Kitty tried to speak, but she had to stifle a cough.
Alarmed, Pereira asked, “Do you need a glass of water?”
Kitty shook her head.
“I can make a guess here,” Pereira said. “About the opposition. But you’d best tell me.”
Caro said, “It’s because I’m not free.”
“I thought so.” He leaned back in his chair, disengaging himself. He said, “How can I help you?”
Caro asked, “What is the law governing marriages between slaves and free persons of color?”
Pereira sighed and leaned forward again. He said, “The law is quite clear. An enslaved person can’t legally enter into a marriage. These church ceremonies, which many slaves arrange, aren’t legally binding. And I remind you that the legal status of any children follows the legal status of the mother. The children of an enslaved woman inherit their mother’s chattel status.”
Caro shifted in her chair. “Yes, I know,” she said. “What of the status of the free person?”
Pereira gave her a look heavy with distress. “I hardly need to remind you of that, Caro,” he said.
“Does it make any difference if the free person is a man of color?”
“No, it does not. The marriage isn’t legally binding, and the children are slaves.”
Danny’s hand was hot and sweaty in her own. She clutched it tightly. She said, “What if a free man of color buys a slave woman, then marries her? What does the law say about that?”
Pereira glanced at Kitty and looked away. In his driest voice, he said, “Slavery is a very different chattel relationship than marriage in the eyes of the law. But a man who owns his wife as a slave can protect her. He can keep his marriage intact, and if there are children, he can keep his family intact.”
Kitty asked fiercely, “Will he allow her to live as though she were free?”
“That’s outside the realm of the law. But if he has bought her because he loves her and cherishes her, because he wants to protect her and maintain her, he’s likely to treat the law as a formality.”
Danny couldn’t contain himself. The words burst out. “Mr. Pereira, I can’t buy Caro. I can’t afford it. But my uncle Thomas can.”
“If he’ll see to it,” Caro said. She turned to her mother. “Do you think he might?”
“Let Danny ask him,” Kitty said.
Danny leaned forward, an imploring stance, and Caro saw, for the first time, his resemblance to the Pereiras. “Mr. Pereira, might you help us? To speak with my uncle and my mother to help them see to it?”
Caro saw the lawyer war with the uncle. The uncle spoke. “You want me to make a case for you.”
Trembling, Danny said, “Yes. To persuade them to give Caro her freedom.”
Pereira regarded his brother’s son with a rueful affection. “Danny, you try me,” he said. “It’s never a legal matter, is it?” He shifted his glance to Caro, then to Kitty, where his gaze lingered. “Yes, I’ll speak to your mother and your uncle.”
Caro fumbled for the reticule she kept in her pocket. “Mr. Pereira, we must owe you something for your advice,” she said.
He waved away her words. “No,” he said, his voice betraying his emotion. He glanced at Kitty. “For James. For his memory. A matter of family feeling.”
Sophy grumbled to Caro when the bell at the gate rang. “Another one of them callers of yours.” But she came back with only an envelope in her hand. “A little messenger boy again. Look hopeful, wait for a tip. Tell him he don’t get paid twice. Hah!” She handed Caro the envelope.
She recognized the copperplate hand even before she opened it. It was from Benjamin Pereira, Esq., and it told her that the meeting with the Bennetts had been arranged.
When she told her mother, Kitty said, “I’m going with you.”
Caro said, “I thought you didn’t want to see Thomas. I thought you were ashamed.”
“This is not for me,” her mother said quietly. “It’s for you.”
Benjamin Pereira hadn’t summoned them to his office. Instead, he had come to Thomas’s house on Queen Street. As her mother stood beside her, Caro rang the bell at the gate with an odd sense of detachment.
Thomas himself answered the door. “Kitty,” he murmured.
For a moment her mother was a lady again. “Isn’t it usual, Thomas? For a girl’s mother to smooth the way when she’s old enough to be married?”
Thomas shook his head. “So many years,” he said. “I still remember you as a little girl.”
