During the meal, the young men enjoyed a general chat. They had ordered roast beef, and the innkeeper had brought them his best red wine. They all drank freely, though James noticed that the young law clerk only drank one glass to his two. He learned that Hughes had no hand in politics, but that his father was a radical. Hughes, for his part, asked James questions about his family and childhood in New York, and professed the hope that he might go there one day.

“And do you intend to return to America yourself?” he asked.

“Yes. In due course,” James answered.

“May I ask what side will you take in the present dispute when you do?”

“My family is loyal,” James said.

“Very loyal,” Grey Albion added with a grin.

Hughes nodded thoughtfully. His narrow face, with its thin, hooked nose and bead-like eyes, reminded James of a small bird.

“My family would certainly be on the other side,” he remarked. “As you know, many of London’s artisans and radicals think that the colonists’ complaints are just. And it isn’t just humble folk like my family. Some of the great Whigs, even solid country gentlemen, say that the colonists are only demanding the same thing that their own ancestors did before they cut off King Charles’s head. No tax without representation. It’s the birthright of every Englishman.”

“No cause to rebel, though,” said Grey Albion.

“We rebelled in England, last century.”

Grey turned to James with a laugh. “I told you my friend had a mind of his own.”

“But do you not fear disorder?” said James.

“So did the royalists when we complained of the tyranny of the king. All governments fear disorder.”

“But the empire …”

“Ah.” Hughes stared at James. There was a little light of danger in his eye. “You think that, like the Roman Empire, the British Empire must be governed from the center. London is to be the new Rome.”

“I suppose I do,” said James.

“Nearly everyone does,” Hughes agreed. “And that is why, in the case of America, we run into a difficulty. More than a difficulty. A plain contradiction.”

“How so?”

“Because the colonists believe they are Englishmen. Does your father believe he’s an Englishman?”

“Certainly. A loyal one.”