One evening, she ordered the kitchen emptied before the tea tray arrived. Daniel entered to find her standing beside the fireplace, fully dressed.
had heard pleading, silence, even weeping from him. Refusal was unfamiliar.
“How long?” she whispered.
Daniel said nothing.
She reached for the bell.
He could have stopped her. Instead, he stood still while its sharp metallic cry traveled through the house.
***
By midnight, Daniel was locked beneath the rear staircase.
Eleanor told John that a magistrate would come at dawn. There would be a trial, she said, although everyone understood how little a trial could mean for an enslaved man accused of poisoning his owner.
“He’ll hang,” she added.
John lowered his eyes.
For months, he had delivered men to her chamber because he feared what refusal would cost him. Now he heard the final consequence of every evening he had obeyed.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said.
Then he went upstairs and stole her ledger.
Eleanor recorded everything: rents, purchases, punishments—and the dates beside twelve men’s names.
Post Comment