Bootleg: A Memoir Chapter 3 Chapter 3 -- The Romantic.  I
deliberated a great deal over how to tell this part of my story.
I have decided to err on the side of caution and leave a
discreet gap here in my history. This is not to protect myself,
but to prevent causing undue pain to others, as I will presently
explain.  In short, they sold me into slavery. The very next
morning after Andrew and I were discovered, I was aboard the
same slave ship I'd seen from the observation tower the night
before. Now -- things went on aboard that ship that I have
chosen not to relate, so I will leave a gap where the account of
my captivity should be. Suffice it to say that I do not
understand men who force themselves upon women. I was spared
that because of my noble blood. I realized quickly that my
stepfather had done me the mercy of letting them think that I
was a virgin, and therefore of inestimable value. The other
slave girls resented me because I did not share their pain, and
it is on their account that I choose not to g