Freedom Stone by Jeffrey Kluger Read Free Book Online

had come from the Big House. All of them were chipped or cracked or otherwise not suitable for the Master’s home and had been given to Bett as a gift from the Missus.
    â€œI expect these would look just fine in your kitchen,” the Missus had said with a broad smile when she passed the battered old things to Bett.
    â€œYes, ma’am,” was all Bett had said.
    Beneath Bett’s shelves was a long, well-used worktable where she mixed her batters and kneaded her doughs. Resting on the table was a fresh tray of dark bread. Lillie could see a few curls of steam rising from it and, though Mama had given her a good breakfast of hoecakes and milk, she could feel her belly rumbling. Bett saw her staring at the bread.
    â€œYou look hungry, girl,” she said.
    Lillie nodded mutely.
    â€œSit then,” Bett said, gesturing to one of the two chairs.
    Lillie did as she was told, and Bett sliced off a thick piece of the fresh bread. She blew the crumbs off a plate sitting on the mixing table, placed the bread on it and carried it to the eating table. Lillie inhaled the heavy, yeasty smell and took a bite. The bread, as always, was just what bread ought to be. The crust was thick and flavorful, and fought with her a little when she bit it. The inside was cloud light. It was as if two foods had come together in a single one, and Lillie ate hungrily. Bett sat down and watched her and, after a long moment, spoke.
    â€œI reckoned today was the day you’d come,” she said.
    â€œI woulda come earlier if I coulda got away,” Lillie said through a mouthful of bread.
    â€œI know,” Bett said. “You want to talk about the boy—Plato.”
    Lillie stopped chewing and looked up, the appetite suddenly gone from her. She nodded. “How do you know?” she asked.
    â€œPeople talk, I listen,” Bett said. “You want to know if I can help you.”
    Lillie nodded again. “Can you?” she asked.
    â€œWhat is it you reckon I can do?”
    â€œI need to get to Bluffton,” Lillie said, putting down her bread. She leaned in and spoke low and fast as if someone might be listening. “I need to go soon. We was supposed to be freed, but since they say my papa done some stealin’, they ain’t never gonna let us go. I got to show he didn’t do it or they’ll take Plato away and we won’t never see him again.” Lillie never found it easy to talk about Papa without the talk turning to tears—especially when she had to repeat the lie about the stealing. But she swallowed hard and her eyes stayed dry.
    â€œWhat’s in Bluffton?” Bett asked. She pushed Lillie’s bread plate a little closer to her, but Lillie had lost interest in eating and Bett did not press her further.
    â€œA man,” Lillie said. “A slave soldier what might know somethin’.”
    â€œYou think I can help you get there?”
    â€œYou can,” Lillie said.
    â€œYou think you can just walk about a place like that, askin’ questions like you was growed and free?”
    â€œI got to try. I can’t let ’em take Plato!”
    Bett sat back. “You’re askin’ a lot, girl,” she said. “And you’re askin’ for trouble too. No harm would come to me—even that Bull wouldn’t lay a whip to my back, and the Master couldn’t get more’n a coin if he tried to sell me off for misbehavin’. But you’d fetch a price and a flogging both if you got caught. And besides ...” Bett trailed off as if considering whether or not she ought to continue. Then she went on, but more gently. “And besides, how do you know they wasn’t tellin’ the truth ’bout your papa? It ain’t every slave man what comes by a bag o’ Yankee gold, ’less he took it.”
    Lillie’s eyes went fiery, and her tone went cold. “My papa weren’t no thief,” she said, rising to her feet,