"Chains," Vocabulary from Chapters 1-111. taut

Mr. Robert’s mouth tightened like a rope pulled taut.

2. mournful

No ghosts yet, just ash trees and maples lined up in a mournful row.

3. pasture

I could hear cows mooing in a far pasture and bees buzzing in a nearby clover patch.

4. wince

“Apologies, sir,” I said, wincing with pain.

5. calico

We couldn’t take Momma’s shells, nor Ruth’s baby doll made of flannel bits and calico, nor the wooden bowl Poppa made for me.

6. proprietor

The proprietor called her over to join us.

7. indenture

“ Indentured servants complain all the time and steal us blind at the first opportunity."

8. snuff

He wore a red silk waistcoat under a snuff-colored coat with silver buttons, a starched linen shirt, and black breeches.

9. sovereign

“I pledge myself to our rightful sovereign, the King, sir,” Mr. Robert said.

10. girth

The husband was a head taller and twice the girth of most men.

11. procure

“Why not wait, Anne, and procure another indentured girl in New York?”

12. brook

“I do not brook foolishness,” she said.

13. insolence

Insolence will not be tolerated, not one bit.

14. providence

“It is Providence that put them in our path.”

15. impudence

“Such impudence is disturbing,” Lockton said.

16. transaction

“I thank you, sir, for the meal and the transaction."

17. brackish

I spent most of the voyage bent double over a puke bucket, bringing up every scrap of food and swallow of brackish water I choked down.

18. gentry

The working people were dressed muchly as we did out in the country, but there were a few gentry who stuck out of the crowd like peacocks wandering in the chicken pen.

19. contraption

Behind him walked a slave boy about my height, whose arms were weighted down with a wooden contraption and a small case with a rope handle.

20. incline

Bellingham inclined his head toward Madam.

21. strive

You’ve come home to fight us who strive for freedom and liberty.

22. etiquette

“Do I gather, sir, from your hesitation, that you are unsure of the etiquette involved?"

23. battalion

A woman defending her underclothes from a battalion of soldiers was comical.

24. bewildered

I curtsied, bewildered at the speed of it all.

25. vexing

“Country girls are slow-moving, vexing creatures,” he said.

26. natter

He started walking again, nattering on and on about plots and conspiracies and battle plans and secrets, but truth be told, my mind drifted.

27. tarnish

Becky came out carrying a tarnished silver teapot and a stack of china cups and plates.

28. vigor

Madam called for tea in her bedchamber the next morning and sent for Ruth, who was pumping the butter churn with vigor.

29. surly

Madam called her surly and took to beating her regular-like.

30. regiment

Becky was somewhere in the crowd watching General Washington parade down Broadway with five regiments of soldiers.

31. spectacle

She nattered on about the spectacle whilst assembling the tea things for Madam and Lady Seymour, who had come again to call.

32. enormous

The front windows were open, bringing in fresh air and noise from the street; carts rolling over the cobblestones and church bells in the distance mingled with the voices of the four men who sat around the enormous desk.

33. inimitable

Why the people are magnificent; in their carriages, which are numerous, in their house furniture, which is fine, in their pride and conceit, which are inimitable, in their profaneness, which is intolerable, in the want of principle, which is prevalent, and in their Toryism, which is insufferable.

34. mantel

A low settee stood in front of the fireplace, and a mirror framed in mahogany hung above the mantel, flanked by oil lamps fastened to the walls.

35. compensate

"The Provincial Congress will compensate you, of course."

"Chains," Vocabulary from Chapters 11-22

1. ponder

She tapped her forefinger on the table as she pondered, her rings flashing in the light.

2. nourished

"You can’t run errands for me unless properly nourished.”

3. ruckus

When I went back inside, there came a ruckus and much shouting from the second floor.

4. negotiate

Becky brought back peas, greens, and gossip from the marketplace: the British fleet was in the harbor, no, the fleet had sailed for Jamaica, no, the Congress had negotiated a peace, no, the British planned to kill us all while we slept.

5. barrack

The pump was set in a little shed at the edge of the Common, a big gathering place ringed by army barracks, the poorhouse, and the jail.

6. kin

It made me feel kin to the old man, and I smiled and curtsied polite whenever I saw him.

7. doff

“You don’t want to sail anywhere, not now,” he said, doffing his hat and bowing to three officers passing on horseback.

8. fervent

I fervently hoped Becky would chop off their heads and strip off their skins.

9. refined

Madam knocked on the door with a not terribly refined fist.

10. distinguished

Madam tried to look beyond him to the distinguished guest but could not see through the thick form of her husband.

11. queue

His own hair was dark, pulled back into a neat queue, and tied with string.

12. prattle

This was not idle prattle about Congress.

13. avert

“War will be averted and countless lives saved."

