Keeping Secrets Read Online Free

her promises, no matter what. There went her few moments of glory at school.
    “Thank you,” Miss Hennessey whispered. She patted Peg’s shoulder, then silently opened the door and slipped into the house.
    Why should Miss Hennessey be so afraid? Peg wondered. She’d left Lawrence before Quantrill had even arrived. He and his men certainly wouldn’t follow her here.
    Peg heard the school bell in the distance. She was going to be late, which meant she’d be punished again. What was it going to be this time? A slap on the hands with a ruler? Or sitting in the corner during recess?
    Taking a firm grip on her lunch pail and books, Peg ran as fast as she could up the hill.
    Close to four o’clock, when Peg arrived home, she found Ma and Miss Hennessey in the kitchen having a companionable cup of tea Ma greeted Peg with a kiss, took the cozy off the large teapot, and poured Peg a cup.
    Miss Hennessey’s eyes searched Peg’s face, and Peg—knowing what she was asking—gave a slight nod.
    Gratefully, Miss Hennessey sank back into her chair, cradling her cup under her chin, breathing in the fragrant steam.
    “You’ll be glad to know that Miss Hennessey is feeling nearly her own self again,” Ma told Peg.
    “That’s good news,” Peg said. Miss Hennessey stilllooked dowdy and plain, but her cheeks were pink, and she did seem stronger. For one thing, she was no longer ducking her head, peering upward like a frightened kitten.
    As Peg stirred sugar into her teacup, Ma asked, “Tell us about school, love. What did you do today?”
    “Nothing,” Peg said and took a sip, wincing as the tea burned her tongue.
    “Ah, it’s amazing to me how much learning you absorb, sitting there in the schoolhouse day after day doing nothing at all.”
    “Oh, Ma,” Peg mumbled. “You know what I mean. We just don’t do anything interesting enough to talk about.”
    Miss Hennessey spoke up. “Your mother and I were talking about her children and the homes they live in.” She reached across to gently touch Noreen’s hand. “It must have been very hard for you to give them up.”
    “It would have been much harder to be unable to give them a decent life if they’d remained in New York City.”
    “And if Mike—” Peg stopped abruptly, hiding her embarrassment in taking another sip of the hot tea. Ma probably hadn’t told Miss Hennessey about Mike being arrested in New York City for copper stealing and how she saved him from being sent to Tombs Prison by appealing to the Reverend Charles Brace of the Children’s Aid Society to intercede with the judge.
    “Frances told me about Mike,” Miss Hennessey said softly, as though she could read Peg’s mind. “Your mother was a very brave woman. And you children … you were very brave, too, to come west on an orphan train.”
    Brave? Peg hadn’t really thought about being brave. Going to foster homes was something that had to bedone, so they did it without question. She remembered how frightened she’d been at the room filled with strange people who’d come to look them over, and how she’d clung to Danny, wondering if they’d find homes … wondering if they’d be separated. That journey had taken place three long years ago, before Ma had been able to come west to join them.
    John Murphy, whom Ma had married, made a fairly comfortable living with his busy blacksmith shop—and continued to do so in spite of the war—but it wasn’t good enough to support six children, so all the Kelly children but Peg—Frances and Petey with her, Megan, Mike and Danny—had stayed with the kind and loving people who had taken them in.
    “Now that you’ve heard about our family, why don’t you tell us something about yours?” Ma asked Miss Hennessey. “Were you staying with family in Lawrence?”
    “No. I stayed only briefly in Lawrence and not with family. My family is from Boston,” Miss Hennessey said into her teacup.
    “Are they still there?”
    “No. Not any longer.” Her