An Unwilling Maid / Being the History of Certain Episodes during the American Revolution in the Early Life of Mistress Betty Yorke, born Wolcott

A young woman from a loyal household faces conflicting duties when a detained enemy officer is brought into her family home; gratitude toward him compels her to plot his release despite relatives who insist on strict loyalty. She enlists her little sister in a covert scheme involving midnight visits, hidden signals, and tense negotiations that alternate intimate domestic moments with patrols and forays near enemy lines. The episodes trace moral dilemmas and personal risk, exploring themes of conscience, allegiance, and the private costs of war as individual compassion collides with communal duty.