learned long ago not to push at Alice about her past, it greatly narrowed their communion. But perhaps it was the fact that the widow leaped so eagerly on any general remark that Alice managed, such as the great number of crows, or the chance of a rainstorm, or how best to make a sauce for turkeys, that taught Alice a new thing about the widow: she was lonely.
WHEN FREEMAN DID return, Alice wasn’t present to witness it. She woke out of a deep sleep to the sound of voices in the keeping room and crept to her spot on the stairs.
“’Tis a late hour, Mr. Freeman, to charge in and wake a household.”
“I apologize for waking you, but I’ve brought news I thought you’d wish to hear at the first possible instant.”
“What news? The agreement?”
“The agreement? Well, of that I may tell you that the merchants are all up in arms; the papers are full of nothing but these new restrictions. They guard us more in peace than in war; their ships swarm the coast and stop anyone at the least excuse. I couldn’t sell our alewives at any price; all trade is near killed.”
“By trade you mean smuggling.”
“I mean trade as we’ve known it these many years in this colony. We’ve no choice but to ban imports if we wish to continue to make a way for ourselves.”
“I’ve been thinking of this ban. At the rate Alice spins—”
“I’d not count too far on Alice.”
“How, now? You can’t say she’s not a good worker.”
“I neither think it nor say it. I only question the likelihood of her remaining here.”
“Why, she blooms here! She wouldn’t leave us!”
“Unless she were obliged to.”
A paper snapped. Freeman’s voice dropped so low Alice had to move dangerously low on the stairs to hear him. “There’s more in this paper than news of trade.”
Silence, except for the crackling of the paper.
After a time the widow said, “It says ‘light hair and blue eyes.’ This can’t be our Alice. Her hair is far too rich a shade for ‘light’; her eyes most clearly hazel.”
“You must agree the rest matches.”
“It says ‘aged fifteen years.’”
“You might recall I remarked the first day I saw her she couldn’t be a day over sixteen.”
“And ‘five feet in height’?”
“You can’t say she’s greatly over it. Come now, you must consider the chances of two such creatures, two such Alices—”
“All right, then, suppose I consider it. Suppose this is our Alice. What then?”
“According to law—”
“The law! Again the law! And after that fine speech you made to Nate about a higher one!”
“Widow Berry, calm yourself. I’m not about to fetch the constable. I confess I’ve come to your way of thinking about the girl. In truth, she’s won me utterly.”
The widow’s voice softened. “And don’t think I haven’t noticed the effort you make with her.”
“She has a fine mind, which someone else must have noticed before me. She reads and speaks well beyond what I might expect from someone in her situation.”
“And she’s been taught to work. And she looks to please. That in itself—”
“You needn’t add to her charms on my account. But we must take into consideration those who aren’t so charmed, and would see this advertisement and make something of it.”
“Who in this village—”
“Anyone in dire need of the five pounds reward he offers.”
They fell silent.
At length the widow said, “But indeed, sir, it doesn’t sound just like. Blue eyes! Light hair!”
“Well, no, not just like.”
ALICE WAITED THE next morning until Freeman had gone into the village and the widow out to the barn to apply a balm to the cow’s udder. She picked up Freeman’s Gazette and made her slow way through the advertisements: For Sale—two Negro men and Negro woman and child…Run away from his master William Brown…To Hire—Woman in her thirties capable of all House Hold Business Town or Country …On the third page, Alice found it:
Run away on
WHEN FREEMAN DID return, Alice wasn’t present to witness it. She woke out of a deep sleep to the sound of voices in the keeping room and crept to her spot on the stairs.
“’Tis a late hour, Mr. Freeman, to charge in and wake a household.”
“I apologize for waking you, but I’ve brought news I thought you’d wish to hear at the first possible instant.”
“What news? The agreement?”
“The agreement? Well, of that I may tell you that the merchants are all up in arms; the papers are full of nothing but these new restrictions. They guard us more in peace than in war; their ships swarm the coast and stop anyone at the least excuse. I couldn’t sell our alewives at any price; all trade is near killed.”
“By trade you mean smuggling.”
“I mean trade as we’ve known it these many years in this colony. We’ve no choice but to ban imports if we wish to continue to make a way for ourselves.”
“I’ve been thinking of this ban. At the rate Alice spins—”
“I’d not count too far on Alice.”
“How, now? You can’t say she’s not a good worker.”
“I neither think it nor say it. I only question the likelihood of her remaining here.”
“Why, she blooms here! She wouldn’t leave us!”
“Unless she were obliged to.”
A paper snapped. Freeman’s voice dropped so low Alice had to move dangerously low on the stairs to hear him. “There’s more in this paper than news of trade.”
Silence, except for the crackling of the paper.
After a time the widow said, “It says ‘light hair and blue eyes.’ This can’t be our Alice. Her hair is far too rich a shade for ‘light’; her eyes most clearly hazel.”
“You must agree the rest matches.”
“It says ‘aged fifteen years.’”
“You might recall I remarked the first day I saw her she couldn’t be a day over sixteen.”
“And ‘five feet in height’?”
“You can’t say she’s greatly over it. Come now, you must consider the chances of two such creatures, two such Alices—”
“All right, then, suppose I consider it. Suppose this is our Alice. What then?”
“According to law—”
“The law! Again the law! And after that fine speech you made to Nate about a higher one!”
“Widow Berry, calm yourself. I’m not about to fetch the constable. I confess I’ve come to your way of thinking about the girl. In truth, she’s won me utterly.”
The widow’s voice softened. “And don’t think I haven’t noticed the effort you make with her.”
“She has a fine mind, which someone else must have noticed before me. She reads and speaks well beyond what I might expect from someone in her situation.”
“And she’s been taught to work. And she looks to please. That in itself—”
“You needn’t add to her charms on my account. But we must take into consideration those who aren’t so charmed, and would see this advertisement and make something of it.”
“Who in this village—”
“Anyone in dire need of the five pounds reward he offers.”
They fell silent.
At length the widow said, “But indeed, sir, it doesn’t sound just like. Blue eyes! Light hair!”
“Well, no, not just like.”
ALICE WAITED THE next morning until Freeman had gone into the village and the widow out to the barn to apply a balm to the cow’s udder. She picked up Freeman’s Gazette and made her slow way through the advertisements: For Sale—two Negro men and Negro woman and child…Run away from his master William Brown…To Hire—Woman in her thirties capable of all House Hold Business Town or Country …On the third page, Alice found it:
Run away on
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