Kitty felt her face turning hot and red, but she chose to ignore the last part of her cousin’s remark. “You can’t go to Charlestown,” she said. “Granny won’t let you go where there’s likely to be fighting. You know that as well as I.” They had turned in at the front gate now, and were walking under the budded lilac bushes, Sally Rose in the lead, Kitty following breathless, a few steps behind. “A fig for Granny!” cried Sally Rose. “I love her, of course, but she’s a timid old lady, fit only to huddle in the chimney corner. She doesn’t know what it’s like to be bold and daring--the way a girl has to be these days. Of course she won’t let me go, and so I shan’t ask her. She drove out to see Nancy Davis this afternoon. When she gets back at suppertime, I won’t be here. I’ll be halfway to Rowley--or further on.” She opened the unlocked kitchen door and ran lightly up the back stairs to their chamber. Kitty followed, a little more slowly. She sat down on the edge of the high four-poster and dangled her feet over the side; watched while Sally Rose gathered ribbons, laces, and a few toilet articles and tied them up in a shawl. “It’s a long walk to Charlestown,” she said tartly. “Not so far for a horse,” answered Sally Rose. “You have a horse then?” “I know where to borrow one. I know where I can borrow two. Uncle Moses Chase keeps half a dozen in his barn on the Old Newbury road, and he’s gone with Granny, so he won’t know if we take them. He won’t care, when he finds out. Why don’t you come with me, Kitty? We’ll have a gay time in Charlestown.” Kitty shook her head, but without much conviction. “I couldn’t go behind Granny’s back,” she said. Sally Rose smiled sweetly. “I’m sorry you feel so, Cousin. Perhaps I do wrong to make a jest of everything, but that is my way. Have you never thought, when you hear all these preparations for war, that there is work for us as well as for the lads? Who’s to cook and wash and sew for them, and bind up their wounds when the fighting is over? I’m going where I can be of use to my country. If you’re afraid to come with me--well, you can stay here and sleep in the sun by the Frog Pond every afternoon. You’ll surely be safe enough--unless a horsefly bites you, or the dry rot settles in.” She took a quill pen and inkpot from the mantelpiece, sat down at the dressing table, and began to write. Kitty jumped from the bed and took a few turns up and down the room. “Do you really think we ought to go, Sally Rose?” she asked. “Do you think--we might be needed there?” “I certainly do think so,” said Sally Rose. “Don’t bother to pack any clothes, Kit. At home in Charlestown I have more than enough for two.” Under Sally Rose’s urging, Kitty opened a top drawer in the old mahogany chest and began slowly to sort out the few possessions she wanted to take with her, if she did go; an ivory comb, a pleated linen fichu, her mother’s cameo brooch. Her fingers flew faster every minute, as her heart warmed to the plan.