Madam is thrilled-and one night, she decides it’s time to change how she treats Isabel and Ruth. Soon after, British ships drop anchor in the harbor. Though the Patriots hang a man for his involvement in the plot, Lockton escapes the city, and Madam continues to threaten Ruth. Madam believes Ruth is possessed by demons and threatens to sell her, so Isabel takes a list of those involved in the plot to kill Washington to the Patriot Captain Regan. Then, Ruth has a seizure in front of Madam. Weeks later, Isabel hears that Lockton and his friends are plotting to assassinate General Washington. Isabel passes this information to Curzon, but when Bellingham comes to look for the money, he can’t find it. Isabel is then called to serve Lockton and his friends-and she discovers that Lockton has a chest of money that he plans to use to bribe Patriots. Upon learning Isabel’s name at this point, Madam renames Isabel Sal.
One day, Isabel is called to introduce herself to Lady Seymour, Lockton’s wealthy aunt. Isabel, meanwhile, manages to make Ruth a new doll out of cornhusks. Madam begins dressing Ruth in fancy clothes and always keeps Ruth with her. The paid maid, Becky, coaches Isabel on how to protect herself and Ruth: do exactly what Madam says. She begins work in the Lockton home, which is huge and lavish, and she plants her seeds in the garden. Isabel initially refuses-she doesn’t care about the war, just about figuring out how to free and protect herself and Ruth. He asks Isabel to spy on the Locktons, who are Loyalists, and in exchange for information Bellingham might free Isabel and Ruth. Curzon explains that his master, Bellingham, is a Patriot-and the Patriots will free slaves. Immediately upon arriving in New York, Isabel meets an enslaved boy, Curzon. Isabel will help in the kitchen, and since Ruth is “simple,” she’ll be “an amusement in the parlor.” Isabel is distraught: the Locktons live in New York, which means she and Ruth will have to leave behind the ghosts of their parents, Momma and Poppa, since ghosts can’t cross water. But she brings some seeds Momma saved, though she doesn’t know what they’ll become.Īt a tavern in Newport, a wealthy Loyalist couple, Master Lockton and Madam Lockton, purchase the girls. Being enslaved, Isabel can’t even bring Ruth’s rag doll-she doesn’t own it. Robert, takes the girls to Newport to sell them. But since the will is missing, Isabel can’t prove she’s free.
Miss Finch stipulated in her will that the girls would be freed upon her death. Thirteen-year-old Isabel and her five-year-old sister, Ruth, are enslaved-but Isabel believes they’ll be free, since the girls’ owner, Miss Mary Finch, has just died.
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