Intruders at Rivermead Manor. Kathryn Reiss
picked up a penny that lay on the table and flicked it into the air. “Heads I’ll have cheese, and tails ham—how is that? Oh, bother!” They watched as the coin hit the floorboards, spun around twice, and then disappeared down a crack.
“So much for gambling, eh, Kit?” Miss Mundis chuckled. “That penny’s down in the cellar now. Well, cheese or ham, it’s all the same to me. Just don’t use up all my provisions in case someone else should need something to eat…”
Kit chopped cheese and onions together to make a sandwich filling. As she worked, she pictured a whole stash of coins piled in the cellar beneath the kitchen floorboards, like a pirate’s treasure.
“I’m so grateful for your help,” Miss Mundis said as Kit served the sandwiches.
“You’re sure you don’t want me to call the doctor?” Kit asked, pouring out a cup of tea for the old woman.
“I’ll be fine, dear. If there’s trouble, I’ll call on my time travelers.”
“Time travelers?” repeated Kit, puzzled.
But Miss Mundis shook her head. “Oh, don’t mind me,” she said with a little laugh. “Your uncle would just say I read too many science fiction novels!”
Then she insisted on limping to the front door to show Kit out. “I will look forward to seeing you again soon,” she said, and shut the heavy wooden door firmly.
Kit walked to her uncle’s house next door and let herself in. She could hear him talking to someone, and she followed the sound into the kitchen, where he stood at the back door, frowning down at a bedraggled woman on the step. Uncle Hendrick’s little black Scotty, Inky, growled at Uncle Hendrick’s side.
chapter 2
A Desperate Woman
“PLEASE!” KIT HEARD the woman cry. “I need work desperately.”
Uncle Hendrick’s voice was brisk. “Mrs. Addison, I don’t need a housekeeper. You’ve been a laundress in this neighborhood for many years, so I’m sure your employers will continue to have clothes for you to wash.”
“But I told you—I’ve lost everything!” The woman spoke through her tears. “How can I take in laundry when I don’t have a home to work from?”
Uncle Hendrick motioned for Mrs. Addison to leave, but she did not go. Her husband had gone off to New York in search of work, she explained. She hadn’t heard from him in a year. Her landlord had put her out in the street because she couldn’t pay the rent. “And now,” she said, her voice breaking, “I’ve had to take my five children to the orphanage because I couldn’t care for them while looking for work.”
“Well, that’s fine,” replied Uncle Hendrick calmly. “Now they will be cared for.”
“Oh! What is to become of us?” She gasped for breath.
“Get ahold of yourself, Mrs. Addison. I have household help already. Please pull yourself together, madam, and be on your way!”
Inky yapped as if in agreement. Then he saw Kit and ran, barking, to her side.
“Why, here’s my help now,” Uncle Hendrick said.
Weeping, Mrs. Addison looked past him to Kit and shook her head. “A child can’t do all the work of a household! Please, I beg you—”
Kit’s heart sank as Uncle Hendrick’s scowl deepened. “You will find work elsewhere,” he said firmly. “Good-bye.”
“Yes—I’ll be on my way.” Mrs. Addison drew a deep breath and glared at him. “Heaven only knows when I’ll ever see my babies again.”
Kit watched with shocked eyes as Mrs. Addison hurried off down the driveway.
Uncle Hendrick turned to Kit. “You’re late, girl,” he said mildly. “But I’m glad to see it’s you and not another hobo asking for work. I’ve had four of them stop by already this week, as well as a self-righteous man asking me to turn my home into a boarding house!” He shook his head in disgust. “Another do-gooder. Your parents take in boarders for money, but I don’t need money, so why would I take in riffraff off the streets?” Uncle Hendrick strode inside, muttering under his breath.
Kit hurried behind him. “Sorry I’m late,” she said, “but your neighbor, Miss Mundis, fell and needed help.”
Uncle Hendrick turned to look at Kit. “Elsie Mundis? Was she badly hurt?”
“No, I don’t think so,” Kit replied. “She twisted her leg and had a hard time getting to her feet. But once she was inside the house, she seemed all right.”
“She’ll be fine. That old biddy’s perfectly healthy, even if she’s crazy as a loon. We went to school together, and she was muddleheaded then, too. Always had her nose stuck in a penny dreadful—ludicrous novels about rockets to the moon and Martian attacks! Distant galaxies and little green men! Couldn’t have two minutes of conversation with her before she’d give you one of her silly stories to read.” He sat down heavily at the kitchen table. “Impossible woman!”
“She seems nice,” ventured Kit. She set to work scrambling eggs for Uncle Hendrick’s supper. There was the meal to make, the parlor to dust, and Inky to walk around the block before she could head home.
“Help out if you like, but don’t listen to a word Elsie Mundis says,” Uncle Hendrick counseled, as Kit dished up a mound of fluffy eggs. “If you do, you’ll soon be as barmy as she is!” He opened his newspaper, but Kit soon heard him muttering under his breath. “If I’d known she needed help, I could have sent that lady hobo.”
“What a good idea!” Kit turned from washing up the dishes and smiled. “I don’t need the job as much as Mrs. Addison does.”
“She’ll have moved on,” Uncle Hendrick replied. “I wouldn’t know where to find her even if I wanted to.” He snapped his paper decisively. “And don’t you go looking for her.”
Kit didn’t know where to look for Mrs. Addison, either, but she made up her mind she would keep an eye out for her.
Kit finished her chores, dragged an unwilling Inky around the block, then said good-bye to Uncle Hendrick. As she hurried out his door, shiny coins clutched in her hand, she couldn’t help feeling excited about her new job at Rivermead Manor. There was certainly something odd about the place—and about Miss Mundis. She had never explained what she meant about time travelers. Did she mean people from the future—or the past—coming to now?
That, of course, was just plain impossible. Still, as she passed the gate of Rivermead, Kit looked uneasily at the long shadows of the trees and at the manor house’s single lighted window. Then she dashed down the street toward home.
chapter 3
The Underground Railroad
“THERE YOU ARE, Kit.” Mrs. Kittredge, her face flushed from the warmth of the stove, reached out to squeeze Kit’s shoulders in a quick hug. “Mrs. Howard is in bed with a terrible cough, so I’ve been short a pair of hands—just when we have a new boarder!”
Kit put her schoolbag in the corner of the kitchen and hung her coat on a hook. She tied an apron behind her back. “Who is it?” she asked.
“His name is Mr. West, and he’s just arrived. I’ve put him in with Mr. Peck. He’s—” She broke off, shaking her head. “Here, dear, will you take these bowls to the table? Everyone will be down in just a minute. Then you’ll meet the gentleman for yourself.”
Kit pushed through the swinging door into the dining room, where several of their lodgers were already assembled.
Mismatched chairs were pulled up to the long dining room table. Mr. Peck was already seated. He was a friendly man who sometimes entertained them all by playing his double bass. Miss Hart and Miss