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Chapter XXII: Heartstopper is the 22-th chapter of The Testaments. It contains section 60-64 with Agnes and Daisy as narrator.

Synopsis[]

Plot[]

Section 60[]

Aunt Lydia arrives at the apartment Agnes shares with Becka and Daisy to report the raid on the print shop and Commander Judd’s plan to get engaged to Daisy on television. They revise their plan. Agnes and Daisy would leave first thing the next morning and follow a preset route to escape to Canada. To buy time, Daisy will write a note pretending that she ran away with a man. Meanwhile, Becka will hide herself so no one would suspect that Daisy left with Agnes in her stead. Aunt Lydia returns later that night with everything Agnes and Daisy will need for their journey. Agnes tries to persuade Becka to come with them, but Becka explains that they would certainly be caught if there were more than two Pearl Girls traveling together. Agnes and Becka express their love for one another.

Section 61[]

The next morning, Agnes and Daisy set off. They encounter Aunt Vidala just outside Ardua Hall, and Daisy punches her in the chest, using a heartstopper punch that she learned in Mayday training. Aunt Vidala collapses, and they drag her unconscious body behind Aunt Lydia’s statue. They worry that Aunt Vidala is dead, but they rush into the car waiting.

Section 62[]

The driver takes them to a bus station at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. From Portsmouth, they take a bus to a remote town, where they change out of their Pearl Girl outfits and into jeans and long T-shirts.

Section 63[]

While getting dressed, fabric snags painfully on the “O” of Daisy’s tattoo. A man drives them to their next destination. Agnes thinks about her early childhood and feels homesick for Zilla, Rosa, and Vera. In the middle of the night, the driver stops and directs Agnes and Daisy toward a motorboat on a river. They get in the boat, which escorts them quietly toward a larger vessel, the Nellie J. Banks.

Notable Quotes[]

“Quote here”  — Context here[1]

Trivia[]

(e.g. observations, cross-references, 'useless knowledge')

Notes[]

(e.g. contextual implications)

References[]

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