“Could I, Aunt Della? Please say yes. I’m dying to join something. I haven’t joined anything in ages,” Kit begged. “I can meet everyone and get acquainted. If you don’t need me this morning—” She hesitated, but some of her enthusiasm had caught Della, and she immediately succumbed to the whim of the moment.
“Why, I don’t see why not. You go on down with Rex if you want to.”
The Dean’s desk stood overlooking the driveway. He had settled down to his morning’s portion of work and was blocking out a curriculum of study for Kit, when he happened to glance up, and saw the two passing gayly through the gates. Certainly he did not realize at that moment that already the spirit of youth was at work in the old shadowy house behind the pines.
8. A Square Deal
The first batch of family letters arrived the following week. Kit nearly knocked the mailman over as he came up the walk, for she had been watching anxiously at each delivery. After all, it was the first time she had been away from home, and after the first excitement and novelty had worn off, her heart ached for news from home.
It seemed the Dean had written to her father on the night of her arrival, and this was a surprise to Kit.
“It is a great relief to us all to know that you have made such a favorable impression,” Mr. Craig’s letter read. “After all, it was an experiment, and I confess that I was rather skeptical of the result, knowing the Dean as I do. Try to adapt yourself as much as possible to their life there, Kit. You must be considerate of all the Dean’s notions, and make yourself as useful as you can while you are with them.
“The rebuilding of the house is going along splendidly, and we hope to have our Christmas there. I have followed the old plan, but with some improvements, I think, putting in a good furnace, and enlarging the dining room and kitchen. There will be an outdoor fireplace on the west side of the house also, and I know you will enjoy this.”
Enjoy it? Kit stared ahead of her at the shady lawn. Della was bending over nasturtium beds gathering black seeds, but instead, Kit saw in a vision a great hickory fire burning brightly against a black sky. Her mother’s letter came next. Kit read it with delight. She could tell just exactly the mood her mother was in when she wrote, just how her conscience pricked her for having been a party to Kit’s plan.