Part 3
Isabel overhears a plot to kill Washington and trades it to Colonel Regan for a promise he never keeps.
Serving and WaitingLockton comes home from jail to find Madam packing for Charleston, and they fight furiously. For two weeks he entertains loyalist friends while Isabel serves and listens; the blame for his arrest has landed on a friend who already fled, and nobody suspects the girl with the tea. Nobody frees her either, so she rights the cellar, twists Ruth a cornhusk doll, and plants her mother's seeds.
The Library PlotOn June twenty-second, Madam sends Isabel in with refreshments to learn what her husband is hiding, so a girl neither side notices hears the plan settled. Bribery has failed and independence is days away, so the men agree to assassinate General George Washington, cut New York off from the other colonies, and end the rebellion. Lockton insists every man who knows be written on a list.
Ruth and the BroomA scream comes from the kitchen. Ruth is having a seizure — a sudden storm of electrical activity in the brain — and Madam, calling it the devil, beats her with a broom. Lockton stops it and overrules the demand that Ruth be sold. That night Isabel decides she cannot wait for rescue.
Hickey HangsOn Sunday Isabel carries the list to Colonel Regan at the Battery and offers the plot for her freedom and Ruth's; he promises to look into it, tells her to replace the list, and gives her a password, ad astra, Latin for to the stars. Nothing comes. The conspiracy is uncovered, Lockton escapes the city inside a cheese crate, and on June twenty-eighth Thomas Hickey hangs for treason. Regan never appears; Isabel covers Ruth's eyes, then her own.
| Section | What you will practice |
|---|---|
| Vocabulary | The language of a divided city: loyalist, conspiracy, treason, bribe, allegiance… |
| Literary Elements | Dramatic irony built out of a servant nobody watches, foreshadowing planted in a promise that costs nothing to make, and a motif of locks, keys, and things carried out of a house |
| Cross-Curricular | Loyalists and patriots — how a single city split in 1776, who chose which side and why, what committees and loyalty oaths did to neighbors, and what a loyalist stood to lose |
| Ch. | What happens |
|---|---|
| Chapter 13 · June 8–21, 1776 | The House After the Arrest — Lockton walks back in to find Madam packing for Charleston, and the quarrel that follows sends objects flying. For the next two weeks he receives loyalist visitors while Isabel serves and listens. She learns the blame fell on a friend who had already run, tidies the cellar, twists Ruth a cornhusk doll, and plants her mother’s seeds. |
| Chapter 14 · June 22, 1776 | The List of Names — Lockton shuts himself in the library with the mayor of New York and other loyalists, and Madam — wanting her own share of the secret — sends Isabel in with refreshments. The bribes have failed and independence is coming, so the men agree to have General Washington killed. Lockton demands a written list, and Isabel carries the names out just as a scream rises from the kitchen. |
| Chapter 15 · June 22, 1776 | The Devil in the Kitchen — The scream is Madam’s. Ruth is in the grip of a seizure on the kitchen floor, and Madam, insisting the devil is in her, beats the child with a broom. Lockton comes in and stops it, then refuses his wife’s demand that Ruth be sold, on the plain ground that the household needs her. |
| Chapter 16 · June 23, 1776 | Ad Astra — Isabel decides the conspiracy is her one bargaining chip. She lifts the list from Lockton’s desk, walks to the Battery, and tells Colonel Regan everything, asking freedom for herself and Ruth in return. He promises to look into it, orders her to replace the list and act normally, and hands her a password for getting back into the camp. |
| Chapter 17 · June 23–28, 1776 | The Cheese Crate — Isabel keeps listening and hears nothing from Regan, while Madam’s threats against Ruth grow louder. A co-conspirator brings word that the plot is out. After one more fight with his wife, Lockton folds himself into a crate built for hauling cheese and rides out of the city. Soldiers search the house too late, and Becky reports that a soldier named Hickey talked. |
| Chapter 18 · June 28, 1776 | The Hanging — Thomas Hickey is executed for treason before a vast crowd. Isabel brings Ruth, hoping to catch Colonel Regan and force him to keep his promise, but he never shows. Curzon appears and hoists Ruth onto his shoulders for a better view. When the moment comes, Isabel shields Ruth’s eyes and shuts her own. |
ⓘ The vocabulary words in this list are selected to help you understand and complete this workbook. Some may not appear verbatim in the original novel.
