Tuesday, July 2—Tuesday, July 9, 1776
- Now that the British have invaded, things are kind of out of control. Madam is super moody and irritable and there's still no word from Bellingham or Regan; even Curzon is nowhere to be seen, which makes Isabel kind of nervous.
- Ten days later, news breaks that the Continental Congress has declared independence from Great Britain. Huzzah. There's some serious partying, cheering, and celebrating in New York and we're pretty sure there's also a lot of guys in three-cornered hats dancing and singing about it. This is Broadway, after all.
- The celebrations only increase when a mob pulls down the city's statue of King George and then chops it up with an axe. The mob decides to melt the lead down and make bullets to fire at the British.
- When Isabel comes home from watching all of this, Becky tells her something quite odd: Madam wants both of the girls to be fed sweet, nourishing food and that Isabel is to get the night off. She even baked them gingerbread and made a sweet milk beverage filled with spices. Isabel wonders if Madam's received a massive head injury, but welcomes the break from her usual moodiness. Meanwhile, we think there's trouble afoot—after all, Madam isn't given to random acts of kindness.
- Isabel wants to use her night off to read a book in the library, but finds that she can't keep her eyes open. She quickly falls asleep, and tells us that she can't ever forgive herself for doing so. Uh oh… This pretty much seals the deal that Madam really was up to something.