Sophie’s World Read Free Page B

units to about ten miles north of here. Someone gave him false information—that most of the British Army had already crossed the James River. So he decided to move closer to Jamestown and attack whatever enemy troops remained.”
    “But the whole British Army was still there!” Sophie said.
    “So did the Brits waste him?” Colton said.
    “No,” Vic said. “He learned about the trap and marched straight to Yorktown, where the war was won.”
    “Who told him about the trap?” Maggie said.
    But Sophie didn’t listen to the answer.
    From her hiding place in the Market Square, Antoinette held her breath until the British Loyalists moved on. She didn’t breathe from the time she heard their secret plans until she was sure they had gone into the Raleigh Tavern. Then she gathered up her skirts and ran for the carriage house. She had to reach the Marquis de Lafayette with the news—before he marched right into the British trap.
    “Hey! Sophie!”
    “What?” Sophie said.
    She shook off the hand that Maggie had wrapped around her backpack strap.
    “Fine,” Maggie said. Her eyes narrowed into fudge-colored slits. “I won’t tell you that everybody else is going shopping.” She put up her hands. “You’re way too high-maintenance.”
    As she stomped away, Sophie squinted at the rest of the Patriots gathered under a canvas souvenir shelter, pawing through toy muskets and Revolutionary flags. Sophie saw B.J. put something white on her head and make a face at Kitty.
    That’s one of those puffy caps! Sophie thought. She raced toward the tent. She ran her fingers along the three-cornered hats and white stockings and full dresses with aprons. Those, she discovered, were way too expensive, so she settled for a white cap in a bin that said “Mobcaps.”
    “Are you actually going to buy one of those?” B.J. asked.
    “B.J., be nice,” Chaperone Mom said. “She just wants a souvenir, don’t you, honey?”
    Sophie shook her head. “No. I want it for a game I’m going to act out.”
    B.J. stared with her mouth open as if Sophie had just announced she was having plastic surgery. Sophie knew that look, and she could almost hear her thirteen-year-old sister Lacie in her head:
    Sophie, you can play your little games. Just don’t tell anyone you’re doing it. Keep it to yourself or they’ll think you’re totally from Planet Weird.
    Sure enough, B.J. exchanged raised-eyebrow looks with Kitty.
    “All right, Patriots!” Vic called out. “Complete your purchases and let’s go!”
    Sophie paid for a ballpoint quill pen and her cap. She tucked the pen carefully into her backpack and placed the cap on her head. Then she followed the group toward the Capitol Building. This time Sophie didn’t hurry to catch up with Vic, because Kitty and B.J. flanked him, and Maggie hadn’t returned to drag her along. Sophie felt the cloak of sadness descend on her shoulders.
    But I haven’t the time to feel sorry for myself , Antoinette thought. I must get word to Lafayette. The fate of the militia is at stake! Glancing over both shoulders to make sure the British were nowhere in sight, Antoinette straightened her white lacy cap. She hurried down a set of stone steps and ran between the shops. It would be best to stay out of sight just in case they suspected her.
    Behind her the sound of horse-drawn carriages faded, and she hurried through a maze of hedges in a garden behind the hat shop, and then she hoisted herself over a brick wall. Antoinette stopped to catch her breath. This is a graveyard! She put her hand over her mouth.
    And so did Sophie.
    Sophie scanned the rows of tombstones. The rest of the Patriots were nowhere in sight.

Three

    O h no,” Sophie said to the nearest gravestone. “I’m lost.”
    Usually the idea of being lost had great possibilities. But right now, Sophie’s heart pounded. Ms. Quelling would make the eyebrow face. Mama would say, “I’m so disappointed.”
    And Daddy —
    Sophie squeezed her eyes shut.