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Jessica back for laughing at him. He had a vision of being dressed in black and climbing in her bedroom window and tying her lovely white hands to the bedposts and…
    â€œAre you listening to me?” Nick demanded. “Never have I found a more insolent people than you Americans. I should sail for my homeland now, before I meet another one of you. But this Raider appeals to me. I will send my ship south to fetch more of my cousin’s clothing and a new wig.”
    â€œAnd leave me one of those servants you abuse, I hope.”
    â€œNo,” Nick said thoughtfully. “This game amuses me. I will stay here and continue to pose as your bondsman. I will keep the secret of what you are.” His eyes narrowed. “And I will make this Eleanor Taggert sorry she said such things about me as she did this morning.”
    â€œIt’s a bargain then,” Alex said. “We’ll stay together. I shall be the most delicate example of young manhood in America. And you will show us Americans how to work.”
    Nick frowned at that. “If someone sends me to the fields, I will quit. Ah, but I will have some tales to tell my family.”
    â€œI hope your family believes you more than mine does. Shall we start getting me dressed? I’m already beginning to hate that wig.”

Chapter Three
    A LEXANDER allowed himself plenty of time to dress. After checking his wound, he and Nick began carefully padding his thighs until they filled the satin breeches, wrapping layers around his mid section until his belly stuck out almost a foot, then setting the heavy powdered wig on over his black hair. When they were through, he was so bundled that sweat was already beginning to form on his brow.
    â€œI don’t know if they’re worth this,” Alex said bitterly.
    â€œThey are your people.” Nicholas shrugged.
    â€œWho have turned against me.” Alex had a vision of Jessica Taggert as she laughed at him on the dock. If she hadn’t been there, would the townspeople have believed his disguise?
    It was eleven o’clock when he waddled into the common room of the Montgomery house, and many people were waiting there for him. They pretended that they had genuine business with the Montgomery household, but Alex could see by their eyes that they were waiting for him. For just a moment, he held his breath, sure that someone would laugh and tell him to abandon his disguise now that he was home and among friends.
    But, one by one, they looked back at the drinks they were nursing.
    Alex glanced at Eleanor as she directed two women in cooking over the open fireplace. The common room was a combination kitchen, parlor and meeting room. Since the Montgomery family owned most of Warbrooke, they did the most business, and during the day nearly everyone in town came through this room for one reason or another. Sayer Montgomery had always seen that drink and food were waiting for those who came to his house.
    Two men in a corner of the room, sitting at the end of one of the two tables, began to speak quite loudly.
    â€œMy son-in-law grew that wheat himself but before I could take it to Spain, I had to stop in England and unload it for them to inspect.”
    â€œAnd I had to take cocoa from Brazil to England to be inspected before I could bring it to Boston.”
    The men looked over their drinks to Alexander, but he was pretending not to hear them. They weren’t bothering to pay him the courtesy of speaking to him directly, so why should he show them his concern? And what did they expect him to do about English law? It was as if they still believed these were the days of medieval law and he was the lord who could go to the king personally and complain.
    â€œAnd I lost my ship because of sixty pounds,” Josiah Greene said.
    Alexander looked at the enormous plate of food that Eleanor set before him. He felt as if he were the only person in the audience of a play he’d already seen. As he