“Yes,” I said. For I had always considered, I told him, that if ever I became free, I might open a little store in the town, to sell all kinds of goods for ladies, and make dresses as well. I believed that Jan and Miss Clara would stake me and send me customers; and I already had a seamstress in mind that I could employ. “If I had that business,” I said, “I could make Your Lordship any dresses you want, and there’d be no one to ask questions. For people wouldn’t see me as Your Lordship’s slave any more. Nobody except me would know I was even supplying you. I could supply Her Ladyship too. And naturally, where Your Lordship is concerned, I wouldn’t be looking for profit. I’d supply Your Lordship and Her Ladyship at cost.”

“At cost?” he said, and I nodded.

“Not only dresses, Your Lordship. Petticoats, silk stockings, anything you and Your Ladyship might like,” I said.

“Hmm,” said His Lordship. “And the price for this is to give you your freedom?”

“I couldn’t do it otherwise,” I said.

“I will consider it,” he said.

Now you may think I was taking a risk in offering to supply Her Ladyship, given that her bills were not always paid. But I reckoned that His Lordship would take good care to pay my bills, if he wanted any more dresses.

The next day, I get a summons to go to the small sitting room. I was expecting to find His Lordship there. But it was Her Ladyship. She was sitting in a chair, and she gave me a thoughtful look.

“His Lordship has told me about your conversation,” she said. “And I have one concern.”

“Your Ladyship?” I asked.

“Yes. By making you free, His Lordship would have no sanction against you if you were to talk. You know what I mean.” And she looked me straight in the eye. “I must protect him,” she said.

She was right, of course. His Lordship was placing himself in my power. And I admired her for saying it. So I was silent for a moment. Then I took my shirt off. I saw her eyes open wide when I did that. But then I turned round, and I heard her give a little gasp as she saw the scars on my back.

“That is what a planter did to me, Your Ladyship,” I said, “before I came here. And truth to tell, My Lady, I would kill that planter, if I could do it.”

“Oh,” she said.

“But in this house,” I continued, “I have received nothing but kindness.” And I said this with some emotion, because it was true. “And if His Lordship gives me my freedom, which I have been wanting all my life, I’d rather be whipped again than repay him with treachery.”