Well, she gave me a long look, and then she said: “Thank you, Quash.” And I put on my shirt again, and bowed to her, and left.

So that is how, in the year 1705, at around the age of fifty-five, I finally obtained my freedom. It all worked out as I expected. Jan was good to me, and helped me rent a store on Queen Street, which is a good part of the town, and he showed me how to buy the best goods; and Miss Clara was sending me so many customers that I had my hands full. Not only did I employ little Rose, but soon I had two more like her as well. Their being young, I didn’t have to pay them much, but they were glad of the regular work, and soon I was making good money.

And from this and all that went before, I learned that, if you give people what they want, it can make you free.

The following year, Her Ladyship died. And I was sorry for that. The year afterward, His Lordship’s party fell from office in London. And as soon as they learned this, all His Lordship’s enemies in New York sent urgently to London begging to have His Lordship removed from office on account of all the debts he still owed. They also said that he was dressing in women’s clothes, for those rumors were growing too—though no one ever heard any word of that from me. They even threw His Lordship in the debtors’ jail.

Fortunately for him, his father died, and he became the Earl of Clarendon, which being a full peerage of England means, under English law, that he cannot be prosecuted—which is a fine trick, I must say. And he is safe back in England now.

Jan and Miss Clara continued to be helpful to me, letting me know if cargoes of silk fabrics or other goods arrived in the port, and helping me get some pieces at cost price. So I wasn’t surprised, soon after His Lordship had left for England, when I got a message that Jan had some goods for me if I would come round to his house that day.

As it happened, Miss Clara was also there when I arrived, and we went into the parlor.

“I’ve bought some goods I think might interest you, Quash,” he said. “And Clara thinks you’ll like them too.”

I knew she had a good eye, so I was eager to see them.

“Well, here they are,” he said. And I heard the parlor door open, and I turned. And in walked my son Hudson.

“The captain of one of Mr. Master’s privateers bought him off a ship down in Jamaica,” explained Mr. Jan. “Do you want him?”