The Opium Purge (Lady Fan Mystery Book 3) by Elizabeth Bailey

Author:Elizabeth Bailey [Bailey, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sapere Books
Published: 2018-10-31T18:30:00+00:00

Mrs Whiting had been persuaded to sit in one of the shawl-covered chairs, while Ottilia took the other. The woman thus could not easily see either Francis or Patrick without turning to locate them. Patrick had taken a cane-seated chair, while Francis chose to lean against the wall between the two sets of windows.

The housekeeper’s discomfort was plain, augmented by the incongruity of her girth against her short legs, which only just reached the floor. Ottilia could see the toes of her black shoes awkwardly pressing down.

She began with a commonplace designed to set the creature more at her ease, for she would not disclose anything pertinent if she remained resentful. “I wish you will tell me more of Tamasine’s life in Barbados, Mrs Whiting. She told me herself that she was used to hide among the sugar canes.”

The housekeeper pursed her lips. “I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”

“Indulge me, if you please. I gather she is much attached to Hemp?”

The switch of topic put a frown between the woman’s brows. “As much as she’s attached to anyone. Hemp handles her best of all of us, which isn’t surprising.”

“Why?”

“Because Mr Roy put him in charge of her when she was just a toddler.” Disapproval was writ large in the housekeeper’s countenance. “Not that young Hemp was much more than a piccaninny at the time.”

Ottilia’s ears pricked up. “Indeed? How old was he?”

“Nine or ten, or thereabouts.”

“Then he was her constant companion for some years?”

“In between his duties and his schooling.”

“Ah, I thought he’d been educated.”

Mrs Whiting sniffed. “They all were, after a fashion, the slaves. Mr Roy insisted on that. Employed a schoolmaster for the purpose. But he taught Hemp himself. Gave him what you might call extra-curricular lessons.”

Evidently the black boy was a favourite. A random thought occurred to Ottilia, startling in its potential ramifications. So bizarre was the notion that she hesitated to give it voice.

“What happened when Miss Ingleby came?” she asked instead.

A derisive expression came into the woman’s face. “She put a stop to it. Or tried to. Thought it was unseemly. But Miss Tam wouldn’t have it. Too used to the fellow by then.”

“She was fourteen, I understand?”

Mrs Whiting sighed faintly. “Can’t blame Miss Ingleby, I suppose. She was fresh out from England and didn’t understand colonial ways. Scared of the black workers. She thought it was downright dangerous letting a brawny young black fellow make free with a girl of Miss Tam’s years.”

Ottilia could not but acknowledge she had thought the same, but she did not say so. If her sudden suspicion was correct, the child must have been quite safe.

“But you say Tamasine would not be parted from him.”

“Oh, she didn’t have much to do with him, except when she managed to escape from Miss Ingleby. Hemp was working all hours by then, both in the house and out. But Miss Tam would follow him all over when she got the chance. And seeing Hemp was the only one

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