Since the arrival of Lady Barrington at Chanter’s House Mrs. Tenterchilt had struggled to come to terms with the two worlds in which she had found herself. She had never given any thought to the lifestyle her brother had adopted in the West Indies, nor the equality of black and white men, but having found and enjoyed the companionship of Lady Barrington she had spent several weeks trying to discern the correct moral code. She had decided to regard black men and women as equal to white and, to this end, had begun discussing the matter with her daughters so that they might never find the integration of black men and women as confusing as she had done.

“But Uncle Thomas calls them savages,” Arabella pointed out. “And he knows them very well, for he owns many.”

“But he has...

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