This time, Constance Cartwright issued an ultimatum. The second pregnancy risked damaging her reputation. Elias was well aware of this. His respectability depended on discretion. He contacted William Hadley, a Savannah merchant who owed him money. The arrangement was simple: the debt would be canceled in exchange for buying Dinina and leaving Charleston.
But Elias added one last condition.
The minimum price would be nineteen cents.
This figure was deliberate. It guaranteed humiliation. It signaled to buyers that Dinina was damaged merchandise. It incited cruelty.
William Hadley transported Dinina to Savannah in early November. She traveled for two days, strapped to the back of a cart. On the night of November 6, she was placed in a cell beneath the auction house, a damp stone room that reeked of mold and despair. She didn’t sleep a wink. Sitting with her back against the wall, her hands resting on her stomach, she felt the child move.
The following morning, she was brought to the platform.
Cyrus Feldman read the description aloud. Female. Twenty-two years old. Pregnant. Housework. Starting price: nineteen cents.
The crowd reacted instantly. Questions flew, suspicions were voiced. Most of the shoppers turned back. Three men remained.
William Hadley, bound to honor his commitment. Thornton Graves, owner of a plantation renowned for its brutality. And an unknown man, standing in the background, his face hidden by a wide-brimmed hat.
The bidding began cautiously. Nineteen cents. Twenty-five. One dollar. Graves raised the bid, relishing the attention. Hadley countered, uneasy. The stranger remained silent.
As the price climbed, the crowd surged forward. This was no longer an ordinary sale. Something else was going on.
When the stranger finally spoke, his voice was imbued with calm authority. Ten dollars. Then twenty. Then fifty. Then one hundred.
Thornton Graves reacted vigorously. Two hundred. Five hundred.
At a thousand dollars, Hadley withdrew. The stranger and Graves faced each other across the crowd, neither willing to give in. At twelve hundred dollars, Graves stopped.
The foreigner won.
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