Mr Jefferson is Coming Home (Jamilton)

Chapter 23

"Have you read the newspaper today?"

"Not yet. Why?"

"I was reading the Aurora this morning, and I read something extremely interesting, yet not really unexpected, about Hamilton."

"Oh my, what does the newspaper say?"

"It seems he's accused of fraud against the State," the first voice explained. "Papers had been found demonstrating his direct connection with a man called Reynold, to whom he'd been giving huge sums of money while he was Treasury Secretary."

"I'll buy the Aurora right away, I can't wait to read it!" The second man laughed. "I hope he'll be imprisoned, the whole lot should be sent away from the government."

Alexander choked on his morning coffee and coughed for several minutes. He was used to bad press, especially on the Aurora, which was a Democratic-Republican newspaper, but when they mentioned the name 'Reynold' he felt fainting.

He rushed out and bought a copy of the Aurora, reading the accusations against him with a shocked face – Burr wasn't fooling around then, he'd been true to his word and had made his move against him.

"You don't know who you are fighting against, Burr," he muttered threateningly to his paper, heading right back home.

He sat at his desk with his coat still on and drew out his quill, the one Thomas had given him for Christmas, and that's when the truth hit him: Burr thought him guilty, but Thomas and James knew he was not, and yet they hadn't stopped him from publishing those false accusations. The final decision on the matter had not been Burr's to make. It'd been Jefferson's.

Despite feeling betrayed as he'd never felt before, he didn't shed a single tear and dipped the quill into the ink, determined to fight back. He knew how to respond to their accusations – he'd write his way out, as he'd always done.

***

"Thomas!" James opened the door without knocking – something very unusual for him.

"Jeez James wait a minute, I'm still not dressed!" Thomas threw him a shoe and James closed the door, blushing violently.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he said quickly, with a mortified voice. "Hurry up, you need to read the paper!"

"What is it this time?" Thomas opened the door in a minute, perfectly dressed in his magenta suit. "If it's another article about the benefit of a national army, I swear I'll –

Thomas didn't even finish the sentence because the title on the newspaper left him speechless. He couldn't believe Alexander had really done something so stupid.

"The Reynold Pamphlet," he murmured, and snatched the paper out of James's hands. "Why would he do something like this?"

"I think the deal was to sacrifice his private life to save his public one," James shrugged.

Thomas read it aloud and they stopped several times to comment the boldest lines and to pity Mrs Hamilton for the humiliation she would soon face. Thomas had just put the kettle on when an angry voice came from outside, along with a violent bang on the door.

"Jefferson, open the door, you asshole!"

Thomas and James exchanged a knowing look and stayed silent for a moment, both hoping that Hamilton would just go away.

"I know you and Madison are in there, I talked to the guy from the front desk." Another bang at the door – was he kicking it?

"Stupid hotels," Thomas muttered before getting to the door and opening it with an ice-cold face. "Mr Hamilton, to what do I owe this unexpected visit?"