More on this book
Kindle Notes & Highlights
He gazed at the foundering structure that had been his sanctuary, blurred before him because of the smoke, the tears, or perhaps because he would simply never see anything with clarity again.
We have been focused on the illegal slave trade that continues to flourish, despite having been outlawed for nearly thirty-five years. Until international trafficking in slaves has ceased, there can be no meaningful abolitionist movement domestically.”
And then there are the issues about whether women should be permitted to participate in our meetings. To my mind, equality is an easy concept and there can be no exceptions, whether predicated on color or sex.
You’ll see, that is one of the attractive peculiarities of America. It matters not where you’ve come from, only where you end up. It will all be arranged to your satisfaction.”
And now Larissa saw good in her, and for some reason, it only made Abby angrier, uglier. If the woman could stop talking about suitors and bosoms, maybe Abby could focus on something other than the searing hatred in her gut, the nastiness she simply couldn’t quash.
Douglas walked around toward the front of his hefty desk and sat on its outer corner. He seemed relaxed and leisurely as he cocked his brow at her.
The word “abolitionist,” caught like celery between her teeth, was running a loop over and again through her thoughts. Abolitionist, abolitionist, abolitionist.
What a drastic difference from Cora Rae. Her tart of a sister would have thrown herself across Douglas’s lap after his first overly long gaze.
“Oh fiddlesticks!” Cora Rae scoffed as she arrived on the landing at the top of the stairs. “We are the Cunninghams of Charleston, for land sakes. There is no gentleman in his right mind who wouldn’t want to join our family. Even Gracie has an eligible gentleman interested in her.”
Con-fronted by the bountiful landscape of Charleston, she could remember her old life only in various shades of gray.
The endless conventions of the Southern ruling class struck Abby as painfully trivial.
Now shall I have Demett reverse this carriage and take us home, or can I rely on you to keep your views to yourself ?”
And just like that, they were walking into the party, Abby’s hand on Douglas’s arm and her heart in her throat for more reasons than she cared to count.
Nothing she hoped for ever came true, and certainly this moment, this confusing, rushed moment that had crept up on her from embers of doubt, seemed unfathomable.
She fumbled with the locks at the front door, yanked at the door, and ran straight into the Charleston evening.
She felt her feet connect with the gravel drive, the scrape of pebbles sliding beneath her, then the cobblestones on Meeting Street. She held her skirts and kept running.
This time he would be more careful. He was pleased to know that Milton’s remaining funds had been donated, unbeknownst to that dim-witted muck-spout, to the American Anti-Slavery Committee.
He stood before them in his traveling clothes, improbably neat after a lengthy journey, and the sight of his windswept face knocked the air from her.
As she regarded the two men standing side by side, the optimistic musings she had entertained about a satisfying future at Hadley disintegrated like scorched parchment.
“Settled his account?” She looked toward her husband like he was a grand idiot. “He did no such thing.
The house where we were meant to rest wasn’t far, and there was a white lady waiting for us there with wrinkled skin and kind hands. She put away her surprise at my condition and just took up her task like she was waiting for it.
I like to imagine the boys will hear my voice inside their heads. I’ll be telling them go on, boys, go on and walk toward it, go on and trouble the water. Don’t you wait on God to do it for you. You got to trouble that water, trouble it until there’s ripples, until there’s waves.