“Don’t leave without your wages, girl,” said Uncle Hendrick, handing her two dimes.
“Thank you.” Then she blinked in surprise when, rather than seeing her out the door as he usually did, he took his hat and coat off the rack.
“I’ll drive you home,” he said.
“Why, thank you, Uncle Hendrick,” said Kit, pleased by his unexpected offer.
They walked outside to the carriage house. Uncle Hendrick had told her that before the days of automobiles, it had sheltered both buggies and the horses that pulled them. Now Uncle Hendrick’s automobile stood in solitary splendor in the shadowy building. He strode to the tool bench and snatched a rag from it. Kit waited while he wiped at some invisible spot on the automobile’s hood and replaced the rag. “All right, hop in,” he said.
When he dropped Kit off, Uncle Hendrick surprised Kit again by walking her to the door and staying while she asked permission to spend the weekend at Rivermead. “I can vouch that my neighbor is a respectable woman,” he said to Kit’s parents. “It would be charitable of you to allow Kit to help out.”
Kit’s father asked her mother, “Can you spare Kit from her chores here?”
Mrs. Kittredge smiled at Kit. “Now that Mrs. Howard is back on her feet again, we’ll be fine. So if Kit wants to stay over, she may. What do you say, Kit?”
“I’d love to!”
Uncle Hendrick made a harrumphing sound. Then he said that he would pick Kit up the next day after lunch and drive her and her overnight bag to Rivermead Manor.
“Thank you,” said Kit. And then I’ll see if there are more things in heaven and earth, as Hamlet said.
chapter 5
A Dinnertime Interruption
MRS. KITTREDGE HANDED Kit the cheese grater. “We’ll serve cheese on the side so that people can have their chili ‘three-way’ if they want it. But that’s all the cheese we have left for the week, so go easy.”
Kit grated the cheese into a bowl. Cincinnati’s popular chili recipe called for it to be served “two-way”—chili sauce over noodles, or “three-way”—chili and noodles topped with cheese. Three-way was Kit’s favorite.
A knock sounded at the back door just as she set the grater aside. Kit opened the door to find Ruthie breathless on the step.
“Hello, Ruthie,” said Mrs. Kittredge. “We’re just about to eat, dear.”
“I don’t mean to interrupt. My parents said I could run over for a minute.” Ruthie took a deep breath. “I just wanted to invite Kit and Stirling to my house tomorrow. My mother says we may search our attic to find props for our Underground Railroad project.”
Once Ruthie would have just picked up her telephone, but ever since the Kittredges had canceled their phone service to save money, the only way to get in touch was to write a letter or stop by in person.
“I’m going to stay with Miss Mundis tomorrow,” Kit told her friend, and she quickly explained about the plan to help on the weekend. “But I’m not leaving till after lunch, so I can still come over in the morning, can’t I, Mother?”
Mrs. Kittredge nodded. “You may go after breakfast, as soon as your chores are done. Now why don’t you ask if Stirling may join you.” She directed Ruthie through the swinging door into the dining room, where the boarders were all gathered for their meal. Kit followed.
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