He was delighted with his tabby cottage, which reminded him in many ways of those along the coast in England. Its thick walls were made of lime and seashells, and helped provide a cool interior. It was one of those farthest from the center of Savannah and backed up to the open marshland, which looked like a huge sea of waving grasses but hid a web of streams, deep and uncrossable at high tide, in which he could easily catch a mess of sea trout and an occasional flounder.

Within a week, a soldier delivered the man and woman to Swanson’s small home, and he was surprised to see that a girl child was peeping out from behind her mama’s skirts.

The soldier said, “I see on this paper that their names are Cato and Phebe, and the pickaninny ain’t got no name yet. They belonged to a man named Joseph Dolly on Ossabaw Island who died owing some taxes, and the governor picked them up at the public sale. They been over here about six years and can speak some words.”

Quintus was somewhat embarrassed after the soldier left, but realized that he was expected to give the Negroes a place to stay and something to do. As a benevolent gesture, Quintus decided that he would assign them the last name of Dolly and instruct the couple in how to use the King’s English, discover and enhance whatever talents they might have, and learn the proper legal procedure for releasing them from a life of slavery. He soon learned that they called the girl Quanimo, the name of her father’s mother.

Perhaps to assuage his conscience about owning other human beings or just to exercise his talent as a former teacher, Quintus decided that Quanimo would be given an education, since she was about six years old. As the governor’s personal assistant, he felt that he could ignore the colonial law that prescribed a penalty of £15 for anyone who taught a slave to read and write. He had a small library of which he was very proud, and he enjoyed teaching the girl for an hour or so each day when he was not traveling with the governor. He was surprised and delighted at how eager she was to be with him, and how rapidly she learned. After a year or two of enjoying their services, Mr. Swanson no longer considered freedom for his slaves. It was a source of pride to him that Quanimo was reading the books and papers in his library.