Chains Chapter 11 Summary

Friday, June 7, 1776

  • Good morning, sunshine. There's nothing like waking up late to Becky shaking you and asking why you're still asleep and warning you that if you don't get up like right now, you're gonna get a whoopin'. If you think that's bad, try also having a confrontation with Madam when you've been up for exactly two minutes. Welcome to Isabel's life.
  • But things aren't all bad. After her delivery of the news of the Loyalists' bribery to the rebels, Isabel's feeling a renewed sense of optimism. Sooner or later, Bellingham will bust into the house, arrest the Locktons, and whisk her and Ruth away to freedom. 
  • Finally, Isabel's wish comes true, and Bellingham arrives with a team of soldiers. Rather than get right down to the business of getting Isabel and Ruth out of that house, though, they do something kind of strange: They start prying the windows apart, saying that they need the lead in the counterweights to make bullets. 
  • It turns out that getting the window lead is just a cover story for what Isabel knows to be their real mission: finding Madam's linen chest.
  • Isabel approaches the bedchamber to find Madam sitting on it and refusing to move. Lockton, however, tells her there's nothing to be concerned about, and she moves. We soon discover why he's so chill about all this: The money's gone. He hid it in a false bottom in the drawer. D'oh.
  • Regardless, Bellingham still arrests Lockton out of suspicion for helping the British cause. He shoots Isabel a glance on his way out, as if accusing her of giving false information. She's not the only one under pressure, though, and the stress of the ordeal causes Madam to pass out.