Lawson's Castle
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A Liverpool clock struck one o'clock in the morning. A carriage drew up and parked under a shade tree at the side of a dignified estate structured in the style of Robert Adam with columns and balcony. The one occupant pulled his cape over his head, jumped down from the carriage, stealthily ran to the side of the mansion, and tried the windows. He found one unlocked and quickly lowered himself inside the building. With catlike quietness and precision he walked to the drawing room where stood the Lion Desk, his goal. He braced himself for the big lift. The desk refused to move with his efforts. Kneeling on the floor, he felt the strong feet of the desk with his gloved hands. Then he raised one foot of the desk an inch. The foot failed to move higher. His finger touched a chain. He felt strong disappointment. Checked again, he thought. The floor creaked under him as he righted himself against the desk. The sound disturbed him so that he fled through the same window he had entered without closing it. He ran across the yard, leaped upon the carriage seat, and disappeared into the darkness. It was on an afternoon in May of 1823 that the letter came from Christopher Lawson. Rallings, the concierge of the Worthington Estate in Liverpool, placed the letter on the intricately carved rich mahogany Lion Desk in the drawing room with the rest of the mail. This desk served as the customary depository for all mail for the master and mistress. It received its name from the two carved reclining lions that formed the base of the desk. Clara, the housekeeper, was busily dusting the carved furniture in the drawing room when she saw her husband bring in the mail and leave. Curiously she approached the desk and sorted the mail. There it lay, the letter postmarked Barbados. The envelope read: To Master James and Mistress Vashti Worthington Worthington Estate--Harbor View Road Liverpool, England "Oh, the dear mistress would want to read this right away," Clara told herself aloud. Waving the letter in her hand, she hurriedly mounted the spiral staircase leading to the second floor of the estate and Vashti's bedroom, one of the six large bedchambers on that floor. Vashti's room was opposite her brother's room on the south side. When the letter arrived, Vashti was seated in her white Chippendale chair by one of the three windows overlooking the River Mersey.
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About the Book
LAWSON’S CASTLE describes the freeing of the slaves of the British Empire, and in particular, on the island of Barbados in the Caribbean Sea. Vashti, the wife of Christopher Lawson, at the peril of her life, eventually reveals the secrets of the castle and the activities of her shipwrecked husband. The book shows how a woman, with the strength and right use of the scriptures, can have courage to overcome all obstacles and forgive those who trespass against her. This book is based on the life of Sam Lord, who owned such a castle on Barbados. The author’s royalties for the book will help mainly the Memphis School of Preachin.
About the Author
Virginia Winbourn Thomson is a writer, novelist, and award winning poet. Her poems, many dealing with her favorite subjects, religion and history, have been published in numerous anthologies. She has written one other historical novel, THE LION DESK, and is the editor of SHORT TALKS AROUND THE LORD’s TABLE written by her father, Harry Linn Thomson. She is a lifelong educator whose religious reasoning and deep faith fill her teaching and the pages of her writing.