Tucker waited. He asked, "And what?"

Raising one of her pencil-thin eyebrows, she said, "And his wife is getting a baby from it."

"So what?"

Throwing her spoon down to the table, Claudia shouted at him, "So what? WeD, big shot, do you see any babies sitting around my table? Keeping me company?"

Tucker's face whitened. "Why, you bitch. You dirty mean bitch."

Closing her eyes, Claudia haughtily said, "And don't try to push me into bed with Porkchop so he can do your work. Don't try on me what you tried on Tommy Joe Crandall's wife, because I ain't that dumb."

Tucker roared, "That was your idea."

"It was my idea to make some goddamned money for us," she shouted at him.

Narrowing his eyes at her, Tucker said, "Good. Good, then. You wanting a baby means you're good and over your 'woman's ague.' " He said it with contempt.

"I ain't saying I want a baby now.'" She was beginning to squirm.

"No, no. You cussed me, woman, and so I'm going to 235.

fix you." He pointed his finger at her. "I'm going to make you eat your words."

Throwing up her chin, Claudia said, "I ain't afraid of you."

Selby offered to send for a doctor from New Orleans to stay in the big house until Melissa's child was born. But Melissa laughed at the idea. She considered it a waste of money and a doctor's precious time. Melissa insisted that Storky should be the person to deliver her baby.

Storky and Mama Gomorrah had both midwifed most of the black babies born on the Star. But neither of the Negresses had ever attended the birthing of a white child.

Such an honor first filled Storky with pride, then consternation, and during the last weeks of Melissa's pregnancy, Storky transformed into a completely different person. She broke bowls and pitchers in the kitchen. She forgot to salt the greens, and she let the milk spoil in the sun. She could think about nothing but helping Melissa in her hour of mothering.

True to form, though, Storky rose to the occasion when she was needed.

It came on an afternoon when Melissa and Storky were working side-by-side at the kitchen table shelling peas.

Peter was digging a well with two workers near the Shed, and Albert Selby was sitting in his study with Judge Antrobus. Although the judge had taken to visiting the Star now that Rachel was gone, Selby still bad many reasons to ride off and visit him. Melissa was thankful that her father had a good friend, as well as a legal adviser, in Judge Antrobus. She urged him to take his afternoon rides from the Star to meet with Judge Antrobus.

Storky was in the middle of berating Biddy for spending too much time with Posy and shirking her kitchen duties when Melissa calmly set her pan down on the table. She told Storky that she thought Jier moment had come.

236.

Biddy instantly began to scream and run toward the back door.

Storky grabbed Biddy by her mass of pigtails and set her to work boiling water, cutting linen, finding the shears.

Next she shouted to Ruben's successor as kitchen boy, Cajun, and dispatched him to bnng Peter to the house. And during all this, Storky was leading Melissa from the kitchen, through the dining room, out across the entry hall.

As Storky and Melissa made their way to the stairs, she also managed to shout to Selby and Judge Antrobus. They had both rushed out of the study at the sound of the noise, but Storky told them that she did not need two old men under her feet at a moment like this.

Stoically Storky led Melissa up, up, up the winding staircase, stopping to ask her if she could still walk.

Meiissa bravely nodded her head, her pale face beaded with drops of perspiration. And Storky continued to lead her up, up, up the stairs again, beginning now to unbutton the front of Melissa's Mother Hubbard as they slowly moved together.

For the next three hours the circular staircase was the center of traffic and nerves in the big house. Peter arrived breathlessly at the front door with Cajun and ran toward the stairs. He met Biddy coming down the stairs. She airily informed him that Miss Storky had given her strict instructions to keep everyone away from the bedroom. Everyone. Biddy's fear of childbearing had been replaced by her new appointment as the carrier-of-the-news.

Next, Selby and Judge Antrobus emerged again from the study, wondering if they could go upstairs now, asking Peter if he had heard any news about the developments.

Peter shook his head, his brown face looking haggard with worry, a long fringe of black hair hanging in shanks of perspiration over his eyes. He was still wearing workclothes, and his open nankeen shirt showed grime on his bare chest and his breeches clung to his long legs with a soiled dampness.

237.

