"Eric Flint - TOG 02 - 1824, The Arkansas War" - читать интересную книгу автора (Flint Eric)

We are sinners all,Sam thought to himself. It was a rueful thought, as it so often was for him these days.

The senator looked to Julia, now. тАЬAre you sure about that, dearest? I donтАЩt like the idea of our kids
being that far away.тАЭ

Her face got tight. тАЬYou know any other school will take them, outside of New EnglandтАФwhere theyтАЩd
be just as far away? And even if there was oneтАжтАЭ

She took a deep breath. When she spoke again, her voice started rising.

тАЬWhat happens if youdie, Dick Johnson? It donтАЩt matter what you think. By law, those two daughters
you spoil so badly are your slaves.тАЭ

тАЬI freed you!тАЭ he protested.

тАЬNot till after the girls were born,тАЭ came her immediate rejoinder. тАЬRichard Mentor Johnson, how in the
world can a lawyer like you be that deaf, dumb, and blind?тАЭ

It was a good questionтАФand the wide-open mouth of the senator made it perfectly clear that heтАЩd never
even thought about it. By Kentucky law, as well as the law in any slave state, a child born to a slave
inherited the legal status of the mother, not the father. That was in complete opposition to the standard
way of figuring birth status as usually applied to white people. But the SouthтАЩs gentry had made sure and
certain that their frequent dalliances with slave women wouldnтАЩt produce any legally and financially
awkward children.

As foul a breed of men as ever lived,was Patrick DriscolтАЩs assessment of southern slave-owners. Sam
felt the categorization was far too harsh, as was so often true of PatrickтАЩs attitudes. But he didnтАЩt deny
there was more than a grain of truth to it. Slavery corrupted the master as much as it degraded the slave.
If there was any true and certain law of nature, there it was.

тАЬLong as youтАЩre alive,тАЭ Julia continued, тАЬwe donтАЩt got to worry none. But if you pass on, the girls are
just part of your estate. And you got debts. Lots and lots of debts. You think your creditors will pass
them over?тАЭ

тАЬIтАЩll free them, too, then. Tomorrow!тАЭ

She shrugged. тАЬGood. But you trust judges way more than I do. With all those creditors circling like
vultures, wonтАЩt surprise me at all to find some judge will say the manumission was invalid.тАЭ

The next words were spoken very coldly. тАЬTheyтАЩll be pretty, real pretty, give тАЩem another three or four
years. But they inherited my color, tooтАФenough of it, anywayтАФalong with my looks. TheyтАЩll fetch a nice
price from some slave whorehouse somewhere. Your ghost can watch it happen.тАЭ

тАЬItтАЩs not unheard of, Dick,тАЭ Sam said.
 The senator was back to gaping. Again, obviously, never even having considered the matter. The manтАЩs
blindness could be truly astonishing at times. The same blindness that led him into one financial disaster
after another. Not so much because Richard Mentor Johnson was dishonest or rapacious as because it
never seemed to occur to him that friends and relatives and acquaintances of his might be.