"You have a way of looking at things, Curiosity. It is very disarming."

"I'll take that as a compliment. Now, I'll see you tonight, I hope." And with a rustle of skirts she disappeared over the step.

Hannah appeared suddenly out of the other room with a whoop and a holler.

"Oh, can we go? Please?"

"You must learn not to startle me that way," Elizabeth said, leaning back against her desk for support. "What were you doing in there?"

"Reading." Hannah held up a tract that Mrs. Schuyler had sent for Elizabeth's sake: A Present to be given to Teeming Women by there Husbands or Friends, containing Directions for Women with Child. to Prepare for the Hour of Travail. Written for the Private use of a Gentlewoman of Quality: and now published For the Common Good.

"Oh, dear," said Elizabeth uneasily. "I suppose you've read most of it already?"

Hannah nodded happily. "I don't think my grandmother would agree with much of it. But it's interesting anyway."

"No doubt," Elizabeth muttered.

She had set up the second schoolroom as her study and a library, of sorts. Nathaniel had made her a desk, and a comfortable chair; the light was good and the view over the lake wonderful. But when she could, Elizabeth preferred to work at home, to be near him. Hannah made more use of the study than Elizabeth did. It was not hard to understand, for Ebzabeth remembered very well what a rare and valuable commodity privacy had been when she was young.

She began to sort through the books on her desk.

"I'm not sure if we shall go. I need to talk to your father about it."

"If you want to go, he won't say no," Hannah said. "He can't refuse you anything."

"Is that so?" Elizabeth laughed. "Let's get home, then, and see if you are right."

Hannah cast a longing look toward the study. "Could I stay just a while longer?"

Elizabeth wanted very much to give Hannah the half hour she desired, but it was not a sensible thing to do. There was work waiting at home: the small fields of corn, beans, and squash that lay on the outer, sunny apron of the gorge demanded all the women's energy now, and Hannah's time outside of school was highly prized. Beyond that, Nathaniel and Runs-from-Bears were even more on guard these days than they had been. Billy Kirby had not yet made a move to avenge his hurt pride, but he would not wait forever.

"You can take the tract home with you until tomorrow."

The child's face darkened: disappointment, and a tinge of defiance. This lasted only for a moment, and then she turned and went back into the workroom, to reappear again empty—handed.

"It is not fair," she said.

"Being tethered all the time. I like it as little as Grandfather did, but you set him free." And she threw Elizabeth a significant glance.

"Ah," she said. "I wondered when you'd find out about that. Did the boys tell you?"

Hannah nodded. "It is easy for you to talk about staying close to home and being safe," she said. "You've had your excitement, the summer in the bush and then breaking Grandfather out of Anna's pantry.

Elizabeth pressed the ridge of her nose between two fingers and a thumb. "Those were not pleasant experiences, Hannah," she said. "I did not go looking for them, and I wish that neither had been necessary."

The little girl shrugged one shoulder, unconvinced. "Everyone else in this family gets to have adventures. When will it be my turn?"

"soon enough, I fear," Elizabeth said. And hoped it was a lie.

* * *

There was another social call to pay, one that Elizabeth dreaded very much. But she thought that she might as well get it behind her, on the way to Polly's engagement party. Kitty would not welcome her gladly, but she could not put aside the strong feeling that the younger woman did need help, and would accept it, if only Elizabeth could find the right words.

Nathaniel was not happy about the visit, but he seemed much easier when they found out that Mr. Witherspoon had gone to pay a call on Martha Southern. Hannah too did not mind the delay; she took a chair in the Witherspoons parlor and looked about herself with great curiosity and undisguised interest, jumping up to examine the books on the shelves with her hands crossed on her back, as if she could barely withstand the urge to touch the few well—read volumes. Elizabeth joined her and found what she had expected: Tillotson's and Butler's Sermons, much thumbed; Pilgrim's Progress, Paradise Lost, Robinson Crusoe, with bindings carefully repaired; Walton's Life of Dr. John Donne, Law's A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, and Clarke's A Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God, these less worn and dustier than the rest. There were also some volumes on medicine, which immediately caught Hannah's attention. She sent Kitty a pleading look, and receiving a small nod in return, Hannah settled herself happily in the corner with The Anatomy of Humane Bodies with Figures Drawn After Life with an air of real industry.

Kitty's still and disinterested expression was focused on Nathaniel, who was carrying most of the burden in trying to create a conversation; none of what came into Elizabeth's head would serve at all, as most of it had to do with the neat, round expanse of Kitty's middle. Until today Elizabeth had resisted the urge to calculate Kitty's condition out in months, but found now that she could not deny what she saw before her. With some shock she reckoned that Kitty was perhaps seven months gone; Elizabeth wondered at herself that she had been so preoccupied indeed in January, to have not noticed the game Julian had been playing with this girl. With this girl who would soon be a mother, without a husband's support. She wished very much for some degree of intimacy with Kitty, so that she could discuss her situation with her openly, but the expression on the younger woman's face made it clear that this was an impossibility.