Beside Two Rivers Read Online Free PDF Page B

is it because of Darcy? That would be nonsense.”
    “The horse would remind me of how I almost killed a woman.”
    “Ridiculous, Ethan. The horse is yours and at a good price. Sanchet does not belong in Virginia, but with you.”
    “He’d be too good of a sire for me to take him away from your mares.”
    “My mares want nothing do to with him. They prefer Allegheny, the one I call Old Al. You’ll offend me if you turn down my offer.”
    Ethan hesitated and held out his hand to shake Daniel’s. “You are right. I would regret it later.”

4
    Darcy thought she should, perhaps for a time, rebel against the attraction she had for Ethan Brennan. “I imagine the stable-hand has removed the saddle from that beast of a horse and locked him in a stall,” Darcy said to Martha as they sat together on a quilt spread out beneath a tree.
    “After much thought on the matter, I think you should forgive Mr. Brennan for beingso distressed and concerned.”
    “Certainly I forgive him,” said Darcy. “It was my fault as well, I suppose.”
    “You like him, don’t you?” Martha nudged her.
    “No. He is British and I am a proud Marylander.”
    “Proud to have a heritage that rebelled against the monarchy.”
    Her other cousins rushed over. “Have you seen the tables on the porch?” said Dolley. “They are all covered in white tablecloths and loaded down with so much food one would think they’d collapse.”
    China plates edged in gold leaf, diamond-cut glassware, and silver sparkled. A joint of beef and an enormous ham were on the center table, flanked by roasted fowl and bowls of bright green pole beans and cucumbers. Loaves of homemade bread and rolls were heaped in baskets, accompanied by pots of butter. Yellow cakes dripped with sugar icing among platters of nuts and fruits. At each table, a sentry was positioned. Negro youths as young as eight years held large wicker fans in their hands to shoo the flies away from the bounty.
    “Just look at that,” Darcy said to her cousins, annoyed. “Children should not be forced to stand by a table and swat flies all day.”
    Martha tapped Darcy’s hand with her fingertips. “But they are slaves, Darcy.”
    “Yes, that is the problem.”
    “You think too hard on such things.”
    Darcy looked in disbelief at her cousin. “And what is wrong with that?”
    “Our brains were not made to ponder so deeply such strenuous issues.”
    Darcy balked. “Where did you hear such nonsense, Martha? Uncle Will never taught us such a lie. And a lie it is, for God made us just as smart as men, if we desire to be so. And I do not mind saying that slavery is an evil we must not abide.”
    Martha looked back at the boys fanning the tables. “You are right to say so. I imagine those boys would rather be swimming or fishing on a day like today.”
    Darcy sighed. “Instead they are enslaved and will stay that way until the day they die. Let us be kind to them.”
    “Well, I shall find the cake,” said Abigail rising, “before Rachel devours every last crumb.”
    They all hurried off and left Darcy alone. Above her, the oak spread out in a parasol of green to shade her. She opened her eyes and gazed up at the waxy leaves that twisted in the breeze.
    “Your opinion of slavery is much different from that of some others in your country. Are you permitted to voice it to people other than your own family?”
    She jerked her head around to see Ethan leaning up against the tree, the sole of his right boot pressed against the trunk. She gathered her dress about her knees and glanced up at him. She could not help feeling the flutter in her chest upon seeing him. His eyes were warm as they met hers.
    “Forgive me,” he said, pulling away from the tree. “I’ve startled you again.”
    She turned her head away with a lift of her chin. “Not at all.”
    “And my question?”
    She smiled back at him. “My uncle encourages us to speak our minds.”
    She looked away toward the porch. Her cousins were