the difference.”
“Ha! Not only does she have the beauty that passed you by, Speed, but she’s quicker than you, too, and by a good margin.”
Martha gave a pure smile and blushed.
I cleared my throat unhappily and said, “Perhaps it’s time for us to be going, Martha. We don’t want to keep Jane and her father waiting, do we?” I took my sister’s arm and began to rise from my chair.
“‘Jane and her father’—surely you’re not dining with my client Dr. Patterson tonight, are you?” Lincoln said. “I didn’t think you knew them socially.”
Before I could respond, Martha eagerly explained her acquaintance with Jane Patterson. “Why’s he your client?” she asked Lincoln. “Is he in some kind of trouble?”
“Not with the criminal law or anything of that nature,” Lincoln responded. “It’s a business affair gone bad I’m helping him sort out. There’s a court case now.”
“What kind of business affair?” Martha asked.
“I’m sure that’s none of your concern,” I said. “And we’ve already taken too much of Lincoln’s time as it is.” I tugged on her arm with renewed force, but she shook off my hand and stared at Lincoln earnestly.
“That’s more interest in my docket than your brother’s ever shown,” Lincoln said, his eyes twinkling. “Dr. Patterson doesn’t want to go through with a land purchase he discussed with an old veteran in the spring. The price of land has been falling severely all over, so the proposed deal doesn’t make sense anymore, not for the doctor anyway.”
Martha’s face lit up. “The ground the two parties thought they were bargaining over has shifted, hasn’t it?” she said with enthusiasm. “It would be inequitable to hold the doctor to an agreement that didn’t contemplate these new facts. Surely your clerk can find a decision from the Lord High Chancellor in England to that effect.”
Against my better wishes, I found myself laughing out loud as Lincoln stared with astonishment. “Not for nothing,” I said, “is Martha the daughter and younger sister of lawyers.”
“I’m afraid I’m the clerk, but that’s actually not half bad, Miss Speed,” Lincoln said. “I’ll have a look to see if there’s support for such a theory.”
“Or perhaps not,” Martha said gaily with a shrug. “I’m sure you’ll know best, Mr. Lincoln. Now, Joshua, we should be on our way. The Pattersons will be waiting. And I assured Molly we wouldn’t leave her to Phillis’s sufferance for too long on this first night.” She rose and gave me her arm.
“Phillis?” asked Lincoln.
“I brought one of our house girls with me,” Martha said, “to help out with Molly when her time arrives.”
Lincoln’s eyes widened as he comprehended Martha’s meaning. “You brought a Negro slave with you into Illinois? A free state?”
His sharp tone caused both my sister and I to turn and stare. Martha wrinkled her nose.
“Don’t worry,” she said, “she won’t run off anywhere. How could she? Besides, why would she? Her kin’s been in our family for generations. And she’s got the best lot she could possibly have in life. She’s fed, clothed, sheltered—all at our expense.”
An awkward silence suffused the formerly jolly room. Lincoln’s face had lost its good humor. He seemed to be wrestling with how to respond to Martha. I had a pretty good idea of his true thoughts; after a long night early in his residency that very nearly ended in blows, he and I had consented to disagree on the merits of the peculiar institution so enthusiastically championed by my native land.
“I doubt very much,” he said at last, choosing his words carefully, “this woman Phillis would agree fully with your sentiments, Miss Speed—” Martha opened up her mouth to protest, but Lincoln held up his hand—“Though I don’t impugn your honesty in expressing them. I’m not suggesting we debate the merits of the practice, not now at least. For the present, I’m concerned with the laws of this state.”
“The laws of this state?” I asked. I found my own temper rising. “What could the Illinois law possibly have to say on the matter? It’s a simple matter of private property, solemnized by a sister state.”
“Slavery’s illegal under our state constitution.”
“No one’s proposing to make anyone a slave in Illinois.”
“That’s not the point, Speed,” Lincoln said. He was pacing the room now, skirting scattered pieces of paper that had fallen from the table, his hands clutched behind his back. “Our constitution specifically provides any slave forced to work in this state is emancipated from his obligation of service. The only exception is if