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

“Yes, sir. Kit gave it to me. I wrote my name in it.”

“That’s a lie!” cried Goodwife Cruff. “The child is bewitched!”

Captain Talcott turned to Kit. “Is it true that the child wrote her own name in this book?”

“It’s true,” Kit answered quietly. “I wrote it for her once and then she copied it.”

The magistrate turned to the child again. “Could you write your name now, do you think?”

“I think so, sir.”

He dipped the quill pen in the ink and gave it to the child. Prudence set the pen on the copybook and started writing. For a moment the room was silent. The magistrate looked at the writing and gave the copybook to Gershom Bulkeley. “Very nice writing, I should say,” Dr. Bulkeley commented, “for a child with no learning.”

“Now Prudence,” the magistrate continued. “You say that Mistress Tyler taught you to read? What sort of reading? What can you read, child?”

“I can read the Bible.”

Dr. Bulkeley picked up the Great Bible from the table and turned the pages thoughtfully. “Read that for us, child, beginning right there.”

Kit held her breath. Then across the silence came the child’s whisper: “Buy the truth and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding…”

Kit felt so proud that she forgot her fear. For the first time she dared to look back at Nat Eaton where he stood near the door. Their eyes met, and suddenly a warm feeling of strength flowed into her.

Everyone in the room was staring at the two Cruff parents who stood with their mouths open in shock and disbelief. Goodwife Cruff’s face darkened. She saw now that she had been tricked. But before she could get at her child, her husband spoke. “Did you hear that?” he asked. “That was really good reading. I’d like to see any boy in this town do better!”

“It’s a trick!” cried his wife. “That child could never read a word in her life! She’s bewitched!”

“Hold your tongue, woman,” shouted her husband back. “I’m tired of hearing about Prudence being bewitched. All these years you’ve been telling me our child was stupid. But look how smart she is! All my life I’ve wished I could read. Now I got someone to read the Good Book to me every evening, and that’s no work of the devil!”

The magistrate had not interrupted this speech. “As I understand, Goodman Cruff, you withdraw your charges against this young woman?”

“Yes,” he answered loudly. “Yes. I withdraw the charges.”

“Adam Cruff!” his wife screamed. “Have you lost your mind? The girl has bewitched you too!”

At the back of the room someone laughed. Was it Nat?

“There is no evidence of witchcraft,” the magistrate announced. “I pronounce that Mistress Katherine Tyler is free and innocent.”

But suddenly Goodwife Cruff found a new target. “That man!” she yelled. “Isn’t he the sailor who was banished from the town for setting fire to houses?” There was a new uproar. The constable looked to the magistrate for orders. “Arrest him,” Captain Talcott said.

“Oh no!” Kit cried in alarm. “You can’t arrest him! He only came back to help me.”

But they were too late. Nat had already left the room unnoticed. “They won’t find him,” a little voice whispered in Kit’s ear. “He told me to say goodbye to you if he had to run away.”

“Prudence!” Kit cried. “How did it all happen?”

“He came and found me this morning. He said he was worried about you, so he came back and heard about the meeting. He said I was the only one who could save you, and he promised he would stay right here and help as long as we needed him.”

“Oh, I’m so grateful to both of you!” Kit was crying again. “I’m so proud of you, Prudence! Will you be all right, do you think?”

“She’ll be all right,” Goodman Cruff said. “Next summer she’ll go to your school, like I always wanted.”

Matthew Wood walked up to Kit. “Let us end all this,” he said. “With your permission, Captain, I shall take Katherine home.”

On the day of the first snowfall Mercy got out of bed. “I love the first snow better than anything else in the world,” she said, her eyes thoughtful and sad. “It’s so beautiful, and it makes the house seem so warm and safe. I can’t imagine that you, Kit, have never seen snow before!”

Kit watched the falling white snowflakes and felt confused. For a moment she shared Mercy’s excitement. But then she decided that she liked palm trees, green leaves, flowers and a bright warm sun much more. Would she ever see them again?

That evening, for the first time since Kit’s arrest, William came to see her. He had stayed away, he explained, because of the illness in the house. He politely asked about Mercy’s health. Kit pretended that she was preoccupied with some chores, so it was Judith who kept the conversation going. “I hope John gets back soon,” she said finally.

“They say in the town that there’s been no word from them since they stopped at Hadley. There’re Indians there, you know.”

Judith stared at William, shocked. Mercy closed her eyes. “I’m surprised you are spreading rumors, William,” Aunt Rachel scolded him.

When it was late and William stood up to go home, Kit was sent to lock the door after him.

“I’ve missed you, Kit!” said William when they were alone in the hallway. “You don’t seem very happy to see me.”

Kit said nothing. How could she say that there had been a time when she had desperately needed him? But there was something more on William’s mind. “Everyone in the town knows that you meant well, and now you can make a fresh start,” he continued.

Kit looked down. “What do you mean by a fresh start?” she asked quietly.

“The Widow Tupper is gone, and it won’t be necessary to see much of the Cruff child. I’m not speaking against charity,” he continued. “We need to care for the poor. But you overdo it.”

“But it wasn’t charity!” Kit exclaimed. “Hannah and Prudence are my friends!”

“Oh, Kit,” said William. “I didn’t want to quarrel with you tonight. But from my point of view, no man would like an unpredictable wife.”

“Then it’s no use, William,” Kit said. She had had a long time to think that night on the riverbank and the night in the constable’s shed. She had never made any decision, but suddenly now it was all clear to her. “You and I would always misunderstand each other. We would always want to change each other. I’m sorry, but I could never care about the things that seem so important to you as you could never care about the things important to me.”

“The house isn’t important to you?” William asked slowly.

“It is,” she admitted. “But not if it means that I can’t choose my own friends.”

William did not seem surprised, only very sad. “Perhaps you’re right, Kit,” he agreed. “I’ve hoped all this year that you would change and learn to fit in here. But now I think I won’t be coming again.”

Kit simply nodded. Then William opened the door and was gone.

Now they seldom had any visitors. During dull winter evenings Kit felt absolutely lonely and wished she would go back to Barbados.

Then terrible news arrived. Two Wethersfield militia men returned from Massachusetts and told a story that on the way back they were attacked by Indians. Four men had been killed and a couple others were injured. These two men managed to escape, but the rest of the party had been taken captive. One of the captives was the young fellow who had been studying with the doctor, John Holbrook. Poor Judith cried for days, and curiously it was William who came to comfort and support her. But of course no one except Kit knew about the grief of Mercy. Kit was thinking about telling her that John loved her, but then she decided against it. Someday the time would come when Mercy could know.