Washington's Spy

Katherine Temple, an eight-year-old prodigy, and her three older brothers were sent to England's North American colonies at the end of the French and Indian War by their father, Richard Temple, Lord Cobham, a wealthy member of Parliament's House of Lords. The family business was building docks in deepwater harbors; and the four siblings were sent to Philadelphia, Boston, New York, and Charleston to upgrade their docking facilities and port cities.

George Washington befriended the child while...