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We band of brothers
(Henry V IV.iii.60)
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THE NEXT MORNING, EDWARD woke to the sounds of Matt getting washed and dressed. When he cautiously turned to inquire as to the boy’s progress, he saw only the top of the boy’s fair head as he readied himself for the day by the sofa. As the sound of his movements alerted the boy, Edward saw Matt stop still and stare at the wall, his eyes fixed anywhere by upon his new master.
“Good morning, Matt,” Edward murmured, not quite in full voice before his morning coffee. He cleared his throat, and continued more clearly, “I hope you had a comfortable night.”
“Good morning, sir.” Matthew responded, but did not turn around and continued his intense examination of the wall. Edward sighed, but reminded himself of the need for discretion and gentle handling of this scared young prodigy.
“Are you dressed, Matt? I will not intrude on your privacy, should you prefer me to look out the window for a while.”
“No sir. I mean, yes, sir. I am dressed. Shall I look away whilst you prepare yourself?”
“Only for your comfort, lad. We’re all men here, even if some of us are older than others. I will leave your actions to your own discretion. Let me wash myself and then I will prepare for the day.” Edward rose from his sheets and quickly donned his thick house robe. His nightshirt was visible at the collar, and his legs remained bare from the knees to where his feet met his slippers, but he was not indecent and had no qualms about moving around the room as such, even with a stranger there.
A glance towards Matt showed him that the boy was still carefully looking anywhere but at his new master. Smiling to himself, Edward selected his clothing for the day and went to wash and perform his morning ablutions. When he returned to the main room, he saw Matt now reading his book by the fire, seemingly enrapt by the words on the page. Edward began removing his night clothes, hoping to be dressed and ready for his first meeting of the day within a few short minutes. He had taken off his robe and lifted his nightshirt over his head when he turned his face a degree, only to catch Matt gaping at him from the chair near the fire, his face crimson. At once the boy whipped his head around to stare at the opposite wall with an intensity seldom given to plain paint. Realizing that he was now standing naked in front of a stranger, Edward quickly found his clean shirt, which he pulled on in a hurry, followed immediately by his trousers and waistcoat. He forced himself to ignore Matt’s curious behaviour, wondering once more about the boy’s former home. Whilst lads and lasses were kept to strict levels of modesty between the sexes, it was hardly uncommon for a group of boys and their older brothers to strip to nothing for a jump in a lake or river, or to change before or after sports in the schoolyard or the village green. Could Matt really never have seen another man’s bare behind before? Edward shook his head as he buttoned his cuffs and tied his cravat in anticipation of the day.
Once dressed, he turned deliberately to his young charge. “Breakfast, Matt? What do you like? Tea or coffee? I’ll have Mr. Smith send it up.”
Matt’s face was flushed and he couldn’t quite look Edward in the eye. “Er, tea, sir, if you please.” He turned back to face the fireplace.
Edward let out a puff of air. This was not a topic he had wished to broach with a stranger, but it seemed necessity must prevail over civility. “Now, lad, we must talk about some things. Since we are staying here in this room together, you must expect that we will, at some point, need to change our clothing. And that means being unclothed for short amounts of time, no more than is required.”
“But sir, it’s not seemly!”
“Matt, we’re both men. Did you never go swimming with your master’s son, or with friends? I have great memories of running around in the altogether and jumping into ponds and rivers whilst visiting my cousins in Manchester. Surely these traditions are not reserved for only a few.”
“Oh no, sir! I never swam with the master’s son, nor with any of the boys from the estate. It... It wasn’t proper.”
“Do you swim at all?”
Matt hesitated. “No, sir.”
“Curious. Do you ride?”
A long pause. “No, not well.”
“Do you play cricket or baseball?”
“I have enjoyed rounders, sir, and watched the boys at cricket.”
“Indeed.” Edward rubbed his chin with a knuckle. “Well, you’ve had an unusual childhood, it seems, but we can only move forward. As for our present situation, you must accustom yourself to it. Once we arrive home in London, you will have your own room, but I cannot afford a second room for you whilst we travel. I shall try to be mindful of your need for privacy whilst we are traveling, but I beg you, Matt, not to be so alarmed. As I said, we are both men and there should be no surprises under our nightshirts. I’m sorry if I alarm you, but that’s the truth of it.”
“Thank you sir,” Matt replied, looking with severe determination into the flickering of the morning’s fire. “I shall try to accustom myself to your ways.” Another pause, then, “But if you please, sir, I beg you to allow me my privacy.”
