Grainger sighed. "I meant no insult, truly, it is just that what has happened is so beyond anything we've ever had to deal with. I feel like a man caught in a house that is on fire and I'm staying to warm my hands."
"And I don't like the fact that my husband accompanied Edward Bemis alone to Mendenhall plantation."
"Your husband, Miss Diana," he said with a grin, "is well able to take care of himself."
"Even around a snake?"
"Bemis is many things, a snake included, but he isn't stupid. No harm will come to your husband."
If only she could be certain. Stubborn, arrogant man. The slaves were dispersing. Her father rejoined them just as Daniel rode up to join them.
"What is happening?" he asked in his deep, calm voice.
"Daniel! Oh, it is Moira, you know. The men are upset, not that I blame them. We must do something."
"I wish your father had spoken to me," Daniel said. "I could have spoken to the men."
"Perhaps," Diana said.
"All is well now," Lucien said, reining in Salvation. He looked a moment at Daniel and grinned. "My boy, the horse is going to collapse under your weight." Indeed, the old stallion looked ready to drop. "Why won't you ride Egremont? He's up to your weight."
Daniel merely smiled and shook his head. "He makes me nervous," was all he would say.
"Trade with me, Daniel," Diana said, laughing.
He was so good-natured, she thought, watching him climb onto Tanis. "Now your feet don't touch the ground."
Daniel gently scratched behind Tanis' ears. "Sir," he said after a moment to Lucien, "one of the women is ill in the village."
"Who?" asked Grainger.
"Old Granny Gates. It's her heart, I doubt not, and there is little I can do, she is very old, but ---" He shrugged, his voice trailing off.
"You will ease her with your presence," Lucien said. "Go on, Daniel, and see to her. Keep her family with her."
At dinner that evening, Diana thought that Deborah was uncommonly disturbed. Not that she was a bitch to any of the servants, Diana thought, but she was tense, saying little. Oh, Father, she thought unhappily, what have you done?
As for Patricia, she was giggling, playing the coquette to every male at the dinner table, Diana's father included. They were all there, save for Bemis and Lyon.
Daniel was his usual quiet self; Charles Swanson, with little encouragement from Patricia, was telling highly embroidered tales of his years on St. Thomas.
And here I am missing my wretched husband, Diana thought, barely tasting one of her favorite dishes, saltfish patties.
Dido arrived at the table, a wide smile on her weathered face. "A surprise for da massa," she announced, and set a small plate of sweet-potato pone in front of Lucien Savarol.
"What have I done, Dido?" he asked, smiling at the beaming old woman.
"You tell dat boy, Bob, dat you find the bad man. And you will, masse. Bob, he believe dat you will. He grateful."
"One hopes you are right," said Diana, looking fondly at the sweet-potato pone, her appetite magically returned.
Her father grinned at her and passed her the plate. "I am stuffed, my dear. Go ahead."
"Really, Lucien, it was prepared for you," Deborah said with a frown toward Diana.
"Like father like daughter," Lucien said. "The child has begged it off my p
late since the advanced age of four. Isn't that so, Diana?"