Page 24 of The Scandal of the Deceived Duchess
“But not at this time of year, I am sure,” said Amelia.
“No, but there’s still so much to be done…you know, repair work and the like – come along…Anna’s in there.” Jake pointed ahead.”
She followed his lead and entered the small building. It was relatively dark inside. A fire burned in the hearth on the far side of the large room. To the sides, blankets hung from the ceiling, acting as a partition for sleeping quarters for the children. To Amelia’s left, there was a door to the bedroom for the mother and father.
“Amelia, I was wondering when you’d get here. Come sit with me. Samuel is intriguing. He has been telling me all about himself. He is from the west coast of Africa. Slave traders captured him when he was still very young and brought him here where he was sold to Jonathan’s father.”
Amelia swallowed deeply as she sat down – even though human degradation was all around her, she despised hearing the word ‘sold’ in that context. She smiled a greeting at the elderly man who smoked his pipe as he watched her closely.
Samuel had kind eyes that spoke of a life full of different twists and turns. He did not look sad or as if he considered his fate a misfortunate one. He oozed calmness and contentment. It was almost as if he was not there but back in Africa with the five wives and limitless grandchildren he could have had, had his destiny been different.
Before she could ponder some more, his deep voice filled the room. Amelia was immediately captured by it. Samuel spoke some more about his life before capture. However, that did not take up much of his time. He soon switched to how fortunate he and his people were for having Jonathan as a master. As he said this, his gaze focused on Amelia. Occasionally, he would nod knowingly as if he knew about her revulsion concerning the practice.
Amelia had to control herself. There were so many things she wanted to ask Samuel. Yet, each time she mustered the courage, the image of Jonathan came to mind. And Jake sat nearby. It was as if he was there just to make sure she behaved herself.
She bit her tongue. Jonathan had opened up to her that morning. He had been kind. His lot in life had been a hard one with the loss of his parents at such a young age. All of this gradually made him endearing to her – he was a man who did not let any of his misfortunes affect others, not even his slaves. Jonathan Mitchell was a good man.
But one thing made her think the most. If his parents perished during the American War for Independence, then he must be thirty-two years old if they died when he was but four.Why does he not have a wife? He is handsome, smart, honorable and very wealthy. Surely many a father must have propositioned him for their daughters.
“Life is good here…even if you are a slave,” said Samuel, bringing Amelia back into the thick power of his voice. “I have heard stories of men and women being tortured in the vilest ways. There is none of that here at Fair Weather Heaths’.”
When Samuel saw Amelia and Anna cringe and exchange glances, he continued on that note. “On many of the other plantations, they do not live as we do. There are no fine houses like this one.” His arm floated around his accommodation. “Often entire families of ten reside in a house such as this.”
Amelia and Anna followed his arm as if he had hypnotized them. “Jonathan is a good master, and if times were different, I would call him my friend and equal. Did you know we have a school here?”
The entire way back to the mansion, Amelia thought about Samuel and his words. As she had feared, life as a slave was nothing short of a living death.
Escaped slaves would occasionally find their way to Fair Weather Heaths’ and tell the horrible tales of a life in servitude. Jonathan never sent any of them away. He arranged for them to be hidden from their owner’s overseers when they invariably showed up in search of their property.
He would never send them back to a place where men were beaten for small misdemeanors. There were some cases when the landowner would use his slaves for sport just for the kick of witnessing pain. Women were treated as mere objects, always available for the master’s pleasure. Slave owners considered it their duty to ensure the increasing numbers amongst the slaves with his eager participation in the act of making babies.
It was a strange and brutal world in which Amelia found herself. A place where men lorded it over other men because of some twist in fate that gave them advantages only few had because of their elevated birthright. It was a world where people suffered as a result of the cruel machinations of insecure and sadistic men and women.
But not Jonathan. He was good to the core. Amelia realized that more and more. Yes, he fought, he killed, and he owned other people. He did the first two out of duty and the obligation that came with that duty. And the last? Amelia creased her brow. He had no choice. It was where and when he was born. It was where fate had delivered him.
When Amelia got closer to the mansion, she tried to imagine whether she could ever live in such a place. Live in a place with so many contradictions and with a man such as Jonathan. Time would tell. Anna had obviously found the man she loved and judging by Jake’s manner; he loved more still.
“Is that how it is going to work out for me?” she asked herself, not really hearing the words.Will Jonathan claim me to be his woman like his friend Jake has claimed Anna?Amelia played the last thought in her mind. It was all too much to take in. She was still Airey’s betrothed. Would he, with his considerable power, ever let her go?
Chapter 12
How Perceptions Change
Fair Weather Heaths’, Virginia, United States of America, end of February 1814
Each new day at Fair Weather Heaths’ brought new joy and with its novel and exciting prospects. Amelia and Anna had explored Jonathan’s lands on horseback until they had reached their end in all directions. Jake had been a constant companion on many of these trips. Occasionally, Jonathan had joined them on these wintery escapades.
Even Christmas had turned out to be far more enjoyable than Amelia had anticipated. After their personal breakthrough on the day Jonathan had first brought Amelia to the slaves’ quarters, their relationship had warmed considerably. He had even given her a present. Amelia often smiled at how thoughtful Jonathan could be – he had gifted her perfume and other women’s grooming articles because they had either been destroyed or had gone amiss when the HMSCapricornhad been attacked.
Amelia and Anna helped with the children with both of them finding great enjoyment in working at the school for the slaves. This was irregular because white masters did nothing to educate their property. Like most Virginian women no matter their station, slaves were illiterate. This probably would make Queen Elizabeth the First, the Virgin Queen after whom the state was named, roll in her grave.
Jonathan had travelled to Washington on a few occasions. Amelia knew that he eagerly sought a new mission. Each time, he had returned to Fair Weather Heaths’, it had been without success. Jake had told her that the American government had practically ceased the naval war close to the US because the British blockade off the coast was nearly all-encompassing. It wouldn’t be long until the entire US coastline was under their control.
The war did not look good for the Americans. Two attempts at taking Montreal toward the end of 1813 had been repulsed by far smaller British forces. Currently, a partial stalemate existed with no further larger land campaigns taking place as both parties relied more heavily on smaller skirmishes.
In Europe, the Marquess of Wellington had entered France with his army for the first time. It was said that he would soon engage the French on their soil. In the east, the other members of the Sixth Coalition poised to enter France from across the Rhine. Napoleon was most certainly finished. It was only a matter of a few more months before the nations of Prussia, Russia, and Austria, waiting on the eastern front, and the ones he had once bested with his sheer military genius, would make him cower as he had once made them.
What then?Amelia asked herself. Would Wellington come west and put the Americans in their place? Often during dinner, she saw Jonathan brooding. The fate of the fledgling nation he so loved was on the brink. If the British put the full force of their army behind the campaign, then it would surely end in a British victory. Already, with their hegemony of the sea, the British were able to land forces anywhere they pleased. What would happen if they attacked Washington, Baltimore or Philadelphia?
