Revere’s face became clouded; a little frown wrinkled itself across the top of his nose.
“Dr. Church,” said he, “is a well-known gentleman who has mixed himself much in the movement. He is a frequenter of my shop; he has written verses that have appeared upon some of my prints.”
“Ah,” said Nat, “a patriot.”
But Paul Revere shook his head. Lowering his voice cautiously, he made answer:
“I’m not so sure of that. He is a member of the Committee of Safety, and, with the exception of Dr. Warren, is the only person who is told of the secret doings of the Sons of Liberty. Yet I don’t trust him overmuch. He’s too friendly with the Tories and, I have heard, is upon terms with Gage himself.”
An anxious look crept into Nat’s face.
“Why, the struggle for liberty is like to be honeycombed with treachery before it has fairly begun to live.”
He was about, there and then, to bring up the matter of Ezra Prentiss, deeming it a fitting time; but Revere’s thoughts drifted back to what he had upon his tongue in the first place.
“Dr. Warren was most pleased with what he heard about you,” said the engraver. “More than ever he desires some one in whom he can trust to be at hand when wanted. Ordinarily he would call upon me, but I’m ofttimes taken up with my own affairs and cannot attend to the committee’s business as I’d like. He said,” continued Revere, “that he’d be pleased to have a talk with you to-night.”
It was arranged after some further conversation that Revere was to call for Nat at the “Dragon” about eight in the evening and then they were to go together to the doctor’s house in Hanover Street.