The Wedding Gift (32 page)
Authors: Marlen Suyapa Bodden
“I am the executor of Cornelius’s estate. It is going to take quite some time, perhaps two months, to enter the will into probate. The lawyer, Mr. Harris, will arrive tomorrow to begin reviewing financial statements with the accountant and bookkeeper. They will stay here in residence until that labor is completed, by the end of August at the latest, because I have to return to my plantation before harvest. No one is legally required to be present for the reading of the will, and I understand that you have obligations at home. But it would be appreciated if you stayed to comfort Theodora.”
I asked Charles to remain after everyone else left the room.
“Dear Charles, I have a delicate matter to discuss with you. How much did Cornelius tell you about Clarissa’s…situation?”
“Theodora, I know how difficult it is for you, but you must try to forget everything that happened with Clarissa.”
“I cannot. I need to know where my grandson is….”
“I believe Cornelius intentionally did not tell me that because he knew you would ask me. Really, I do not know.”
“Have you read the will?”
“Not recently, but the lawyer is bringing his copy. Mine is at home and I haven’t seen it since it was executed. Why do you ask?”
“I wondered whether there were any codicils referring to the child.”
“I don’t know whether there is anything specifically referring to the child, but, yes, I understand that there are amendments to the will.”
The lawyer and accountant arrived the next morning, and Davis directed them to Cornelius’s office. I spoke with the lawyer privately that evening.
“Mr. Harris, did you bring the codicil to my husband’s will?”
“Yes, Mrs. Allen, of course.”
“What is its subject matter?”
“At this stage, I’m not at liberty to discuss these issues.”
“Would you at least tell me whether it relates to my daughter, Mrs. Clarissa Cromwell, and her son?”
“No. The codicil does not concern either of them.”
“How does the will affect Clarissa’s son?”
“I believe I’ve said too much already, ma’am.”
“Mr. Harris, I am not only a grieving widow but a grieving mother and grandmother.”
“Mrs. Allen, I promise you I will work as quickly as I am able to settle the estate so that all your questions might be answered. I will reveal to you that there are certain bequests in the will that will anger some of the beneficiaries. My job will be to ensure that those beneficiaries do not challenge the will and seek its nullification.
“Please understand that I cannot divulge information to anyone, not even to the executor of the will. This is for the protection of the estate, in order that no one tries to waste or abscond with any of the assets. But from what I have read thus far, I believe you will be pleased with the distribution of the estate.”
“I do not care about the financial aspects of the estate as they concern me. I am only concerned about Clarissa’s son.”
“Mrs. Allen, actually, I have a question for you about that matter. I have organized your husband’s documents that were on his desk and in the drawers. When I last met with him, he said he was drafting another codicil and that he had made arrangements about his grandson. But those papers were not here. Do you know where else he kept his documents?”
“No, they would have been in this office. This is where he did his writing. But I will search for them.”
I did not tell the lawyer about the document Cornelius had been drafting that I tore and burned. The lawyer’s query reminded me that, during my first week at Allen Hall, when Cornelius was teaching me about managing the household, he took me to a room in his apartment where he showed me a steel coffer hidden behind a painting. He had given me a key for the lock.
I located the key and went there after speaking with Mr. Harris. Initially Cornelius had kept our jewels in the coffer, but he later had had another one installed in my apartment for that purpose. I had forgotten about the first one. When I opened it, I saw piles of paper currency, gold coins, and a set of documents. My heart beat fast as I learned where Cornelius had sent my grandson. When I had read everything, I had to decide what to reveal about the contents of the coffer to Mr. Harris. He did say that I would be satisfied with the terms of the will, but how might the documents indicating the whereabouts of my grandson modify his conclusion? I was troubled because the lawyer had intimated that some beneficiaries would likely oppose the will, and I had no idea what that might mean in terms of Cornelius’s specific choices. Ultimately I decided to tell Mr. Harris about the papers because I believed him when he said that he would enforce Cornelius’s wishes.
I settled into a comfortable routine of playing with the children, tutoring them, sharing meals with everyone, and receiving guests. About two weeks after Cornelius’s death, however, there was more surprising news: Charles informed me that slave catchers had found Isaac and taken him to Allen Estates. He was being held in the jail on the plantation.
“I read a letter from Cromwell telling Cornelius that Isaac had run. He said that Isaac stole a horse and was probably coming here to get Sarah so they could escape together. Since they brought him here, the overseers beat Isaac to try to learn Sarah’s location, but he maintains that he doesn’t know where she is,” Charles said.
