New York - The Novel

reckoned a good part of the wealth of the British Empire depended on the slaves in the sugar plantations, so it wouldn’t be ended any time soon.

    I stayed with Miss Clara and her husband through that year. During that time there was an outbreak of yellow fever in the city, but fortunately it didn’t touch our house. And I remained with them most of the next.
    Back in England, both Queen Mary and her husband, Dutch King William, had now died, and so the throne was given to Mary’s sister, Anne. And the government at this time thought so highly of the importance of America that they sent out a great gentleman that was cousin to the queen herself, and his name was Lord Cornbury. So Lord Cornbury came to live in New York.
    None of this would have affected me if it hadn’t been for the Mistress. Nobody knew why—Jan said he reckoned she’d probably quarreled with somebody—but in October she sent a letter, saying she might be returning to New York, and Miss Clara called her brother round to her house to decide what they should do. I was in the parlor with them. “But you’d better not be here, Quash,” they both told me, “if she comes.”
    “We are looking after Quash,” said Miss Clara.
    “Of course we are,” said Jan. “And I think I have the answer. A place where his duties would be light, and he’d be well taken care of.” He nodded and gave me a smile. “For I have just been with the governor himself.”
    “Lord Cornbury?” says Miss Clara.
    “No less. It seems that His Lordship is looking for a personal manservant.I told him all about Quash, and he was most interested.” He turned to me. “If you work for him, Quash, you’ll be well treated. Not only that. Governors only stay a few years, then they return to England. If you please His Lordship, as I know you will, then at the end of his stay, he has agreed that he’ll give you your freedom.”
    “But what if Lord Cornbury changes his mind and decides to sell Quash?” Miss Clara objected.
    “I thought of that. I have Lord Cornbury’s word that if he were not satisfied, he would sell Quash back to us for the price he paid.”
    “You’re sure Quash would be comfortable?” Miss Clara asked.
    “Comfortable?” Mr. Master laughed. “He’d live better than we do.”
    “Quash,” said Miss Clara, “if you’re not happy, you come straight back here to me.”
    “Well,” said Jan, “Lord Cornbury hasn’t seen Quash yet. But if it goes well, Quash, I shall be grateful to you, for this will certainly put me in good standing with the governor.”
    “I’ll do my best,” I said.
    And so it was that in the space of only a year and a half, I passed from the ownership of that cruel planter into the household of the governor himself.

    His Lordship belonged to the ancient family of Hyde, and was the son and heir of the Earl of Clarendon, the queen’s uncle. So he was one of the royal family. But there was nothing proud about him. He was always gracious, even to a slave like me. He was somewhat tall, of a good build, with dark hair and large brown eyes. He would have been swarthy if he had not been carefully shaved each day—and it was one of my duties to shave him. I had never lived in the house of an aristocrat, and so I was often observing him, both to study how I could please him, and to see what he would do next.
    I soon learned why Jan was anxious to please Lord Cornbury. “I am a Tory,” His Lordship would say with a smile. “I favor the queen and her court. How could it be otherwise when I am her cousin?” He was partial to the greater families who were English in their manners and favored them with offices, contracts, and land. On this account, the many lesser Dutch in the city who still remembered poor Meinheer Leisler did not like Lord Cornbury. And I think he had no great liking for them. But fortunatelyI spoke English well enough, and after so many years close to the Boss, I knew how to make a master feel comfortable with me.
    His Lordship and his wife had had five children, but only two were still living: Edward, who was a boy of twelve when I arrived, and a handsome, dark-haired girl of eight named Theodosia. Edward was mostly with his tutor, and Theodosia with her mother; my duties concerned His Lordship only. He was an easy master, for though he insisted upon good order, he always explained what he wanted, and he told me if he was pleased. He was always polite with the people who came to see him; yet I could tell