14. tranquility

"Our world will return to the former state of tranquility we enjoyed before all this nonsense.”

15. treason

“All of the American leaders have committed treason against the King."

16. ailment

“She is not suffering her particular ailment, is she?”

17. address

He bade Madam to sit on the chair she had nearly broke over my head, took a seat himself, and addressed me gravely.

18. intently

I dove behind a log barricade just as two soldiers turned the corner, talking intently to each other and sweeping the street with their eyes.

19. sentry

As I neared the gate, a sentry stepped out and blocked my way.

20. smolder

I followed him inside, past a room of men sleeping on the floor, along a hall to a small room where a low fire smoldered in the hearth, a chair drawn up before it.

21. ember

He walked to the hearth and looked at the glowing embers.

22. portend

Becky brought back tales of sea monsters chasing the British fleet and a two-headed calf born outside Philadelphia that portended all manner of disaster.

23. askew

Instead of wearing a hat or coat, he had a long cloak draped over his head, and his wig sat askew.

24. conspirator

Conspirators who plotted against the American cause had been arrested all over the city and in several close-by villages.

25. gallows

Perhaps he would provide an escort for Ruth and me direct from the gallows to the wharf.

26. astride

I could pick out General Washington astride his big gray horse at the center of the line.

27. sedition

“Thomas Hickey, you have been court-martialed and found guilty of the capital crimes of mutiny and sedition, of holding a treacherous

correspondence with, and receiving pay from, the enemy for the most horrid and detestable purposes, and you have been sentenced to hang from the neck until dead."

28. unsightly

Ruth’s fingers drifted to her nose for some unsightly digging.

29. sanctuary

Could we slip away to sanctuary in the commotion?

30. militia

Militia units from the surrounding colonies piled into the city.

31. stench

The stench cooked under the midsummer sun.

32. elixir

Within the pouch lay a green flask filled with a calming elixir prescribed by the doctor.

33. gilt

The King was not made of gold, but of soft lead, covered with gilt paint.

34. propriety

“Even during time of war, we must follow the rules of propriety and civilization.”

35. indisposed

“Becky is indisposed, sir,” Madam answered.

"Chains," Vocabulary from Chapters 23-33

1. crescent

I laid my head and hands in the crescents carved into the wood.

2. jeer

Men at the front of the crowd called us names and jeered.

3. vermin

The room was warm and quite small but entirely free of dirt, vermin, and mice.

4. repugnant

I find the buying and selling of children most repugnant.

5. intemperate

“My nephew’s wife is stubborn as well as intemperate.”

6. insist

"Anne insists that you be returned to her household as soon as you are able."

7. weariness

A wave of weariness crashed over me at the thought of serving Madam again, of allowing her to see her mark upon my face every day.

8. affection

“While you lay in the fever, you spoke of them with great affection, as if they were in the room with us.”

9. hesitate

She hesitated for a moment, then picked up her skirts.

10. compote

Even better was the meal of fried eggs, toasted bread, and a fruit compote of pears and apples topped with strawberries and cream.

11. crinoline

She had changed into a peach-colored crinoline gown and was pulling on lace gloves.

12. churn

I preferred the chores that took me out of the kitchen, for it was there the bees tricked me into seeing Ruth’s ghost playing on the floor, churning butter, or counting out kernels of corn.

13. carcass

I threw them into the kitchen fire, along with the mouse carcasses and rotted potatoes.

14. ensure

She said my mark would ensure I stayed out of trouble.

15. scowl

Hours later, as I ate my dinner of greens and cornbread with molasses, Becky entered the kitchen with a scowl.

16. conscience

“Do you want his beating on your conscience?” she continued.

17. sabotage

“We should sabotage the barricades."

18. noxious

Their bodies gave off noxious odors, too, gases so strong they made my eyes water.

19. abide

"But with this heat and the flies, you just know the wounds will be maggoty by morning, and if there’s one thing I can’t abide, it’s the sight of maggots in living flesh.”

20. devour

It seemed to me that if God really wanted the Americans to win, He would have sent sea monsters to devour the fleet when it left Boston.

21. shard

I crawled through the window, taking care not to cut myself on the glass shards jutting out of the frame.

22. ajar

Several of the grand mansions of lower Broadway stood with their doors ajar.

23. gust

A gust of wind blew and carried with it the first hint of fall: canoe-shaped chestnut leaves, turned yellow round the edges.

24. disembark

The waterfront was awash in red now as boatloads of soldiers disembarked.

25. wary

“Sal?” called Master Elihu Lockton, thinner from his exile, eyes bloodshot and wary.

26. dragoon

At the Middle Dutch Church they pulled out the pulpit, the pews, and the floorboards and let the horses of the Light Dragoons practice.

