The baby’s crying in the next room and here in the corner sleeps a little lad just about Freddie’s age. He’s curled in a tight knot and his hair is falling over his face. It’s not as round as I remember Freddie’s, nor are his legs as plump. This house isn’t as big as our little place in New Bedford and there are four children! But tonight they’re all happy. The weavers carried on as if John and I had given them the world! My hand shakes as I think of it. We brought a goose and a few toys for the children. You should have seen their eyes! Tomorrow we will feast! How I wish you could share this with me. They’re letting me borrow their little ones. But my heart cannot but be anxious for my own. Are you well and are the children well? I enclose some money. Enough, I hope, for your most urgent needs. But my real Christmas present to you is news that will make you very happy. Friends here are raising money to purchase my freedom--seven hundred and fifty dollars! The Misses Richardson, sweet sisters in Newcastle, have written to Mr. Walter Forward of Philadelphia, who will seek out Captain Auld and ask what he will accept for my person. He will tell my former master that I am now in England and that there is no possibility of my being taken. There can be little doubt that under the circumstances the Captain will name his price--and be very glad to get it! So, dear Anna, soon this separation will be at an end. I will return to you and to my dear children, in fact and before the law, a free man. The writer sat for a few moments regarding that last line. Anna’s eyes would shine when she read it. For an instant her face was there. Then the child stirred in his sleep. Frederick rose and straightened the little limbs on the cot. His hands were very tender. * * * * * “Frederick! I believe you’ve grown,” Garrison beamed. He had just arrived in London from America. John Bright nodded. “He is a big man,” he said. Garrison whisked Frederick away to Sir John Bowring’s castle where they had been asked for over New Year’s. Sir John had represented England as Minister to China. He was a brilliant talker and drew about himself a circle of literary friends. On New Year’s Eve, Douglass stood at a table covered with fine linen and old silver. He held in his hand a crystal glass and drank another toast: “The Queen! God bless her!” They were all back in London for the opening of Parliament. Robert Peel on the side of the people! A great day for England! As if to honor the auspicious occasion the fog blew away during the night, and January 22, 1846, dawned clear and bright like a spring day. People poured into the streets and lined Pall Mall. The Queen was coming! They crowded into Cannon Row and Parliament Street and surrounded Westminster Hall and Parliament. The Queen was coming!