Read Belle for Free Online Page B

all.”
    “Well, don’t tell Jojo. I don’t want her frightened into thinking someone’s going to sell her mama, too.”
    “Don’t worry. Jojo’s tough, but thanks for wanting to spare her feelings.”
    “I like your sister.”
    “She likes you, too.”
    “You’ve all been very kind to me.”
    He looked her way and said sincerely, “You make it easy.”
    Belle felt her heart swell and she dropped her eyes, but his quiet praise buoyed her for the remainder of the ride back to his parents’ home.

four
     
     
    Jojo came home after dinner brimming with tales of her reunion with her best friend, Trudy Carr. Afterward, she and Belle retired to Belle’s room to work on the banner.
    “When’s Mr. Douglass coming again?” Belle asked as she embroidered in the edges of what would be the Haitian flag.
    Jojo looked up from the practice sampler Belle had designed to help her master her stitching. “I think it’s August or July. You’ll have to ask Mama.”
    “He’s pretty famous?”
    “Really famous, Belle. He escaped, just like you, and now he lectures all over the world.”
    “What about?”
    “Being a slave and how slavery ought to be abolished.”
    “Daniel seems to admire him a great deal.”
    “As far as Dani’s concerned, the sun rises and sets with Mr. Douglass. Mama’s not so impressed, though.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Oh, she respects what he’s done for the race and says he’s the greatest orator our people have ever had, but she says his home life is a mess.”
    Belle looked puzzled.
    Jojo looked around the room as if to make sure they weren’t being overheard, then whispered, “Mr. Douglass has a mistress.”
    Belle’s eyes widened. “A mistress?”
    “Yes. Her name is Julia Griffiths, and they were on a ship to England together. Papa said it was just a misunderstanding and nobody really knows if Mr. Douglass was sharing his cabin with her, but Mama and her friends say Fred has feet of clay.”
    Belle wondered which side of the story was true. “So, who does your mama admire?”
    Jojo didn’t hesitate. “Frances Ellen Watkins.”
    “Who’s she?”
    “A great female abolitionist. She lectures, and writes antislavery tracts and poetry. One of her most well-known poems is ‘Bury Me in a Free Land.’”
    “Is she White?”
    “No, silly, she’s as dark as us.”
    Belle was surprised by that. “And she lectures?”
    “Sure, thanks to Maria W. Stewart, women of all races can lecture now.”
    Belle hated to keep asking the same question, but—“Who’s she?”
    “Why, she’s the first American woman to stand up and lecture in a room that had men in it. Before her time, women could lecture only to women. She was a woman of the race, too,” Jojo added proudly.
    “When was this?”
    “1832.”
    Belle shook her head in amazement. “Jo, how do you know all this?”
    “School. Mama. Papa. Dani. Everyone I know knows these things.”
    “Except me.”
    Jojo quieted, then turned into a miniature of her mama. “Belle Palmer, don’t you dare fault yourself—it’s only because you weren’t allowed.”
    Belle couldn’t help but smile. With Jojo around there’d be no feeling sorry for herself. “Then how about we make a pact?” Belle asked.
    “Sure, what kind?”
    “You teach me to know as much as you, and I’ll teach you to be the best needle-woman in Michigan.”
    “You have a deal.”
    The grinning young women shook hands, sealing the agreement.
     
     
    Downstairs, Daniel sat with his parents in the den. There’d been an emergency meeting of the Vigilance Committee called for this evening concerning a newly arrived band of slave catchers. William Best was preparing to leave to attend. Daniel usually accompanied his father to the meetings but not tonight. Tonight, William thought it best to have a man at home, just in case trouble erupted while he was away. He also had freight to move later and so wouldn’t be returning until morning.
    “So where were the