The Indigo Girl

The man tells Eliza that Quash has been arrested for allegedly being a fugitive and conspiring to organize an uprising. Eliza, Essie, and Togo hurry to the Pinckneys’ townhouse. Eliza decides that she will take part of the profits from the rice crops to free Ben if he has also been captured. When they arrive at the Pinckneys’, she recounts everything to Charles, including the fact that both Ben and Quash know how to read. Charles offers to help her in their trial. At the courthouse, they state their case, claiming that Quash has been mistakenly apprehended. Ben does not figure among the arrested, but as they go through the men’s various belongings, Eliza finds a small leather pouch that is identical to the one that Ben received from his grandmother. The pouch contains one of Eliza’s childhood hair ribbons. Upon further questioning, the bailiff explains that they found Quash half drowned on the riverbank, saying something about saving a boat called the Santilina from being carried away by the water. That boat was from Garden Hill, the third plantation of Eliza’s father; it would have been carrying their last rice harvest.

Shaken, Eliza realizes that she has lost everything; she desperately needed to sell the last rice harvest in order to keep their finances afloat. She asks Charles to convince the bailiff to let them speak with Quash. When they see him, he is filthy and has been beaten. Eliza questions him, and he confirms that the boat has been lost and that Ben drowned during the storm that took the boat. Back at the Pinckneys’, Miss Bartlett tries to reassure Eliza about Quash, but Eliza says nothing. Mrs. Pinckney, despite her illness, also comes to check on Eliza, and Charles checks on her twice. The second time, he attempts to ask about the nature of her relationship with Ben. Riddled with grief and guilt, Eliza wishes that Ben were still alive and feels selfish for wanting him back when she believes that he is finally free. At Quash’s trial, Eliza testifies to his good service to her family, stating that he protected them during the uprising and had been sent to retrieve a fugitive from enslavement. Eliza deliberately avoids using Ben’s name. Quash is ultimately released into her care. Before leaving the Pinckneys’, she tells Charles that she is giving up and will write to her father, stating that he should deal with their plantations as he sees fit.

Eliza, Essie, Quash, and Togo return to Wappoo. Eliza writes to her father about the loss of the rice and the death of an enslaved man, but she does not use Ben’s name. She then isolates herself in the house. In a letter to Miss Bartlett, she admits to feeling lost. In a letter to Mrs. Pinckney, she congratulates her friend on her renewed health and says that Wappoo has lost its luster now that her ambitions have been proven futile. In her letter to Charles, she reiterates that she feels lost and that her mother insists that he know how ashamed she is for all the trouble they have caused him.

Sarah comes to see Eliza. She declares that Ben’s death is her fault because she cursed the thing that Eliza loved the most. Though Eliza tells Sarah to leave, Sarah bows to the ground and remains there, so Eliza leaves instead. Some time later, she goes back to her study and finds that the cabinet containing her father’s gun has been left open. She closes it. She reflects on the comet she observed early in the morning—the one first discovered by Sir Isaac Newton—and contemplates the shortness of life. In a letter, she describes the comet in full physical detail, especially its dazzling brightness. In another letter, she explains why rising early is a convenient habit even though an older neighbor told her it would ruin her marriage by making her appear older.

By the end of winter, Eliza tells Quash to till the indigo fields for a new crop, though she cannot decide which one to plant. Quash does not acknowledge the request, and Eliza cannot decide whether to make one last attempt to cultivate indigo. In a letter to Miss Bartlett, she explains that she has found a new purpose by studying the rudiments of law and helping her poor neighbors write up wills. She adds that her brother George is expected to arrive in South Carolina imminently.

The indigo crops return with a vengeance in the spring. Miss Bartlett has left for London, and Eliza realizes that although they cultivated a friendship, her letters were truly only for Charles’s eyes. Now that Miss Bartlett has left, she no longer has an excuse to communicate with him. One day, however, Charles comes to visit Wappoo. He brings letters from England and states that his wife, Mrs. Pinckney, is ill once again. He invites Eliza to visit their plantations at Crowfield before she and the rest of her family depart for Antigua. When Ann reads the letters, she cries out. Tommy, Eliza’s youngest brother, has succumbed to illness and died. As the household grieves, Eliza finds Charles, and although she still believes that she is to blame for the failures of her indigo venture, Charles praises her ambitions. Eliza interrupts him by placing a finger on his lips, but when she realizes the intimacy of the gesture, she hurries away. He insists that she persevere with the indigo, both for South Carolina and for him.

News from Mr. Manigault states that Starrat has been shot and killed. Remembering the open gun cabinet after Sarah’s visit, Eliza goes to verify whether the gun has been stolen, but it is still there. By the end of September, the indigo crops are flourishing, and Eliza spends her days watching them from the edge of the fields, debating whether to try making dye again. By October, Mrs. Pinckney has taken a turn for the worst, and Eliza arranges to visit her. There, she finds Mrs. Pinckney suffering from subcutaneous bleeding. She sits with Mrs. Pinckney as Charles sleeps in a corner. Mrs. Pinckney encourages Eliza to persevere with her indigo despite past failures and states that she has saved the letters that Eliza had sent to Miss Bartlett. She asks Eliza to read them. Confused but willing, Eliza reads them aloud and comes to the realization that she had begun to flirt with Charles through the letters even as she delved into his interests, such as law. Mrs. Pinckney reassures Eliza that she is not angered by these transgressions; she knew that Eliza had not realized what her behavior conveyed. Because Mrs. Pinckney is now dying, she explains that Eliza will need to ask Charles to be with her; he will not take action himself because he will not want to dishonor his soon-to-be deceased wife.

Back in Wappoo, Eliza resolves to give indigo one final chance and begins to cut away the branches to harvest them. Soon, Quash comes to find her, and others join in on the work. As Quash hands over Ben’s grandmother’s pouch, he says that Ben wanted him to give it to her. He explains that Cromwell was the one to dump in too much lime in the initial indigo batch. Ben refused to do so, even when Cromwell wielded a whip against him. Ben fought him off, insisting that Cromwell not ruin the indigo batch, but Cromwell threw the lime in anyway. Though Eliza cries at the confession, she takes strength in the knowledge that Ben tried to help her in the end. Together with Quash and the others, she gathers all the perfect indigo leaves and begins the dye-making process, beating the dye out of the water, adding the lime, and working in shifts for ceaseless hours. Finally, the indigo begins to separate, and Eliza knows that they have succeeded. The children dub her the indigo lady. In the end, she collects six pounds of indigo, and she is no longer certain that she wants to leave South Carolina.

Her brother George arrives, informing her that a tenant has been found for Wappoo and that plans have been made for them to leave by May. In January, Mrs. Pinckney dies. One day, Charles arrives at Wappoo, and when he and Eliza are alone, he tells her that his contact in London tested her indigo and found it to be equal, if not superior, to French indigo. Ecstatic at the news, Eliza plans to give seeds to her friends so that they can benefit from the wealth, and Charles celebrates with her. Eliza is reminded of Mrs. Pinckney’s parting words, and she rushes to ask Charles to be with her. Charles argues that his age is a factor but admits that he was afraid of losing her too, since she is the only other woman he has ever loved. She asks him to marry her, and he wholeheartedly agrees. He also acquiesces to her request to keep Essie with her and to one day give Quash his freedom.