“I have heard he is, but I have also heard he does not wish his whereabouts known.”
“So you can tell me nothing of it?” I pressed.
“Nothing,” said Freneau, “but one never knows when new information may be acquired. Make me your friend, sir, and I shall keep your questions in mind.”
I was distracted, thinking of Pearson, of his hitting Cynthia, of his fist striking her face. I thought of him threatening to harm his own children. I had thought Freneau could tell me, but he knew nothing. If he deceived me about anything, I believed, it was about the likelihood he might yet discover the information I wanted. “Very well,” I muttered.
“Tell me about Kyler Lavien,” said Freneau.
That brought me back to the conversation. I did not know how much Freneau and the Jeffersonians knew about Lavien, but anything was too much.
I looked at him and did my best to appear puzzled. “Who?”
“Don’t attempt to make me into a fool,” he said.
“How could I attempt myself what nature hath wrought to perfection?”
Freneau sat straight. “Do you break your word in order to protect a scoundrel like Hamilton?”
“I’ve grown somewhat fond of Hamilton,” I said. “I discover he is a decent man, and I’ll not help a bloodthirsty jackal like you libel his name because you refuse to recognize that he and Duer, however much they may once have been friends, are now set against each other. Can you not advance the cause of your democratical republicanism with the truth? If you can’t, perhaps it is not worth advancing.”
Freneau chose to act as though I’d said nothing. “I asked you to tell me about Lavien.”
“I cannot tell you of a man I’ve never heard of. Is he the French ambassador? Perhaps Jefferson knows him from all that time he spent in Paris, buying wines and furnishings, while the rest of us fought a war.”
Freneau, unflatteringly, allowed his eyes to bulge. “I’m sorry I told you anything. I wish I could take back my words.”
“And I wish all children of the world might be given the gift of beautiful flowers. Now be gone, you tedious man, and trouble me no longer.”
Freneau stood. “You will regret using me so.”
“I don’t think so,” I said. “I think, in fact, I will look back on this abuse with pleasure. Now, please go before I ask my man to knock you down again.”
Leonidas grinned at him, and that proved the final argument. He stood, cast us a resentful glance, and left the tavern.
I had hoped to find Pearson tonight, but my hopes had been dashed. Even so, it was hardly a disastrous evening. Indeed, I had every reason to be pleased with myself, and with this in mind I took the papers from Freneau’s bag and proceeded to see what he had to teach us.
John Maycott
Autumn and Winter 1791
Back in his house, while his wife attempted to walk noiselessly one floor above us, I sat with Mr. Pearson in his library. He poured me a glass of wine, and I sat in an armchair while he sat across from me on the sofa. I had a curious role to play, part child, part speculator, part seductress, and I was suddenly uneasy, aware of the noises of the street outside us, the clicking of the clock in the room, the distant barking of a dog. I sipped the wine so it would redden my lips, and then I began.
I spoke of the Million Bank, describing it as, yes, another bank attempting to capitalize on the public’s new mania for banks, but also far more. Under the correct circumstances, it could become the most powerful financial institution in the new country. It only required daring leadership. It require men who were willing to see the times for what they were, times of unchecked possibility, times in which destiny might be shaped by the bold and the clever.
Pearson, who imagined himself such a man and was indeed looking at my wine-darkened lips, hung upon my every word, so I told him how I believed a relatively small group of investors, if they could but command enough money, might attempt to take the whole initial stock offering; imagine, I said, what a cabal might do if it suddenly and for a relatively small investment found itself in control of a bank.
He stopped staring at my lips long enough to ask me how that might happen.
I explained that I thought a new bank might use the initial euphoria that followed its launch to take over another, more established bank, such as the Bank of New York, or even-for men of true audacity-the Bank of the United States.
Mr. Pearson finished his drink and poured another. He stared out the foggy window for a long moment while he worked his lips soundlessly, as though having a long and somewhat contentious conversation with himself. At last, apparently having won the argument, he turned back to me.
“You chose not to present this to Duer?”
“I did not wish to impose upon our friendship. He asks me for advice, yes, and values my opinion, but it did not seem right that I should offer to direct his affairs.”
“Let us be honest, Mrs. Maycott. That is not the reason at all. I think it is time for you to be direct with me.”
“Sir,” I said in protest. What had I done, I wondered, to tip my hand? Had I grown too lax in my deception? Had one success after another led me to lay down my guard? “If you have any reservations about what I say, you may feel free to disregard it. I remind you that it was you who wished me to speak.”
He laughed, loud and barking. It sounded either forced or seething with madness. “You bring it to me because you understand the way things are. Duer’s success is but a fluke, but I have had to build my achievements one brick at a time. He is nothing but a rich speculator, but you know a man of vision when you see one.”
I was on uncertain ground here, there could be no doubt of that, but at least I was not myself the subject of his suspicion. I masked the sound of my exhalation of relief. “Mr. Duer is my friend, and I have the greatest respect for his successes.”
“Of course, of course.” He laughed again, though this time less like a lunatic, and waved one of his big hands through the air. “But different men have different talents, and not everyone can be a visionary. Not everyone can be bold enough to see what is invisible to others.”