27. fiery

Fiery shingles floated from the roof and caught in the branches of the tree outside my window, setting the bark ablaze.

28. ignite

I felt the clothes on my back ready to ignite.

29. destitute

Many hundreds of families have lost their all; and are reduced from a state of affluence to the lowest Ebb of Want and Wretchedness destitute of Shelter, Food or Clothing.

30. cobbler

One man, found with rosin and brimstone-tipped slivers of wood in his pocket, was tossed into a burning cobbler shop, another was quickly executed with a bayonet through the chest.

31. apoplexy

The doctor said it was an apoplexy brought on by the fire.

32. affliction

She tried to thank me, but the affliction pulled at her mouth and made it hard to figure her words.

33. spite

I heard her grumble to Lockton that “the old biddy will never die, just to spite us.”

34. victuals

Whilst they plotted Washington’s downfall, I dozed in a chair in the hallway in case they needed victuals or a bottle of port.

35. tattered

Their uniforms were torn and tattered.

"Chains," Vocabulary from Chapters 34-45

1. prow

The hair swept off her brow and soared into the air like a wave curling before a ship’s prow.

2. hearty

That caused hearty laughter all around and glasses raised.

3. prospect

"Given their blunders, it is an unlikely prospect.”

4. incapable

But Lady Seymour was the wealthy, elderly widow of a British lord, incapable of social error, so all pretended she had not said a word.

5. whittle

The sky was a black curtain; the stars, ice chips whittled by an old knife.

6. commons

The British had built their own hangman’s platform at the opposite end of the Commons.

7. mallet

He looked like he had been fashioned by setting boulders atop boulders; his hands were iron mallets and his face rough-carved out of granite.

8. estate

I believe our aunt would recover faster at our estate in Charleston.

9. mutton

I filled the bucket with potato scraps and mutton fat, and put the pie on top.

10. errand

Lady Seymour prepared an errand list for me the next afternoon.

11. proclamation

I took a slow turn around the shop, admiring the shelves heavy with books, business forms, proclamations from Parliament and General Howe, slates, thick paper, quills, and sealing wax.

12. treatise

The titles were near as long as books themselves: Treatise on the Propagation of Sheep, the Manufacture of Wool, and the Cultivation and Manufacture of Flax, by John Wily, or Cato Major, Or His Discourse of Old-Age: With Explanatory Notes, by M. T. Cicero, or Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, by Phillis Wheatley, and countless tracts containing sermons and advice.

13. pallet

I carried the book to my warm pallet and quietly untied the twine and removed the paper wrapping.

14. melancholy

He tried to smile, but his eyes were downcast and melancholy.

15. stoke

I was the dogsbody in charge of keeping the oven stoked with wood and the ashes cleared out, fetching forgotten ingredients from the market, and beating eggs, ten at a time, till my arm was near to fall off.

16. sundry

“The regulations permit civilians to deliver food and sundry provisions.”

17. perimeter

“There will be regular patrols round the perimeter of the building to ensure that civilians do not tarry overlong in conversation with the prisoners.”

18. contraband

“If you deliver contraband items, you will be imprisoned yourself.”

19. reprimand

“Who are you to reprimand me, girl?” he snarled, putting his face up to the bars.

20. stupor

He choked on his spittle and fought for breath, then finally relaxed back into his stupor, leaning against the window.

21. surname

According to Madam, my surname was Lockton, but it tasted foul in my mouth.

22. hullabaloo

A few nights later, there was a terrible hullabaloo between Madam and the master when he announced at supper that he was planning to travel on the next ship to London.

23. merriment

This provided great merriment amongst the men and some blushing on the part of their wives.

24. makeshift

First a house with no damage, next a house still bearing black streaks of soot and smoke, then a field of ruin, with makeshift hovels crafted from tent, brick, and scorched timbers.

25. endure

They have endured so much, Sal.

26. frigid

After a frigid hour, he left for headquarters.

27. perpetual

“For all men being originally equals, no one by birth could have a right to set up his own family in perpetual preference to all others for ever.”

28. insurrection

“They fear we might mount an insurrection while they are dancing minuets and gorging on stuffed goose."

29. ragged

“They’ll be too busy running us ragged setting up the dinner."

30. vagabond

Most folks took no more notice of me than they would a cartman selling oysters or a vagabond from Canvastown.

31. sturdy

My toes wiggled in my sturdy black shoes and my legs itched.

32. plead

Everything that is right or reasonable pleads for separation.

33. collapse

He took one step forward and collapsed against me, the two of us crumpling to the ground.

34. falter

He faltered and almost fell again.

35. burden

My back, my shoulders, my arms, they pulled with the strength of a thousand armloads of firewood split and carried, of water buckets toted for miles, of the burdens of every New York day and New York night boiled into two miles of water that I was going to cross.