“Very well,” Edward agreed. “I promise that if we cannot find a screen or an anteroom for you, I shall avert my eyes. Acceptable?” He remembered well the changes in his own body as a youth, and the awkwardness he felt as he grew from boy to man.
“Thank you, sir.”
Soon, breakfast was brought up to the room and the two ate. Once again, Matthew answered questions as tersely and generally as possible, allowing Edward almost no information as to the boy’s history. For all his caution and reticence, though, he was a pleasant companion, even-tempered even in his discomfort, and polite. When Edward left for his first meeting with a local purveyor of ribbons and lace, Matthew seemed quite content to sit by the fire with a pot of tea and Edward’s ledgers, to begin tallying figures and calculating percentages. Although it was evident to Edward’s eyes that Matt was in some pain from his broken ankle, the boy nevertheless declared that it was not enough to require anything more than willow bark from the apothecary, and certainly not enough to keep him from his task. And so Edward left him sitting in peace in the room at the inn.
Subsequent encounters with more merchants led to the time for tea, which was passed in a similar fashion to breakfast, and in the afternoon, Matthew begged off his tasks to rest, for his foot was now giving him some pain. The medicinal draught the doctor had suggested from the apothecary countered the pain but made the lad drowsy, and once more, Edward left him sleeping in the room whilst he completed his last business dealings of the day.
When, at last, Edward returned to the room to begin packing his belongings for the next day’s travels, Matthew was just stirring from his sleep. He had condescended to rest on the bed, which was surely more comfortable than the sofa, and his small body seemed to disappear into the sheets. The crutches rested against the bed posts where the lad had left them after working his way over from the chair where he had been sitting.
“Ah, good morning, Matt! You have awoken just in time for supper,” Edward teased. “I hope you are feeling better after your rest. How is the foot this evening?”
Matthew shifted and grimaced. “The pain is less, but it still hurts, sir, to tell truth.”
“Will you be able to travel in the morning? I wish to move on towards Liverpool, where my shipment of Irish linens awaits.”
“I hope so, sir. I may need help on the stairs, but if I can sit in the carriage with my foot up, I expect it will be well.”
“Good, good. I bought us a present whilst I was at Bennett’s great shop today. Interesting enterprise he has there—some of everything all under one roof. Fascinating, really. I can only imagine how well he does from his enterprise, and I must mention it to my father. Well, after we had discussed his need for my wools and silks, I saw a little chess set, and I purchased it for us to enjoy.” He grinned at the boy struggling up from the bed. “Do you play chess, lad? It’s not swimming or cricket, but it might have been taught at your old master’s house.”
Matt pulled himself to standing and carefully positioned his crutches under his arms to swing towards his accustomed chair by the fire. “Yes indeed, I play a bit. I should be very happy to sit at the board with you, Mr. Gardiner, if you do not expect too much from me.”
“Very good!” Edward smiled. “Then, after we have taken our dinner, let us see how you fare at this ancient game!”
As expected, Matthew was a very good chess player. Edward would have assumed no less, given the boy’s mathematical facility and clear intelligence, but he was very pleased nonetheless. A strong, but not exceptional player himself, he now looked forward to many evenings of pleasurable contest against his young assistant. Their first game ended in a draw, but Edward realized that he would need to learn to lose, and lose gracefully. He was delighted.
The weight of obligation that had initially settled on him when he realized he would have responsibly for the injured boy now had begun to dissipate. Instead of an onus, Matthew was turning out to be a pleasure to have around. The boy would not speak of himself, but he was not disinclined to converse about other, more general matters, and he was intelligent and good company. If some of his behaviour was a bit strange, or his manner a bit unsettling somehow, Edward was happy to overlook these small oddities. Instead of the prospect of countless hours alone in the carriage as he travelled, Edward was more than happy to expect some good conversation.
Still, he was troubled somehow. It was not the boy’s physical state that bothered him, for apart from his broken ankle he seemed healthy and strong, nor was it his unusual mannerisms and awkward movements. The lad was from different parts, and was injured and scared; these, Edward considered, accounted for much of what he found unusual about his new assistant’s singularities. Rather, it was Matthew’s reluctance to divulge anything of his own history that left Edward uneasy, for one does not keep one’s name and identity secret and then flee in the night when there is no dire need to do so.