“What are you going to do? Are you sending him back to Julius?”
“I’ll speak with the lawyer about it. Cromwell is more concerned about getting Sarah back.”
“Charles, do you think we should abandon the search for Sarah?”
“No, we can’t. Julius said in his letters that he’s going to file a petition in court and reveal everything if we don’t return her. I think that, if they don’t find her soon, we’ll have to tell Julius that she escaped, of course. And oh, yes, I forgot to tell you that tomorrow afternoon, after dinner, the house servants will be released to go to the fields for Isaac’s public whipping.”
“Why do they have to go?”
“All slaves have to watch the whipping of a runaway who is caught. It teaches them to obey our laws and that, if they try to escape, they too will be severely punished.”
Charles discussed the future of Allen Estates with my sons and me. “As you know, I left my sons and wife to manage our plantation while I’m here, which means that I can stay until harvest begins. But I have to return home soon after that.
“Your mother has never been involved in managing the plantation. Is anyone interested in assuming Cornelius’s place?”
“Well, Uncle Charles, I’m not, because I enjoy being a banker. I really couldn’t see myself as a farmer,” Paul said.
“I agree. I’m not one for working the soil, surrounded by savages,” Robert said.
“Theodora? Are you interested in learning how to run the plantation?”
“No, Uncle Charles, Mama couldn’t do that. And we wouldn’t allow her to stay here by herself.”
“Theodora, Cornelius did an excellent job of teaching the overseers how to manage the plantation, and he showed you how to take care of this house. If you were interested, I could teach you to take his place.”
“Charles, thank you for having such confidence in me, but the truth is, as Cornelius often said, I am more interested in the arts than in commerce. And I could not live here alone.”
“Well, then, we all know what this means. You will have to sell the plantation and the house. There will be a public auction for selling the slaves and livestock.”
The slave catchers arrived at Allen Estates the next day to speak with Charles and me.
“We have unfortunate news to report: we have been unable to recapture your slave.”
“Do you have any idea where she might be?”
“No. We believed that she would go to Macon County, where you said she has friends. We watched them, but Sarah never appeared. We put up notices at places where stagecoaches depart and at boat landings.”
“How far south did you look for her?”
“Our agents went as far as Montgomery. Runaways often go through Wetumpka and Montgomery because of the frequency of steamboat and coach departures, and it’s easier for them to blend in because there are more people there than in most other towns in that region.”
“Why do you think the dogs were not able to track her movements within this plantation?”
“That I don’t understand, Mr. Allen. Our agents let the dogs smell her maid’s dress, but the dogs couldn’t match her scent on the paths. We’re usually able to find out how the slave got out of the plantation, but this time, it was as if she never left her mother’s cabin.”
We consulted with Mr. Harris.
“I assume Mr. Cromwell knows that Mr. Allen and Mrs. Cromwell have passed on?”
“Both deaths were widely reported in the newspapers throughout the Southern states. Why?”
“In his recent letters, Mr. Cromwell hinted that the petition he will file, if you do not return Sarah, is for Mrs. Cromwell’s share of the estate.”
“What? How could that be? He ended the marriage by sending her back.”
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Allen, but legally he did not end the marriage. He could argue in court that his actions were those of a wounded husband.”
“What should we do?”
“I suggest you continue your retainer with the slave catchers and I write Mr. Cromwell a letter telling him about Sarah. I will ask him to allow us to try to find her before he takes any action.”
“And Isaac?”
“I think you should continue to hold him, at least until I receive a reply from Mr. Cromwell. Are you prepared to send Isaac to him?”
“Only if Cromwell does not file a petition.”
“Then there is no reason to send Isaac to him now.”
Charles told the slave catchers to continue their search, and Mr. Harris wrote to Julius. He received a reply several days later.
“He berated Mr. Allen for supposedly allowing Sarah to escape. He’s convinced that Sarah has met Isaac somewhere, and he has launched a search for them, even though I told him that you had already retained a company to search for her.”
“Should we tell him we have Isaac?”
“That is your decision, but please hear what else he said. He said that, if Sarah is not recaptured in two weeks, he will file a petition in the Talladega Circuit Court for Sarah, Isaac, the twenty promised field hands, and Mrs. Cromwell’s share of Mr. Allen’s estate.”
