Stephan stepped up to their table with a pot of coffee. The thin man, clothed in a black swallow-tailed coat and white gloves, reminded him of Thomas. “How are you both faring?”
“Very well,” Alden replied, his stomach mercifully full. After five months on the ship, he would be forever grateful for a good meal.
Stephan poured them both a cup of coffee. “Are you traveling to the interior soon?”
Alden shook his head. “Not unless I have to.”
“What are your plans?”
“I need to find work here in the city. At least for a month or two.”
“We had a recent vacancy here,” Stephan said. “I could ask Miss Labrie if she’d consider hiring you.”
Alden forced a smile. “She’d never agree to that.”
Stephan returned his smile. “I wouldn’t be so certain.”
Miss Labrie’s private sitting area was on the first floor of the hotel, beside the restaurant. Inside was a high-backed settee, polished table, and three upholstered chairs. Along the papered wall was a small library of books in a glass case.
Two doors led into the room—the one from the dining room and the other, he assumed, into Miss Labrie’s bedchamber.
An hour after breakfast, the woman entered through the restaurant door. She carried a bone china teapot in one hand, and in her other hand, her fingers laced between the handles of two matching teacups.
She wasn’t surprised to see him—Stephan had arranged the meeting—but she was clearly not happy about spending time with him.
She held up the pot of tea. “Would you like some?”
“Yes, please.” Alden unhooked one of the cups from her finger and placed it on the table. She poured the tea into both cups, then stirred a spoonful of honey into hers. She didn’t offer him anything to sweeten his tea, and he didn’t dare ask.
He took a sip and almost choked on the bitter, earthy flavor. It tasted like dried tobacco leaves.
“It’s a Chinese tea,” she explained.
“It probably tastes better with sugar.”
She ignored his slight. “I’m told you need a job.”
“I’m looking for temporary work. I have an apprenticeship with Judah Fallow when he returns to town.”
Her gaze remained on her teacup. “Does Judah know you own a slave?”
“He knows that I attended law school,” he said, setting his half-full teacup back on the table. “He asked me to work for him.”
“He may change his mind once he finds out about Isaac. He’s known in Sacramento for being a staunch abolitionist.”
“It seems the abolition laws are a bit muddled here.”
Her arms stiffened, the teacup perched on her lips for a moment before she lowered it. “A muddled law doesn’t make something right.”
Sitting back in his chair, he realized his offense to her was a misunderstanding. She seemed to abhor slavery as much as he did, and she believed him to be the exact person they both despised. No wonder she was hostile to him. He wished he could tell her the truth, but as long as free blacks were in danger here, he had to guard Isaac.
He leaned toward her again, anxious to change the topic. “Your steward said you might have some work.”
She took another sip of tea. “Sometimes I need to order supplies in San Francisco. Stephan was traveling there for me after—” She stopped herself. “There are rumors about free blacks being kidnapped in the city and sold into slavery. I can’t risk having him travel anymore.”
“I can travel to San Francisco for you,” he offered. “And I can help make repairs around the hotel and retrieve shipments down at the wharf as well.”
She studied the teacup in her hands. “Whoever I hire will also need to help Stephan and Janette in the kitchen.”
