and after eight months john richardson came a-knocking quietly on essie 's bedroom door , and asked her for favors of the kind a woman shows a man , and essie told him how shocked and hurt she was , a poor widow woman , and an indentured servant no better than a slave , to be asked to prostitute herself for a man whom she had had so much respect for-and an indentured servant could not marry , so how he could even think to torment an indentured transportee girl so she could not bring herself to think-and her nut-brown eyes filled with tears , such that richardson found himself apologizing to her , and the upshot of it was that john richardson wound up , in that corridor , of that hot summer 's night , going down on one knee to essie tregowan and proposing an end to her indenture and offering his hand in marriage .