“You are merciless.”

“Let me go on a little more, and maybe then you can decide. Where were we? Oh, yes. ‘I am well spoken, it has often been said, for a woman, and in this instance I could see the power of my words working on his—’”

Martha cleared her throat and Daniel paused, one brow raised.

She said, “I thought this young lady was French? She sounds very English to me.”

“She travels a great deal between England and France in pursuit of adventures.”

“I suppose she’d have to.”

Daniel turned back to the page.

“Where was I? … ‘As I shared these thoughts with him he attained a fierce erection with a head as large as a plum—’”

“Plum?” Martha said. “Plum?”

“The French Lady of Leisure is prone to exaggeration.”

“But a plum is—”

“Large?”

“Purple.”

He inclined his head thoughtfully, and began to read again.

“‘Now I almost regretted my speech, for he wasted no time in placing me in a position to receive his invasion and at once I felt him there at the threshold—’”

“Invasion,” Martha muttered.

“The French Lady of Leisure has a wide and imaginative vocabulary. Isn’t that water getting cold?”

Martha nodded tightly.

“Well, then,” said Daniel. “Let’s get you out of there and go to bed, what do you think?”

“I am very tired.”

“I can see that.”

In one movement he snagged the towel he had put out of reach and offered it to her.

Martha said, “Will you read to me some more?”

“Darlin’,” Daniel said. “I’ll read until you beg me to stop.”

Chapter LIII

Official Inquiry into the death of
Harper Washington, free man of color, conducted by
James Montgomery Bookman, District Magistrate

I. Statement Submitted into Evidence
Signed by Hannah Savard, Physician
Witnessed by John Mayfair, Attorney-at-Law
and Ethan Middleton, Esq.

On the second Sunday in May in this year 1824 I examined the remains of a young man of African origin, about seventeen years of age. In life he stood about five foot eleven inches tall. The remains indicate that this was a healthy, active young man.

There were no wounds on the body visible to the eye or closer examination. The bones of the head, limbs, and torso were all intact. The examination of the internal organs confirmed the subject’s health.

Upon opening his chest both his lungs were found to contain water, which indicates that he was alive when he went into the lake and drowned. There is no evidence of foul play.

Hannah Savard née Bonner, also known as Walks-Ahead
by the Kahnyen’kehàka of the Wolf Longhouse at Good Pasture

II. Statement of Lorena Webb,
free woman of color and servant
to the Focht household.

I, Lorena Webb, hereby swear that the earthly remains showed to me this day were those of Harper Washington, free man of color. Harper was employed by the same family as me, Mr. and Mrs. Focht. He was no blood relation of mine. I have known him about six months. I am told that his ma died a few years back of a lung fever.

I can’t hardly imagine that he’s really gone.

Pardon? Oh, yes, I’m sorry to let my mind wander. I last saw Harper early this day, about an hour after sunrise when he brought my breakfast to me from the kitchen. Harper and me, we wasn’t to eat in the dining room. His appetite was good and he was talking at a gallop, the way he always talked.

He did like to swim, that’s true. Liked the lake too. Said it was all kind of cool on a hot afternoon. I guess maybe he got him a cramp.

No, sir, I can’t imagine any reason Harper might do hisself harm. He was such a lively boy, always interested in everything around him. Uncommon smart too. Mr. Focht saw to it that Harper learned his letters and numbers. Sometimes he would lend Harper the newspaper and then they would talk about what was going on in the world. Mr. Focht put a lot of trust into that boy, and is going to be mighty disappointed to find him passed on.

I suppose I’ll just set tight right here, looking after young Nicholas though truth be tolt I’d just as soon go back home. What choice do I have?

III. Statement of Joshua Hench,
free man of color, village blacksmith

I did know the boy, he come around here pretty much every day to visit. A friendly boy and curious about the world. Never heard anybody ask so many questions. The boy had a loose jaw.

He wanted to know about everything. How we make nails and where we got our charcoal from. Wanted to know everything about everybody. Who was courting and who was increasing, who was getting along and who wan’t. But there didn’t seem to be no harm in him.

No, I never did talk to him this morning, but I saw him setting off. I don’t know where he was going, but it wan’t the lake, at least not to start with. No, sir, Harper set off that way, downriver. How he ended up all the way on the far end of Half Moon, I fear we’ll never know the answer to that question. May God have mercy on his everlasting soul.

IV. Statement of Alice LeBlanc
at the Red Dog

Yes, Harper come in to get his breakfast as usual and took it up to Lorena. The boy Nicholas who claims to be a Wilde, he had already had his fill and gone out to run with the Bonner children, and good riddance say I.

No, I don’t like him. I don’t like the way he looks at me. There’s something wrong with him. Like he was blind on one side and can see more than the rest of us on the other.