Saturday, January 18, 1777
- It happened like this: One of Madam's friends told her that she saw Isabel talking to a rebel officer. It also doesn't help that her friend happens to be the biggest gossip in New York City. Her friend saw Isabel take a note from him and it certain it was she because of that blasted mark on her face.
- Madam demands that Isabel give her the note. In an act of defiance, Isabel throws it into the fire, causing Madam to completely lose it and threaten to sell her… along with Ruth.
- Wait a second. Didn't she already sell Ruth? Isabel is wondering the same thing. It turns out that Madam actually still owns her—she couldn't find anyone to buy Ruth, so she sent her to the Lockton estate in Charleston. Madam threatens to tell the estate manager to drown her as a punishment for Isabel's dishonor.
- Madam orders that Isabel be locked in the potato bin until after Queen Charlotte's birthday bash. Isabel feels desperate, but also hopeful since Ruth is alive in a town she could easily travel to. She just has to find a way out. Isabel busts out of her potato prison by kicking away some rotten boards. She has a plan and is determined to put it into action.
- Free from the basement, Isabel goes to Lockton's office, where she takes a map of the colonies and fills out a pass signifying that she is a freed slave. When it comes time to write her name, though, she pauses. She thinks of gardening with Ruth in Rhode Island, and chooses to call herself Isabel Gardener.