Everything he did must appear to serve her wish and order. Let cruder men beg or jostle for power; Roscoe knew subtler, surer ways. There was the question, not a superficial one, of what he was to be designated and called. Titles are important to those who wear them and those ruled by them. He brought up the question himself and suggested “Overseer”—a title the slaves would immediately understand and accept after the initial pause in their minds to register his being a Negro like themselves—or half Indian, as he claimed. But Deborah, being new to real authority and jealous of delegating it, suggested that he be called “Deputy.” The word came to have a special meaning at Beulah Land for the little while it was used. “De Deputy” was a phrase spoken and heard hundreds of times a day, and it was uttered in complete submission, although the slaves knew that Roscoe worked for a wage, owned little of value, could move along elsewhere if the mood took him—or be told to move along at Mistress Deborah’s discretion.

Before she could ask, he showed her his record books, and she praised them for their completeness and neatness while resolving to herself to gradually take back some of the authority Arnold had let go. He waited each morning for her to command him, and when she did not, he shifted easily to the role of commander himself.

Although the real test of their joint management would come in the more active seasons of plowing and sowing, tending and harvesting, the plantation now settled into smooth working order.

Arnold’s death had occurred only a few weeks before Christmas, but not wanting to disappoint her people who looked forward to Christmas festivities from one year to the next, Deborah made it clear that Christmas at Beulah Land was to be observed in as much the traditional way as accorded with decorum. The only prohibitions were large parties, to which half the county were accustomed to come, and house guests other than Felix and Nell. This dampened spirits enough, for the slaves loved having guests and parties. For one thing, it relieved their boredom, and it gave them a chance to see old friends and to make new acquaintances among the servants brought by the visitors to the big house.

Deborah, however, distributed the new clothes and special holiday treats she and Arnold had ordered in Savannah back in September, and the slaves were encouraged to have their own parties in their own quarters. Almost every night the sounds of fiddle and banjo, clapping hands and dancing feet could be heard distantly by those in the big house, and Selma slipped out two or three times to join parties, at least as listener and observer.