She scowled at him. “Are you one of those strange people who enjoys pain?”
“I am not the kind of person you speak of. I will simply endure the pain.” He grinned at her, and though she felt she shouldn’t, she was astonished at the appealing effect a simple smile could have upon a girl’s composure.
“No, Mr. Skenan,” she said. “I beg to differ.”
He raised an eyebrow at her but said nothing.
“Mr. Skenan, you won’t have to endure it, because I simply will not do it while you are wide awake. There must be another way.”
He frowned as he turned his attention inward. After a lengthy pause, he said, “Perhaps you might push the skin together and wrap it tightly so that when it heals, the skin will grow together. If you can do it, perhaps we won’t need the sharp knife and sinew.”
“Do you think it would work?”
“I have no reason to think it would not do as well as the other,” said Skenan. “If I understand why you wish to sew the skin together, it is because you wish the skin to come together as it heals, so that it will not leave an open gash.”
“Well, yes,” she replied.
“I believe that if you push the skin together and wrap it tightly enough, it will accomplish the same purpose.”
“I suppose it might work,” she said, though she knew her tone was noncommittal. “If you are willing, we could try it.”
“Of course I am willing,” he responded.
Given their circumstances, Abagail supposed this might be the best she could do. She came up to her feet and turned around, saying, “I will boil the water.”
He nodded, and, leaning down toward the bedding, he flopped back upon it.
Night had fallen when she had at last wrapped the bandages around his chest and his arm, making them tight enough to keep the skin together. She also washed his other scrapes, noticing his glance followed her hands carefully.
She asked, “Why do you look at what I’m doing as if you expect me to add more claw marks than those already there?”
He frowned before answering, but at last he said, “Because you are touching places on my chest that are”—he paused—“hurting, but also…are sensitive.”
He smiled a little, and Abagail gave him a considering glance. She asked, “I am hurting you?”
“No,” he answered.
“Then, why do you look at what I am doing so carefully?”
“Because,” he replied, “I am trying to anticipate where next your hand might land upon me.”
“Oh,” she said. “But, it is not because of pain?”
He grinned at her, but he didn’t answer.
She sat up and turned away from him, her intention being to gather up more of the soup she had made and put it into his bowl. But, she turned back toward him when he said, “Miss Abagail, you should forget your servitude and come and live with my people.”
“Oh, but I couldn’t,” she said at once. “Both the Patriots and the Loyalists would hunt me down, and they might not be kind to your people if they found me there among you. Besides, Mr. Wilson said he would meet me at Fort Stanwix, and since heis the proprietor of the inn and is probably the real owner of my papers, I fear he has in mind to take me back there.”
“I will talk to him for you, then. You should be free as the Creator intended you to be.”
Abagail hesitated, fearing to even envision what it might be like to be free. Swallowing down the thought, happy though it might be, she said, “But, Mr. Skenan, this is not how English society works. I was unable to fend for myself in England and so I contracted myself to the king to work in the colonies until I had fulfilled my contract. I cannot change it.”
“Ah, but you can, Miss Abagail. All of God’s creatures were meant to be free, and this includes you. Besides, if your people are fighting for their independence to throw off the hold your king has over them, and if they succeed, you would be free.”
She said, “I do not believe this is true. In all countries, to my knowledge, once one has signed and agreed to a contract, it is the same as giving one’s word. And, even I know an Indian’s word of honor is sacred to him. So you see, I am bound by the contract by my own agreement to it.”
“So it might seem,” he said, frowning at her. “But, you forget: what you are saying about the act of binding you to a man or a woman to work at their whim goes against the laws of God. And, going against the laws of God, a contract like this one should have no effect on you. I will tell this to you, true: a man is as good and as honest as he obeys the laws of the Creator and pays no attention to the laws of man. This is particularly true when a man seeks to enslave another man.”
