Free MY THEODOSIA by Anya Seton Page A

equipage; his private cabriolet drawn by two perfectly matched bays, followed by a hired coachee crammed with luggage and three slaves: his bodyservant Cato, a cook, and a groom. These were Gullahs ; their skins had a bluish hue; they wore strips of scimitarshaped hair before their ears; and their unusually tall bodies looked picturesque in the Alston livery of red and green. They spoke a dialect unintelligible to the Richmond Hill negroes, who received these foreigners with suspicion and curiosity.
    Aaron greeted Alston at the door, ushered him directly to the library, and rolled the traveling decanters over to him invitingly. The young planter relaxed under the influences of cognac and Aaron's concentrated charm. After the requisite interchange of amenities, Aaron brought the conversation deftly around to Theodosia.
    'She admires you tremendously—thinks you vastly handsome, you know.'
    Joseph's jaw dropped; he spilled some of his cognac. 'I fear you are mistaken, sir; she finds me intolerable. I—she—I'm afraid she has cause.'
    Aaron effaced his smile. 'Cause, sir? What do you mean by cause?'
    Joseph cleared his throat, while a painful red mounted to his close curls. He had not meant to say so much. He was deeply ashamed of his actions in the garden, all the more so as Theodosia now seemed to him a bright and dazzling spirit, infinitely desirable. He had, besides, only a hazy memory of what had actually occurred. He remembered the mood, but not the details.
    Aaron saw that the young man needed a bit of direction and summoned a portentous frown. 'Surely Mr. Joseph Alston of South Carolina has made no overtures to my daughter of which he is ashamed.'
    Joseph shifted uneasily in his seat. His easygoing father had early promulgated a philosophy for rearing boys. 'Let them make their own mistakes, and continually exercise their own judgment; they will learn by experience'. This system had worked very well to date as Joseph had never been thwarted or crossed. At Princeton, when he tired of the university's discipline, he had left at once, and studied law for a few months until he wearied of that, too, and amused himself by traveling. His father had not objected. Indeed, Joseph was totally unused to criticism, even implied, as Colonel Burr's remark had been. It worried and yet impressed him.
    'Well, sir?' Aaron's eyes were fixed on his embarrassed face with an unswerving glitter.
    'I have the greatest respect for Miss Burr, sir. She is the
most charming of her sex. I admire her profoundly'. He brought it out at last.
    Aaron withdrew his hypnotic gaze, allowing his lips to part in a slow smile. 'I thought as much, my dear sir. Theodosia has had many suitors. She is very young, as you know, and I would be loath to part with her. Still, I will be frank with you as you have been with me. Your avowal does not displease me.'
    Joseph was thunderstruck. He choked over his brandy, muttering, 'You do me great honor, Colonel'. For Burr's meaning was unmistakable, tantamount to approval of a suit for his daughter's hand. A momentary panic seized Joseph. Surely he had not implied anything as decisive as that. Or had he? It must be that Theodosia had, after all, given her father a full account of that miserable episode in the garden. That would explain it.
    His slow-moving mind considered this startling development and his panic subsided. He found the idea not unpleas-mg. She attracted him strongly. She was delightfully pretty and well educated. A trifle free in her manners, perhaps—witness her peculiar complacence before the lewd pictures; still, that could be checked. Her father was famous and likely to achieve even greater political prominence. Moreover, her fortune was obviously ample. His family would be distressed at his marrying a Yankee, but could have no other objections to the match.
    Aaron watched the other's heavy face clear and permitted himself an inward chuckle. Making up people's minds for them proved ever an amusing