Soon Kit started waiting for another opportunity to visit the Meadows. With Mr. Kimberley’s permission she was teaching the school again. There were no more stories, no games, not even small poems. After school the girls weeded the gardens and helped to harvest the first crop. Finally, one hot afternoon, Kit and Judith finished their weeding of onion rows a little early. As they started walking back along the path, Kit looked across the fields to the house by Blackbird Pond and knew what she would do now. “I am going there to see Hannah Tupper,” she informed Judith.
“The witch? Are you crazy, Kit?” her cousin protested.
“She’s not a witch! She’s just a lonely old woman, and you would like her if you knew her,” Kit said. “Come with me now and see for yourself.”
“I would never step inside that house, and I don’t think you should either. Father would be furious,” refused Judith.
“Then go home without me. I won’t be long,” said Kit and started walking through the long grass, leaving her cousin standing in the path.
“Sit down, child,” Hannah welcomed Kit in, smiling as if she was expecting her. “Are you feeling better now?”
“Yes, I think so. The schoolmaster let me teach again, but forbade any plays. Mr. Kimberley says that children are evil by nature and that they need a firm hand. But it’s not much fun to be so solemn all day.”
Hannah was sorting some flax now. Kit picked up the sleeping cat. The late afternoon sun shone through the open door. Peace flowed into Kit, and she felt warm and happy. “Did you grow the flax yourself?” she asked.
“Some of the families in town bring me their flax to spin,” Hannah explained. “I don’t charge them much – just enough to pay the land taxes and the fines for not going to Meeting.”
“Fines?” Kit was surprised. “Maybe you should go to Meeting instead?”
“They wouldn’t welcome me,” Hannah said, “even if I decided to go. In Massachusetts we, Quakers, had our own meetings.”
“Actually, I’d rather pay fines than go to Meeting. Can I become a Quaker too?”
But before the old woman could answer, a shadow fell across the sunlit floor.
A tall figure was standing in the doorway. Kit jumped up. There, at the door, unbelievably, was Nathaniel Eaton, the captain’s son, with a smile in his blue eyes. “I might have known,” he said, “that you two would find each other.”
Hannah’s face shone with pleasure. “I knew you would come today,” she said. “I saw the Dolphin pass the island this morning. Kit, my dear, this is the sailor friend I told you about.”
Nat bowed. “Mistress Tyler and I are already acquainted,” he said.
“Bless you, Nat,” Hannah said quietly. “Now sit down and tell us how your father is.”
“He is well and sends you his greetings.”
“I said to Thomas just yesterday, ’Tom, I’m going to save the last of these berries because the Dolphin will come soon.’ He’ll be pleased when I tell him you’ve been here.”
Kit’s suddenly realized that Hannah had spoken as if her husband, so long dead, were still here, in the little house. A cloud had passed across the old woman’s eyes. Kit looked at Nat, but he didn’t seem to have noticed anything unusual because he was examining Kit with interest. “Tell me,” he asked her, “how did they let you come to Hannah?”
Kit paused, and Hannah laughed, “It’s a strange thing, that the only two friends I have, I found in the same way – lying in the meadows, crying.”
The young people stared at each other. “You?” asked Kit, astonished. “Were you running away?”
Nat laughed. “I was only eight years old,” he explained. “It was when I quarreled with my father once. I’d never in my life seen anything like the meadows. I ran and ran, but then suddenly I was hungry, lost and scared. Hannah found me and brought me here. She even gave me a kitten to take back home.”
“Did Hannah give you her blueberry cake, too?”
“It’s Hannah’s magic cure for every problem,” Nat said. “A blueberry cake and a kitten.”
“And now you can both have supper with me,” said Hannah, delighted.
Kit looked at the sun. “Oh, dear!” she cried. “I didn’t realize it was time for supper.”
Hannah smiled at her. “God be with you then, child,” she said softly. She did not need to say more. They both knew that Kit would come back. Nat followed Kit to the door. “You didn’t say what you were running away from,” he asked her. “Has it been so bad here in Wethersfield?”
Kit didn’t want to complain. “Of course not,” she said. “My aunt and uncle have been very kind.”
Nat walked Kit to the road. “Whatever it was,” he suddenly said seriously, “I’m glad you ran to Hannah. She needs you. Keep her company, will you?”
Kit hurried home. What a surprise meeting it was! She had known nothing about Nat, and she would never know what to expect from him next.
Chapter Eleven
When one day Judith invited Kit to go with some girls to pick flowers and picnic along the shore of the river, Kit turned to Mercy and asked impulsively, “How can you bear it, always staying behind?”
Mercy answered her calmly, “Oh, I settled that a long time ago. I remember it very well. Father had taken me outside, and I sat watching the children playing. I thought of all the things I would never be able to do. And then I thought about the things that I could do.”
Teaching the children with love and skill was certainly something that Mercy could do. But Kit often wondered if it was worth it. Most of these children will never have any chances in this world. But there was something else on Kit’s mind: the third time that week a little bunch of flowers was left for her on the doorstep. Who could it be from? As she bent to pick them up this time, she noticed a small figure hiding behind a tree. Kit recognized Prudence Cruff.
“Prudence,” she called. “Are these your flowers?”
The child came slowly from behind the tree. She was much thinner than before. “They are for you,” the girl whispered.
“Thank you. They’re lovely. Why don’t you come to the school with the others?”
“Ma says that I’m too stupid,” said Prudence. “Of course I’d like to, but somebody will tell on me, and Ma will beat me. I’m not supposed to talk to you.”
Suddenly, Kit had an idea. “There is a place where you could meet me secretly!” she said. “Can you come to the Meadows?”
Prudence nodded. “Nobody cares where I go.”
“Then if you meet me there this afternoon, I’ll bring you a book and teach you to read it. You know the path that leads to Blackbird Pond?”
“The witch lives there!” cried Prudence.
“Don’t be silly! She’s a nice old woman. There’s a big willow tree, and I’ll wait for you there.”
This was the third time Kit and Prudence were sitting in the shade of the old tree. At first Prudence had been scared and speechless. But now she was learning the letters so fast that Kit was amazed. “It’s late, Prudence. We must go back. You can take the book, if you like,” Kit said, ending the lesson.
“Ma will never let me have it,” the little girl said.
“I know what we’ll do then,” Kit suggested. “We’ll leave the book here with Hannah. Then any time you want to use it, you can come and get it from her.”
The child was terrified. Kit tried again, “Come with me. I promise you, no one will hurt you.”
Together they walked up the path to the little hut. “I’ve brought another friend to visit you,” Kit announced, as Hannah came to the door.
Hannah’s eyes twinkled. “What a wonderful day!” she said to the girls. “Four new kittens, and now visitors! If you’re very careful, child, you can pick one up and hold it.”