When dinner ended and Hart had gone, Abigail settled in the parlor with Solomon and Duncan, enjoying a late afternoon tea. The men were soon immersed in political discussions, comparing different governments in history to the British Empire.
Abigail listened while they talked, should any information slip that might be valuable to the colonials. She scanned a poetry book by Thomas Gray, the pages opened to the poem, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, but she couldn’t focus. She had to warn Ian. He was walking into a trap, about to overhear utter nonsense—that Hart was ready to join the rebels. She doubted he would believe it, given Hart’s loyalty to the Crown. But with the loss of their capital city, the Patriots might grasp at anything that could lead to victory. If a man wrapped firm