Nero had come through the back door and appeared at the bottom of the stairs. He asked Peter if he was a father yet.

With increasing nervousness Peter locked his fingers together and sank down on the bottom step. Lowering his head to his hands, he told Nero-everybody-to go away for the moment.

Biddy rushed up the stairs again, followed this time by Posy, both barreling past Peter as if they did not notice him sitting there.

Selby and Judge Antrobus emerged from the study for a third time. They invited Peter to come in and join them for a whiskey and listen to a plan that the judge had suggested to Selby-now that Peter was giving Selby a grandchild, Selby should give him something.

Peter begged them to wait, to hold any plans for him and Melissa and a grandchild until. . .

A noise suddenly rilled the stairwell. It was the first cry of a newly born baby.

All three men-Peter, Selby, the judge-rushed up the stairs.

Biddy met them at the top, and folding her skinny arms in front of her flat chest, she said, "Miss Storky says you ain't to come in yet. None of you. But Miss Storky says to tell you-"

"What is it?" Selby shouted.

"How's Melly?" asked Peter.

Judge Antrobus blared, "Blast it, you nigger brat, say what you're meant to say."

Closing her eyes and throwing back her headful of pigtails, Biddy announced, "Miss Melissa is just fine and dandy after birthing a sweet little baby girl, but Miss Storky says ..." Then she raised her finger to her pink lips and whispered, "Shhh!"

At the news, Selby and Peter threw their arms around each other, shouting and crying and shouting even louder.

Looking at this happy scene of a father-in-law and son-in-law, a new father and a proud grandfather- "Father" and "Sonny"-Judge Antrobus thought of the plan he had been discussing with Selby in the study.

238.

Albert Selby was deeding the plantation over to PeterAbdee and his family.

At the top of the house, after Biddy's announcement that Melissa had given birth to a baby girl, the door suddenly closed to Ta-Ta's attic room. Standing breathlessly in front of the closed door, Ta-Ta whispered, "It's a girl, Mistress Honore. It's a girl. Young Master Peter just fathered a girl."

Tears of happiness began streaming down Ta-Ta's sallow cheeks, and sniffing, she lifted the tankard of rum to her lips.

As the rum warmed her chest, Ta-Ta began to think about what Honore Jubiot would have wished to give to her son on this occasion. Madame Honore would want her son to be happy, Ta-Ta thought, and . . . secure!

Security meant money. Money came from treasures. And then Ta-Ta thought about the riches that her mistress had taken from Dragonard. The trunks that Ta-Ta herself had buried in east Florida. The treasures of Dragonard. She remembered where-by what trees -she had buried them in the forest.

Looking around the attic room, Ta-Ta studied the drawings on the walls for an empty space where she could begin drawing a map for finding the trunks.

She would begin the map now. Those trunkfuls of necklaces and gold would make a fine present someday for Master Peter and his children.

Taking another drink of rum, Ta-Ta moved for her wax crayons.

Word soon spread around the plantation that there was a baby girl in the big house. This news was received warmly in Niggertown.

The black people in Niggertown loved Melissa, even if they seldom saw her. Melissa was like a queen to them, an aloof but kindhearted ruler.

The slaves had already heard that Mistress Melissa had wanted to give a beautiful new name to Niggertown. This story had come from Melissa's most ardent admirer, Storky.

239.

Although the people saw no practical advantages for changing the name of the slave quarters, they loved Melissa even more for wanting to give them something beautiful. They had so little of it in their drab lives.

But there was one Negress in Niggertown who calmly considered what Melissa and her new child meant precisely to her own life.

It was Lilly. She had heard many stories about white people. The topic of white people's lives intrigued the Negroes. They whiled away their nights gossiping about the white people's private affairs.

According to one story that Lilly had heard, when a white woman has a child, she no longer likes to make love with her husband; white women do not make love for pleasure.

Lilly was wondering these days if Peter would want to lie again with her. She knew by her womanly instincts that he had enjoyed their one time together. She wondered if Master Peter would want her again now.

Opinions in Niggertown also held that if a white man chose a black girl for his regular wench, the black girl often received many favors on the plantation.

There were histories, too, of black wenches often moving to the big house to be closer to their white lovers.

