Free American Dreams by Janet Dailey Page B

and Mrs. Gordon."
    She went on, but Will stopped listening, taken aback by the vehemence with which she argued their cause. She reminded him of a bantam hen coming to the spirited defense of her chicks.
    "Well?" she demanded.
    Belatedly, he realized a silence had preceded that single challenging word. She was waiting for an answer from him. "I will consider it, Miss Hall."
    She hesitated, as if debating whether to take up the cudgel again. "Whatever you decide, Mr. Gordon, I do hope you will not find it necessary to reprimand them for this morning. They were curious. They meant no harm. Of that, I am certain."
    "Is there anything else?"
    "No."
    When she turned and walked from the room, Will half expected her to change her mind and come back to argue further. But she didn't.
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    Dusk settled on the ridges and spread its purple glow into the valley that was Gordon Glen. Eliza wandered along the brick path that led from the log school to the mansion, her thoughts on the less-than-satisfactory meeting with her employer. He had agreed to nothing.
    They were children. Surely Will Gordon would not be so cruel as to punish them over such a small thing. It would be her fault if he did. She wished now that she had said nothing to him. Perhaps she should appeal to him again, without being so argumentative this time.
    When she glanced toward the house, she saw a large figure moving silently among the trees. His height, the wide spread of his shoulders, the way he carried himself—Eliza recognized Will Gordon instantly. Seizing the opportunity, she picked up her skirts and ran quickly across the lawn to intercept him.
    "Mr. Gordon." When she saw him pause she slowed her own pace, covering the last few yards at a fast walk. Unconsciously, she lifted her head, trying to appear more like a schoolteacher and less like a nervous schoolgirl. "I want to speak to you."
    "Again." He sounded amused, but his face was in shadow. She couldn't see his expression to tell whether that hint of humor was kindly meant.
    "Yes." She worried he might think she was belaboring the issue, but she couldn't turn away now. Conscious of his intimidating height and breadth, Eliza tried to remember all the things she should have said to him before. "Have you—" She stopped, the fact suddenly registering that his path led to the slaves' quarters. "Where are you going?"
    "To speak to Ike and Black Cassie about this business with their children and the school."
    Unwilling to make a positive interpretation of his ambiguous reply, Eliza hurriedly asserted, "I want you to understand the proposal to educate young Shadrach and Phoebe was solely my idea. The children never so much as hinted that it might be possible."
    "I surmised that."
    "Then . .. what have you decided?" She hadn't intended to demand an answer, but she sensed that he was deliberately withholding it and that irritated her. "If I am to be teaching them, I need to know."
    "I question how much you will be able to teach them. They are Negroes."
    "How can you say such a thing? They are human beings," Eliza protested, immediately inflamed by such a biased attitude. "They have feelings and desires that go beyond mere creature needs of food and water and a dry place to sleep. Like all of us, they need affection and the stimulus of challenge in order to grow and achieve their potential. Such expressions of ignorance I would expect to hear from a white Southerner, but for it to come from the lips of a Cherokee is beyond my comprehension. I—"
    "Miss Hall." He spoke sharply, halting her tirade. "I was about to say that my wife feels it will do no harm for you to try to teach them—providing"—he added forcefully at her murmur of delight—"they continue to do the work expected of them."
    Eliza was too relieved and elated by his favorable decision to regard that as a problem. "You are going now to tell them. May I come with you?" She wanted to see their faces when they