Silently Resigned

II

Angelica stared out the window of the carriage, watching as they slowly moved past mountains and valleys dotted with flowering plants. Behind her, she could hear the clopping of horses' hooves as they trotted down the cobblestone road toward Manhattan.

"I still cannot believe you!" Margaret huffed, arms crossed angrily over her chest. "I am telling daddy."

Angelica leaned forward, resting her chin on her hand. "We have been over this, Peggy. If you tell father—"

"You will tell him about the candy in my bedroom," Margarita said, mocking Angelica's tone and sly face before melting into her usual pouty expression. "I know that already."

"So?" Eliza asked.

Margarita scowled at the floor. "I will not tell daddy."

"Good," Angel said, then leaned back and smiled. "Now, where were we...?"

"Shoes," Elizabeth said. "What style should we get?"

"I was thinking the sort that buckle across the top," Angel said. "Calf brown. They would look nice with my new pink gown and your blue one."

"What about me?" Peggy asked.

"White," Angelica said.

"Why white?" Peggy asked, wrinkling her nose. "We would not match!"

"Daddy is having the seamstress make you a yellow gown for the Winter's Ball, remember?" Angelica said. "Yellow and brown do not look good together."

Peggy folder her hands over her skirts. "I suppose."

A few minutes passed in silence. Angelica checked the make-shift clock, a watch that she had hung from the ceiling with a chain. It was 2:00 PM. "We should be getting close to Manhattan soon."

Eliza nodded as she gazed out the window. She seemed a little distant today, Angelica thought, but her younger sister was always in a bit of a dreamland. Despite being perhaps the most practical and smart of the three, she always seemed to be in a different world, imagining her 'dream husband.'

"Betsey," Angelica said. No answer. "Eliza? Elizabeth Schuyler!"

Eliza turned to her sister. "What do you want?"

"Did you not hear me the first two times I called your name?" Angelica asked with great annoyance.

She nodded. "I heard."

"Then why did you not reply?"

"Because sometimes when I do not reply you give up and let me think to myself," Eliza explained, turning back to the window.

Angelica groaned and rolled her eyes. "You can be so bothersome sometimes. I wanted to ask what your plans were for the ball."

Elizabeth held up her hand and proceeded to count her plans on her fingers, as though she were crossing off items on a grocery list. "Stand on the side of the ballroom," she said, tapping her index finger. "Wait until I see a man who appears to be worth my time, talk to him, dance with him," she tapped her ring finger. Then a sly expression came over her face, and she glanced evilly at her sister. "Have a few drinks without father's prior permission," she finished. "What do you think?"

Angel grinned. "I think my plans will not stray too far from yours," she said. "Although I will likely be placed in charge of greeting all my suitors and dancing with them until I fall dead."

"Oh, it will not be that bad," Eliza reassured. "I cannot wait until I get to do that."

"Trust me, when the time comes you will wish you had not said that," Angelica warned playfully. Eliza smiled.

"Perhaps."

Another pause of silence. A few minutes later, the carriage passed a tall wooden sign that read in large bold letters, 'Welcome to Manhattan.'

Elizabeth sighed contentedly. Peggy grumbled about something shoe-related. Angelica pulled out Thomas Paine's Common Sense from her purse. And so went their quiet ride from Albany to Manhattan, while their father wondered somewhat dubiously if the three would actually follow his orders.