- Ruth collapses in the kitchen and Madam beats her with a broom.
- Isabel carries the stolen list of names to Colonel Regan.
- Lockton comes home to find Madam packing trunks for Charleston.
- Thomas Hickey is hanged in front of an enormous crowd.
- The mayor and the other guests settle on killing General Washington.
A girl carries a tray of refreshments into a library full of important men and sets it down without being looked at. That is the whole trick. Because nobody in the room counts her as a person who can hear, they say the thing out loud: the bribes have failed, independence is coming, and the only way left to save the King’s New York is to kill the general who commands the rebel army. Isabel walks out with every name she could catch. What she does next is not brave in the way a battle is brave. It is a trade. She has one thing of value in the world — a secret — and one thing she wants more than her own life, which is to get herself and her little sister out of that house before Madam finds a way to sell Ruth. So she carries the secret across the city to a patriot colonel and offers it for their freedom. In three weeks in June 1776, a plot collapses, a man is hanged in front of a crowd, a master escapes in a crate, and a promise made to a thirteen-year-old girl quietly turns out to be worth nothing at all.
In 1776 the thirteen colonies did not divide into two neat armies. Historians estimate that about one white colonist in five stayed loyal to the King, that a larger share became rebels, and that many in the middle hoped to be left alone. What separated them was rarely a single idea. A merchant whose ships sailed under British protection, a farmer whose landlord had declared for the other side, and a minister sworn to an oath of allegiance to the Crown each had his own reason.
Neither side allowed neutrality for long. Beginning in 1774, towns and counties elected committees to enforce the boycott of British goods, and they became the closest thing to a government many places had. They inspected account books, questioned travelers, and printed offenders’ names in the newspapers so neighbors would denounce them and refuse to trade. Several states later required adult men to swear a test oath to the new government, and anyone who refused could lose the right to vote, to sue in court, or carry a weapon. Openly arming the King’s forces could be charged as treason, a capital crime.
The risks were never symmetrical, and they shifted with whichever army stood nearest. In a patriot town a suspected loyalist might be disarmed, fined, jailed, or tarred and feathered by an unauthorized crowd. Conviction could also bring the seizure of a shop or farm, the property sold to pay for the war. Where British troops held the ground the same treatment fell on rebels, and committees that bullied their neighbors one month were hunted the next. New York changed hands, and changed rules, more often than any other American city, so a family there could not safely say aloud what it believed.
This writing task is optional and is not part of your auto-graded score. The feedback below checks only the basics — length, spelling, and grammar — not whether your ideas are right or wrong. It is meant for classroom discussion and creative practice, so feel free to use your imagination!
Writing Task — Part 3 “The Promise Nobody Wrote Down”
Isabel hands over the most valuable thing she owns and gets back two Latin words and an assurance that somebody will look into it. Write about a time you were promised something and had to wait to find out whether the promise would be kept — by a friend, a coach, a teacher, a family member, or an employer. Describe what you gave or risked first, how the waiting felt, and what actually happened in the end. 6–10 sentences. End with what you would ask for now if the same offer were made to you again.
No right or wrong — close the screen and tell someone nearby what happened in this part. Can’t find anyone? Tell yourself out loud. The moment you teach it, you truly understand it.
Part 3 Complete!
You finished Chapters 13–18 of Chains.
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Independent study guide by Garden Heights. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Laurie Halse Anderson. Contains original analysis only; no text from the novel is reproduced. Reference text: This workbook follows Laurie Halse Anderson’s classic text (the standard Puffin edition sold worldwide). Revised 2023 UK editions change some wording and may not match the vocabulary studied here.