“She was my mother’s only sister,” said Kit. “Grandfather said that my mother missed her very much. Her name is Rachel, and Grandfather said that she was beautiful. My mother remembered that she was always laughing. But she fell in love with a Puritan and ran away to America. She wrote to my mother from Wethersfield, and she has written a letter to me every year of my life.”
John Holbrook looked at Kit. “That was many years ago,” he told her. “Don’t forget that your aunt has been away from England for a long time.”
Kit felt that it was another warning which she could not yet understand. Later that hot afternoon Nat walked over to her where she stood on the deck looking at the river.
“How I would love,” she said. “To get into that water and away from this filthy ship!”
Nat’s blue eyes darkened. “Filthy – the Dolphin?”
“Oh,” she laughed, “You know, that stable smell!”
“Maybe you think it would smell better with a hold full of human bodies in chains, half of them almost dead?”
Kit was shocked. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t you have slaves on Barbados?”
“Of course we have. We used to own more than a hundred to work the plantation.”
“How did you think they got there? Did you think they traveled from Africa in private cabins like yours?”
She had never thought about it. “But don’t you have slaves in America?”
“Yes, to our shame! But we, Eatons, we’re very proud that our ship has never had any slaves in its hold!” With these words Nat was gone again. What a temper! She insulted his precious ship. They almost made friends again, but now he will probably not speak to her for the rest of the trip. And why should she care? He is just a rude sailor!
But even John Holbrook didn’t approve of her now. She shocked him last night when she took his book, opened it at the marked page, and read a boring passage aloud. “Is this what you read all day long?”
John was staring at her. “You can read that?” he asked, amazed. “How did you learn to read?”
“I don’t even remember how I learned. Grandfather sometimes took me into his library where it was dark and cool, and read to me aloud from his books, and later I would sit beside him and read to myself while he studied.”
“What books?” John asked doubtfully.
“Oh, history, and poetry, and plays.”
“Plays! Your grandfather allowed a girl to read such things?”
“Yes. Wonderful plays by Shakespeare, for example. They were beautiful! Haven’t you read them?”
John’s cheeks reddened. “There are no such books in Saybrook. The right use of reading is to improve our sinful nature and to fill our minds with God’s holy words.”
Kit stared at him. She remembered her Grandfather, and she knew that he hadn’t read his books to improve his sinful nature. John Holbrook’s words made her feel uncomfortable again.
* * *
Early the next morning the Dolphin finally arrived at Wethersfield. The shore looked just like the forest they had seen for the past week. Her heart sank. So this was Wethersfield! Just a narrow sandy shoreline with a row of huge wooden warehouses, and beyond that – green fields and woods. No town, not a house. Only a few men and boys and two dogs had come to meet the boat. Kit watched Goodwife Cruff walk with her husband along the shore. Prudence, holding her mother’s hand, looked back.
“Bye, Prudence,” Kit shouted. “I hope to see you often!”
Goodwife Cruff stopped and looked at Kit. “Please leave my child alone! We do not welcome strangers in this town, especially the ones like you!” With these words she marched up the dirty road and disappeared in the fog. Even John Holbrook’s goodbyes were very formal, and he, too, walked away into the fog to meet his new teacher.
