Even his physical gifts cause him concern. He worries that he’s too solid and square for the quicksilver Romeo, too jerky and stiff for the graceful Hamlet. One day, he comes to Asia’s bedroom. The sun is coming through the window, but pale and wan. Asia’s at the little desk, writing letters, her fingers stiff with cold. John amuses himself by putting on her petticoat, her shawl. He stands in front of the mirror. He says, “ ‘The Thane of Fife had a wife. Where is she now?’ ”

Asia turns around in her seat. He holds out his hands to her imploringly. “ ‘What, will these hands ne’er be clean? Here’s the smell of the blood still . . .’ ”

He pauses and Asia supplies the prompt. “ ‘All the perfumes of Arabia . . .’ ”

“ ‘All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand,’ ” he says. “Don’t I make a lovely Lady Macbeth?”

He decides to go further. He takes Asia’s old blue gingham and her newest bonnet and disappears. When he returns, he’s fully rigged. He walks back and forth in front of her, his hoop swinging side to side, until she’s helpless with laughter. He looks at himself in the mirror again. “What will you give me if none of the farmhands recognizes me?”

“Oh, please don’t!” she says. “We give the neighbors enough to talk about,” but she’s too late. She stays at her desk, watching his figure from her bedroom as, wrapped in Rosalie’s cloak, he heads over the frosty lane towards the barn.

He returns a quarter of an hour later. She hears him down in the kitchen with Ann and Nancy Hall. There is shrieking and laughter and she hears bold little Nancy ordering him to undress. “Undress right now, Master John,” she says. “Undress and wear your own clothes!”

By the time he returns to Asia’s room, he’s enormously pleased with himself. “Everyone I passed,” he says, “raised his hat to me. All greeted me with the respect due such an elegant lady.” His confidence is hugely raised by the successful experiment. Maybe he can take on the light, skip-about parts, after all.

—

In August of 1855, John returns midday from an overnight visit to Baltimore. Asia is out with a basket, gathering the glossy black dewberries so that Ann Hall can make a jam. Nancy Hall is helping by holding the thorny branches to the side with a large stick so that Asia doesn’t get pricked while Elizabeth Hall pouts that she is too old enough to help. They are surrounded by spotted dogs and farm cats and more children from the cabins.

The spotted dogs see John first, riding in on Cola. They begin to howl with the excitement of his arrival. The children swarm about his horse’s hoofs. He holds up a bag of candy, flings its contents. “Get it before the dogs do,” he tells the children and the melee commences.