Alden glanced back over at him. “Who’s Pearl?”
“Hester’s baby.”
“FromThe Scarlet Letter?”
Isaac confirmed with a nod. “Of course, good things happen to Pearl in the end.”
“Of course,” Alden said, though he hadn’t read the novel. If only every story had a happy ending.
Five hours after they left Scott’s Grove, Thomas drove the carriage into Alexandria. The streets were mostly quiet on this Christmas Day. He could see people inside some of the homes, sitting as families around their tables.
As they neared the waterfront, they passed a fenced yard with about twenty black men and women pacing inside. None of them looked over at the carriage.
“What is that?” Isaac asked, pointing at the snow-covered yard.
“It’s a slave pen.”
Isaac eyed the brick building next to it. “They live there?”
“No. They’re waiting to be sold.”
Isaac contemplated that information. “Who’ll buy them?”
“Probably a tobacco or cotton planter. They need thousands of slaves to work in their fields.”
“Missus Eliza once said she was going to sell me.”
“I’m glad she didn’t.”
“Master Duvall wouldn’t let her.”
“It seems like you are a hard worker, Isaac.”
“A man fortunate enough to find work is a man fortunate enough to eat.”
Alden smiled. “I believe that’s true.”
Though if he were honest with himself, he hadn’t spent much time working for what he was given. Other people had done the hard work for him. Even when he and his father had joined the field slaves, picking and curing their tobacco harvest, their tasks were easy compared to the others. He was anxious to begin working alongside Judah Fallow in San Francisco to finally earn his keep.
The carriage stopped at the Potomac riverfront, and he saw two steamers waiting at the wharf, including theGeorge Washington, the ship that would take them up to New York. No one was working along the boardwalk today. They’d have to wait until tomorrow for the next leg of their journey.
At a nearby hotel, the porter helped Thomas transfer Alden’s trunk into a vacant room on the second floor—a simple place with two narrow beds, a dresser, and a window that overlooked a row of shops.
“Thank you, Thomas,” Alden said as they walked back downstairs.
“I’m just doing my job.”
Alden stopped by the carriage. “Would you like to travel north with us?”
Thomas shook his head. “Master Duvall’s already going to be furious when he discovers Isaac is missing.”
“Do you think I’m doing the right thing?”
Thomas climbed up onto the driver’s seat. “It’s not for me to say.”
“If you came with us, I’d find passage up to Canada for you too.”
He held up the reins. “I appreciate it, Master Payne, but I’m too old to start over and too tired to run.”
