Freedom Bound by Jean Rae Baxter Read Free Book Online Page A

adores her.” Mrs. Doughty raised the cup to
her lips, sipped, and then set it down. “Their plan was for
me to hide Phoebe and the baby while Jammy looked for
contacts to help them flee north. There’s slavery up north
too, but it’s not as common. And the further away they
went, the safer they’d be from slave catchers.”
    â€œSo you offered to help them?”
    â€œNot exactly. It was a complete surprise when they showed
up at my door last week. I hadn’t seen Phoebe for two years.
She had the baby in her arms. ‘Phoebe,’ I said to her, ‘myhouse is the first place slave catchers are going to look.’ But
she begged so piteously I hadn’t the heart to turn her away.
    â€œJammy helped me to set up a hiding place in the cellar,
with a mattress for Phoebe and Joseph’s old cradle for the
baby. I told him that my door would remain unlocked day
and night until he managed to take Phoebe and the baby
away.”
    â€œI thought it strange that you didn’t lock your door,” said
Charlotte. “There are so many footpads and drunken sailors
around. But now I understand.”
    â€œFrom the start, I saw slave catchers watching my house.
After a few more days, I saw Jammy watching too. I hoped
this meant he’d found somebody to help them and was
waiting for a chance to take Phoebe and the baby away.”
    â€œThen I arrived,” said Charlotte, “to complicate matters.”
    â€œThy arrival surely caused a problem. To reject Colonel
Knightly’s offer would have raised questions, since everybody knew I needed money. It was foolish to imagine that I
could keep thee from knowing there was a baby in the house.
I should have told thee about Phoebe at the beginning.”
    â€œI reckon you wanted first to know me better.”
    â€œNo. I trusted thee from the start. But I didn’t want to
bring trouble upon thee. It’s a crime to help a slave escape.
In the eyes of the law, concealing a crime makes one a party
to it. If I could keep Phoebe’s presence a secret, thee would
not be put in that position.
    â€œFor the past three nights I’ve scarce slept a wink. TonightI heard the hinges squeak when Jammy opened the trap
door, and then the uproar when the slave catchers burst in.
There were two of them. One took Jammy. The other took
Phoebe.”
    â€œBut they left the baby.”
    â€œThey had their hands full with Jammy and Phoebe.”
    â€œDo you think they’ll come back for the baby?”
    â€œNot likely. The Morleys don’t want him. As for selling
him, a one-month-old infant wouldn’t fetch enough to pay
the slave catcher’s fee. For the present at least, the baby is
ours to care for.”
    â€œIn that case,” Charlotte said, “let’s bring the cradle up
from the cellar. There are still a few hours left before dawn.
After some sleep, we can think more clearly what to do.”
    Standing up, Charlotte felt dizzy. Her head hurt badly
while she helped Mrs. Doughty haul the wooden cradle up
the stairs and set it near the kitchen fireplace. The sleeping
baby did not wake when Mrs. Doughty lifted him from the
cot and tucked him in the cradle.
    Now all was quiet. Charlotte lay down on her cot, but she
could not stop worrying about Phoebe, Jammy and the baby.
Light was visible through the crack between the shutters
before she drifted off.

Chapter 8

    IN THE MORNING Mrs. Doughty went out in search of a wet
nurse, confident that she could find among the Friends a
nursing mother who would want to help.
    A heap of laundry was waiting to be done. Charlotte filled
the washtub with hot water and set to work. She felt better
now, her headache gone. The baby was in his cradle in the
kitchen. The front room rug was back in place, hiding the
trap door. Patience, Charity and Joseph were sitting on it,
playing with little spinning toys she had made, one for each
of them, from a button and a