Another myth was soon dispensed with, that of drink. Many a long cork of the rosy Vin de Bordeaux was carefully drawn and the wine poured into the waiting crystal, and bottles of champagne were unwired, uncorked, and their sparkling contents offered to all. But although the tongue never remained idle, fine wit was displayed. The news was eagerly discussed, and bons mots flew like arrows, but no hectic face glowed excessively, nor were the laughing eyes dampened with anything other than the dew of happy excitement. It appears that drinking to excess is seldom practised, although the lower orders, the book-keepers and white labourers, regularly fall victim to this vice. I have mixed in society where courtly manners prevail, and where much art is practised to bestow a polished grace, but seldom have more sterling qualities of the mind and native good breeding been displayed than amongst these planters, whose propriety was such that not for one moment did I suspect any of aping their betters.
After the dinner, the ladies were not encouraged to remain long at the table. We retired to the drawing room, where something like conversation took place. Only the most successful among the managers are able to afford a wife. Her duties are most arduous. Distant from markets and the few small civilized comforts that a West Indian town affords, she must survive upon the stock produced from the estate. With careful management this can be comfortably arranged. She must, however, discipline herself to listen to all the stories of the people on the estate, young and old, and the negro children must be closely watched. It is her duty to reward the good and admonish the wicked. Those ladies with small children of their own have still more to do, yet in their personal attention towards their offspring they prove the most responsible and affectionate of parents, different in conduct from the fashionable mothers of England who quickly abandon their progeny to the care of negligent mercenary nurses, thereby depriving the leading youth of England of that natural maternal contact which brings forth the balanced mind. As to the practice of education, there is little to be done but to send the older children to Europe, for a newly arrived governess will soon marry. Either this or risk the children falling into a slothful state of ignorance. In later years the boys seldom return, and should the girls do so it is generally to enjoy the chivalry of local eligible bachelors, all intent upon marriage to any passing creature with a fair skin.
In a little time the gentlemen entered, and befogged the room with tobacco smoke. Soon after, a pair of grinning, facetious negroes busied themselves handing around coffee and cake. Sad to recount, those just beneath the status of plantation manager, the overseers, book-keepers and the like, no matter how large the plantations they labour on, generally have not the means to enable them to make any woman decently comfortable. Salaries as small as £200 per annum are not unusual, with of course provision made for what rum, sugar and salt-fish they require from the estate. These overseers and book-keepers are seldom invited to share a merchant's table, but Arnold's situation is a little happier, since following the departure of Mr Wilson, he has assumed the role of manager. His salary and status were now certainly sufficient to warrant his presence, although I felt strongly that he barely tolerated the excesses of our merchant host in order to assist me in my investigation of the white people and their ways. Indeed, as comfortable and welcome as I was made to feel, I could not help but wonder at the pretentious parade of our city company.
Among the merchants, as distinct from the planters, it is incumbent upon each new host to outdo his predecessor. Furthermore, at the earliest opportunity, newly acquired diamonds and strings of pearls must always be prominently displayed. I was made to understand that it is on the annual occasion of the Governor's Ball that the grand scale of this vulgar extravagance finds its full expression. Female hearts, young and old, beat at the prospect of this eventful night, and the solitary shop which deals in European fashions is crowded with visitors, or their femmes de chambre, demanding lace, tiffany and other materials to occupy the busy fingers of a dozen seamstresses. Plying their needles with breathtaking speed, these tailoresses are called upon to invent ever-increasingly flamboyant flounces, pinkings and furbelows. This addiction to ornament, at the expense of convenience, is at present a strong characteristic of the West Indies, luxuries abounding where decencies are often found to be lacking. It appears that this is the common consequence of a young civilization lacking the constraints of a polite tradition.
I shared some of Arnold's relief as we entered our carriage and prepared for the journey back towards the comparative sanity of our plantation. The convivial season of Christmas lay some weeks hence, but the spirit of goodwill was already in the air. Before we could take our leave large numbers of over-excited negroes gathered about, begging us to give them some remembrancer of the season. This we declined to do, though we did bestow upon each one of them a broad smile. Soon they would receive more tangible rewards, for Arnold informed me that every Christmas the negro enjoys four pounds of pork and two quarters of sugar, with children under twelve receiving half allowance. Often an ox is killed and a fresh portion of meat distributed, and for all the sambos this is a time of great merriment during which they regularly powder each other with flour and play contentedly. Even our negro attendants grinned and joked as we made our way back through the pitch black night, but I did, however, suspect some application of the rum encouraged their joviality.
We had travelled for some minutes beyond Baytown before I realized that we were not making directly for our plantation. I glanced at Arnold who chose not to return my concerned enquiry. This being the case, I decided to submit to the capricious nature of this new adventure. To my right the exotic fraternity of a line of coconut trees determined where land ended and sea began. To my left the light breeze combed through the cane-fields producing a coarse, though not unpleasant, whisper. The moon was bright, though not full, and after turning into a narrow ascending lane, I soon recognized the dark silhouette of Hawthorn Cottage looming ahead. Our negro attendants drew the carriage to a halt, and Arnold provided a supportive arm as I stepped down to the ground. Then, to my surprise, but to my relief also, the servile brace retired into the wilderness of tall grasses and left myself and Arnold quite alone. Arnold's first gesture was to turn and look upon me, which he did politely, but I could read about his manner a desire to touch my face. We stood together, neither one daring to breach the silence, until Arnold cleared his throat as though to speak. But he chose to remain silent. He found the courage, I am happy to say, to make contact, and very soon we felt able to hold each other. Perhaps the heat has introduced some weakness of character into my person, but I must confess to not feeling any guilt as a result of this new intimacy. If the truth be told, the single emotion that came rushing into my body was that of happiness; pure, undistilled, happiness at my good fortune to have discovered a man such as Arnold in the tropical backwater of the Americas.
It often happens in life (and certainly in the novels with which I used to amuse myself in England), that at precisely the moment one expects fortune to smile, clouds of doom descend and obscure that sweet countenance. Not a fortnight has passed by since the merchant's dinner, yet the atmosphere about the plantation has suddenly deteriorated from the levity that one associates with the preparations for Christmas, to sinister intrigue and fear. The goddess Discord has flourished her arms and ushered in wordy war, causing the whole neighbourhood to rise in commotion. The question is the recurrent one of what to do with the recalcitrant African, Cambridge. I have been unable to discover his full history from Stella, for she is reluctant to speak of him, save to inform me in her grotesque lingo that he is a good man and in the right in these continual skirmishes. 'Missy, he good man. You no know what dat man suffer.' Stella did, however, confirm that in spite of all the barriers in his way, this Cambridge is lettered, can read his Bible, and even endeavours to teach it to his fellow blacks, which leads me to conclude that, indeed, this ancient Cambridge is no ordinary negro. Furthermore, it appears to be the case that Mr Brown did in fact offer Cambridge the position of Head Driver as part of his plan to compel some lesser drivers to accept relegation to lowly positions, such as watchmen, and thereby undermine long-established bonds of friendship and loyalty between the field-slaves. Unfortunately, Cambridge refused to collaborate with Mr Brown's scheme. And now this festering conflict has caused some friction between myself and my companion, Stella, though this difficulty merely mirrors the larger conflict between black and white on the plantation.