So Lilly thought now of which way her life could go.

Monk had spoken to her about buried money. He had asked her to run away with him from the Star.

But did Lilly want to risk that? Even if Monk did have money, did she want to live a life of running?

Or did she want to hold out for a comfortable existence in the big house?

Lilly knew one thing. She knew that she wanted to get out of Niggertown. She wanted to move away from the one-room shack that she shared with nine other people.

Peter had not spoken to her since their one night together, almost a year ago now.

But, by the same token, Monk had not yet shown her any of the buried money about which he had bragged. Monk stood above the ordinary black, slaves on the Star 240.

by living with the Tuckers. But Lilly saw how he was controlled by Chad and Claudia Tucker. They often treated him with more disdain than a field hand.

Master Peter was free. And he already had money.

Lilly thought seriously about Peter and Monk. With which man were her chances best? The black one or the white one? The master or the pushed-around slave?

16.Caught in Gomorrah

The prospect of Albert Selby relinquishing his hold on the Star shocked Melissa. She could not understand why he would want to deed the plantation to her and Peter.

But the matter of changing its name to something other than "the Star" totally escaped her comprehension. Selby was insisting on doing that, too, and Melissa could not understand his reasoning at all.

Names. Melissa and Peter had had a difficult time trying to find a name for their daughter. Melissa did not want a name from the Roland family, and Peter did not wish to use the sole name-Honore-that he knew from his family. They both wanted a fresh start.

Imogen Abdee was six months old when her Grandfather Selby pressed Melissa and Peter to listen to his plans for the Star.

Selby explained to Melissa and Peter, "The Star is the name of a Roland place. 1 married into it."

Selby, Melissa, and Peter were all sitting in the dining room eating breakfast. They were back to their schedule of early mornings and long days of work.

Seated at his usual position of honor at the head of the long table, Selby continued to Melissa and Peter, "You say you want a fresh start. So let me help you do that. Call your home by your own new name."

Melissa still protested at the idea. She asked, "But what's the matter with 'the Star'?"

Resting his liver-spotted hand on top of Melissa's small hand, Selby tried to explain in a softer voice, 241.

242.

"Melly, for years I heard nothing but: 'The Star! The Star! The Star! The Peregrine Rolands and the Star!' Your mother-God rest her soul-hated, would rather burst a blood vessel in anger than to admit that the days of the Rolands were over. But they were! And . . . well, if your mother had not married a man who had a nose for the soil, this place might not be here right now. Oh, I was a worker when I was young. You might wonder now, seeing me turning a blind eye to things-"

Melissa protested, "You don't turn a blind eye, Papa!"

Peter sat silently, impressed with the old man for admitting his faults. He did believe that Selby had toiled hard in his prime. The Star was a testament-a relic, but a testament, all the same-to Selby's former ardor and ambition.

Selby continued, "So, any work that went into the place, I want it to be for my people. Not for the ghosts of some old Roland geezers your mother went cock-a-hoop over, but for the young ones I seen grown up here. I want this place to be for you, Melly, for Sonny here, for little Imogen, and who ever else you've got coming."

Melissa and Peter looked quickly at each other, a glimmer of pride in their eyes. Melissa was pregnant again. She and Peter wanted to have a big family.

In an empty voice, both its tone and the words surprising Melissa and Peter, Selby said, "Ro . . . your brother, Roland, left the Star by his own free choice. He left with not even a so-long or a hoot. He just left us. The Star's not going to be sitting around waiting for him to come back to, not with his family." Selby's green eyes glazed with anger, thinking of his son eloping with a Witcherley.

Peter's question rescued Selby from his hatred. "Did you have any particular name in mind, Father? What would you-like to see the Star called?"

Selby took a deep breath, beginning, "That depends on what you and Melly agree. But Judge Antrobus and me. . ."

As Selby paused, staring at his empty breakfast plate, Melissa and Peter exchanged another quick look, a 243.

glance of merriment at the fact that Selby and his crony had undoubtedly settled that point between themselves.

"The Judge and me talked all this over, seeing the legal sides of the matter and what not," Selby said, slowing his words as if he were merely passing time until he got to the important detail, "and we both agree that you should be taken into consideration, Sonny."