During the progress of dinner, Randolph and I talked about the state of affairs at Woodlands.
He asked me a number of questions, all of which I was able to answer fully and truthfully.
Strange to say, he did not ask me a single question about the Federal Officer, Captain Franklin.
When dinner was over and we were in the drawing room, we conversed about the war.
Randolph observed that most of the planters in the Southern States would be ruined if the Federals eventually proved victorious in the struggle. He further said that, though he himself would be hard hit by the abolition of slavery, he fortunately had a large sum of money invested in foreign securities, so that, whatever happened, he would still be comparatively a rich man.
At eleven o’clock he told me to come to bed, adding that he wanted to have a good naked roll with me. I was glad to go to bed, but I did not look forward with pleasure to more lovemaking. However, I followed him meekly upstairs to the bedroom.
After locking the door, he lit all the candles, so that the chamber was brilliantly illuminated.
Then he made me take off all my clothes, doing the same himself. When we were both stark naked, he put his arm round my waist and waltzed round the room with me until I was quite out of breath. All the time, his bare breast was pressed against my naked, palpitating bosom and his stiff member rubbed against my belly. Occasionally he stimulated my flagging steps by applying a smart slap to my bottom.
When he was tired of dancing he lifted me on to the bed. Then, holding me in his arms and twining his legs around mine, he rolled over and over, clasping me in a tight embrace, finally finishing up by laying me on my back and sabering me lustily.
The deed done, he allowed me to put on my chemise-I had no nightdress-and to get between the sheets, where he soon followed me. I thought that he was done with me, but I was very much mistaken. He was in great form, so I got very little sleep. He kept playing with me at short intervals all night, besides poking me thrice in different positions each time.
It was late the next morning when we got up, and it was noon before we had finished breakfast. Randolph left the house on some business or other, while I sent for my dressmaker and ordered a fresh stock of frocks, hats and bonnets. I then went out shopping and bought a full supply of dainty undergarments, silk stockings and shoes. Randolph always liked me to be prettily dressed, and he never objected to paying the bills for the clothes which adorned me. But he did not give me much money to spend; in fact he was rather stingy.
In a few days I was completely fitted out again, and was able to go out with him by day or night, wherever he wished me to accompany him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
A few weeks passed. Randolph had paid a visit to Woodlands and had found that everything on the plantation was in a most neglected state, but that the house had been kept in order by Dinah and the other women. When he came back, he brought me my jewelry.
A week after his return, the battle of Fair Oaks was fought. The Federal troops drew closer to Richmond, and everything in the city became more dull and wretched than ever. On my former visits I had liked the place well enough, for it had been brisk and lively and there always was something to be seen. But now there were no amusements of any sort. The shadow of the war was over everything and everybody. It was a dreary place to live in. I was very tired of it, and I much rather would have been at Woodlands.
Randolph also had grown very tired of Richmond and of the everlasting fighting which was going all around and which never seemed to be decisive in any way, though hundreds of lives on both sides were sacrificed. At last he made up his mind to leave the South altogether and to go to New York, taking me with him. So he told me to pack up, and to be ready to start in a week’s time. I was delighted to receive the order, and I soon had everything in perfect readiness.
The day of our departure arrived. We left Richmond and in due course reached New York. As it turned out, we had left the city just in the nick of time, for, a few days after our departure, the place was regularly invested by the United States Troops, and, after that, it became a difficult matter for persons, even if they were non-combatants, to pass through the Federal lines.
We put up at one of the best hotels in New York, and, for a time, I was as happy as a woman in my precarious position could be. I was away from the dreadful fighting. I could come and go as I liked without any fear of being whipped by lynchers or outraged by bushwhackers. I had plenty of pretty clothes of all sorts and also a considerable amount of jewelry.
Randolph frequently took me to places of amusement, and I saw that I always was admired.
He was fairly kind to me and he gave me more money to spend than he ever had given me before. I was delighted to have escaped the horrid Slave States, and I was glad to know that I never again should see a poor slave woman writhing in agony and shrieking for mercy while her naked bottom was being wealed by the switch or striped by the strap or blistered by the paddle. I had determined, whatever happened, never to go back to the South.
The weeks slipped by. Randolph had made a number of friends, both male and female, so I saw very little of him by day and he very frequently stayed away from me all night. I knew that he went with other women-in fact, he made no secret of his amours-but the knowledge of them did not trouble me in the least.
I took a poke from him whenever he chose to give me one, but I never tried to get him to embrace me. I had a number of admirers myself, and could have had plenty of poking had I wished, but I was always faithful to Randolph, not from any feeling of honor towards him, but simply because I did not care for strange men. (At that time there was no necessity for me to allow myself to be poked if I did not wish to be. Captain Franklin was the only man who ever had had me with my own consent during the whole time I lived with Randolph.) As the days passed, I saw less and less of Randolph, and, even when he was with me, he never touched me in any way. Meanwhile, his manner towards me became very cold, though he never was actually rude to me. I guessed what it all meant. He had grown tired of me, and I had a presentiment that he soon would turn me adrift. However, I always had known that our relations would come to an end sooner or later, and that then I should have to do what many a woman has had to do when she has found herself deserted by the man by whom she has been ruined.
Before long, Randolph gave me the news which I had been expecting. One morning, after an absence of three days, he came to me and said that he had something to tell me. My heart gave a jump. I knew what he was about to say, but I made no remark.
He said: I am going to Europe with a party of friends, so I cannot take you with me. In fact, Dolly, the time has come for us to part altogether. But, though I am leaving you, it is not through any fault of yours. You have always been a good-natured girl and you have done whatever I asked you. Therefore I wish to do the best I can for you. I intend to buy you a little house and to furnish it well for you. I also will give you a sum of money to start with. You are only twenty-two years of age, you have a pretty face and a very good figure. You also have lots of good clothes and a quantity of jewelry. You soon will make friends and I am quite sure that you will manage to get on very well here in New York.
It was a hard way of putting the matter before me and the tears rose to my eyes. But nevertheless I felt a certain amount of gratitude to him for what he intended to do for me. He had ruined me, but he might have cast me off with nothing at all. I thanked him, and he gave me a short kiss, saying that he would take me out next day to look for a house. He then went away, leaving me to think over my future prospects.