“I remember it, too. How you held my hand to take me to church.” She extended her fingers to her half brother, the veins prominent with age, and Caro saw their past shimmer in the air between them, blurring all the pain of the present.
“Come in, both of you,” he said. “We’re in the dining room.”
To Caro, it seemed like years since she had been banned from this house instead of a few weeks. She was surprised to see that it looked the same. The mahogany table, set so brilliantly with china and crystal on Sunday, was bare save for a pair of silver candlesticks. Thomas headed the table, as he headed the household; to his right sat Maria, and next to her, Danny. Pereira was to Thomas’s left. Kitty and Caro sat next to Pereira. Caro had never been so close to the head of this table before. Maria nodded at her half sister without greeting her.
Maria was the one to break the silence. She said, “Don’t lawyer us, Mr. Pereira. We all know why we’re here. You want to talk Thomas into buying Caro so Danny can marry her.”
Caro wondered if Mr. Pereira had already spoken to her and to Thomas. Had they made up their minds?
“I’m not here to lawyer, as you say it, Mrs. Bennett.”
Maria fixed him with a gaze that would quail a lesser man. “Mrs. Pereira,” she said, insisting on their connection. “We call ourselves Pereira since Jacob died.”
“Mrs. Pereira,” he said, acknowledging the connection. “This isn’t strictly a legal matter but a family one.”
Caro thought of the words in her father’s will: Treat them with kindness…as members of the family.
Pereira said, “James Jarvie was my friend, and I knew his intentions for his daughter. He yearned to free her, and knowing that he could not, he wanted her to live as free a life as possible. He entrusted her to his brother in that hope. It was a hope proven false, as all of you know.”
Maria said impatiently, “We all know her father spoiled her for slavery by educating her. What difference does it make now? She’s still a slave.”
“Mrs. Pereira, her father raised her gently and educated her because he cherished her. He gave her the life of a lady because he wanted the best for her. Would you punish her for that? For her father’s love for her?”
His eyes rested on Maria, who didn’t blink or look away but also didn’t reply. “Mrs. Pereira, I think you can understand why a father, or a mother, would love a child in that way and would hope against hope for the best possible life for that child,” he said quietly.
Maria said, “What of Danny? His education and his future? Marrying her won’t help him.”
“What of his happiness?” Pereira asked, his voice even quieter.
The question fell into the silence like a stone slipping into a pond. Pereira let it ripple outward, and he disturbed it. “I know something about sons and about filial duty,” he said. “My own son, with every advantage, has disappointed me.”
Caro knew, as everyone in the room knew, that Pereira’s son William was a drinker and a gambler who had fathered more than one slave child. Caro thought, He must love Danny very much to lay himself bare like this.
“But your son, Mrs. Pereira, is a steadfast young man. He loves this young woman, and his only thought is to protect and maintain her, in the most honorable way, through marriage.” Pereira said, “Don’t hurt him. Don’t estrange him. Don’t lose him. Think of his happiness, Mrs. Pereira.”
Caro thought, He speaks to her as his b
rother’s widow. As his sister-in-law.
Maria said, “I won’t let him give up his education.”
Thomas spoke for the first time. “Maria, they’re very young to be married, but not to be engaged. If this love is steadfast, it will endure through an engagement and his education. If they are dedicated enough, they will be able to wait.”
Maria addressed Caro. “Can I trust you? To be steadfast?”
Thomas said, “Maria, when her father died, she was dealt a terrible blow. What has she done? She’s become resourceful. She makes a living. She helps her mother, and she saves her money. I know that she is.”
Kitty clasped Caro’s hand under the table. She said, “She is more than that. She is my light and my support and my life.”
Tears rose to Caro’s eyes.
Maria addressed Caro. “Will you promise it? To be steadfast toward my son?”
Caro felt her mother’s hand tighten around her own. She met Maria’s gaze. “I will love him forever,” she said.
Family feeling roiled through the room: between brother and sister, between uncle and nephew, between aunt and niece. Under the sharp words, beneath the silences, were the bonds of love, as delicate as a spider’s web and as painful as shackles.
