Kitty Read Online Free Page B

lot of things, actually.’ Rebecca smoothed the lace collar she was working on and frowned. ‘Oh dear, I think I might have picked up some extra stitches…Evidently, when the Reverend and Mrs Williams first arrived they found the Maoris tobe very much a handful. They were into everything, wandered in and out of the Williamses’ house as they pleased, stole everything they took a fancy to, and kept going off to tribal get-togethers and wars, and the girls were hopeless at their work.’
    Jannah Tait, who was working with considerable skill and dexterity on a very complicated cushion cover, gave an unladylike snort. ‘Not much change there.’
    ‘Hopeless in what way?’ Sarah asked.
    ‘Well, apparently they would use Mrs Williams’s good napery to clean the floor, strain the milk with the duster, stir baking mixtures with their fingers and eat half of it uncooked, and forget to keep an eye on the children.’
    ‘Reverend Kelleher certainly won’t stand for that,’ Sarah said with a sigh.
    ‘But they really are a lot better now,’ Rebecca added quickly, lest she sounded too discouraging, ‘and of course a lot of them speak English quite well, thanks to the mission school. And they can read and write rather competently in their own language.’
    ‘Does every missionary family have housegirls?’ Kitty asked, wondering whether they would get any.
    ‘Usually,’ Jannah said. ‘I have three at the moment. Mrs Williams sometimes has up to seven or eight at any one time.’
    Rebecca said, ‘Mrs Williams is an inspiration, Mrs Kelleher, and I’m sure you’ll enjoy working with her. Not only is she a trained cook, nurse, midwife and teacher, but she oversees the station when Reverend Williams is away, which is quite often. The Maoris have a very deep respect for her, of course, which certainly helps.’
    ‘Is that because she’s so tall?’ Kitty asked. She couldn’t help noticing that when Mrs Williams had risen to leave the dinner table she stood a good five inches above any of the other women.
    ‘You know,’ Rebecca said after a moment, ‘I’ve never thought of it before, but that could well be at least part of the reason. How extraordinary!’
    ‘She sounds like a true soldier in God’s army,’ Sarah said.
    Rebecca’s tatting needles slowed. ‘She is, and she’s a staunch advocate of taking the older girls into our own homes. We’ve found that we have more success if we can keep an eye on them. It keeps them out of trouble.’
    ‘Trouble?’ Sarah said.
    Rebecca laid her tatting across her knee. ‘When you came into shore today, did you notice the waka passing you on the way out? The canoes?’
    Their own hands still now, Sarah and Kitty nodded.
    ‘And did you see the girls in them?’
    More nods. Kitty felt the fine hairs on her arms stir as she realised she was about to hear something that was bound, at the very least, to be intriguing.
    Rebecca said, ‘Well, I’m afraid they were on their way out to visit the men on the ship that brought you here.’
    Kitty wasn’t entirely clear about the meaning of this statement, although it was obvious that her aunt understood because her mouth had clamped shut like a trap.
    But Kitty’s hadn’t. Before she could stop herself, she blurted, ‘What sort of visit?’
    After a long moment of silence, Sarah gripped her knitting needles even more tightly. ‘It pains me to speak these words aloud, Kitty, but I imagine that the girls exchange personal favours for either trinkets or for money. Am I right, Mrs Purcell?’
    Rebecca nodded. ‘I’m afraid you are, Mrs Kelleher.’
    ‘Oh,’ Kitty said, and blinked. She felt herself blushing from her neck all the way up to her hairline, and there was a strange fluttery feeling in her stomach. To think that those girls had been on their way out to…to go with the very crewmen she’d been talking to less than an hour earlier!
    ‘All I can say is Lord have mercy on them,’ Sarah said, raising her eyes to