Kitty stood still for a moment and almost gave up all idea of this desperate journey.
“We’ll have a gay time in Charlestown.” “I want to serve my country.” “A sudden yearning to see my father takes me.”
Sally Rose could give many reasons for what she wanted to do. And she would always give the ones most likely to get her what she wanted. And what was her true reason? No one knew except Sally Rose.
Nevertheless, Kitty found she did not turn back, but folded her cloak over her arm and hastened downstairs after her cousin. After all, what was her own reason for wanting to go to Charlestown? She did want to serve her country, but she was quick enough to see that she could serve it quite as well at home, if she had chosen so. But she had not so chosen. Was not she, Kitty, slyer, more secret and stubborn than Sally Rose in getting her own way?
It was black dark when they rode into Ipswich, very few lights in the town, and very few people still awake. The moon was hidden away behind the clouds somewhere, and a light mist had begun to fall.
“I hoped we could get as far as Beverly,” said Sally Rose, “but we’ve come only half the way. Uncle Moses said he had plenty of horses in his barn, but he didn’t say they were plow horses. Well, there’s a light in the tavern. I’ve stopped there before, and I know the landlord’s daughter. A pert, homely little wench, but I’m sure she’ll find us a bed.”
“I hope so,” said Kitty dubiously, climbing down from her horse and following her cousin up the wide stone steps and through the low front door.
The taproom smelled of cider and fish and the smoky wood fire burning on it blackened hearth. It was dimly lit and empty, except for three old men who sat at a table with glasses in front of them, and a sharp-faced, sallow girl polishing other glasses behind a narrow bar.
When Sally Rose walked across the uneven floor, her head up, her eyes shining in the candlelight, her hips swaying ever so slightly, the heads of the old men turned toward her as sunflowers turn to follow the golden light of day. Kitty walked demurely behind her, but nobody noticed Kitty.