“You didn’t want to go home tonight?” she said. “To your books?”
The African had been sleeping in a corner at Widow Lurvey’s for some months. Every time he brought her a rabbit or a pail of clams, the old woman doled out a book from her husband’s moldering collection of histories.
“Stanwood is over there,” Cornelius said.
“I’ll thank him for that.”
“You’ll thank him for nothing,” he snapped.
“I don’t mean anything by it. But if it’s true you’re here because of him, I’m glad of it.” She took a breath. “You don’t visit me anymore, Cornelius.”
He went back to staring at the flames.
“Nobody ever knew,” she whispered.
“It was too dangerous,” he said.
“I can take care of myself.”
“Dangerous for me,” Cornelius said. “You’re just
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another crazy Dogtown witch. I’m the one who’d catch it.
Especially with the likes of Stanwood around.”
“You credit him with too much courage.”
“Nothin’ to do with courage. He’s a liar, bred in the bone. Letting all those people call him Captain? He never served a thing but himself. One tankard of ale and he claims to have bedded every woman in sight. You among ’em.”
Judy thought about the way the men stared after her in town and joined Cornelius’s study of the fire.
“Ruth was there,” Judy said.
Cornelius shrugged.
“She didn’t seem worried about Stanwood,” she said.
For the first time that night, Cornelius looked her in the face and said sadly, “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Judy blushed at the rebuke.
“It’s late,” he said. “I’ll bring the bed over.”
He took the four posts from their corner and set them standing in the notches he’d cut in the floor long ago. Then he got the key from its nail on the wall and turned it until the ropes were taut and tight between the posts. Judy carried the mattress and together they unfolded it over the webbing. Without a word, he reached for the quilt and together they laid it out. The dog woofed softly in her sleep by the fire, and Judy felt a ripple of gratitude for having two extra souls in her little house. The moment passed as Cornelius stepped outside, coatless.
She removed her dress quickly and got into bed, holding her breath. Would he come back for his coat and leave?
Would he sleep on the floor? Would he join her in the bed
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