The Witch of Blackbird Pond / Ведьма с пруда Черных Дроздов. 10-11 классы

William spoke to the older man respectfully. “Aren’t you afraid, sir,” he asked, “that we will anger the King by such actions? We cannot be against him. If we accept his governor now, we will get some rights and privileges. But if we anger the King, we may lose them all.”

Kit could not believe her ears. William Ashby was very smart and could speak very well. He even argued with her uncle! With this new respect she gave him a smile that made him speechless again. At that moment Matthew Wood pushed back his chair and stood up. “What do you, young man, know about rights and justice? But you’ll learn. You will remember my words: some day you’ll learn and be sorry!” He left the room and went upstairs without saying goodnight.

It was already eight o’clock and seemed like the longest evening Kit had ever had. William stood up. “Thank you for your hospitality, Mistress Wood,” he said politely. John followed William’s example. As the door shut behind them, Kit felt relieved. “Well, I’m so glad that that’s over,” she said. “He’ll never come again. He didn’t say a word to me all evening. And then Uncle Matthew started…”

“Oh, they all know about Father,” Judith replied. “But William said that he was building his house, didn’t he? What else could you want him to say? Don’t you know anything, Kit? William’s father gave him that land three years ago, on his sixteenth birthday, and William said that he would never start to build his house until he decided to get married.”

“That’s ridiculous, Judith! He couldn’t mean such thing so soon. Could he, Mercy?”

“I’m afraid he could,” Mercy smiled at her cousin’s confusion. “I agree that William was telling us that he has made a decision. Whether you like it or not, Kit, William is going to come again.”

“But I don’t want him to!” Kit almost panicked. “I don’t want him to come at all. We can’t even talk to each other!”

“It seems to me that you’re too choosy,” said Judith. “Don’t you know that William can build the best house in Wethersfield if he wants to?”

Rachel put her hand on Kit’s shoulder. “I also think that William is serious,” she said gently. “Don’t worry, dear. No one will make you marry him right now. William is a very fine young man. Of course you feel like strangers now. But I think it will change very soon.”

* * *

But will it? A second Saturday came, a third, a fourth, and William’s visits became regular. The young man seemed to enjoy those evenings. For him it was enough just to sit across the room from Kit and look at her. He was the most popular bachelor in Wethersfield, and a handsome one, too. Sometimes, when William’s eyes were on her face, Kit felt excited in a way that was strange and not unpleasant. Maybe Kit wouldn’t have thought about William so much, if there had been anything more interesting going on in Wethersfield. But every day was the same, and housework filled every hour from sunrise to dark. Kit hadn’t liked any of this work. She was Katherine Tyler! She had not been born to do the work of slaves! And William Ashby seemed to be the only person in Wethersfield who just admired her and didn’t expect her to work. That is why she started looking forward to Saturday evenings.

Chapter Eight

One morning after breakfast Judith and Katherine were sent to weed the onion field.

“What a wonderful day!” Judith said. “Aren’t you glad we don’t have to stay inside, Kit?”

Kit was quite cheerful too. It really was a wonderful day, with a blue sky and the soft green fields and woods. The girls passed the Meeting House and then went down the South Road to the Great Meadow. Judith explained to Kit that it was just grassy land at the side of the river. “No one lives there,” Judith told her, “because in the spring the river sometimes floods the fields. But the soil is rich, so every landowner has a lot for pasture or gardens.”

From the first moment Kit saw the Great Meadows, they captivated her. She had never imagined anything like this. As far as she could see there was a great sea of green. It was freedom and space and light. It was peace and quietness and comfort. “Someday,” she thought, “I am going to come back to this place, when there is time just to stand and look at it.” Far to the right Kit could see a small house at the side of a pond, and next to it there was a figure. “I thought you said that no one lived here,” she said to her cousin.

“Oh, that’s Widow Tupper,” Judith said with contempt. “Nobody but Hannah Tupper would live there by Blackbird Pond, right at the swamp, but she likes it.”

“But what if the river floods?”

“It did, four years ago, and her house was covered over. No one knows where she hid, but when the water went down, there she was again. She then continued living there with her cats as if nothing had happened. She’s been there as long as I can remember. People say she’s a witch.”

“Do you believe in witches, Judith?”

“Not really,” said Judith. “But she does look strange, and she never comes to Meeting.”

Kit looked at the distant gray figure again. It was easy to create any mystery about that lonely woman!

The long rows of onions looked endless. Judith began to pull out the weeds quickly. Kit looked at her cousin and then got down too. If she married William Ashby, would he make her weed his vegetables for him? No, she was quite sure that he never would. William would probably have servants.

* * *

Later that day when the two girls returned home, they found Mercy excited. “The most wonderful thing has happened, Kit! Dr. Bulkeley has recommended to the selectmen that you help me with the school this summer.”

“A school?” asked Kit. “Do you teach a school, Mercy?”

“Just for the younger children in the summer months. With your help I can take more pupils. We will teach to them letters and how to read and write their names. They can’t go to the grammar school till they can read. But many of their parents can’t teach them.”

“And where is this school?”

“Right here in the kitchen. You know how to read, don’t you? John Holbrook told Dr. Bulkeley you can read as well as he can.”

Kit was surprised. Had John repeated to Dr. Bulkeley that conversation on the Dolphin? Probably not. She had never mentioned books in this house, where the only book was the Holy Bible. “Yes, of course I can read,” she agreed.

“Well, they are going to send Mr. Kimberley, the schoolmaster, to test you. Then the school will begin next week. Father is pleased too, Kit. We’ll both be earning wages because every child pays four pence a week. Sometimes they pay with eggs or wool or such things.”

The more Kit thought about it, the more pleasant the school sounded to her. If she were earning wages, they would not make her do any housework. In the evening when they were sitting alone with Mercy, Kit asked her, “If I am earning wages, then maybe I will be useful, even if I’m not a boy.”

Mercy looked at her cousin. “What do you mean, Kit?”

“The first night I was here,” explained Kit, “Judith said that she would prefer to have a boy cousin.”

“Oh, Kit!” cried Mercy. “You heard that? She didn’t mean what you think. It’s just that father needs a boy so much to help. Mother has never told you much about our family, has she? You see, there was a boy, their first child, two years older than I was. We both caught some kind of fever. I got well, except for my leg, but he died.”