The Indigo Girl

Days after Eliza sends Quash after Ben, Cromwell asks her to pay for his passage home because he has gambled away all his earnings. Though he apologizes for betraying her, Eliza tells him that she plans to send a letter to his brother, who owns his own indigo facility, asking for remuneration for the loss of her father’s investment in Cromwell. Hearing this, Cromwell calls Eliza a pitiful excuse of a woman and walks out. Over the following days, Eliza worries about Quash and Ben but continues to teach the enslaved children how to read. She also notices that Sarah has recovered from her miscarriage and is now demurely completing her tasks. When Togo returns from a trip to town, he tells Eliza that Mrs. Pinckney has fallen ill. In her free time, Eliza pores over the account books, looking for ways to make ends meet until they can try planting indigo again next year. Polly comes to find her, telling her that a man on a horse is asking if they had an enslaved man named Quash on the plantation. Eliza hurries to meet him.