Elizabeth read again, this time her voice wavering in anger:

MISSING PERSON

Sought: Any reliable word on the whereabouts and condition of Dr. Richard Todd of Albany and Paradise. He was last seen going into the bush some eight weeks ago near Fish House. Information should be directed to Judge Middleton of Paradise, concerned friend of Dr. Todd, and representative of his affianced, Miss Katherine Witherspoon. Foul play is feared.

Elizabeth crumpled the newspaper in her fist. "It's time to speak up."

Nathaniel raised a brow in surprise. "I thought we were on our way to do that."

"It's time to speak up in public view," Elizabeth said. "Or they will charge one or both of us with murder. Hawkeye, can you fetch my father to the trading post?"

Hawkeye grinned. "Trussed like a Christmas turkey, if need be."

For a moment, Elizabeth thought. These men before her were so much alike not just in their appearance and posture, but also in their simple willingness to listen to her, and what she had to say. It was a great blessing, and she blinked a brief prayer of thanksgiving.

"Julian should be there, too," said Nathaniel. "Your father didn't come up with this plan on his own."

She shot him a startled look; he knew her brother better than she had thought. "Yes, of course you are right."

Hawkeye shrugged, wiping the rain from his face. "Shouldn't be too much trouble."

"Then I'll go fetch Kitty," Nathaniel said.

"Yes, we need Kitty," agreed Elizabeth. "Affianced of Dr. Richard Todd."

"By God." Hawkeye laughed out loud, slapping his leg. "And I was starting to fear that you two had lost your spunk out there in the bush."

Nathaniel came up the steps, crooked a finger under Elizabeth's chin, and turned her face up to his. "You feeling up to this?"

"Oh, please." She grabbed his wrist and held it away from her. "Nathaniel, it would be dangerous to let this foolishness grow out of all proportion."

There was a satisfied flashing in his eyes. Her plait was gone, subjugated into a neat roll on the back of her head, so Nathaniel settled for tugging on her earlobe.

"Just as you say, Boots. So let's get a move on."

"Wait," Elizabeth said. "I'm confused about something first."

Nathaniel glanced at his father, who shrugged.

"If you paid my father's agent for this schoolhouse with the five—guinea pieces, then he must be the 'reliable source' referred to here." She held up the crumpled newspaper. "But if so, my father would have to turn those coins over to this Mr. Morris. I cannot imagine him so set on punishing me that he would willingly hand his money over to the Treasury."

Hawkeye squinted up at her. "You've got a keen eye for detail, woman, and you know your father pretty well. I don't doubt you're right; he wouldn't want to hand over the gold, if he had it."

"But of course he has at least some of it." She was overcome with sudden sense of dread.

"Nathaniel. You did pay my father for this land with the gold?"

Nathaniel said, "Let's go inside."

* * *

The schoolhouse smelled of raw wood and beeswax and the great bunch of wild lilies Hannah had arranged in a vase. An errant moth bumped sleepily against the closed window, which provided a view of the marsh and the lake, pretty even in the rain. The sun struggled to break through, touching the forest here and there tentatively. But Elizabeth's whole concentration was on Nathaniel. She pushed back her hood, and looked him straight in the eye.

"You did pay my father for this land with the Tory Gold?" she repeated.

"Not exactly, Boots," said Nathaniel. "Couldn't risk putting those coins into circulation. Once Chingachgook made up his mind to spend the gold, he gave us leave to spend what we needed to get the mountain—”

“But not to hand over the coin, because that would have brought the treasury down our necks," continued Hawkeye. "But then it turned out there wasn't time to melt the gold down before you two took off for Albany—”

“Because we left three days earlier than expected." She finished his thought for him, remembering quite clearly the hurried, hushed conversations between the men when she had come to Lake in the Clouds in the middle of the night. Another thought occurred to her.

"You knew about my father's debts to Richard Todd, or you wouldn't have been planning on taking the gold with us when we left."

Hawkeye said, "We had a pretty good idea. Your father don't exactly keep his troubles close to the vest.

The tic in Nathaniel's cheek was fluttering hard. "Are you angry?"

"I'm too confused to be angry yet." Elizabeth walked to the other side of the room, and then back again, deep in thought. The men watched her, while they dripped rainwater onto the polished floor.

"There is a very obvious question. If you did not use my aunt's gift, or Chingachgook's gold, what bought this place, then, and paid off Richard Todd?" Her voice strained high and then broke.  "The mythical gold mine on Hidden Wolf?"

Nathaniel ran a hand through his hair in the way he had when he was trying to puzzle through a problem, and the dim light caught his earring with a spark. Spinning silver in a heavy elongated drop. Similar in design to the one Hawkeye wore, similar to the mass of silver and copper necklaces and and bangles and knee bands all the Kahnyen’keháka wore.