“This is no laughing matter, Mr. Bailey,” a stern voice interposed. “They know you have worked with us. You are a known Abolitionist!”
Gamaliel Bailey flicked a bit of non-existent dust from his waistcoat, and gave a soft laugh.
“Once a Virginia Bailey, always a Virginia Bailey! Have no fear, Mr. Hunton,” he said. He caught sight of Frederick’s dark face lifting itself among them. His eyes lit up. “This must be the new agent of whom I’ve been hearing.”
“Yes,” several said at once. “It’s Frederick Douglass.”
Their handclasp was a promise. “I go to Washington now, so that you can come later,” said the Virginian.
“And I’ll be along!” promised Frederick Douglass.
William Lloyd Garrison did not smile. His face was clouded with apprehension. “You’ll need help,” he said.
“It is best that I find my help in Washington. I know one young man whom I can count on. Jack Haley. He’ll bring me all the news. You know, I think I’ll publish a paper!” He grinned. “Since they won’t let the Liberator in, we’ll see if I can’t get a paper out.”
So it happened that Jack Haley was not on the dock to meet Amelia’s boat from St. Michaels. The weekly issue of the National Era had hit the streets the day before, and scattered like a bomb all up and down Pennsylvania Avenue. In Congress, on the streets and in the clubs they raged! Here was heresy of the most dangerous order, printed and distributed within a stone’s throw of the Capitol. It was enough to make God-fearing Americans shudder when the son of such an old and respected family as the Virginia Baileys flaunted the mongrel elements in their faces. They did shudder, some of them. And grinning reporters ran from one caucus to the other.
Jack was much younger than his cousin Tom. He remembered Tom’s wife with affection. Her letters had intrigued him, and he was glad she was coming to Washington.