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The general strike had become armed resistance, however small or badly organized that resistance might prove to have been.
Judith came nearer, the dark green shawl wrapped around her shoulders. In the clear morning light her eyes appeared more green, steady and altogether too perceptive.
“I am not blaming myself for a Scottish rebellion, if that is what concerns you.”
“Major Baines.”
There were occasions upon which his rank became an accusation in her mouth and this was one of those. He turned fully towards her. “I am thinking that for the better part of a fortnight we have known military information was moving from this house into radical circles. We knew some of it concerned troop dispositions. We knew the situation in Scotland was deteriorating, and yesterday we found proof that someone had been recording information inside Blackthorn.”
“And?” she prompted.
“This morning armed men encountered soldiers at Bonnymuir.”
She waited.
Baines exhaled through his nose. “I dislike the sequence.”
“That is not the same as responsibility.” Judith folded her arms. “You are standing there looking as though you personally arranged the general strike, armed the radicals and ordered the cavalry north.”
“I assure you, if I had arranged the general strike, it would have been better organized.” He laughed softly, although even he was aware there was very little humour in it.
Judith stepped nearer. “The workers in Glasgow were hungry before you came to Blackthorn.”
“Yes.”
“They wanted parliamentary reform before Colonel Renforth sent you north.”
“Yes.”
“The government had troops in Scotland before we planted a single false report.”
“Yes.”
“And men had begun talking of armed resistance before yesterday.”
Baines looked past her towards the table, where the ledgers and lists remained spread beneath the morning light.
“Yes.”
“Then you did not create what happened at Bonnymuir.”
“Yet neither did I prevent it.”
Judith’s expression softened.
Baines pushed away from the window and returned to the table. “We assumed we had more time.”
Judith came to stand opposite him.
Baines rested both hands upon the table. “I am not tormenting myself because I believe I caused Bonnymuir. I have enough vanity without becoming responsible for all Scotland. What troubles me is simpler. We identified the danger, and we have not stopped it.”
Judith considered him. “That I understand.”
It was one of the more inconvenient aspects of Judith Finch that she did not offer comfort by denying unpleasant truths. She separated what could be borne from what could be changed and then expected everyone else to do the same. She reached for Renforth’s message.
“May I?”
He handed it to her.
