Hamilton looks openly panicked when Burr talks about walking -- and Burr stops talking, which instantly makes Hamilton feel a thousand times worse. Burr has enough trouble speaking his mind.
Which has him even more ashamed of the thoughts that come after. It was always too dangerous to bring along a baby with an army on the move; it was different in New York, and would be different if the army attached itself to a city longer-term. Winter quarters can easily include the presence of families, and Nathaniel Greene and Henry Knox's wives certainly have accompanied them at times in the past.
Hamilton has only just grown accustomed to Burr being his, with him, all the time -- the idea of a husband being alongside him in such perilous times and places. The easiest response is also the one that takes that away from them both: that Burr should go home and care for the child, while Hamilton continues to support them both. And now, as the alpha husband, Hamilton probably has the legal right to force exactly that.
He doesn't want Burr to go. And he wouldn't want to go, either, if he were Burr.
So he bends his considerable intellect towards solutions, as he listens to Burr's fears. He hardly lets go of Burr's hand at all, now, when he is by him, and now he has that precious hand in both of his, with his elbows braced on his knees and his chin set on those clasped hands, while he perches on a stool.
"It may be best," he says, "if we both take leave of the army, for a time. The New York militia..." While less competent on every level, the militia is at least more stationary. "Or we could pass the winter in any city we can reach."
no subject
Which has him even more ashamed of the thoughts that come after. It was always too dangerous to bring along a baby with an army on the move; it was different in New York, and would be different if the army attached itself to a city longer-term. Winter quarters can easily include the presence of families, and Nathaniel Greene and Henry Knox's wives certainly have accompanied them at times in the past.
Hamilton has only just grown accustomed to Burr being his, with him, all the time -- the idea of a husband being alongside him in such perilous times and places. The easiest response is also the one that takes that away from them both: that Burr should go home and care for the child, while Hamilton continues to support them both. And now, as the alpha husband, Hamilton probably has the legal right to force exactly that.
He doesn't want Burr to go. And he wouldn't want to go, either, if he were Burr.
So he bends his considerable intellect towards solutions, as he listens to Burr's fears. He hardly lets go of Burr's hand at all, now, when he is by him, and now he has that precious hand in both of his, with his elbows braced on his knees and his chin set on those clasped hands, while he perches on a stool.
"It may be best," he says, "if we both take leave of the army, for a time. The New York militia..." While less competent on every level, the militia is at least more stationary. "Or we could pass the winter in any city we can reach."