Just Jane Read Online Free PDF Page B

“No school today, Jane.”
    â€œBut where are you going?”
    â€œTo tell my friends on Queen Street to get out while they Still can!” He was out the front gate and down the street in an instant.
    With the booms rumbling and rolling across the sky, Jane was suddenly seized with a wild impulse. Queen Street! Cousin Hugh!
    She ran for the stairs, calling over her shoulder, “I’ll be back later, Mrs. Morley. I’m going with Mr. Cordwyn to Cousin Hugh’s!”
    â€œNo, dear, you mustn’t!” Mrs. Morley cried. “You know your uncle—”
    But Jane was already gone.
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    Mr. Cordwyn, wait!” Breathless, she caught up with him a block away. “I’m coming with you!”
    Scowling at her, he swept an arm toward the invisible rumblings. “You hear that, Jane? British warships are attacking Charlestown Harbor. You shouldn’t be out on the streets. It’s not safe. Go home and stay there.”
    â€œMr. Cordwyn!” Jane stood her ground, eyes ablaze. “For all their kindness, the Ainsleys treat me like a child. You’re the only one who has been honest about what’s going on. Please, don’t let me down. I need to go with you.”
    Simon hesitated, struggling with indecision, then finally sighed in resignation. “I’ll regret this. But all right, come along.”
    â€œOh, thank you, Mr. Cordwyn!”
    Over the rumbling cannon fire, Simon explained more as they walked on, threading their way through a mass of fleeing refugees.
    â€œThe Patriots are holed up on Sullivan’s Island, outside the harbor. All they’ve got is a couple of guns and a little powder, behind a few palmetto logs they call a fort. With that they plan to turn back a huge British fleet! It’s positively pathetic.”
    Soon after turning onto Queen Street, he knocked on a door beneath a swinging sign reading, hugh prentice, cabinetmaker. Tacked on the door was a handwritten note reading, CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.
    â€œPerhaps they’ve come to their senses and left,” Simon remarked.
    Then a bright-eyed woman with abundant red hair stuck her head out of an upstairs window. “Simon—what a nice surprise! I’ll be right down.”
    â€œThat was Lydia, Hugh’s wife,” Simon told Jane while they waited. “Prepare yourself, Jane, you’re about to enter a nest of rebels. But you’re also going to learn that rebels can be very nice people.”
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    It was, Jane would decide later, a remarkable learning experience. First there was Lydia, who ushered the visitors into a large, stone-floored room littered with wood shavings, pieces of decorative woodwork on several tables, and a clutter of carving tools. The cabinetmaker’s workshop.
    Lydia’s lively personality seemed to match her flame-colored hair, and she enveloped Jane in a great hug upon being introduced. “You’ll call me Lydia. We’re all family here,” she said. “Now come on upstairs. Hugh and my son, Peter, are up on the third floor watching the battle through a spyglass. And oh my, Hugh’s going to be delighted you’re here!”
    She led them upstairs and through a second-floor kitchen and eating area. At one end, cooking utensils hung on the wall next to a huge stone fireplace. At the other sat a large oak table and chairs. Hugh’s work, Jane assumed, admiringly. At the top of another flight of stairs, they entered what appeared to be a large storage room. Before high windows stood two men, the younger one peering through a telescope. Both turned at the sound of footsteps. When the older man’s eyes fell on Jane he stared in disbelief.
    â€œCan this be . . . Jane?” he breathed.
    She smiled. “Yes, it’s Jane. And you must be Cousin Hugh.” In a few seconds, she found herself wrapped in another enormous hug.
    â€œJane, my dearest girl! I never thought it would be here