Dangerous Freedom by Lawrence Scott;

Author:Lawrence Scott; [Scott, Lawrence]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781999776886
Publisher: Book Network Int'l Limited trading as NBN International (NBNi)

12

IT WAS A babble in Dido’s ears, the arguments and debates back and forth while the country waited, the world waited, it seemed, for her Master’s judgment as she read in The Advertiser.

‘That confounded man does pester and persist.’

Her Master’s irritation in his courtroom overflowed into the drawing room. Dido was under no illusion that he could be as stern, cold and forceful in his court. A glass of port fuelled the rising thrust of argument in the evening at home.

‘Who’s that dear?’ Lady Betty asked. ‘Who pesters you and persists, and with what?’

‘I’m surprised my dear wife asks…’

‘Granville Sharp, no doubt, must be that confounded man.’

‘Those Sharps should confine themselves to their barge upon the Thames and to their music at one of their concerts.’

Dido’s thimble fell to the floor. She pricked her finger with her sewing needle.

Beth was nodding over her novel, something Lady Betty was encouraging her to read dropped from her lap. She was no doubt dreaming of her horse-riding with her great-uncle.

If it had not been for her visits to her mother at that time, Dido would have learned very little from all those actors, politicians and artists who came to sit in her Master’s drawing room, to drink coffee with lots of sugar and smoke tobacco, filling the room like a coffee house. They discussed the affairs of the King’s realm and the trade upon which the success of the economy depended.

When she was only a little girl, much of it had passed over her, though some got lodged and was now becoming more meaningful. As she got older, she could not wait to be part of the company in the drawing room. She knew her place in the corner on a stool with her book, preferring that to sewing or working her pattern as Lady Betty would have wanted. She was more intent to please her Master by showing him that she was getting on with her reading, though she did have one ear cocked for what the gentlemen discussed. She tried not to be too visible, too inquisitive in her attention. She kept her eyes lowered on her book and followed the voices, once she had sorted out who was sitting where.

She would have formed a negative opinion of Granville Sharp and his family if she had not had the stories of her mother, had her talk of the streets; if she had not had the newspapers, if she had not gone with her mother to the Quaker Meeting House in Shoreditch and heard the abolitionists’ talk. It was not always approved that she should be allowed the papers. It was very good that her Master had allowed and arranged for her to continue attending the Shoreditch Meeting House. He surprised her and contradicted himself at times, allowing her different influences.

‘I’ve tried to prevail upon the godparents, if such they are, they who brought the habeas corpus to purchase the man themselves and solve the whole darn thing. Or, for that matter, Stewart, the owner, to offer to sell the wretched man.

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