Pereira, his voice soft and silken, said, “Mrs. Pereira? Will you help them?”
Maria cleared her throat as though she were choking. She said, “Thomas, go to Mr. Jarvie. See what kind of arrangement he’s willing to make.” She shot a look at Mr. Pereira. “Go with him, for the love of God. He’ll listen to you.”
When they returned to Tradd Street, Caro told her mother that she intended to accompany her uncle and Mr. Pereira when they made their case before Lawrence Jarvie. Kitty put a hand on her arm. “I’ll go with you.”
Caro felt a wave of sickness. She had feared for months that Lawrence Jarvie might sell her. Now she was going to see him to beg him to do so. “Mama, no. Mr. Jarvie tolerates me. But he detests you.”
“I don’t do this for him. I do it for you.”
“Then let me go alone. It will be better for both of us.”
Kitty’s smile was rueful. “Ah, Caro, it isn’t right that you take care of me now,” she said.
Caro rested her hand on her mother’s. “We take care of each other,” she said, even though it was a lie.
When Caro stopped at Thomas’s shop, he didn’t order Danny into the back. He let them greet each other. As she handed over the finished shirts, she said to Thomas, “When you and Mr. Pereira call on Mr. Jarvie, I want to go with you.”
Thomas said, “Caro, no.”
“He won’t spare me, whether I’m in the room or not.”
“Caro, it isn’t right.”
Miss Sass blazed forth. “What? For me to intrude on a matter of business or for the merchandise to listen to the transaction?”
Thomas said, “Caro, you know it won’t be pleasant.”
When the two of them appeared at Benjamin Pereira’s office, he objected, too. She said, “Would my father have wanted me to know?”
“I doubt it,” Pereira said.
One uncle said wryly to the other, “Don’t argue with her.”
At the Jarvie house, Ambrose let them in, looking askance at both Thomas and Caro, even though Benjamin Pereira insisted that they had accompanied him on a matter of business with Mr. Jarvie. It was painful to come through the front door today and equally painful to be ushered into the room where she had been terrified with the certainty that Lawrence Jarvie planned to sell her.
Lawrence looked up from the ledger on the desk, frowning. He asked Pereira, “What is this?”
“As I wrote to you, sir. Thomas Bennett, who is Caroline’s uncle, has come here on a matter of business. Caroline is here as well, since the matter concerns her.”
He glanced at Thomas. “What business matter? The man is my tailor. I settle my account every month.”
Danny had told Caro that he did not.
“May we sit?” Pereira asked.
“Suit yourself.” As the men sat, Lawrence said, “Not the girl. She stands by the door.”
Like a servant.
Lawrence said, “What’s the business, Pereira? Is there any difficulty with the will? I thought the will was settled.”
“The will is settled,” Pereira said. “There’s no worry about that. Mr. Jarvie, if you patronize Thomas Bennett, you know that he’s a free man of color, well-to-do and well respected among persons of color in Charleston. He is also kin to both Catherine and Caroline. He is Catherine’s half brother, and Caroline’s uncle.”
“I see,” Lawrence said impatiently.
“Since your brother’s death, Thomas Bennett has taken an interest in Caroline. He has taken on the attitude of a father toward her. He is concerned with her welfare and her prospects in life.”
Lawrence said, “Pereira, get to the point and tell me why I should care that my slaves have kin or not.”
“Thomas Bennett would like to do everything he can to protect and maintain Caroline. He would like to act as her guardian.” Before Lawrence could say, “Stop lawyering,” Pereira said, “He would like to buy Caroline from you.”
“Buy her? Can he?”
“He’s a free man. There’s no barrier to it.”
Lawrence said, “I hadn’t thought to sell. It seems contrary to the intention of the will.”
“The will asked you to treat her with kindness,” Pereira said. “It might be a kindness to allow her to live within the bosom of her nearest kin.”
Lawrence said, “What a slippery pettifogger you are.”
