O'hara's Choice - Leon Uris [45]
Matthew cracked a smile. “Once they felt they were trusted and would not be subjected to monthly audits, the larceny began.”
“What about Miss Daisy?”
“I took the ledgers to Miss Daisy every month to sign off on them. She didn’t want to be bothered. The Leamingtons didn’t figure I could read, but I watched the expenses balloon. I didn’t say anything because I never wanted my black ass whipped again.”
Jesus!
Horace stared at the new Matthew Fancy, seeing an entirely different . . . well, person . . . yes, person. Horace had a finely honed ability to spot mediocre talent, as he had in his brothers and nephews. He had kept them in mediocre positions, but Matthew Fancy was better than the whole lot.
Conversely, when he came across that rare bird with brilliant feathers, he’d win his trust and reward him. Horace never thought of Matthew in normal terms. Matthew could be developed into a first-class piece of personnel. Horace was not going to lose him, despite his color.
“I envision a bright future for you here at Inverness, beyond your wildest dreams.”
“Mr. Kerr, you cannot possibly know what my dreams are.”
Horace was talking, not listening. “This will be a big job, maybe without an official title, but I will send over a top executive from the yard to assist you. You’re perfect, folks will listen to you. They respect you.”
“I do not wish to be a black overseer.”
“Manager, Matthew, manager. Overseers are for fieldhands. We have no disciplinary problems here and you can keep it that way. What do we have at Inverness, sixty or so full-time people, butlers, maids, cooks, gardeners, laundry workers, stable hands, security? These are not agricultural people. Make that a hundred folks including the nonworking children, pregnant women, ill and injured, old folks. Slavery was no good, but I have been on the decent side of it. I’ve allowed families to live together. I’ve never gone in for whippings. I will continue to house everyone, enlarge your personal plots, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. These benefits will come to a rather staggering sum.”
“Up to seventy-eight dollars a slave, a year,” Matthew said quietly.
“What about wages?” Horace countered. “Four to eight dollars a month per worker.”
“Mr. Kerr, if you paid all of the people at Inverness for the rest of their lives, it would be more than covered by seventeen days’ profit from the shipyard.”
Jesus!
Matthew Fancy’s calculation came to within a whisper of what Horace and his chief accountant had figured.
“It could seem a little strange to you now, but once you get your induction—,” Horace began.
“I’ve had my induction,” Matthew interrupted. “Permanent stripes over my back. Let me ask you one question, does freedom mean that free Negroes will be able to work at the Kerr shipyard?”
Horace squashed his cigar in an alabaster ashtray and folded his chubby fingers together in the style of a high boss.
“The first time I give a Negro a job at Dutchman’s Hook, the Irish workers, thinking I freed the slaves to get cheaper labor, will riot. God knows how many Negroes will be killed, lynched, burned out, whatnot. I am freeing your people to say that Horace Kerr believes in the Union, and Baltimore and Maryland must remain in the Union.”
“What are your true reasons, Mr. Kerr?”
“This war is being engaged to preserve the United States. As time passes, it will take on the real and most powerful meaning, abolishing slavery in America. Bear in mind, white boys are dying on the battlefield every day and the scars will take years, decades, to heal and can only be healed by the cooperation of enlightened men.”
“The white boys who are dying for the Union hate us.”
Horace Kerr had never seen a fiercer negotiator. The stink of slavery would not conveniently flow away on the next tide. The time has come to quit the bullshit, he thought.
Horace’s eyes teared. “I need you, Matthew, and Daisy needs Laveda.”
Matthew was stunned. He never believed such words would find their way out of a white man’s belly. Horace played his ace.
“If you stay, I will hire the finest teacher money