The Triumph of Grace by Kay Marshall Strom Read Free Book Online Page B

punishment is indeed as simple to grasp as I imagine it to be," Lord Reginald said,
    Bronze skin, auburn hair, dark eyes . . . the young maid Lord Reginald held in his grasp bore a fair resemblance to Grace Winslow. This girl, like Grace, looked to be of mixed parentage.
    "Here now, Ena," Lord Reginald exclaimed, "do join us and give us the benefit of your wisdom."
    The girl's dark eyes widened in terror. She frantically searched before and behind for a way of escape.
    "Really, Reginald, you do force a point much too far," said Sir Geoffrey.
    "No, no, not in the least," Lord Reginald argued. "My point is that it does not take a person of great intellect to grasp the concept I purport." To the girl he said, "Ena, what does a legal sentence of death mean?"
    "I . . . uh . . . please, sir, it is not my place to say, I'm sure," Ena stammered.
    "Come, come, I asked you a straightforward question.Surely even such a one as you is able to provide me with a straightforward answer. A legal sentence of death . . . what does it mean?"
    "I suppose that . . . well, that a person . . . that a person must die, sir."
    "There, now!" Lord Reginald announced. "Even a foolish servant girl understands the meaning of a legal sentence of death. Grace Winslow was sentenced to hang from the gallows for her crime, and hang she should."
    "Oh no, sir," Ena said. "Not Grace."
    Lord Reginald stepped back. His eyebrows arched on his tight face. In mock amazement he exclaimed, "No? So now you fancy yourself wiser and filled with greater insight than His Lordship the judge who pronounced Grace Winslow guilty and worthy of the gallows?"
    "No, sir," Ena pleaded with increasing desperation. "I would never fancy myself in such a way as you say. But, sir, people do change their minds, don't they? The Lord Judge—his Lordship . . . most surely he changed his mind. Why, even Grace's own father changed his mind, didn't he?"
    "Grace's father?" Lord Reginald responded.
    "Yes, sir. He once tried to kill Grace, he did, but now he wants to save her from the transportation. He's even willing to make himself a slave to do it, too. He said as much to Mister Ethan and the others."
    Cold fury wiped all traces of jovial mockery from Lord Reginald's face. He grasped Ena's arm in a vise-tight grip and through clenched teeth demanded, "Did you say Mister Ethan Preston?"
    It was at that moment that Ena realized she had said far too much. She covered her face and sobbed.
    "Ethan Preston and his pieced-together band of criminals who call themselves an abolition group?" Lord Reginald demanded. "Are they the ones Joseph Winslow approached?"
    Ena fell to her knees and wailed.
    "For God's sake, Reginald, let the girl go!" Sir Geoffrey said.
    With a low growl, Lord Reginald kicked Ena away from him.
    "Leave my house!" he ordered.
    Ena scrambled to her feet and stumbled for the door.
    "Joseph Winslow is a simpering ingrate!" Sir Reginald raged. "He is happy enough to take my money, but when the days grow dark, he slithers away behind my back and crawls into the enemy camp to betray me. Well, I will not be made into a laughingstock again, not by a half-breed slave girl and not by her drunken fool of a father. I pledged my vengeance on that little wretch, and I was as good as my word. Now I pledge my vengeance on Joseph Winslow, as well. Let his daughter languish on the far side of the world. What does it matter to me? Joseph Winslow will hang from the gallows in her place."
    Sir Geoffrey Phillips stared in astonishment at Lord Reginald. He saw fury ignite the man's eyes and set his face aflame. Sir Geoffrey had not the least doubt that Lord Reginald Witherham would do exactly as he had said.
    Slowly Sir Geoffrey shook his head. "What has happened to us, Reginald?" he asked. "What have we become?"

    When next the abolition group met in Heath and Rebekah Patterson's barn, Oliver Meredith stood guard at the door with far more vigilance than he had done at the previous meeting.He did admit