Chapter 14
Duncan paused as he climbed out of their wherry to admire the elegant building on the hill above the Thames. He had been so obsessed with the conspiracy against Franklin and Conawago that he had not truly focused on their morning destination. But now, as he stood on the pier, a sense of awe seized him. His reaction had nothing to do with the stately building along the riverbank, the Naval Hospital, but rather with the sturdy, templelike structure at the top of the hill. He recalled that the site had once held the castle where Henry the Eighth and his daughters had been born, but on those ruins Christopher Wren had built the center of the world. Everywhere on the planet mariners paid homage to the site, knowingly or otherwise, but few had the honor of visiting it.
Here was wher