“Thomas Bennett would like to help the girl,” Pereira said, his tone unperturbed. “As would I.”
“That isn’t my concern,” said Lawrence.
Caro felt fear prickle on her neck.
“Would you consider it, sir?” Pereira asked.
Lawrence let his eyes rest on Caro. It reminded her of the stare of a Guardsman, a man charged with sending disobedient slaves to the Work House. He said, “I don’t need to consider. I can give you the terms now.”
“Please do.”
“I won’t sell her alone. I’ll sell her and her mother together.”
Thomas nodded at Pereira, who said, “Thomas Bennett is amenable to that.”
“I want five thousand dollars for the pair of them.”
Thomas drew in his breath.
Pereira said, “That’s quite a sum, Mr. Jarvie. Considerably more than they would command in the market.”
“They aren’t for sale on the market. They’re for sale in this room. Five thousand dollars for the two of them.”
Thomas spoke. The words were for Lawrence, but he turned to Pereira. “I don’t have that much money to hand. Could we write a note?”
“I want the cash. I won’t take a note,” Lawrence said.
Pereira said, “Mr. Jarvie, it’s customary to allow a note.”
“It’s at my discretion. Five thousand dollars, in cash.”
She had been stupid to be so blithe. It hurt to be the merchandise, and it hurt even more to listen to the transaction.
Thomas had turned ashen. “I can’t manage that,” he said.
“Then I won’t sell her.” He returned to the ledger. “Good day, Mr. Pereira.”
When they returned to the shop, Danny, who stood behind the counter, looked up, his face full of hope. At the sight of the two of them, gray and silent, he said, “He said no.”
“He said yes, for five thousand dollars,” Caro said.
Danny, who knew how well his uncle’s business did, who knew what his mother’s house was worth, who knew what she had paid for her slaves, said, “That’s madness!”
Thomas straightened a bolt of cloth on the counter that needed no straightening. Danny reached for Caro’s hand. “Uncle, excuse us,” he said, as he led her out the back and into the alley.
Without a word, he held out his arms, and sh
e pressed herself against him as he sheltered her. Her voice hoarse, she said, “He doesn’t want me. But he wants to keep me. He’ll never sell me.”
“There must be a way,” he whispered.
She shook her head, grieving as she had grieved for the loss of her father.
Chapter 11: The Abolitionist
In Sumter County, as the air cooled and the frost approached, Camilla Aiken called on Emily. In the privacy of the back parlor, while Susan rested upstairs, Camilla flung herself onto the settee, crumpling her skirt and Emily’s. She said, “Mr. Ellison likes you a lot. Do you like him?”
Emily had kept to her subterfuge all season. She conversed with John Ellison at dinners and suppers, danced with him at parties and balls, and allowed him to call on her every Tuesday before noon. She had never encouraged him to believe that her interest was more than polite. She knew what the gossips would say. Camilla had just said it.
She said, “He’s been kind to me.”
Camilla pressed so close that both of their crinolines crackled. “Do you think he’ll ask for you?”
Emily laughed. “Perhaps,” she said. “After he’s weighed every bale of cotton and counted every bushel of corn. And bought another dozen hands and another pair of hunters for his stable. After all that, he might think of it.”
“A country wedding,” Camilla said. “A white satin dress, and everyone in the county in church, and the best slave fiddlers in South Carolina! Such fun, Emily!”
“Let Jane have her glory first,” Emily said. “And then you. I’m in no hurry.”
“How nonchalant you are. Do you have another beau hidden somewhere? Will you surprise us?”
Camilla rattled her. Joshua now addressed his letters to “Dearest Emily” and closed them “With affection.” Sandwiched between was the business they shared: praise for the last piece and payment as well, quotations from the readers who liked “A Southern Voice” and wondered about the truth behind the nom de plume, and inquiries after her reading and comments on his own. He had gotten bolder and bolder in his recommendations. She hadn’t dared to ask a Charleston bookseller for Walt Whitman’s chapbook, Leaves of Grass, said to be scandalous.
Charleston's Daughter Page 20