The Indigo Girl

Eliza’s mother berates her about the amount of time she spends with Ben. Though Eliza insists that she and Ben are merely friends, her mother is not convinced. Ann believes that it is only a matter of time before Eliza’s father calls them back to Antigua. She also believes that Eliza’s indigo plans are doomed to fail and admonishes her daughter for teaching the enslaved children to read. Eliza diverts Ann’s attention by explaining that she is not technically breaking the law and asserting that Charles supports her decision. Cromwell interrupts them to tell Eliza that the indigo is nearly ready to harvest. Later, Eliza begins to teach Quash to read in her father’s study in the mornings. Shel earns that Quash’s mother was from the Quash plantation before coming to Wappoo and had not wanted to leave because she loved Quash’s father, a white man from the plantation. Eliza is troubled by this notion; she cannot understand how Quash’s mother could love a man who presumably forced himself upon her. Before leaving, Quash tells her that the preparations for the indigo vats are nearly complete per Cromwell’s and Ben’s instructions. In a letter to Miss Bartlett, Eliza tells her (and Charles) how busy she is.

A week before the King’s Ball, Cromwell finds Eliza in her father’s study and tells her that there will not be enough workers to harvest the indigo in time. This will lead to a poor-quality dye. Eliza is furious because she has followed his every request, and he has never mentioned needing more workers. Cromwell argues that he believed that Quash or Ben would have mentioned the issue. When he insists that the production will be disappointing, Eliza dismisses him, promising to get more people from her other plantations to help. However, Starrat refuses to send anyone, and Quash confirms that Cromwell never told him about needing extra help. When Eliza confronts Ben, he simply shrugs and promises that they will manage. He estimates the harvest time to be on the day of the ball, and Eliza cannot afford to miss this social event. She then sees Ben and Sarah, who is pregnant, banter playfully and is deeply troubled by their interaction. Eliza knows that Ben is in trouble for the promise he made to help her.

Eliza wakes at dawn and goes to plant oak shoots that she hopes will live for hundreds of years. Suddenly, she hears a terrible scream and finds Sarah in her hut. Sarah miscarries her baby, and although Eliza and Essie work to keep Sarah alive, Essie dismisses her because Sarah would not want Eliza to tend to her in her time of need. As Eliza leaves, she finds a glass jar filled with the pests that destroyed her first indigo crops. She realizes that Sarah was the one to ruin the crops last year. Essie tells her that it is dark magic. She believes that Sarah lost her baby because the dark magic was thrown back at her. Ben comes to the hut and realizes what Sarah has done, while Eliza wonders aloud why Sarah hates her so much.

The next day, Eliza hears Togo singing along with the other enslaved workers as they harvest and hurries to help them collect the indigo. For hours, she works in tandem with them, feeling a sense of kinship in working toward a shared goal. Cromwell announces that the water in the prepared vats is ideal to start extracting the dye, but Ben quietly disagrees. When Cromwell leaves, Ben shows Eliza how to properly take the water’s temperature—with her wrist, not her hand—and proves that the water is still too cold. They put fire-warmed bricks in the water to heat it, and when Ben deems it warm enough, they place the bundled indigo leaves into the vats. As Cromwell returns and comments on how remarkable Ben is, Eliza knows that Ben’s chances of becoming free are virtually nonexistent because Cromwell deems him too valuable. She sets off the next day for the King’s Ball in Charles Town with her mother and sister. As they enter the ballroom, her mother reminds her to try and find a husband.

Most men avoid Eliza during the ball due to John Laurens’s rumor mongering, so she stays with her friends and thanks them for choosing not to ostracize her. Her friends reassure her that they support her in her endeavors. As Charles goes to dance with his niece, Miss Bartlett, Mrs. Pinckney informs Eliza that the latest act in Britain’s Parliament would dissolve private banks in the colonies. Mrs. Pinkney declares that Charles has vocally opposed this measure. Eliza worries about her plantations just as Charles comes to dance with her. She tells him about her concerns about their finances, their debts, and the possibility of their currency losing value. She believes that her indigo venture is the only thing that will save them. Charles offers to have someone test her dye when it is done, and Eliza takes comfort in his support. He informs her that many people have taken an interest in her attempts at indigo; with current political tensions rising, some are looking to diversify their crops as well.

The next morning, Eliza and her mother return home by boat despite the bad weather. Though Eliza feels hopeful about her prospects after her discussion with Charles, her mother takes the boat trip as an opportunity to berate her for her lack of suitors and her improper behavior with their enslaved workers, as rumors about her are abounding. Eliza asks her mother why she can’t love her for who she is, but her mother argues that Eliza’s ambitions are far too great for her station in life, declaring that the indigo will not save them. According to Ann, Eliza’s father is only humoring her ambitions. Eliza doesn’t believe her, but her mother reiterates that they will soon be returning to Antigua. When they arrive at Wappoo, Quash looks troubled. Togo explains that Cromwell and Ben have fought about the indigo. When Eliza returns to the house, she senses that Cromwell has done something to the indigo, and he confirms it.

Cromwell tells Eliza that the indigo was too diluted to be made into a dye and confirms that it has been ruined. When she presses him further, he attempts to blame Ben. She sends for Ben, and Cromwell is enraged that she doesn’t believe him. He lets it slip that Eliza’s mother was involved in his scheme because she is set on returning to Antigua. Ben arrives and confirms that the indigo is ruined. He explains that too much lime was added to the solution, which contradicts Cromwell’s excuse that the indigo crop was of inferior quality. She demands to know who deliberately ruined her indigo, and when Cromwell avoids answering, she questions his expertise. Cromwell once again blames Ben for the mistake, and when she asks Ben directly, he confirms that he did the deed. She insists on speaking to him alone and implores him to speak to her honestly. He tells her that he did it to be free, and Eliza tells him that by doing so, he took her chance at freedom from her.

Eliza writes to her father without telling him about the indigo. Essie comes and warns Eliza that she will have more challenges to face before things get better. Eliza finds Cromwell the next morning, and he explains that he ruined her success in order to make her more amenable to his marriage proposal. Eliza laughs at him, but she realizes that the proposal was actually her mother’s idea. As marriage is clearly not a possibility, Cromwell explains that he initially came as a consultant to thwart the competition for the French indigo that he and his brother make. He accuses her of being in a relationship first with Ben and then with Quash, citing the amount of time that she spends with them. Just as she tells Cromwell to leave, Togo comes to the house and reports that Ben has disappeared.

After finding no trace of Ben at the plantation, Eliza realizes that she is well and truly alone, with no one to trust. Throughout the day, she refuses to speak with her mother. Later, Polly lets it slip that one of their horses is gone. No one told Eliza about the missing horse. She is angry, but when Polly mentions that Ben might be murdered and beheaded like other fugitives from enslavement, Eliza calls for Quash. He confirms that Ben is most likely heading toward the Spanish at St. Augustine in an attempt to gain his freedom. Eliza takes the night to think things through and dreams of being married to John Laurens and of having failed at indigo making. She then dreams of Ben standing in the middle of the road, his eyes lifeless and his body streaming with water. Early the next morning, she tells Quash to find Ben, giving him a letter with the Lucas seal in case he is stopped on the road. Knowing that Quash himself might never return, she asks him to come back. Before he leaves the room, she asks whether his father loved his mother, and he confirms that he did. Left alone, Eliza knows that she loves Ben, and she prays for his safe return.