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“Yes,” he said. “And you succeeded. I’ve been quite safe from wild ones here.” He took a sip of his tea, keeping his eyes on the rim of the cup. “So far.” He glanced up at her. “I would have left at once, but I was inconveniently ill. In the cold my lungs have been slow to clear.”
“You talk like a preacher.”
He relaxed a little. “Well, I am, or rather, I was.”
“Then you ain’t a slave?”
“Some have considered me a slave.”
“But you talk nice.” She hadn’t meant to put it that way, but it came out unthought.
He smiled. “So do you.”
“No,” she said, “I mean you’ve had schooling—”
“I was my own schoolmaster,” he said. ‘At first I only wanted to read the Bible so I could preach to my people. But”—he smiled again, showing his lovely, even teeth—“a little reading is an exceedingly dangerous thing.”
“Reading the Bible?”
“Especially the Bible,” he said. “It gave me notions.”
“So you just left, ey? Just set out walking?”
He leaned his head back, remembering. “Something like that,” he said, but she could tell from his eyes that it was nothing like that at all.
“I couldn’t leave my home,” she said.
“No? And yet you did.”
“I had no choice,” she said hotly. “I was made to.”
“So many slaves,” he said softly.
“I ain’t a slave,” she said. “I just—I just—” Just what? “There was the debt my father left, so …” Whatever she said only made it seem worse. “But we own the land. We’re freemen of the State of Vermont.” He looked at her. “Well, my father is, or was, till he left, and my brother will be …” But Charlie was at school and living with strangers. She hated the man for making her think this way.
“I left the only home I knew,” he said quietly. “I left a wife and child behind, vowing I would send for them or come for them within a few months. And here I sit, sick and penniless, hiding for my life, totally dependent on the kindnesses of others for everything.” He shook his head and she was sorry she had had a moment’s hate of him. Somewhere, perhaps, her father was saying those very same words.
After a while he stood up. “I can offer you a little rabbit stew,” he said. “I’m afraid that’s about all I have at the moment. Brother Luke will be coming up tonight with more food, I think, but if you’re hungry—”
“I have some bread and cheese,” she said.
“A veritable feast,” he said, his good humor returned.
“When I first saw you”—they were eating and somehow she needed to let him know—“I … thought …” But she was ashamed to finish the sentence.
“It’s a lot of money,” he said gently. “I’d be tempted myself if I were you.”
She could feel herself go hot and red. “But I won’t,” she said fiercely. “Now I know you, I couldn’t ever.”
“Thank you,” he said. “A compliment as beautiful as the giver.”
“It’s dark in here,” Lyddie said. “Or you could see I’m plain as sod.”
“Or lovely as the earth.” He used such fancy words, but she knew he wasn’t using words to make fun of her.
* * *
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