Whatever could have caused the lad to undertake such a rash endeavour such as this? Was the conflict between master and youth so dire as to render a broken ankle and homelessness preferable to returning whence he came? Edward could not imagine such a schism, although he was certain that whatever had occurred must be very grievous indeed. On one matter, though, Edward felt settled. If, at first, he had been concerned that the lad himself was to blame for any conflict at his former estate, he was now assured otherwise. Such a pleasant, accommodating and polite youngster could surely not have been the one to start hostilities with his master, could he? Time will tell, Edward reminded himself every time an uncertainty floated into his thoughts. Despite these errant bouts of concern, Edward found himself quite pleased with his decision to take the lad on as his assistant.
The next morning they set off on their travels. After an early breakfast, the two strong stable hands helped carry Matthew and his crutches down to the street where the coach awaited them. With some help, he managed to swing himself into the conveyance and settled himself on one bench with his foot resting on cushions on the bench directly opposite, a pile of cases and valises supporting his leg between the opposing seats. Edward decided to sit next to the pillow on which the boy’s foot rested, facing his charge at the diagonal. It was a luxury indeed to travel in a private coach, but with the sample bolts and merchandise that Edward knew he would be carrying home with him, it was a welcome necessity of business.
Before long they had left the city of Derby and were heading through open countryside towards Manchester, and then Liverpool. As they travelled, Edward tried to learn more about Matthew. The boy refused to give his exact age, but shrugged at the suggestion of fourteen summers when Edward ventured a guess, and Edward decided that was correct. However, the lad spoke with the language and assurance of one some years older, his phrasing elegant and precise despite his thick Derbyshire accent. He knew little of the world, but his knowledge of literature was good and his opinions, as he developed them, were well considered and soundly based. He asked Edward many questions about his business and quickly gained an understanding of the enterprise.
As Edward had envisioned, Matthew did indeed prove to be a good travel companion. Conversation was light and pleasant, and he had a good sense of when to talk and when to sit in silence to let his new employer think. By the time they reached Liverpool, they had settled into a comfortable routine. Matt would, whenever possible, sleep on a sofa in the room they took for the night. If necessity required, he made himself a bed out of blankets in the corner, huddling by a wall for security. His ankle slowly began to heal and he was soon able to struggle up from the floor with minimal assistance. Edward learned to change his clothing more quickly than he ever thought possible, and to turn away or become excessively interested in his books when Matt said that he was ready to change. Edward continued to wonder about the boy’s past, that produced such a powerful reaction towards something so normal. Time, Edward told himself. Give it time, and let the lad be.
Edward’s business in the port city was quickly and satisfactorily concluded. The shipment of textiles arrived on the very day that the travellers appeared at the docks, and the merchandise was exactly as expected. As planned, Matthew joined in the discussions regarding final costs and payment, sitting quietly in the corner, providing the figures and calculations that the parties required to finalize their negotiations. Many of Edward’s business associates eyed the lad keenly, jealous of Edward’s luck in procuring such an efficient calculating machine in the guise of this young man, and indeed, his very presence lent a more cheerful and collaborative air to the various negotiations in which the traders were involved.
When, after several days, Edward and Matthew began the long journey back to London, it was with several sample bolts of fine linens and wools in the coach. The excellent workmanship and rich colours would make for prized purchases in the cooler weather. Matt’s mathematical genius had been of supreme value to the process of arranging prices, and they departed with the knowledge of a large shipment making its slow but sure way to the warehouses in London. Edward was very pleased.
Only one occasion n the journey home gave rise to alarm. As they drove back south, Edward announced that he had one more stop to make before returning to the capital. “There’s a small town, not far from here, where I wish to visit to meet with a merchant. The town is modest in size but wealthy, as there are several important landowners in the neighbourhood who frequent its shops and in truth, you can do as well there as in London.”
“Where is this town?” Matt asked, “I am fascinated.”
“It lies not twenty miles from Derby,” Edward offered, “I might have visited on my journey north, but for the delay we suffered. The festival, of course,” he excused himself, not wishing Matt to feel guilt at his part in the delay. “The town is called Lambton, near the estate of Pemberley.”
At these words, Matt’s face turned white. “No!” he cried, “I cannot go there! I cannot leave the coach. If they see me...” He looked beseechingly at his master. “Please....”
“Is that where your previous master resides? Are you afraid of him?”
“I cannot be seen there. Indeed, Mr. Gardiner, I am sore afraid.” But other than these pleas, Matt would offer no more details about his former life. They decided, at last, that Matt might wait in the coach, hiding under blankets, whilst Edward met with his customer; the two would then leave the town and achieve some distance before nightfall and the necessity of another inn. This plan worked to the satisfaction of both but once more, Edward found himself wondering at the story that Matt was loath to disclose.